1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:14,000 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:16,920 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:18,960 Speaker 1: iHeart Radio and How Stuff Works, and I love all 5 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:23,639 Speaker 1: things tech. And it's two thousand nineteen at least it 6 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:26,560 Speaker 1: is when I'm recording this episode, and I thought it 7 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:29,280 Speaker 1: might be fun, just for the heck of it to 8 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:33,160 Speaker 1: look back thirty years ago to the latest in video 9 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 1: game technology, both to walk down memory lane, since I 10 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:43,279 Speaker 1: was very much around in nine, or also to just 11 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 1: reflect on how far we've come since then. You know, 12 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 1: I've come a very far away. I was a teenager 13 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:51,159 Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty nine. And I should also point out 14 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:54,680 Speaker 1: I'm framing this episode in the context of North America 15 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:58,280 Speaker 1: and specifically the United States. I will mention other regions 16 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 1: as well, but this is largely because of me looking 17 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:04,440 Speaker 1: back at thirty years ago in the US and what 18 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 1: was the video game industry like at that point. Now, 19 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:11,880 Speaker 1: some very important stuff came out in nineteen eighty nine. 20 00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:14,080 Speaker 1: Some of it would set companies on a path of 21 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:19,280 Speaker 1: unprecedented success, and some would turn out to be massive misfires, 22 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:21,639 Speaker 1: and some companies would have a little bit of both, 23 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:24,400 Speaker 1: and there were a few big moves on the business 24 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:28,039 Speaker 1: side as well. But first let's give some context for 25 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:32,000 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty nine. So by nineteen eighty nine, the video 26 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:36,840 Speaker 1: game industry was in a booming renaissance. The first wave 27 00:01:36,959 --> 00:01:39,480 Speaker 1: of home video game tech had really begun in the 28 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:42,960 Speaker 1: late nineteen seventies, and it ended, at least in North 29 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 1: America in a crashing halt in nineteen eighty three. Now, 30 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:51,000 Speaker 1: the reasons for the video game crash are numerous, and 31 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:53,440 Speaker 1: I've covered them in previous episodes, so we're not going 32 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:56,840 Speaker 1: to go into it here, but the industry seemed truly 33 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:01,960 Speaker 1: dead and literally buried. At least that was the literal 34 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:05,280 Speaker 1: case for many copies of the Atari twenty Game Et 35 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:09,000 Speaker 1: the Extraterrestrial and a few other titles that were just 36 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:13,120 Speaker 1: sitting around taking up space. Then they ended up sitting 37 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: around inside a landfill. Then a company known more for 38 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:19,520 Speaker 1: playing cards than video games made a go of of 39 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:23,280 Speaker 1: it in North America. That company was Nintendo, which had 40 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:27,720 Speaker 1: already made some arcade games, but was a brand new 41 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 1: player in the home video game console market in the 42 00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:34,200 Speaker 1: United States, and unfortunately, due to timing, they're coming in 43 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: just after the video game crash. Initially, retailers resisted shouldering 44 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:43,760 Speaker 1: the risk of carrying video game systems again, but Nintendo 45 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:46,160 Speaker 1: won them over, and as I'm sure you're all aware, 46 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:51,440 Speaker 1: that turned into a huge success. So by nine nine, 47 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:56,160 Speaker 1: the video game market was established again, and it also 48 00:02:56,240 --> 00:02:59,560 Speaker 1: had several companies competing for customers. Now, back in the 49 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: early nineteen eighties, those companies would include things like Atari 50 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:07,600 Speaker 1: and Colco and Mattel Electronics, among others. Atari was still 51 00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:10,880 Speaker 1: around nine nine, but it was no longer the dominant force. 52 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:16,440 Speaker 1: That designation belonged to squarely to Nintendo, and Nintendo debuted 53 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:19,960 Speaker 1: a killer product in nineteen eighty nine in the United States. 54 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:23,760 Speaker 1: The company launched the Game Boy both in Japan and 55 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:26,960 Speaker 1: in North America in nineteen nine. Japan got it several 56 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:32,240 Speaker 1: months earlier. It was largely the brainchild of Gunpie Yakoi, 57 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:37,280 Speaker 1: and I apologize sincerely for butchering names, but he had 58 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,680 Speaker 1: previously led the company on a design for a line 59 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 1: of portable gaming devices called the Game and Watch. These 60 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:47,720 Speaker 1: were dedicated to a single title each. They were a 61 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:53,120 Speaker 1: little handhold, simple game consoles that only had a single 62 00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: title programmed hard coded onto the machine. They had a 63 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 1: very primitive CPU, or really that just primitive microprocessors, and 64 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:05,400 Speaker 1: they had very very simple graphics compared to something like 65 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:08,720 Speaker 1: the Game Boy. Now, once technology had advanced to a 66 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: point where more robust and a programmable handheld system would 67 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:16,760 Speaker 1: become feasible, the company got to work designing the game 68 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:22,920 Speaker 1: Boy system uh the coin. A designer named Satro Okada 69 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:26,799 Speaker 1: worked to make this a reality, and Okada's original design 70 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:31,080 Speaker 1: was a bit more ambitious, but it also would have 71 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:35,800 Speaker 1: been much more expensive. So while he had initially planned 72 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:40,480 Speaker 1: for a much more feature robust version of the Game Boy, 73 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:44,080 Speaker 1: Nintendo executives decided that it was better to cut a 74 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:47,680 Speaker 1: few features and launch a system that wouldn't cost too 75 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:52,520 Speaker 1: much and that would help encourage people to adopt the system. 76 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:57,719 Speaker 1: The handheld game console, the game Boy would revolutionize home gaming. 77 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 1: Suddenly video games were true le portable. Most handheld games 78 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:05,719 Speaker 1: preceding the Game Boy were dedicated to a single title, 79 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:09,440 Speaker 1: like those game and watch games. Many of those handheld 80 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:13,599 Speaker 1: gaming systems were incredibly primitive. The game Boy brought a 81 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:16,839 Speaker 1: level of sophistication to portability that was a perfect fit, 82 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:20,160 Speaker 1: and in North America, this was paired with an amazing 83 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:24,040 Speaker 1: puzzle game that worked so well with the form factor 84 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:28,000 Speaker 1: of the Game Boy that it became nearly ubiquitous. That 85 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:31,040 Speaker 1: game was, of course, Tetris, a game designed by a 86 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:34,760 Speaker 1: Russian programmer and released earlier in the nineteen eighties, and 87 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:37,760 Speaker 1: that story alone is fascinating, but I've covered it in 88 00:05:37,839 --> 00:05:41,560 Speaker 1: previous episodes of tech Stuff. The original Nintendo Game Boy 89 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:45,120 Speaker 1: was an eight bit bit system. That means that it 90 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:49,240 Speaker 1: had the same processing power as a full Nintendo Entertainment System, 91 00:05:49,279 --> 00:05:52,159 Speaker 1: and I'll go into more detail about eight bit versus 92 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:55,000 Speaker 1: sixteen bit a little bit later in this episode. But 93 00:05:55,160 --> 00:05:58,560 Speaker 1: like the Nintendo Entertainment System or any GAS, games for 94 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:01,920 Speaker 1: the Game Boy would appear are on cartridges, just much 95 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:05,520 Speaker 1: much smaller cartridges than what you would find on the NES. 96 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:09,599 Speaker 1: So a video game cartridge has the game hard coded 97 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:13,520 Speaker 1: onto the physical cartridge itself. It's like a circuit board, 98 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:16,560 Speaker 1: and that limits how much data you can store on 99 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:20,080 Speaker 1: the card. You're actually talking about physical circuitry. You can 100 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:22,480 Speaker 1: only get it so small. But it also tends to 101 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:26,400 Speaker 1: mean that you have a super fast gaming system. It 102 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:29,560 Speaker 1: can load games very quickly compared to ones that are 103 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: reading it off, say, an optical disk. The original game 104 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:37,120 Speaker 1: Boy had a direction pad and to control buttons labeled 105 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:39,800 Speaker 1: A and B. It also had a select button and 106 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:44,000 Speaker 1: a start button. Had a monochromatic liquid crystal display or 107 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:47,240 Speaker 1: l c D. Technically it could show up to four 108 00:06:47,279 --> 00:06:50,719 Speaker 1: shades of gray, and it had a resolution of one 109 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:56,000 Speaker 1: sixty six by one pixels, so not super high resolution. 110 00:06:56,040 --> 00:06:58,039 Speaker 1: But it was a very tiny screen as well, so 111 00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:00,960 Speaker 1: it didn't matter so much. Games ran on a pretty 112 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:03,840 Speaker 1: good clip with a frame rate of nearly sixty frames 113 00:07:03,839 --> 00:07:08,160 Speaker 1: per second, and there were control dials for volume and contrast. 114 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:10,040 Speaker 1: You can change the contrast so you could play the 115 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:12,800 Speaker 1: game in different levels of light and still see what 116 00:07:12,880 --> 00:07:15,400 Speaker 1: was going on on the screen. In addition to the 117 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:19,600 Speaker 1: eight bit processor, it had eight kilobytes of RAM that's 118 00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:23,640 Speaker 1: random access memory, and the basic handheld device had four 119 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:27,680 Speaker 1: channels for sound, but it also only had a single speaker. However, 120 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: you could get stereo sound by plugging in headphones into 121 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:35,280 Speaker 1: a headphone jack, and Nintendo bundled headphones with the game 122 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:38,640 Speaker 1: Boys so you could do this. One innovation that the 123 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:41,560 Speaker 1: game Boy brought in was the ability to link together 124 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:45,120 Speaker 1: multiple game Boy devices, so you could link to game 125 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:48,000 Speaker 1: Boys together through their serial ports, or you could use 126 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:51,480 Speaker 1: special adapters and you could link more game Boy systems together, 127 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 1: which we become really useful when the Pokemon games started 128 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:59,240 Speaker 1: coming out. The game Boy relied on four double A 129 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:03,960 Speaker 1: batteries for power, which Nintendo claimed would provide thirty plus 130 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:07,400 Speaker 1: hours of game time before you drained all the juice 131 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:12,600 Speaker 1: from those batteries. More conservative estimates put that playtime closer 132 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:16,080 Speaker 1: to ten to fourteen hours, so about half of what 133 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:19,560 Speaker 1: Nintendo was claiming. But the battery life really did set 134 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:22,400 Speaker 1: it apart from the competitors that would follow the game 135 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:25,080 Speaker 1: Boy just a little bit later. You could also purchase 136 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:29,120 Speaker 1: some additional peripherals, such as an AC adapter, and you 137 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:31,760 Speaker 1: could plug your game Boy into the wall so you 138 00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:34,640 Speaker 1: didn't have to worry about using batteries at all. Of course, 139 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:37,120 Speaker 1: that also makes it much less portable. Or you could 140 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:40,240 Speaker 1: buy a rechargeable battery pack to cut down on those 141 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:44,240 Speaker 1: a A battery purchases, but then of course you would 142 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:47,360 Speaker 1: have to recharge the battery pack whenever you had drained 143 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:50,640 Speaker 1: it down. The game Boy would become one of the 144 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:56,040 Speaker 1: top selling video game systems of all time. That being said, 145 00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:59,120 Speaker 1: it is hard to say exactly how well the original 146 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:03,280 Speaker 1: game Boy did because Nintendo would lump together the group 147 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:07,120 Speaker 1: sales figures for the game Boy and the game Boy Color, 148 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:11,280 Speaker 1: which came out nearly a decade after the original game Boy. 149 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:14,520 Speaker 1: All of those get lumped into one category. The original 150 00:09:14,559 --> 00:09:17,800 Speaker 1: retail price for the game Boy was eighty nine dollars 151 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:23,240 Speaker 1: and cents. Nintendo's game Boy got a head start against 152 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:26,120 Speaker 1: other handheld devices that would launch a little later in 153 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:32,560 Speaker 1: nineteen beyond, and it was a hit pretty much right 154 00:09:32,559 --> 00:09:35,240 Speaker 1: at the get go. In Japan, Nintendo's sold out of 155 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:39,120 Speaker 1: its initial production run right away. I g N reports 156 00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:41,480 Speaker 1: that on the first day of sales in North America, 157 00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:46,400 Speaker 1: forty thousand people bought a game Boy, not bad for 158 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:50,480 Speaker 1: its brand new debut in a brand new market. Nintendo 159 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:54,240 Speaker 1: did have competitors, though, and most of them were from Japan. 160 00:09:55,080 --> 00:09:59,440 Speaker 1: One of those competitors was ANYC Corporation, which is still 161 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:02,320 Speaker 1: very much round today and is involved in several high 162 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:05,760 Speaker 1: tech businesses, but not so much in video games anymore. 163 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:09,720 Speaker 1: The company wanted to get into this lucrative home video 164 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:12,400 Speaker 1: game business in the nineteen eighties, and to do that, 165 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:17,920 Speaker 1: NBC partnered with another Japanese company called Hudson Soft, which 166 00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:22,120 Speaker 1: very much does not exist anymore today as it merged 167 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:25,640 Speaker 1: with Konami in two thousand twelve. The result was a 168 00:10:25,679 --> 00:10:30,440 Speaker 1: machine that in Japan was called the PC Engine, and 169 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:33,720 Speaker 1: it came out in Japan in nineteen seven. It would 170 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:35,400 Speaker 1: take two more years to make its way over to 171 00:10:35,440 --> 00:10:39,480 Speaker 1: North America, and in August it would debut in the 172 00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:43,840 Speaker 1: United States under a different name, the Turbo Graphics sixteen. 173 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:49,360 Speaker 1: The Turbo Graphics sixteen was the an early console in 174 00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:52,320 Speaker 1: the market that would help bring in the sixteen bit era. 175 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:57,360 Speaker 1: But that's with a few qualifiers. Systems like the Famicom 176 00:10:57,440 --> 00:11:00,559 Speaker 1: better known as the Ninteno entertainment system in the US 177 00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:05,360 Speaker 1: where eight bit systems not sixteen bit systems. Now, let's 178 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:08,880 Speaker 1: talk about that difference. Remember that a bit is a 179 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:13,520 Speaker 1: basic unit of information in computer language. It's a zero 180 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:17,599 Speaker 1: or it's a one, So it's akin to a physical switch, 181 00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:21,920 Speaker 1: either being switched off or switched on. An eight bet 182 00:11:21,960 --> 00:11:26,280 Speaker 1: processor can perform operations on data up to eight bits 183 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:28,959 Speaker 1: in size, and if you were to write out all 184 00:11:29,080 --> 00:11:34,360 Speaker 1: the different arrangements of eight bits, from having eight zeros 185 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:36,920 Speaker 1: in a row to eight ones in a row and 186 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:40,440 Speaker 1: every variation in between. You would count those all up 187 00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:42,600 Speaker 1: and you would find out you have two hundred fifty 188 00:11:42,679 --> 00:11:46,360 Speaker 1: six variations of standing for the numbers of zero to 189 00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:51,480 Speaker 1: two D. A sixteen bit processor can handle data of 190 00:11:51,559 --> 00:11:55,360 Speaker 1: up to sixteen bits in size, and you might at 191 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:57,520 Speaker 1: first think, oh, it can hold twice as much or 192 00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:01,640 Speaker 1: handle twice as much information, or information that's twice as large, 193 00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:05,080 Speaker 1: but it's actually way way more than that. We're talking 194 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:10,319 Speaker 1: instead of two hundred fifty six variations, sixty five thousand, 195 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:14,840 Speaker 1: five hundred thirty six variations, and if you're paying attention, 196 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:20,920 Speaker 1: that's two hundred fifty six squared. This same mathematical relationship 197 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:24,240 Speaker 1: holds true as you go up bit sizes. So a 198 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:27,480 Speaker 1: thirty two bit processor can handle data of up to 199 00:12:27,559 --> 00:12:32,920 Speaker 1: thirty two bits and size, which has four billion, two million, 200 00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:37,400 Speaker 1: nine hundred sixty seven thousand, two hundred nine variations, which 201 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:42,199 Speaker 1: is also sixty thousand, five hundred thirty six squared, and 202 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:45,960 Speaker 1: so on. So you see, as you increase the bit 203 00:12:46,760 --> 00:12:50,760 Speaker 1: size that a processor can handle, it can handle an 204 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:55,880 Speaker 1: enormous amount more information. Anyway, back to sixteen bits. What 205 00:12:56,040 --> 00:12:59,720 Speaker 1: this means from a user experience standpoint is that the 206 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:02,520 Speaker 1: mass seen can process more data in the same amount 207 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:05,360 Speaker 1: of time as an eight bit machine, which for video 208 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:09,240 Speaker 1: games tends to most easily be perceived in the form 209 00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:12,240 Speaker 1: of better graphics and sound. But here's where we get 210 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:16,880 Speaker 1: into some of those qualifiers. The Turbo Graphics sixteen actually 211 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:20,320 Speaker 1: wasn't a true sixteen bit system. It had an eight 212 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:24,280 Speaker 1: bit CPU, just like the Nintendo Entertainment System, but it 213 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:28,120 Speaker 1: also had a sixteen bet video display controller and a 214 00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:32,280 Speaker 1: sixteen bit video color encoder. Now this meant that the 215 00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 1: Turbo Graphics sixteen could spit out better graphics and way 216 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:39,839 Speaker 1: more colors than an AS could do. The NES was 217 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:43,640 Speaker 1: limited to sixty four preset colors, and it could only 218 00:13:43,679 --> 00:13:48,319 Speaker 1: display twenty five of those at one time on a screen. Typically, 219 00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:52,560 Speaker 1: the Tobographics sixteen had a palette of five hundred twelve colors, 220 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:56,520 Speaker 1: which is technically nine bits in size, and it could 221 00:13:56,520 --> 00:13:59,720 Speaker 1: show four eight two of those on screen at once, 222 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:02,240 Speaker 1: although that was divided into colors that would be in 223 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:05,600 Speaker 1: the background and colors that were in moving components on 224 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:08,840 Speaker 1: the screen that we would call sprites. The resolution of 225 00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:12,640 Speaker 1: the Turbo Graphics sixteen might make you wins today, as 226 00:14:12,679 --> 00:14:15,120 Speaker 1: most games used a resolution of two hundred fifty six 227 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:18,880 Speaker 1: by two hundred thirty nine pixels, essentially the same resolution 228 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:22,480 Speaker 1: as the NES. Some games would boast a resolution of 229 00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:27,120 Speaker 1: up to five twelve by two pixels, but they were rare. 230 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:32,480 Speaker 1: There were many variations of the PC Engine slash Turbo 231 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:36,160 Speaker 1: Graphics sixteen. In fact, there were enough different versions of 232 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:39,240 Speaker 1: this game system to justify a full episode of tech Stuff. 233 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:43,520 Speaker 1: An EC released peripherals to augment the system, as well 234 00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:48,720 Speaker 1: as updated versions of that system that incorporated those upgrades 235 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:52,480 Speaker 1: later on. So one of those was an external CD 236 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:56,560 Speaker 1: ROM drive. It originally was an additional peripheral you could buy. 237 00:14:56,760 --> 00:14:58,760 Speaker 1: You could hook it up to your Turbo Graphics sixteen 238 00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:01,800 Speaker 1: and then you would have a CD ROM. Later versions 239 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:06,080 Speaker 1: of the Turbo Graphics sixteen would have it incorporated into 240 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:09,960 Speaker 1: the design of the overall console. Now I mentioned this 241 00:15:10,120 --> 00:15:13,920 Speaker 1: in this episode because it was released four of the 242 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:17,800 Speaker 1: Turbo Graphics sixteen in North America in late nine nine, 243 00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:20,800 Speaker 1: So you had the CD ROM system go on the 244 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:24,160 Speaker 1: market about a month or two after the actual system 245 00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:29,120 Speaker 1: was on sale, and that means that it's something that 246 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:31,760 Speaker 1: we should talk about in this episode. Now I'm going 247 00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:34,600 Speaker 1: to mention a little bit more about the Turbo Graphics 248 00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:37,600 Speaker 1: sixteen and its fate in just a moment, but first 249 00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:48,440 Speaker 1: let's take a quick break. The Japanese design for the 250 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:53,000 Speaker 1: PC Engine was incredibly efficient and made the PC Engine 251 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:58,160 Speaker 1: one of the smallest consoles. Ever, it's very compact. The 252 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:03,280 Speaker 1: original machine ran on artridges called WHO cards, and they 253 00:16:03,280 --> 00:16:06,400 Speaker 1: were about the dimension of a credit card, but thicker, 254 00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:10,760 Speaker 1: and the CD ROM peripheral meant game designers could take 255 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:13,880 Speaker 1: advantage of the increased storage capacity of the compact disc 256 00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:17,560 Speaker 1: to build longer, more intricate games, though they were still 257 00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:20,760 Speaker 1: limited by the capabilities of the processor and the chips 258 00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:23,480 Speaker 1: and the Turbographics sixteen. It's not like those games can 259 00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:27,120 Speaker 1: magically just be better, uh as far as graphics and 260 00:16:27,240 --> 00:16:30,760 Speaker 1: sound word concern It also had only one game control 261 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:34,320 Speaker 1: report on the console, though you could purchase a peripheral 262 00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:37,240 Speaker 1: called a Turbo Tap to allow you to plug into 263 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:41,000 Speaker 1: up to five controllers onto that system. And the Turbo 264 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:45,840 Speaker 1: Graphics sixteen wasn't nearly as small the US version as 265 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:50,000 Speaker 1: the Japanese version of that same machine, So the form 266 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:53,600 Speaker 1: factor for the Turbo Graphics sixteen is different from the 267 00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:56,760 Speaker 1: PC Engine, even though the guts are exactly the same, 268 00:16:57,560 --> 00:17:00,840 Speaker 1: and this was done on purpose. The general full pilosophy 269 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:06,000 Speaker 1: was that Americans would prefer something bigger and more futuristic 270 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:11,480 Speaker 1: looking and more that for Americans, you wanted to have 271 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:17,080 Speaker 1: a bigger console because the perceived uh quality, the perceived 272 00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:21,439 Speaker 1: value of the console would be greater because it was bigger. 273 00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:24,840 Speaker 1: In other words, if you're selling something that was smaller, 274 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:27,520 Speaker 1: even though it was smaller because it was very well engineered, 275 00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:31,200 Speaker 1: people would think, well, that's not worth the money they're 276 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:34,320 Speaker 1: asking because look at the size of the thing. They 277 00:17:34,359 --> 00:17:36,840 Speaker 1: were thinking about the size of the form factor, not 278 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:42,439 Speaker 1: necessarily its performance. The PC engine did quite well in Japan, 279 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:47,800 Speaker 1: but the Turbographics sixteen really never matched that performance here 280 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:52,840 Speaker 1: in North America. The console costs one dollars and nine 281 00:17:53,359 --> 00:17:56,800 Speaker 1: cents in the US upon hitting store shelves, making it 282 00:17:56,880 --> 00:18:00,960 Speaker 1: nearly twice as expensive as the ness, and if you 283 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:04,199 Speaker 1: wanted to add that CD ROM peripheral at the end 284 00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:06,959 Speaker 1: of nineteen nine, you would have to shell out an 285 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:11,720 Speaker 1: additional three hundred nine dollars and cents. That was a 286 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:14,760 Speaker 1: heck of a steep price to pay, and very few 287 00:18:14,800 --> 00:18:18,160 Speaker 1: people did it. I mean, you're talking about a peripheral. 288 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:22,119 Speaker 1: That's two hundred dollars more than the base console that 289 00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:26,800 Speaker 1: it is augmenting. Now, what this meant for developers was 290 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:29,080 Speaker 1: that there were so few people who are buying the 291 00:18:29,119 --> 00:18:33,320 Speaker 1: CD ROM peripheral, it didn't make sense to dedicate resources 292 00:18:33,359 --> 00:18:37,359 Speaker 1: in a game development studio to build games for that peripheral, 293 00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:41,480 Speaker 1: so it would become a very expensive add on to 294 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:45,880 Speaker 1: a video game console that was largely unsupported. So gamers 295 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:49,000 Speaker 1: tend to blame the failure of the Turbographics sixteen in 296 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:53,440 Speaker 1: the US on several factors, such as a lackluster video 297 00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:59,800 Speaker 1: game library. Nintendo was really busy working with deals uh 298 00:19:00,119 --> 00:19:05,200 Speaker 1: on third party developers into what amounted to exclusivity deals, 299 00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:08,720 Speaker 1: like the developers weren't really able to develop for other platforms, 300 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:11,920 Speaker 1: there was no real marketing support in the United States, 301 00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:14,400 Speaker 1: and there was also the debut of another system I'll 302 00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:17,359 Speaker 1: get to in just a moment that was technically superior 303 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:23,000 Speaker 1: to the Turbographics sixteen. By nine, NC decided that enough 304 00:19:23,080 --> 00:19:27,320 Speaker 1: was enough and discontinued production of the console. The company 305 00:19:27,359 --> 00:19:30,960 Speaker 1: would go on to produce a thirty two bit successor 306 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:35,080 Speaker 1: called the PCFX, but that was only ever released in 307 00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:39,280 Speaker 1: Japan in n One other thing to add, there is 308 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:43,080 Speaker 1: a Turbo Graphics sixteen mini consoles scheduled to come out 309 00:19:43,119 --> 00:19:46,840 Speaker 1: in March twenty with fifty seven games those Some of 310 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:50,480 Speaker 1: those games are the English and Japanese versions of the 311 00:19:50,560 --> 00:19:53,560 Speaker 1: same title, so you get a couple of duplicates, but 312 00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:56,520 Speaker 1: they are you know, one of them has been regionalized 313 00:19:56,600 --> 00:19:59,600 Speaker 1: for the United States and probably has slightly different content 314 00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:02,600 Speaker 1: than the original Japanese version. But if you were ever 315 00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:05,320 Speaker 1: curious about the Turbo Graphics sixteen, you can actually pick 316 00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:08,760 Speaker 1: up one of these Turbo Graphics sixteen minis and for 317 00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:12,800 Speaker 1: about a hundred bucks to try it out. Now let's 318 00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:16,520 Speaker 1: shift gears and talk about the Sega Genesis launch in 319 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:20,480 Speaker 1: North America. This is a console that had also already 320 00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:25,080 Speaker 1: premiered in Japan. This one came out nineteen under its 321 00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:28,879 Speaker 1: original name, which was the Sega Mega Drive, but it 322 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:32,240 Speaker 1: was brand new over here in the United States nineteen nine. 323 00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:35,600 Speaker 1: Over Here we called it the Genesis, and pretty much 324 00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:38,960 Speaker 1: everywhere else in the world it remained the Mega Drive. Also, 325 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:41,320 Speaker 1: this is where we get another qualifier for that Turbo 326 00:20:41,359 --> 00:20:46,160 Speaker 1: Graphics sixteen see In Japan, the PC Engine, also known 327 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:51,320 Speaker 1: as the Turbo Graphics sixteen launched first, but in North America, 328 00:20:51,760 --> 00:20:56,680 Speaker 1: the Genesis or the Mega Drive released on August fourteenth, 329 00:20:56,760 --> 00:21:01,240 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty nine, and the Turbographics sixteen least on August 330 00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:04,360 Speaker 1: twenty nine of that same year, so here in the States, 331 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:08,760 Speaker 1: the first sixteen bit game system really goes to the Genesis. 332 00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:12,800 Speaker 1: More on that in a second. Sega had previously attempted 333 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:17,320 Speaker 1: to compete with Nintendo and also a flailing Atari, with 334 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:20,439 Speaker 1: the Sega Master System a few years earlier, but that 335 00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:22,480 Speaker 1: console didn't get a whole lot of lo from the 336 00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:25,520 Speaker 1: gaming community at large in the United States. It did 337 00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:28,720 Speaker 1: much better in places like Europe, and in Brazil it 338 00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:32,879 Speaker 1: became a dominant video game console. There was an even 339 00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:36,440 Speaker 1: earlier Sega video game console called the SG one thousand, 340 00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:40,320 Speaker 1: but that one never launched in North America at all. Now, 341 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:44,240 Speaker 1: the story goes that Sega originally intended the Mega Drive 342 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:48,240 Speaker 1: or Genesis to be another eight bit video game system 343 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:52,720 Speaker 1: like the Nintendo Entertainment System, but then Sega executives heard 344 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:56,320 Speaker 1: rumor that Nintendo was developing the next generation of video 345 00:21:56,359 --> 00:22:00,800 Speaker 1: game hardware, and they didn't want to trade behind the 346 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:04,840 Speaker 1: dominant company in home video games. On a technical level, Again, 347 00:22:05,400 --> 00:22:07,160 Speaker 1: they didn't want to have to try and catch up. 348 00:22:07,359 --> 00:22:10,200 Speaker 1: They definitely didn't want to release an eight bit system 349 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,320 Speaker 1: just a year or two before a sixteen bit system 350 00:22:13,359 --> 00:22:16,760 Speaker 1: from Nintendo. So they set a big goal, and that 351 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:19,200 Speaker 1: was to be the first to market with a true 352 00:22:19,359 --> 00:22:24,280 Speaker 1: sixteen bit video game system. Unlike the Turbographics sixteen, the 353 00:22:24,359 --> 00:22:27,840 Speaker 1: CPU and the Sega Genesis is a real, honest to 354 00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:32,080 Speaker 1: goodness sixteen bit CPU. So not only did it come 355 00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:35,320 Speaker 1: out first in the States, it could also boast being 356 00:22:35,359 --> 00:22:40,080 Speaker 1: more technologically advanced than the console that released right after 357 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:44,280 Speaker 1: it came out. In addition to the more powerful CPU, 358 00:22:44,359 --> 00:22:47,720 Speaker 1: the Genesis had seventy two kilobytes of RAM and sixty 359 00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:51,760 Speaker 1: four kilobytes of video RAM. It had a color palette 360 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:54,520 Speaker 1: of five hundred twelve colors and was able to show 361 00:22:54,640 --> 00:22:58,040 Speaker 1: up to sixty one on screen at once, so in 362 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:01,920 Speaker 1: that way, it was actually lagging by hind the Turbographics sixteen, 363 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:05,119 Speaker 1: which could show more colors on screen at a single moment. 364 00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:08,879 Speaker 1: One feature that I don't think was widely known in 365 00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:12,720 Speaker 1: the US was that the Sega Genesis was also backwards 366 00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:16,600 Speaker 1: compatible with the Sega Master System. That was, if you 367 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:21,400 Speaker 1: bought the peripheral called the power Base Converter, which makes 368 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:24,199 Speaker 1: it sound like a video game peripheral that Luke Skywalker 369 00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:28,320 Speaker 1: would use. The original game bundled with the Sega Genesis 370 00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:31,919 Speaker 1: was Altered Beasts, which is a pretty trippy game that 371 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:34,720 Speaker 1: I used to play in the arcades. And unlike the 372 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:39,720 Speaker 1: NBC launch of the Turbographics sixteen, which seemed anemic from 373 00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:43,760 Speaker 1: a marketing perspective in the US, Sega North America came 374 00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:48,359 Speaker 1: out like guns a blazon to promote the Genesis, including 375 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:52,399 Speaker 1: commercials with celebrity appearances, and that helped push the Genesis 376 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:57,360 Speaker 1: into a solid second place behind Nintendo Entertainment System, even 377 00:23:57,359 --> 00:24:00,080 Speaker 1: though the NES was still an eight bit system. The 378 00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:03,639 Speaker 1: Turbo Graphics sixteen became and also ran in the United 379 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:06,280 Speaker 1: States and didn't make much of a dent. Now. While 380 00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:09,560 Speaker 1: the Genesis did not immediately overtake Nintendo's market share in 381 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:13,040 Speaker 1: North America, that would change with the introduction of a 382 00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:16,720 Speaker 1: certain speedy, little blue guy called Sonic a couple of 383 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:20,080 Speaker 1: years later. That's when we saw Sega on top in 384 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:23,240 Speaker 1: the console wars for a short while, and it didn't 385 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:25,879 Speaker 1: hurt that. At the same time, the company dropped the 386 00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:30,640 Speaker 1: price for the Sega Genesis console, so it shot ahead 387 00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:33,479 Speaker 1: for at least a short while in the United States. 388 00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:37,200 Speaker 1: Speaking of price, when the Genesis first went on the market, 389 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:40,960 Speaker 1: it would set you back one eighty nine dollars, making 390 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:43,879 Speaker 1: it just a hundred dollars more than a Nintendo Game 391 00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:47,359 Speaker 1: Boy at that same time. Not long after both the 392 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:51,480 Speaker 1: Genesis and the Turbo Graphics sixteen hit the market, another 393 00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:54,560 Speaker 1: system went gold in North America, and this was a 394 00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:59,600 Speaker 1: system from an established American name in video games. It 395 00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:04,360 Speaker 1: came on the former heavyweight champion of home gaming, Atari, 396 00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:09,480 Speaker 1: and it was poised to revolutionize handheld gaming. The system 397 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:13,639 Speaker 1: was the Atari Links, which actually didn't start out as 398 00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:18,520 Speaker 1: an Atari handheld system at all. Instead, it began as 399 00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:21,960 Speaker 1: a project at a company called Epics E P y 400 00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:26,800 Speaker 1: X in eighty six or early seven. A couple of 401 00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:31,240 Speaker 1: the designers, Dave Needle and R. J. Michael, had worked 402 00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:36,479 Speaker 1: on the original Amiga computer system design. Like Nintendo, they 403 00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:39,960 Speaker 1: wanted to bring handheld gaming into the next era, and 404 00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:43,320 Speaker 1: their design was much more ambitious than the game Boy was. 405 00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:45,680 Speaker 1: And keep in mind this was being developed at the 406 00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:49,160 Speaker 1: same time that the game Boy was being developed. This 407 00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:53,359 Speaker 1: was called the Handy in epics. It was the code 408 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:55,720 Speaker 1: name for it. The less said about that, the better, 409 00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:59,720 Speaker 1: I think. But it was a beefy handheld system. If 410 00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:03,200 Speaker 1: you're familiar with the Amiga, then that statement probably doesn't 411 00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:05,480 Speaker 1: come as much of the surprise because the Amiga was 412 00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:09,440 Speaker 1: known as a computer with superior graphics and sound at 413 00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:13,760 Speaker 1: the time of its production. The handheld console called the 414 00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:17,720 Speaker 1: Handy would follow a similar path. So the CPU and 415 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:22,439 Speaker 1: the Handy slash Links was an eight bit processor like 416 00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:26,560 Speaker 1: that of the Turbographics sixteen and the No Entertainment System, 417 00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:31,520 Speaker 1: but it also had two coprocessors nicknamed Suzie and Mikey, 418 00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:34,880 Speaker 1: and these were custom built sixteen bit chips running at 419 00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:37,840 Speaker 1: a clock speed of sixteen mega hurts. It also had 420 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:42,320 Speaker 1: a math coprocessor. These chips gave the future Links the 421 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:49,159 Speaker 1: ability to create sophisticated, colorful gaming experiences. In fact, the 422 00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:52,159 Speaker 1: device would be able to display up to four thousand, 423 00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:56,160 Speaker 1: ninety six colors total, though it could only show sixteen 424 00:26:56,280 --> 00:27:00,960 Speaker 1: simultaneous colors per scan line on the screen. The standard 425 00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:05,160 Speaker 1: resolution was one hundred sixty pixels by one hundred two pixels, 426 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:08,959 Speaker 1: with a sort of faux high resolution mode capable of 427 00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:11,720 Speaker 1: displaying a picture of up to four hundred eighty by 428 00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:15,320 Speaker 1: one hundred two pixels. The screen itself measured just three 429 00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:18,200 Speaker 1: and a half inches on the diagonal, so again, at 430 00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:21,040 Speaker 1: that small of a screen, the resolution was pretty darn good, 431 00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:23,600 Speaker 1: and it could display up to a hundred eight on 432 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:27,000 Speaker 1: screen sprites at the same time and could support a 433 00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:30,840 Speaker 1: frame rate of up to seventy frames per second. It 434 00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:33,919 Speaker 1: was a much bigger than the Game Boy when it 435 00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:37,720 Speaker 1: came out, almost twice as wide as the Game Boy 436 00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:41,280 Speaker 1: was tall, and like the Game Boy, it was a 437 00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:44,880 Speaker 1: cartridge based system, and it also had a D pad 438 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,360 Speaker 1: for control and two pairs of buttons in the original 439 00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:50,280 Speaker 1: build out for the device, so there was an A 440 00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:52,840 Speaker 1: button and a B button, and then there was another 441 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:55,600 Speaker 1: A button and a B button yep, but had two 442 00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:58,800 Speaker 1: sets of A B buttons. One set was at the 443 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:01,840 Speaker 1: top right side aid which had the A and the 444 00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:06,280 Speaker 1: B upside down from the viewers perspective, and one set 445 00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:11,000 Speaker 1: at the bottom right side, And this was so that 446 00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:13,040 Speaker 1: you could, with the push of a couple of other 447 00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:16,720 Speaker 1: system buttons, flipped the device around so you can actually 448 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:19,080 Speaker 1: control the D pad with your right hand instead of 449 00:28:19,119 --> 00:28:21,400 Speaker 1: your left hand, and you can use your left hand 450 00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:24,840 Speaker 1: to control the buttons, so it was an ambidexterous device. 451 00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:29,080 Speaker 1: As a left hander, I appreciate that design decision. Now, 452 00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:32,280 Speaker 1: like the game Boy, you could also link a bunch 453 00:28:32,359 --> 00:28:34,920 Speaker 1: of these together if you had the right cables and 454 00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:38,160 Speaker 1: had the standard volume dial, had a brightness dial, and 455 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:40,720 Speaker 1: had a few control buttons to go through game menus 456 00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:43,560 Speaker 1: and stuff. It had a headphone jack and had a 457 00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:45,880 Speaker 1: power jack, and it also had a speaker on the 458 00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:48,760 Speaker 1: right side of the device where the buttons were. There 459 00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:53,440 Speaker 1: was a whole lot of unused space inside the links 460 00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:58,520 Speaker 1: build out of the system, and that's because executives at 461 00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:01,800 Speaker 1: Atari thought the public would want a larger form factor. 462 00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:06,080 Speaker 1: We're again getting into that perceived value philosophy, the idea 463 00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:10,320 Speaker 1: that if this console looks small, people are not gonna 464 00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:13,240 Speaker 1: think it's worth paying a premium price for it, so 465 00:29:13,280 --> 00:29:15,880 Speaker 1: you've got to make it big and clunky. That turned 466 00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:18,160 Speaker 1: out to be a mistake and one of the reasons 467 00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:21,760 Speaker 1: for the links to redesign that would follow a short 468 00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:26,760 Speaker 1: time later. All this power and versatility came with a cost, 469 00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:32,360 Speaker 1: and that cost was battery life. The handy slash links 470 00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:36,360 Speaker 1: required six double a batteries, so two more double as 471 00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:39,760 Speaker 1: than the game Boy used, or you could get a 472 00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:42,800 Speaker 1: special battery pack for it, or you could use an 473 00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:46,600 Speaker 1: AC adapter and plug it into the wall. If you 474 00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:50,560 Speaker 1: were using the regular double A batteries, those batteries drained 475 00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:54,360 Speaker 1: very quickly. Now, remember the game Boy might last more 476 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:57,680 Speaker 1: than twelve or fourteen hours on a set of double 477 00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:00,960 Speaker 1: A batteries, and again into that was claiming up to 478 00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:06,120 Speaker 1: thirty hours. The links would go through six double a's 479 00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:10,160 Speaker 1: in about four hours of play. A redesign that links 480 00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:13,000 Speaker 1: to that would come a little bit later, would actually 481 00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:17,640 Speaker 1: improve that power consumption a little bit, making it more 482 00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:21,120 Speaker 1: of a five hour run time instead of four. Now, 483 00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:24,320 Speaker 1: this was made doubly frustrating due to some games having 484 00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:26,880 Speaker 1: a full run time of like an hour and a half, 485 00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:29,560 Speaker 1: and there was no way to save your progress when 486 00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:32,120 Speaker 1: you're playing a game. So if you start a game 487 00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:34,640 Speaker 1: and your intent is I'm gonna play this game, I'm 488 00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:36,600 Speaker 1: gonna get to the end of this game, and it 489 00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:38,280 Speaker 1: takes you an hour and a half to play through, 490 00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:40,680 Speaker 1: it meant you needed to be sure that you had 491 00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:44,040 Speaker 1: fresh batteries in your links when you started the game, 492 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:46,640 Speaker 1: or else you could end up losing an entire session 493 00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:49,680 Speaker 1: just as things were getting good because the batteries would 494 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:53,080 Speaker 1: drain and the console would just turn off in the 495 00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,920 Speaker 1: middle of your game. Um, more likely you're going to 496 00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:58,760 Speaker 1: plug it in, but that kind of defeats the whole 497 00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:01,520 Speaker 1: purpose of the portable, so it right well. During the 498 00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:05,480 Speaker 1: design and development process, Epics had run into some financial 499 00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:08,560 Speaker 1: problems and lack the resources needed to go into full 500 00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:12,080 Speaker 1: production on a new device, so the company approached a 501 00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:16,680 Speaker 1: couple of different possible partners. Stories mentioned companies like Nintendo 502 00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:20,160 Speaker 1: and Sega, but that didn't go anywhere, and it would 503 00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:24,240 Speaker 1: be Atari that would jump in and try to snatch 504 00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:28,840 Speaker 1: this opportunity to produce a really cool handheld gaming system. Now, 505 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:32,480 Speaker 1: at the time, Atari was trailing way behind in the 506 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:36,600 Speaker 1: video game market as an console manufacturer anyway, and the 507 00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:40,320 Speaker 1: story goes that Atari agreed to produce the rebranded handy 508 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:45,560 Speaker 1: officially rebranded as The Links, possibly as far back as seven, 509 00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:49,200 Speaker 1: but it would actually be two years before it finally 510 00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:53,600 Speaker 1: released The Links. Now, I've seen other sources that dispute 511 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:57,280 Speaker 1: this and suggest that Atari really only got involved as 512 00:31:57,360 --> 00:32:02,200 Speaker 1: late as January nineteen nine, which makes more sense because 513 00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:05,760 Speaker 1: that would say that the company didn't really sit on 514 00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:10,920 Speaker 1: the design. Instead, that time was taken up redesigning the 515 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:14,320 Speaker 1: handy into the links. But it was definitely Attari that 516 00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:18,080 Speaker 1: told the engineers to make the form factor larger again 517 00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:25,680 Speaker 1: to give that perceived value UH added into the Console Boy. 518 00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:30,840 Speaker 1: The eighties, fun times, clunky times. I've got more to 519 00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:34,560 Speaker 1: say about nine and video games, and I'll do that 520 00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:45,440 Speaker 1: after we take this quick break back to the Atari Links. 521 00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:49,360 Speaker 1: The original retail price for the Atari Links was one 522 00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:55,760 Speaker 1: seventy nine dollars cents, so just ten dollars shy of 523 00:32:55,800 --> 00:32:58,880 Speaker 1: being both a cool Benjamin more than the Game Boy, 524 00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:03,840 Speaker 1: or the same price as a Sega Genesis. But look 525 00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:06,880 Speaker 1: at what you got for all that extra money. You'd 526 00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:10,959 Speaker 1: have a full color screen on a handheld portable device. 527 00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:16,360 Speaker 1: You have this innovative, ambidexterous design. But then again, the 528 00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:19,200 Speaker 1: device was so large that it couldn't fit into the 529 00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:23,480 Speaker 1: pockets of even the jinkiest of Jinko jeans. If you 530 00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:25,800 Speaker 1: don't know what Jinkos are, you need to look them up. 531 00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:29,400 Speaker 1: It's j N c O S. Do an image search 532 00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:33,080 Speaker 1: and you can thank me later. Plus, with the batteries 533 00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:35,320 Speaker 1: draining in a few hours of play and made this 534 00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:39,560 Speaker 1: portable system even less portable. It was less of a 535 00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:42,080 Speaker 1: hassle to just play it well. Was plugged into a 536 00:33:42,080 --> 00:33:45,240 Speaker 1: power source in a wall, so that took that whole 537 00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:48,720 Speaker 1: portability factor out of the picture pretty much. While Atari 538 00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:53,080 Speaker 1: launched the Links in time for the holiday shopping season, 539 00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:55,720 Speaker 1: it was a hard sell compared to the Game Boy, 540 00:33:56,320 --> 00:34:00,520 Speaker 1: Nintendo's handhold console was cheaper the man he had a 541 00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:04,000 Speaker 1: better reputation in home video games than Atari did. At 542 00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:07,440 Speaker 1: that point, there were about twenty games available for the 543 00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:11,480 Speaker 1: Game Boy, whereas the Links only had five. The price 544 00:34:11,560 --> 00:34:14,520 Speaker 1: difference between the systems played a huge part in the 545 00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:18,720 Speaker 1: decision making process, as did the battery life, and over time, 546 00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:22,239 Speaker 1: the Links library would grow to include ports of some 547 00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:25,920 Speaker 1: of the most popular arcade titles in Natari's library. Uh 548 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:28,840 Speaker 1: those were largely viewed as being decent games, but the 549 00:34:28,880 --> 00:34:32,000 Speaker 1: same can't be said of many of the original titles 550 00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:35,399 Speaker 1: that were developed specifically for the Links. Many of those 551 00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:40,439 Speaker 1: were seen as being substandard games. But the Game Boy 552 00:34:40,560 --> 00:34:43,720 Speaker 1: also had a really good head start and it never 553 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:47,680 Speaker 1: led up. Plus, Sega would come out with its own 554 00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:51,000 Speaker 1: full color handheld system like a little bit later and 555 00:34:51,640 --> 00:34:55,000 Speaker 1: complement it with a pretty large library of games. So 556 00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:58,359 Speaker 1: on top of that, Links never launched in Japan at all, 557 00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:02,600 Speaker 1: and it only got limited production runs for European markets, 558 00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:06,160 Speaker 1: so Atari had really limited where it could succeed with 559 00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:10,000 Speaker 1: the Links. To make matters worse, Atari executives decided to 560 00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:13,480 Speaker 1: discontinue the Links after a couple of years in order 561 00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:16,520 Speaker 1: to focus on other console systems that it was going 562 00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:20,840 Speaker 1: to put out, and ultimately those other console systems failed 563 00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:24,400 Speaker 1: in the market. So some people say that's possible that 564 00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:26,799 Speaker 1: if Attari had just stuck with the Links a little 565 00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:30,080 Speaker 1: bit longer, it might have carved out a solid spot 566 00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:34,920 Speaker 1: with a larger gaming audience, particularly after the system redesign 567 00:35:35,320 --> 00:35:39,120 Speaker 1: that produced a slightly smaller game system with slightly better 568 00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:43,160 Speaker 1: battery life. The Links proved that the tech was there 569 00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:48,040 Speaker 1: to make a pretty sophisticated handheld gaming system, something definitely 570 00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:51,080 Speaker 1: beyond what the game Boy was doing. But it also 571 00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:57,680 Speaker 1: helped establish that Nintendo's philosophy regarding technical sophistication could hold true. 572 00:35:58,080 --> 00:36:01,759 Speaker 1: See for many years, Nintendo has focused more on the 573 00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:07,680 Speaker 1: gamer experience as a whole rather than on technical specifications 574 00:36:07,719 --> 00:36:10,960 Speaker 1: and technical superiority, and you can definitely see this in 575 00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:15,719 Speaker 1: modern consoles like the Nintendo Switch versus the Xbox One 576 00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:20,160 Speaker 1: or the Sony PlayStation four. The Switch can't measure up 577 00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:23,720 Speaker 1: to the text specs of either of those other consoles, 578 00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:27,320 Speaker 1: but it does have innovative mechanics and a foreign factor 579 00:36:27,400 --> 00:36:30,080 Speaker 1: that allows players to experience games in a different way 580 00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:36,080 Speaker 1: than they would with those other consoles. All right, October, 581 00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:40,120 Speaker 1: that was a heck of a month for video gamers. 582 00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:43,040 Speaker 1: The Atari Links was just one piece of gaming technology 583 00:36:43,080 --> 00:36:46,560 Speaker 1: to debut that month. Another is one of those iconic 584 00:36:46,680 --> 00:36:49,759 Speaker 1: video game peripherals in the nineteen eighties, one that I 585 00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:51,920 Speaker 1: actually had a chance to play with because a buddy 586 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:54,799 Speaker 1: of mine owned one, and it's one that I would 587 00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:59,759 Speaker 1: argue was much better in concept than execution, and that 588 00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:04,520 Speaker 1: be the Nintendo Power Glove. And I really should do 589 00:37:04,560 --> 00:37:07,839 Speaker 1: a whole episode on this because the history is fascinating, 590 00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:10,480 Speaker 1: but I'll have to give a super shortened version of 591 00:37:10,520 --> 00:37:13,959 Speaker 1: it for this episode. And the history does not begin 592 00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:17,600 Speaker 1: with Nintendo. In fact, Nintendo was not involved in producing 593 00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:21,360 Speaker 1: the Power Glove apart from granting its licensing. It was 594 00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:24,480 Speaker 1: the toy company Mattel that was responsible for bringing the 595 00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:27,640 Speaker 1: Power Glove to market, But even Mattel doesn't factor into 596 00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:31,440 Speaker 1: this story until much later in its In its progression, 597 00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:34,719 Speaker 1: the story of the power glove really begins in the 598 00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:38,520 Speaker 1: late nineteen seventies. There was a guy named Thomas Zimmerman 599 00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:41,879 Speaker 1: who was daydreaming about a computer interface that would allow 600 00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:45,440 Speaker 1: a user to interact with a program through just your controls. 601 00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:48,919 Speaker 1: And he was largely inspired to do this because as 602 00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:53,160 Speaker 1: a kid, he always liked to imagine himself conducting an 603 00:37:53,239 --> 00:37:55,560 Speaker 1: orchestra when he was listening to music. So, you do 604 00:37:55,640 --> 00:37:59,800 Speaker 1: like this air conducting, Well, what if you could do 605 00:37:59,840 --> 00:38:02,719 Speaker 1: that real? You would have to have a software program 606 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:05,560 Speaker 1: that can create orchestral sounds, and you would have to 607 00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:09,200 Speaker 1: have some sort of interface to interpret hand movements and 608 00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:13,440 Speaker 1: gestures in order to control the program. So Zimmerman was 609 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:16,200 Speaker 1: mulling this over for a few years, and eventually he 610 00:38:16,239 --> 00:38:19,759 Speaker 1: met up with another guy, famous guy named Jaron Lanier, 611 00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:22,120 Speaker 1: and he met with him in the nineteen eighties. The 612 00:38:22,120 --> 00:38:24,720 Speaker 1: two of them would work a little bit with Atari, 613 00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:28,400 Speaker 1: and Lanier is the guy who coined the phrase virtual reality. 614 00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:31,200 Speaker 1: There's been an important figure in the world of tech 615 00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:34,880 Speaker 1: and futurism for ages. The two of them eventually created 616 00:38:34,920 --> 00:38:39,880 Speaker 1: a company called Visual Programming Language. Zimmerman had created a 617 00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:43,680 Speaker 1: prototype glove and even patented it, and it used an 618 00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:47,759 Speaker 1: LED tube and a detector and it would use these 619 00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:52,280 Speaker 1: to detect finger motions. To sense motions of the different 620 00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:56,200 Speaker 1: fingers inside the glove, Zimmerman created a program that allowed 621 00:38:56,320 --> 00:39:00,160 Speaker 1: users to spell out letters using finger spelling, and then 622 00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:02,279 Speaker 1: the letters that they were spelling with their fingers would 623 00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:07,799 Speaker 1: appear on computer screen. Well Atari offered to purchase the 624 00:39:07,920 --> 00:39:12,960 Speaker 1: intellectual property for Zimmerman's glove device for ten thousand dollars, 625 00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:18,000 Speaker 1: but Zimmerman wisely turned down that offer. With Lanier, Zimmerman 626 00:39:18,080 --> 00:39:21,640 Speaker 1: created numerous demos for the device, now called the Data Glove, 627 00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:25,000 Speaker 1: and Zimmerman kept working on the design of the glove itself. 628 00:39:25,120 --> 00:39:29,120 Speaker 1: He switched to ultrasonic sensors to detect glove positions and 629 00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:32,560 Speaker 1: multiple dimensions that allowed for a three D representation of 630 00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:37,320 Speaker 1: a hand in a virtual space. NASA soon became a customer, 631 00:39:37,719 --> 00:39:40,640 Speaker 1: as the agency was exploring the possibilities of using VR 632 00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:45,239 Speaker 1: for all sorts of stuff with their various projects. Now 633 00:39:45,239 --> 00:39:50,120 Speaker 1: the Data Glove was a hit for very specific use 634 00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:55,040 Speaker 1: cases with large companies and organizations. Because it cost ten 635 00:39:55,440 --> 00:39:59,799 Speaker 1: thousand dollars to buy one, just one. Remember, Atari was 636 00:39:59,800 --> 00:40:03,120 Speaker 1: going to give ten thousand dollars for the rights to 637 00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:07,040 Speaker 1: the technology. Turned out that Zimmerman and Lanier were able 638 00:40:07,080 --> 00:40:11,239 Speaker 1: to sell the data glove to agencies and companies for 639 00:40:11,320 --> 00:40:14,600 Speaker 1: ten thousand dollars a pop. So this minute was not 640 00:40:14,719 --> 00:40:18,000 Speaker 1: exactly ready for the home market. But Lanier thought there 641 00:40:18,040 --> 00:40:21,680 Speaker 1: could be potential for leveraging that type of technology for 642 00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:26,359 Speaker 1: a consumer product with some real heavy tweaking, and then 643 00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:29,960 Speaker 1: he reached out to a company called Abraham's Gentile Entertainment 644 00:40:30,120 --> 00:40:34,120 Speaker 1: or a GE to look for consumer applications of the 645 00:40:34,200 --> 00:40:37,439 Speaker 1: underlying technology. And it was a GE that was able 646 00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:40,680 Speaker 1: to convince Mattel to take this idea and create a 647 00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:44,680 Speaker 1: video game system peripheral from it, essentially a video game 648 00:40:44,719 --> 00:40:49,600 Speaker 1: controller in glove form. Now, at the pitch meeting for Mattel, 649 00:40:50,080 --> 00:40:53,160 Speaker 1: the team brought in a data glove and a computer 650 00:40:53,239 --> 00:40:57,360 Speaker 1: system that allowed them to hook up the computer system 651 00:40:57,400 --> 00:41:00,879 Speaker 1: to a Nintendo entertainment system. So it was a very 652 00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:05,200 Speaker 1: Yankee way to create the data glove as a control 653 00:41:05,239 --> 00:41:09,440 Speaker 1: system for the Nintendo. They had the CEO of Mattel, 654 00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:13,600 Speaker 1: a woman named Jill Barad, try this glove on and 655 00:41:13,640 --> 00:41:17,200 Speaker 1: then she played a game of Nintendo Punch Out. So 656 00:41:17,280 --> 00:41:19,920 Speaker 1: she goes up against glass Joe. That's the first opponent 657 00:41:20,080 --> 00:41:23,200 Speaker 1: you face in this video game, and according to the story, 658 00:41:23,480 --> 00:41:27,480 Speaker 1: Barad knocked out Joe cold, which surprised her because she 659 00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:30,160 Speaker 1: wasn't really a video games kind of person. But she 660 00:41:30,239 --> 00:41:34,920 Speaker 1: was immediately convinced that this was a killer product. But 661 00:41:35,920 --> 00:41:40,000 Speaker 1: this was also a super high tech version of that product. 662 00:41:40,560 --> 00:41:43,960 Speaker 1: This was a ten thousand dollar piece of equipment hooked 663 00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:47,640 Speaker 1: up to a computer system that also costs several thousand dollars. 664 00:41:48,160 --> 00:41:49,680 Speaker 1: So they were gonna have to figure out a way 665 00:41:49,760 --> 00:41:53,720 Speaker 1: of taking this concept and turning it into a video 666 00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:58,880 Speaker 1: game console peripheral with the materials cost of just maybe 667 00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:02,319 Speaker 1: sixteen to twenty six dollars, because any more than that 668 00:42:02,719 --> 00:42:06,200 Speaker 1: and Mattel would not see a decent enough profit when 669 00:42:06,239 --> 00:42:09,880 Speaker 1: selling it at its full retail price. So they had 670 00:42:09,920 --> 00:42:12,040 Speaker 1: to figure out, how can we take this idea and 671 00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:15,480 Speaker 1: make it affordable, and we can't do it the way 672 00:42:15,520 --> 00:42:19,000 Speaker 1: that it was done for the data glove. Mattel licensed 673 00:42:19,160 --> 00:42:22,040 Speaker 1: the patent and their engineers got to work. It wasn't 674 00:42:22,200 --> 00:42:24,480 Speaker 1: Lanier and Zimmerman who were working on it. This was 675 00:42:24,560 --> 00:42:28,160 Speaker 1: Mattel's people, and they had a very short time frame 676 00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:31,240 Speaker 1: to turn this around because broad really wanted the device 677 00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:34,400 Speaker 1: ready for the nineteen eighty nine holiday season, and it 678 00:42:34,480 --> 00:42:38,200 Speaker 1: was when Mattel had made the decision to move on this. 679 00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:42,640 Speaker 1: They essentially had about nine months to develop the technology 680 00:42:42,719 --> 00:42:45,000 Speaker 1: and make it work and get it raid for market, 681 00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:50,920 Speaker 1: and that's super crunch time. The data glove relied on 682 00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:53,880 Speaker 1: fiber optic lines, but those would not hold up to 683 00:42:53,920 --> 00:42:57,280 Speaker 1: the type of use that video game kid would put 684 00:42:57,320 --> 00:42:59,920 Speaker 1: this glove through, so they had to find a different 685 00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:03,560 Speaker 1: way to achieve the same outcome. The team found a 686 00:43:03,600 --> 00:43:07,120 Speaker 1: work around by using milar sheets and Flexible inc. To 687 00:43:07,239 --> 00:43:11,239 Speaker 1: create bend sensors for the fingers, and it did this 688 00:43:11,320 --> 00:43:15,439 Speaker 1: by measuring changes in electrical resistance. As the material would bend, 689 00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:19,400 Speaker 1: its electrical resistance would change, and so that's what would 690 00:43:19,440 --> 00:43:24,000 Speaker 1: indicate to the micro controller on the glove that a 691 00:43:24,239 --> 00:43:28,320 Speaker 1: finger was being moved it was moving into a bending position. 692 00:43:29,160 --> 00:43:31,200 Speaker 1: The team also had to figure out how they should 693 00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:35,000 Speaker 1: size the glove to fit the largest number of potential customers. 694 00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:37,959 Speaker 1: If they made it too small or too big, then 695 00:43:38,280 --> 00:43:41,719 Speaker 1: they could ruin their market. They also decided not to 696 00:43:41,800 --> 00:43:46,640 Speaker 1: make a left handed version since the sinister people among us, 697 00:43:46,760 --> 00:43:50,960 Speaker 1: including myself, only make up about ten of the population anyway, 698 00:43:51,080 --> 00:43:54,080 Speaker 1: so why should we get any of the cool stuff? 699 00:43:54,480 --> 00:43:57,880 Speaker 1: Though in retrospect, I guess it's okay with the Nintendo 700 00:43:57,920 --> 00:44:01,040 Speaker 1: Power gloves. By the way, there was once a left 701 00:44:01,080 --> 00:44:06,319 Speaker 1: handed Nintendo Power glove shown in marketing material because the 702 00:44:06,360 --> 00:44:09,080 Speaker 1: poster for The Wizard the movie The Wizard had Fred 703 00:44:09,120 --> 00:44:16,440 Speaker 1: Savage wearing a Nintendo Power Glove on his left hand. Anyway, 704 00:44:16,520 --> 00:44:19,279 Speaker 1: like the Attari links, the engineers found that they needed 705 00:44:19,320 --> 00:44:22,359 Speaker 1: to find a form factor that gave the device this 706 00:44:22,520 --> 00:44:26,319 Speaker 1: perceived value because their original design, which was lighter and 707 00:44:26,400 --> 00:44:30,600 Speaker 1: less bulky, apparently didn't look like it was worth that 708 00:44:30,680 --> 00:44:34,680 Speaker 1: premium price. A Mattel executive said, nope, no one's gonna 709 00:44:34,719 --> 00:44:38,160 Speaker 1: pay eighty or ninety bucks for this thing. So by 710 00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:40,560 Speaker 1: the time they got to the final form factor and 711 00:44:40,680 --> 00:44:43,839 Speaker 1: they began giving early demos, there was already a lot 712 00:44:43,840 --> 00:44:47,479 Speaker 1: of excitement behind the scenes. Other retail companies were starting 713 00:44:47,480 --> 00:44:50,120 Speaker 1: to get excited and starting to put in orders. And 714 00:44:50,200 --> 00:44:52,960 Speaker 1: this was way before launch, so it already looked like 715 00:44:53,040 --> 00:44:55,160 Speaker 1: it was going to be a huge hit. And this 716 00:44:55,200 --> 00:44:58,120 Speaker 1: was before any customers got their chance to get their 717 00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:03,360 Speaker 1: hands in one, and the power Glove also really would 718 00:45:03,360 --> 00:45:06,839 Speaker 1: benefit from the popularity of the nes and also that 719 00:45:06,880 --> 00:45:10,719 Speaker 1: movie The Wizard helped, you know, popularize the idea of 720 00:45:10,760 --> 00:45:13,640 Speaker 1: the power glove, so Mattel would end up selling these 721 00:45:13,640 --> 00:45:18,360 Speaker 1: things like crazy. Now. Unfortunately, when it came to actually 722 00:45:18,440 --> 00:45:21,719 Speaker 1: using the power Glove to control a video game, the 723 00:45:21,800 --> 00:45:25,400 Speaker 1: performance of the glove really didn't match the marketing. The 724 00:45:25,440 --> 00:45:30,280 Speaker 1: motion controls typically had latency issues, specifically when the glove 725 00:45:30,360 --> 00:45:33,319 Speaker 1: had not been calibrated properly, and as it turns out, 726 00:45:33,480 --> 00:45:37,280 Speaker 1: it was not easy to calibrate, particularly not for kids 727 00:45:37,440 --> 00:45:40,120 Speaker 1: who just wanted to slide on that cool glove and 728 00:45:40,200 --> 00:45:43,640 Speaker 1: play some games. So it's hard to figure out where 729 00:45:43,640 --> 00:45:46,080 Speaker 1: the center of the screen was in relation to the 730 00:45:46,120 --> 00:45:48,759 Speaker 1: physical space in front of you. So it was hard 731 00:45:48,760 --> 00:45:50,319 Speaker 1: for you to figure out where should I put my 732 00:45:50,440 --> 00:45:53,600 Speaker 1: hand in order to do something like grab something on 733 00:45:53,760 --> 00:45:57,719 Speaker 1: screen or block an incoming attack, or whatever it might be. 734 00:45:58,200 --> 00:46:00,400 Speaker 1: It was hard to know where you needed to easically 735 00:46:00,600 --> 00:46:04,160 Speaker 1: position your hand in relation to the screen you're looking at. 736 00:46:04,160 --> 00:46:07,799 Speaker 1: You were looking at a two D representation in a 737 00:46:07,840 --> 00:46:11,920 Speaker 1: three D control environment, so the tech just wasn't terribly 738 00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:15,480 Speaker 1: easy to use, and it created a frustrating experience. The 739 00:46:15,480 --> 00:46:18,440 Speaker 1: Power Glove got a reputation for being a cool idea 740 00:46:18,640 --> 00:46:21,839 Speaker 1: that just didn't work very well, and that wasn't helped 741 00:46:21,840 --> 00:46:24,120 Speaker 1: by the fact that there was a shortage of games 742 00:46:24,160 --> 00:46:26,799 Speaker 1: that had been designed for the Power Glove, and not 743 00:46:26,920 --> 00:46:30,200 Speaker 1: even that many that have been optimized for the Power Glove. 744 00:46:30,719 --> 00:46:34,000 Speaker 1: So trying to play a game that was designed for 745 00:46:34,080 --> 00:46:39,000 Speaker 1: a traditional Nintendo controller with a non traditional Power Glove 746 00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:45,040 Speaker 1: controller made it frustrating, and Mattel would discontinue production in 747 00:46:45,200 --> 00:46:48,919 Speaker 1: nineteen nine, just a year after they introduced it. So 748 00:46:49,239 --> 00:46:53,000 Speaker 1: there you go. Those were the major video game products 749 00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:56,799 Speaker 1: to launch in nineteen nine. Thirty years ago in the 750 00:46:56,880 --> 00:47:00,560 Speaker 1: United States, the landscape was very different from what it 751 00:47:00,640 --> 00:47:04,120 Speaker 1: is today. Now we see Sony dominating in the current 752 00:47:04,160 --> 00:47:07,840 Speaker 1: generation with the PS four. Nintendo still depends heavily on 753 00:47:07,920 --> 00:47:12,640 Speaker 1: loyal fans of its consoles plus innovative design choices. Microsoft, 754 00:47:12,680 --> 00:47:15,839 Speaker 1: which did pretty well with the Xbox three sixty era, 755 00:47:16,160 --> 00:47:18,319 Speaker 1: has been lagging a bit in the age of the 756 00:47:18,480 --> 00:47:21,279 Speaker 1: Xbox One, but before long we're going to get a 757 00:47:21,360 --> 00:47:25,319 Speaker 1: new generation of video game consoles. Meanwhile, we're seeing PC 758 00:47:25,560 --> 00:47:30,320 Speaker 1: games doing quite well, particularly on Steam, and Steam itself 759 00:47:30,400 --> 00:47:34,000 Speaker 1: is being challenged by other platforms like Epic and I 760 00:47:34,040 --> 00:47:36,560 Speaker 1: guess in another thirty years I'll have to do a 761 00:47:36,760 --> 00:47:39,040 Speaker 1: retrospective of what the state of video games was like 762 00:47:39,080 --> 00:47:43,080 Speaker 1: in But between now and then, I think I have 763 00:47:43,120 --> 00:47:45,640 Speaker 1: a few more shows I can do, so if you 764 00:47:45,680 --> 00:47:48,120 Speaker 1: have any suggestions on what those shows could be about, 765 00:47:48,160 --> 00:47:50,879 Speaker 1: you can send me a message. The email addresses tech 766 00:47:50,920 --> 00:47:54,319 Speaker 1: Stuff at how stuff works dot com, or pop on 767 00:47:54,360 --> 00:47:57,520 Speaker 1: over to our website that's tech stuff podcast dot com. 768 00:47:57,600 --> 00:48:00,799 Speaker 1: You'll find an archive of all of our pasts. You'll 769 00:48:00,840 --> 00:48:03,399 Speaker 1: find links to where we are on social media. You'll 770 00:48:03,400 --> 00:48:06,000 Speaker 1: find a link to our online store, where every purchasing 771 00:48:06,080 --> 00:48:08,600 Speaker 1: make goes to help the show, and we greatly appreciate it, 772 00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:16,400 Speaker 1: and I'll talk to you again really soon. Hext Stuff 773 00:48:16,440 --> 00:48:18,760 Speaker 1: is a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. 774 00:48:18,920 --> 00:48:21,719 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the i 775 00:48:21,840 --> 00:48:25,080 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 776 00:48:25,120 --> 00:48:26,040 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.