The following .vmx setting works for enabling 3D acceleration in VMware Workstation 9.0.3 running on Ubuntu 12.04.3 Linux. This configuration is deployed on a HP Pavilion dv7 laptop with Intel 3000 integrated graphics. Add the following name-value pair to the .vmx file for each VMware virtual guest requiring 3D acceleration.
mks.gl.allowBlacklistedDrivers = TRUE