1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:12,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:15,800 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 3 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:19,200 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and how the 4 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:22,640 Speaker 1: tech are yet, y'all. I didn't really pay attention to 5 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:26,560 Speaker 1: April Fools this year, which I think of as being 6 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:32,800 Speaker 1: a little sad. So I tend to be easily amused 7 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:36,959 Speaker 1: by goofy product announcements and that kind of thing, and 8 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:41,280 Speaker 1: so I often enjoy the stuff that gets announced on 9 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:44,080 Speaker 1: April Fool's Day. However, I understand that many of my 10 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:48,159 Speaker 1: peers in the tech space are totally over it, and 11 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:52,360 Speaker 1: there's some legit criticism about it, right, like about how 12 00:00:52,479 --> 00:00:54,920 Speaker 1: a lot of companies just put out stuff that isn't 13 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,040 Speaker 1: very funny and instead it just ends up being more 14 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:01,480 Speaker 1: misleading than it is silly. And I get it, you know, 15 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:04,840 Speaker 1: comedy is hard and some companies are just terrible at it. 16 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 1: But one thing that I did see after the fact 17 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: that got a chuckle out of me inspired this episode. 18 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:15,840 Speaker 1: So it was a video on IGN's YouTube channel that 19 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:19,839 Speaker 1: supposedly was an announcement for the launch of a new 20 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:26,120 Speaker 1: Nintendo gaming platform, namely the Virtual Boy pro. So this 21 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:31,080 Speaker 1: video shows a woman who slots essentially a Nintendo Switch 22 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:35,839 Speaker 1: handheld gaming system into a headset, and then she puts 23 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:38,919 Speaker 1: the headset on. Then we're treated to a first person 24 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:43,880 Speaker 1: perspective of supposedly her experience as her living room is transformed, 25 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:47,080 Speaker 1: you know, augmented reality style, and it turns into a 26 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:50,200 Speaker 1: gaming space, and she can you know, play games and 27 00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:53,680 Speaker 1: make things run around her actual furniture, or she can 28 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:58,040 Speaker 1: place virtual cartoon furniture in her real living room, or 29 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:02,160 Speaker 1: she can transfer an anger Man into tom Nook from 30 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:06,440 Speaker 1: Animal Crossing. And at one point she actually sees Luigi 31 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:09,240 Speaker 1: challenging her to a drag race as she drives around 32 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:11,960 Speaker 1: with a switch mounted to her face, which is a 33 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 1: funny gag and also terrifying. It makes me think of 34 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:17,600 Speaker 1: all those videos of people walking around with the Apple 35 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:21,000 Speaker 1: headset on, and I'm thinking, just don't do that where 36 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:24,920 Speaker 1: folks can see you. Anyway. It also reminded me that 37 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:28,840 Speaker 1: while I have mentioned the Virtual Boy in past episodes, 38 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 1: I never actually dedicated an entire tech stuff to that product. 39 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:36,960 Speaker 1: And it's infamous for being one of the biggest products 40 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:40,480 Speaker 1: that flopped in tech history, at the very least one 41 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:42,800 Speaker 1: of the biggest flops in the gaming space, and certainly 42 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:46,440 Speaker 1: one of the biggest for Nintendo. And you know, when 43 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:48,960 Speaker 1: it came out from Nintendo, it was back in the 44 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: day where Nintendo was an organization that was just knocking 45 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:55,160 Speaker 1: it out of the park one after the other. Because 46 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:57,519 Speaker 1: by the time the Virtual Boy came out, you had 47 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:01,840 Speaker 1: the Nintendo Entertainment System or the Famine, You had the 48 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:07,440 Speaker 1: Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the SNES or Sness or Super Famicom, 49 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:09,919 Speaker 1: and then you also had the Game Boy, all of 50 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: which had come out by the time the Virtual Boy 51 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:14,760 Speaker 1: came out. I mean, Virtual Boy's name is a nod 52 00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 1: to the Game Boy, and all of those systems sold 53 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:22,840 Speaker 1: like gangbusters. So at that point, Nintendo was almost a 54 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 1: company that was guaranteed to succeed, so the fact that 55 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:30,359 Speaker 1: it failed would become huge news. So let's talk about 56 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:33,639 Speaker 1: the Virtual Boy and its placed in Nintendo history and 57 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 1: tech in general. Now, first off, some of y'all might 58 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:40,800 Speaker 1: not even know what the Virtual Boy was. Right, if 59 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:43,960 Speaker 1: you were born after the mid nineties and you've never 60 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 1: really been into gaming or anything, you might not have 61 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:49,840 Speaker 1: ever seen one. So it looked like a pair of 62 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:54,240 Speaker 1: red binoculars mounted on a little bipod stand like a 63 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:58,680 Speaker 1: tabletop or desktop stand. Unlike binoculars, there were no lenses 64 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:01,280 Speaker 1: on the front of the device, or I guess the 65 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:03,520 Speaker 1: back of the device, depending on if you're looking at 66 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:06,120 Speaker 1: it from the perspective of someone who's using it, in 67 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:07,840 Speaker 1: which case it would be the back of the device, 68 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:10,000 Speaker 1: or someone who's seeing someone else use it, in which 69 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 1: case it would be what you're looking at the front. Anyway, 70 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:15,320 Speaker 1: you would stand the Virtual Boy on a table and 71 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:18,120 Speaker 1: you would have to lean forward to look into the screen, 72 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:20,440 Speaker 1: so your forehead would go up against it. You'd look 73 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:24,080 Speaker 1: into it almost like a viewfinder, and you would then 74 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:28,880 Speaker 1: hold a wired controller that connected directly to the headset 75 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:32,320 Speaker 1: and you would play games. In many ways, it was 76 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:35,839 Speaker 1: similar to virtual reality headsets that we would see much 77 00:04:36,279 --> 00:04:39,719 Speaker 1: much later. Right, These kind of looks like something like 78 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:43,640 Speaker 1: an Oculus, except it's very red. It stands out through 79 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:46,080 Speaker 1: the color. But it looked like an Oculus headset in 80 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:50,000 Speaker 1: some ways. But again, it was mounted on a bipod 81 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:52,599 Speaker 1: that you would set on a table. And you have 82 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 1: to remember Virtual Boy launched in nineteen ninety five, well 83 00:04:56,680 --> 00:04:59,600 Speaker 1: before we would get something like an Oculus. In fact, 84 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:03,080 Speaker 1: in the middle in nineties, your typical real virtual reality 85 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:08,120 Speaker 1: headset would be this super heavy head mounted display. Often 86 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: you would need to suspend it from the ceiling with 87 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:13,840 Speaker 1: cables in order to offset the weight, because otherwise it 88 00:05:13,839 --> 00:05:16,240 Speaker 1: would be far too heavy for someone to wear, at 89 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:19,919 Speaker 1: least for any real length of time. So the Virtual 90 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:24,360 Speaker 1: Boy was a big departure from what people had been 91 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:28,480 Speaker 1: used to if they, in fact had encountered virtual reality 92 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:31,960 Speaker 1: systems at all. Not many people had. Some folks like 93 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:34,520 Speaker 1: me were lucky enough to live near a shopping mall 94 00:05:34,839 --> 00:05:38,320 Speaker 1: that had a virtual reality arcade in it, so I 95 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:42,240 Speaker 1: had had experience with it, but not everybody did. And 96 00:05:42,279 --> 00:05:45,160 Speaker 1: so I guess if you had never used one of 97 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:48,480 Speaker 1: these big systems, it wouldn't seem like such a huge 98 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:51,400 Speaker 1: deal that the form factor of the Virtual Boy was 99 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:54,560 Speaker 1: so small in comparison. But you wouldn't strap the Virtual 100 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: Boy to your head, you know, you couldn't wear it 101 00:05:56,480 --> 00:05:59,039 Speaker 1: around and look at anything. It's not like you could 102 00:05:59,080 --> 00:06:02,680 Speaker 1: wear it like an auction system. And there wasn't head 103 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:05,920 Speaker 1: tracking technology built into the Virtual Boy, although the initial 104 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:09,480 Speaker 1: plan was to have head tracking incorporated into the device. 105 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:12,080 Speaker 1: We'll talk about that. So this was really just a 106 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:16,200 Speaker 1: stationary console system that had sort of a viewfinder form 107 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:18,760 Speaker 1: factor that you would use, and even that was limited 108 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:22,279 Speaker 1: because it was monochromatic. But that's the quick description of 109 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:25,039 Speaker 1: the physical product. But let's go down memory lane to 110 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:28,040 Speaker 1: talk about its development, and first we have to consider 111 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:31,880 Speaker 1: a couple of big components. Really one is the most important, 112 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:35,000 Speaker 1: and that is the rise of virtual reality and culture 113 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:38,080 Speaker 1: in the nineteen nineties, because that's what would drive a 114 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:41,960 Speaker 1: lot of the excitement, at least at Nintendo initially for 115 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:44,240 Speaker 1: the development of the Virtual Boy. We also have to 116 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:47,839 Speaker 1: remember the length of a development cycle for a new 117 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:51,360 Speaker 1: console system and how much things can change in those 118 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:54,880 Speaker 1: linky development cycles. Right when a game system comes out, 119 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:57,000 Speaker 1: we have to keep in mind that's the product of 120 00:06:57,080 --> 00:07:00,640 Speaker 1: years of work. Sometimes a company is working on the 121 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:04,599 Speaker 1: next generation of a system while it has yet to 122 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:08,120 Speaker 1: release the most recent generation. Right like, if you're getting 123 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:11,520 Speaker 1: a PS four, you can bet that Sony was hard 124 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:14,840 Speaker 1: at work already on the PS five. So let's really 125 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:18,240 Speaker 1: think about virtual reality first. Now, the history of VR 126 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: stretches back pretty darn far. Where you start largely depends 127 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:26,240 Speaker 1: upon what you think of as being the most important 128 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:30,160 Speaker 1: component of virtual reality. And you could argue that you 129 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:35,920 Speaker 1: go back to like stereoscopic camera systems from the nineteenth century. 130 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:37,960 Speaker 1: I think that's going too far. We're just going to 131 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:41,920 Speaker 1: start back in the nineteen fifties when Morton Heilig created 132 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:46,000 Speaker 1: a pretty gimmicky device called the Sensorama. So the Sensorama 133 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:48,920 Speaker 1: was housed in a cabinet sort of similar to an 134 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:52,320 Speaker 1: arcade machine, and you would sit down in a chair 135 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:55,600 Speaker 1: at a like a little console, and your head would 136 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:58,680 Speaker 1: essentially be enveloped by this cabinet like you were leaning 137 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:00,520 Speaker 1: in in the sides of the case, and it would 138 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:04,040 Speaker 1: block your peripheral vision. The device would attempt to engage 139 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:07,600 Speaker 1: all of your senses to create a really immersive experience. 140 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:10,160 Speaker 1: So there was a screen that you would look at, 141 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:12,360 Speaker 1: there were speakers that were designed to play kind of 142 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:16,040 Speaker 1: a surround sound experience to you. There were fans that 143 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:19,840 Speaker 1: could blow air on you. There were canisters containing stuff 144 00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:24,400 Speaker 1: with strong smells, strong sense to kind of create a 145 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:27,840 Speaker 1: smell of vision sort of experience, and the chair that 146 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:31,680 Speaker 1: you sat in would vibrate then give you some haptic feedback. 147 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:36,040 Speaker 1: Hilig made several short films to showcase his invention and 148 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:38,120 Speaker 1: what it was capable of, and I really wish I 149 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:40,400 Speaker 1: could experience one of those, just to get a first 150 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:42,880 Speaker 1: hand feel for what it was like. Apparently there were 151 00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:46,160 Speaker 1: like half a dozen different titles, and I don't care 152 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:48,319 Speaker 1: which one it was. I would just like to really 153 00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:51,240 Speaker 1: find out what it felt like to watch something in 154 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:53,280 Speaker 1: one of these and to have all the different effects 155 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:55,959 Speaker 1: go off. But I don't know of any that are working. 156 00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:59,160 Speaker 1: There might be one or two in different museums or whatever, 157 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:02,680 Speaker 1: but I've never come across one. Clearly. Though, the Cincerama 158 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:05,679 Speaker 1: didn't become a best selling product, however, it did illustrate 159 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:09,360 Speaker 1: that there was something really compelling about immersive technology that 160 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:12,280 Speaker 1: engaged multiple senses. Kind of like that. So in the 161 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:16,280 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties you had engineers at the pill Co Corporation 162 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:19,600 Speaker 1: who developed a head mounded display that had motion tracking 163 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:23,200 Speaker 1: technology incorporated into it. That was a big, big step 164 00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:26,040 Speaker 1: for VR. Now, this device was meant to give the 165 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:29,360 Speaker 1: wearer a real time view through a closed circuit camera. 166 00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:32,720 Speaker 1: So this is actually more like an augmented reality or 167 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:37,480 Speaker 1: remote viewing technology rather than virtual reality. Remember, virtual reality 168 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:41,000 Speaker 1: is when you have all the images and sounds that 169 00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:44,839 Speaker 1: you encounter generated by a computer. So augmented reality is 170 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:49,199 Speaker 1: when you're using technology to enhance or augment your experience 171 00:09:49,679 --> 00:09:53,120 Speaker 1: moving through a real space. This is kind of more 172 00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:56,360 Speaker 1: like a virtual presence because again it gave you a 173 00:09:56,480 --> 00:10:00,160 Speaker 1: chance to control a camera just by looking around. The 174 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:05,840 Speaker 1: intent of this particular technology was to allow humans to 175 00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:09,440 Speaker 1: navigate through an environment that would be risky for humans 176 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:12,880 Speaker 1: to move through normally. It was a military technology, so 177 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:17,320 Speaker 1: you could imagine using something like this to diffuse a bomb, perhaps, 178 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:21,160 Speaker 1: or to scope out a war zone situation or something 179 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:23,640 Speaker 1: like that. So turning your head would send a command 180 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:26,199 Speaker 1: to the connected camera, and the camera would then turn 181 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:29,880 Speaker 1: to reflect the way you were looking, and it would 182 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:32,760 Speaker 1: give you a new view of whatever situation you were in. 183 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:35,520 Speaker 1: So it wasn't strictly a VR application, but the head 184 00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:39,360 Speaker 1: tracking technology would become a very important component in future 185 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:43,880 Speaker 1: VR applications. In the late nineteen sixties, Ivan Sutherland, who 186 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:48,319 Speaker 1: had already proposed an idea called the Ultimate Display. He 187 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:51,240 Speaker 1: theorized that you could create a display that would make 188 00:10:51,280 --> 00:10:55,400 Speaker 1: such a compelling immersive experience that for the viewer it 189 00:10:55,440 --> 00:10:59,800 Speaker 1: would be indistinguishable from reality like that was his sort 190 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:05,000 Speaker 1: of premise that he was proposing. Well, he didn't create 191 00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:07,880 Speaker 1: the ultimate display, that was more like a thought experiment. 192 00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:10,880 Speaker 1: What he did do was he helped build technologies that 193 00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:15,440 Speaker 1: would get us closer incrementally toward his vision. One of 194 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:18,480 Speaker 1: those was a head mounted display that was sometimes called 195 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:21,439 Speaker 1: the Sword of Damocles because like the sort of Damoicles, 196 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:25,120 Speaker 1: it was suspended again from the ceiling. So this display 197 00:11:25,160 --> 00:11:29,000 Speaker 1: connected to a computer system and not a camera, so 198 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:31,960 Speaker 1: instead of controlling a camera and getting a video view, 199 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:35,800 Speaker 1: you were truly getting a virtual environment that you could 200 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:38,920 Speaker 1: look around. But the sort of Damicles was huge. It 201 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:42,320 Speaker 1: was very bulky, very heavy. Again, it had to be 202 00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:44,920 Speaker 1: mounted to the ceiling to offset the weight, so that 203 00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:46,880 Speaker 1: meant that it was really limited in what you could 204 00:11:46,920 --> 00:11:48,840 Speaker 1: do with it. Right, It's not like it was a 205 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:51,840 Speaker 1: portable device that you could just set up anywhere, but 206 00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:54,640 Speaker 1: it did have head tracking technology included, so you could 207 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:57,439 Speaker 1: turn and look around inside a virtual environment, and again 208 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:01,200 Speaker 1: that would become a key component for V. Now we're 209 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:04,840 Speaker 1: gonna skip way ahead, but clearly tons of people were 210 00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:08,040 Speaker 1: innovating in the space and they were generating ideas that 211 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:11,400 Speaker 1: would find their way into later iterations of VR technology. 212 00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:14,640 Speaker 1: Now at this stage, VR was largely a thing happening 213 00:12:14,760 --> 00:12:18,439 Speaker 1: in research laboratories, and it wasn't something that was reflected 214 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:22,479 Speaker 1: in consumer products. In fact, the mainstream public remained blissfully 215 00:12:22,640 --> 00:12:25,520 Speaker 1: unaware of virtual reality unless they also happened to be 216 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:29,559 Speaker 1: science fiction fans, in which case they may have read 217 00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:33,240 Speaker 1: about these concepts relating to VR in various stories and novels, 218 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:35,319 Speaker 1: but chances are they had never had any first hand 219 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:37,840 Speaker 1: experience because again, it was mostly in R and D 220 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:42,320 Speaker 1: departments in various tech companies. Now, one element that would 221 00:12:42,360 --> 00:12:47,040 Speaker 1: become critical for the Virtual Boy itself was its LED display, 222 00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:50,040 Speaker 1: which was somewhat infamous. It was a display that would 223 00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:54,240 Speaker 1: only show red images on a black background. When we 224 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:57,640 Speaker 1: come back, I will talk about where that idea got 225 00:12:57,679 --> 00:13:01,720 Speaker 1: its start, and it wasn't at Nintendo. But before we 226 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:04,680 Speaker 1: get into all that, let's take a quick break to 227 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:16,880 Speaker 1: thank our sponsors. We're back, and before the break, I 228 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:21,040 Speaker 1: was talking about the Virtual Boys LED display, which would 229 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:24,720 Speaker 1: show you red images on a black background. Well, that 230 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:28,080 Speaker 1: all began with an engineer named Alan Becker, who was 231 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:31,000 Speaker 1: trying to invent a display that would boast a high 232 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:34,280 Speaker 1: resolution and a suitable amount of brightness. So that you 233 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:37,600 Speaker 1: could do some computing in an environment, such as if 234 00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:40,560 Speaker 1: you were sitting in an airplane seat, right Like, The 235 00:13:40,640 --> 00:13:43,520 Speaker 1: problem was that a lot of portable computers and I 236 00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:46,959 Speaker 1: used the term lightly because in this time, in the 237 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:50,440 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties, portable computers were very rare, and they were 238 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:53,880 Speaker 1: very heavy and bulky and didn't have a very good 239 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:56,400 Speaker 1: battery life. But if you did happen to have one, 240 00:13:56,640 --> 00:13:59,880 Speaker 1: chances are it was using a liquid crystal display, and 241 00:14:00,679 --> 00:14:05,280 Speaker 1: those weren't necessarily you know, they weren't backlit, so if 242 00:14:05,320 --> 00:14:08,120 Speaker 1: you were in a dimly lit environment, it'd be really 243 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:10,640 Speaker 1: hard to read anything that was on the screen. So 244 00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:13,280 Speaker 1: what Becker wanted to do was to create a display 245 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:18,440 Speaker 1: that would be bright, high resolution, and inexpensive to manufacture. 246 00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:21,280 Speaker 1: All of these things were really important if you wanted 247 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:26,960 Speaker 1: to make a good display that could be a practical product. Obviously, 248 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:29,200 Speaker 1: if it was really expensive, then you would price yourself 249 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:32,440 Speaker 1: out of the market. So Becker thought you could use 250 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:35,760 Speaker 1: LEDs to draw images many times a second and then 251 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:38,640 Speaker 1: count on the persistence of vision to kind of do 252 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:41,040 Speaker 1: the rest of the work. And he invented a device 253 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:45,640 Speaker 1: that used an oscillating mirror to reflect LED images towards 254 00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:48,320 Speaker 1: the viewer, and it worked. He named his invention the 255 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:53,560 Speaker 1: scanned linear array. A line of these LEDs would do 256 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:58,040 Speaker 1: all the light. The mirror reflection would essentially draw the 257 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:02,160 Speaker 1: images in front of your eyes, and it worked, and 258 00:15:02,240 --> 00:15:05,640 Speaker 1: the components he used weren't terribly expensive, So his hope 259 00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:08,400 Speaker 1: was that he could make this something that could be 260 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:11,280 Speaker 1: put into mass production. But he would need to have 261 00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:13,960 Speaker 1: a partner to be able to do that, because while 262 00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:18,360 Speaker 1: he had invented this technology, he needed to have a 263 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:21,800 Speaker 1: fully fledged product for it to be something that could 264 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:24,720 Speaker 1: be sold on the market. So this was just a 265 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:30,360 Speaker 1: step toward a goal. One of the components that he used, 266 00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:34,960 Speaker 1: one that would become completely linked with Virtual Boy years later, 267 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:40,080 Speaker 1: were red LEDs. So these were LEDs light emitting diodes 268 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:43,880 Speaker 1: that only would emit red light. It's not some multicolored 269 00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:47,400 Speaker 1: diode here. And the reason why he used red LEDs, 270 00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:50,600 Speaker 1: why he was restricted to just using red was the 271 00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:54,240 Speaker 1: result of a partnership he formed with a manufacturing company 272 00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:57,800 Speaker 1: that made printers, and the printers that the company made 273 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:02,360 Speaker 1: used red LEDs, so that's what Becker had access to. 274 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:04,960 Speaker 1: He could use the same sort of LEDs that were 275 00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:08,560 Speaker 1: found inside this company's printers, and thus his displays could 276 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:12,160 Speaker 1: only show red light on a black background. And anyone 277 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:15,200 Speaker 1: who's used a Virtual Boy will be familiar with that 278 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:17,960 Speaker 1: description because it's very much the same thing you would 279 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:20,560 Speaker 1: get with a virtual Boy. It had a monochromatic screen 280 00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:23,880 Speaker 1: that could only display red on black. So Becker would 281 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:29,000 Speaker 1: later start a company called Reflection Technology, thus referencing the 282 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:32,120 Speaker 1: oscillating mirror in his device, and he would hire on 283 00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:35,080 Speaker 1: other engineers to work with him. And one other thing 284 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:38,960 Speaker 1: that they created was a much smaller display that, when 285 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:42,440 Speaker 1: you held it close to your eyes, could replicate a 286 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:45,400 Speaker 1: much larger display, which is a fancy way of saying 287 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:48,120 Speaker 1: stuff looks bigger the closer you are to it. So 288 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:50,640 Speaker 1: if you hold a small display up very close to 289 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:53,240 Speaker 1: your eyes, you know it still ends up filling up 290 00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:57,160 Speaker 1: most of your visual field. So this too, would be 291 00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:00,480 Speaker 1: an important development for the Virtual Boy. Later on, they 292 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:04,080 Speaker 1: called this new product Private Eye, and I think that's 293 00:17:04,080 --> 00:17:07,840 Speaker 1: pretty cute. The Private Eye and Becker's innovations would become 294 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:10,840 Speaker 1: well known in certain tech circles, as the company would 295 00:17:10,840 --> 00:17:14,000 Speaker 1: demonstrate its technology at conferences and such, and it would 296 00:17:14,080 --> 00:17:17,560 Speaker 1: play into the development of stuff like wearable computers, like 297 00:17:17,600 --> 00:17:21,199 Speaker 1: this whole idea of computational systems that don't take the 298 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:25,040 Speaker 1: traditional form factor of a desktop or laptop. Okay, we're 299 00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:28,119 Speaker 1: going to leave off with reflecting technology for the moment. 300 00:17:28,160 --> 00:17:30,159 Speaker 1: We will come back to them. Let's get back to 301 00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:33,240 Speaker 1: the evolution of VR at the time. So we didn't 302 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:37,399 Speaker 1: even get the term virtual reality until nineteen eighty seven, 303 00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:41,199 Speaker 1: So this is after reflecting technology has already started to 304 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:45,200 Speaker 1: innovate in that space. And nineteen eighty seven was when 305 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:49,959 Speaker 1: a guy named Jarn Lanier, famous in VR circles, proposed 306 00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:52,439 Speaker 1: the phrase, or at the very least elevated its use, 307 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:55,560 Speaker 1: because there's some who say he didn't coin the term, 308 00:17:55,680 --> 00:18:00,080 Speaker 1: but he popularized the term. Either way, Lanier has a 309 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:03,400 Speaker 1: lot of the responsibility for VR kind of taking off 310 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:07,359 Speaker 1: as a concept in the late eighties into the early 311 00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:11,560 Speaker 1: and mid nineties. Okay, now we're going to switch over 312 00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:14,560 Speaker 1: and talk about the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Nintendo 313 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:18,760 Speaker 1: company for a second, because the NES would actually introduce 314 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:23,040 Speaker 1: a peripheral that had some VR elements to it, even 315 00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:25,440 Speaker 1: though it ultimately is not a device that was made 316 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:28,480 Speaker 1: by Nintendo itself. But you know, I've done full episodes 317 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:30,760 Speaker 1: about Nintendo. We're not going to go over the entire 318 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:34,399 Speaker 1: history of the company, besides which Nintendo is more than 319 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:37,760 Speaker 1: a century old. It actually has its origins connected to 320 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:41,720 Speaker 1: playing cards back in Japan. But the important part for 321 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:45,240 Speaker 1: our purposes is that Nintendo swept into the home video 322 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:47,879 Speaker 1: game market at a time when in America at least 323 00:18:48,359 --> 00:18:50,919 Speaker 1: it was in a shambles. That is, the market was 324 00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:54,119 Speaker 1: in a shambles. The early nineteen eighties saw an explosion 325 00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:57,080 Speaker 1: in video game consoles and titles, some of which were 326 00:18:57,119 --> 00:19:01,680 Speaker 1: clearly rush jobs. They were just terrible games or very 327 00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:05,080 Speaker 1: poorly made. The glood of systems and games got dumped 328 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:07,640 Speaker 1: on a market that just couldn't sustain all that stuff, 329 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:11,160 Speaker 1: and eventually everything just collapsed sometime around nineteen eighty three, 330 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:14,160 Speaker 1: and when the dust cleared, companies like Atari, which had 331 00:19:14,160 --> 00:19:16,960 Speaker 1: been a dominant force in home video games, were all 332 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:20,160 Speaker 1: but obsolete. In the wake of that crash, retailers were 333 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:23,800 Speaker 1: really wary of carrying another home system, so the general 334 00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:27,280 Speaker 1: wisdom was that consoles were kind of over as a thing, 335 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:29,719 Speaker 1: at least in North America, and the way the future 336 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:33,679 Speaker 1: was actually the personal computer. Then we get Nintendo now 337 00:19:34,119 --> 00:19:38,080 Speaker 1: the company had launched its first full video game console system, 338 00:19:38,119 --> 00:19:41,439 Speaker 1: called the Famicom or family computer, back in Japan in 339 00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:44,520 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty three, the same year where video games crashed 340 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:48,879 Speaker 1: in North America. Nintendo executives had aspirations of entering the 341 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:51,800 Speaker 1: American market, but they really faced an uphill battle because 342 00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:54,840 Speaker 1: of the disaster that was that video game crash. However, 343 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:58,520 Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty five, the Nintendo Entertainment System would debut 344 00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:01,399 Speaker 1: in a few test markets to great success and with 345 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:05,280 Speaker 1: some very clever marketing by Nintendo, which implied the NAEs 346 00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:08,359 Speaker 1: was really, in fact a computer system and not a 347 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:12,160 Speaker 1: video game console. The very much video game console would 348 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:16,600 Speaker 1: find itself carried in American stores from late nineteen eighty 349 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:22,040 Speaker 1: five through the rest of that decade, Nintendo was a powerhouse. 350 00:20:22,119 --> 00:20:25,439 Speaker 1: It was seen as being unbeatable. It helped resurrect the 351 00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:28,400 Speaker 1: home video game market in North America. The company put 352 00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:31,639 Speaker 1: out tons of great games that delighted folks all around 353 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:34,080 Speaker 1: the world. And so now we're going to skip up 354 00:20:34,119 --> 00:20:36,760 Speaker 1: to nineteen eighty nine. So this is just two years 355 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:40,840 Speaker 1: after Jaron Lanier had started to popularize the phrase virtual reality, 356 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:44,600 Speaker 1: and that's when Nintendo introduced a controller peripheral for the 357 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:49,399 Speaker 1: NES called the Power Glove. Now, as the name implies, 358 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:52,520 Speaker 1: it was a controller that was in a glove or 359 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:56,240 Speaker 1: gauntlet form factor and on the back of the forearm 360 00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:59,119 Speaker 1: of this clove was a variant of the standard NES 361 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:02,360 Speaker 1: controller had some extra buttons and stuff on it that 362 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:06,159 Speaker 1: really complicated the interface. But the idea was that this 363 00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:10,760 Speaker 1: glove could take on specific hand motions and reinterpret those 364 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:14,240 Speaker 1: as various commands that you could program the glove to 365 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:18,520 Speaker 1: let you control a video game with your hand without 366 00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:21,760 Speaker 1: having to hold a controller and you know, push the 367 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:24,359 Speaker 1: direction pad and the buttons and stuff. It was a 368 00:21:24,359 --> 00:21:26,800 Speaker 1: cool concept. I mean, it had a high learning curve 369 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:29,600 Speaker 1: because just figuring out how to program the thing was 370 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:32,240 Speaker 1: a bit of a challenge. It also had a really 371 00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:35,600 Speaker 1: cool look depending upon your esthetic, but you know, kind 372 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:37,880 Speaker 1: of a chunky, science fiction look to it. You can 373 00:21:38,119 --> 00:21:40,399 Speaker 1: easily see pictures of it. If you're not familiar with 374 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:42,320 Speaker 1: the Power Glove, you can just do a quick search 375 00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:45,000 Speaker 1: and see lots of pictures of the Power Glove. Now, 376 00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:49,040 Speaker 1: the Nintendo itself wasn't responsible for the development of the 377 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:52,600 Speaker 1: Power Glove. There was another company called the Abrams Gentile 378 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:58,240 Speaker 1: entertainment or age that developed this device, this peripheral. They 379 00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:02,480 Speaker 1: modeled it after other wearable control systems that were more 380 00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:07,040 Speaker 1: expensive and complicated and had more features that were being 381 00:22:07,119 --> 00:22:10,000 Speaker 1: used in research and development labs, but were not meant 382 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:13,840 Speaker 1: to be consumer products. So they partnered here in North 383 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:17,960 Speaker 1: America with Mattel to manufacture the peripheral in the United States. 384 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:20,600 Speaker 1: There were other companies that would be manufacturers in other 385 00:22:20,640 --> 00:22:24,199 Speaker 1: parts of the world. Obviously, the developers really had to 386 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:28,119 Speaker 1: reduce the complexity and utility of the form factor in 387 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:30,040 Speaker 1: order to get the device to a level that could 388 00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:34,080 Speaker 1: be mass produced for a reasonable price. So while it 389 00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:38,560 Speaker 1: was based off similar technologies that were kind of transforming 390 00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:42,879 Speaker 1: virtual reality research and development in various labs, it was 391 00:22:43,119 --> 00:22:47,560 Speaker 1: a much more modest peripheral. Now, the power Glove sold 392 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:52,760 Speaker 1: pretty well. It wasn't a blockbuster like the Nintendo Entertainment System, 393 00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:55,119 Speaker 1: but it did okay, and I would argue it was 394 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:58,080 Speaker 1: one element that would elevate the concept of VR among 395 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:00,680 Speaker 1: the general public, even though the power Glove really meant 396 00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:03,840 Speaker 1: as a replacement for a standard controller and nothing more 397 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:06,880 Speaker 1: than that. While the sales figures were good for the gadget, 398 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:11,199 Speaker 1: the reviews were decidedly mixed to negative, which is being kind. 399 00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:14,560 Speaker 1: Though interestingly, folks in the VR space would end up 400 00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:18,080 Speaker 1: using the power Glove devices later in the nineteen nineties 401 00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:21,840 Speaker 1: after the ground would fall out for funding VR projects, 402 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:24,200 Speaker 1: which I might come back to to mention a little 403 00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:28,280 Speaker 1: bit in the end of this episode. So Nintendo sort 404 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:31,680 Speaker 1: of dips the corporate tow in VR waters in the 405 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:35,240 Speaker 1: late nineteen eighties, though again the company itself didn't develop 406 00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:38,359 Speaker 1: the Power Glove, and the Power Glove is just a peripheral, 407 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:43,280 Speaker 1: not of true VR device. But virtual reality was starting 408 00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:47,000 Speaker 1: to take hold in the public imagination. Right before, the 409 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:51,159 Speaker 1: public was largely ignorant of VR in general, but now 410 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:55,119 Speaker 1: they're starting to understand at least a version of what 411 00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:58,000 Speaker 1: VR could be, and that was starting to build in 412 00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:01,520 Speaker 1: excitement and height. By the early nineteen nineties, that was 413 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:05,440 Speaker 1: really ramping up, largely because of both advancements in technology 414 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:08,240 Speaker 1: as well as depictions and media. You started getting science 415 00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:12,480 Speaker 1: fiction films that were playing with the concept of virtual reality, 416 00:24:12,520 --> 00:24:15,159 Speaker 1: and folks were thinking, Wow, this will be the next 417 00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:20,520 Speaker 1: era of computing. Meanwhile, Reflection Technology, the company that made 418 00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:24,960 Speaker 1: the Private Eye display, they had continued to innovate around 419 00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:28,800 Speaker 1: their Private Eye design, and they built a cheap demonstration 420 00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:31,879 Speaker 1: model of a head mounted display. They were able to 421 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:35,159 Speaker 1: outfit it with head tracking technology and they used a 422 00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:39,200 Speaker 1: pair of Private Eye displays, one for each eye, and 423 00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:42,040 Speaker 1: they put all of this on top of like a 424 00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:45,359 Speaker 1: welder's mask, so you can put this mask on. It 425 00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:48,320 Speaker 1: would have the head tracking technology and the displays built 426 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:50,879 Speaker 1: into it, and then you could play a little video 427 00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:54,760 Speaker 1: game demo they made in which you would fight against tanks. 428 00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:57,400 Speaker 1: So if you turned your head in real life, your 429 00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:00,919 Speaker 1: perspective would change within the game, so by looking around 430 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:04,160 Speaker 1: you could identify tank targets and fire at them using 431 00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:07,919 Speaker 1: a controller and destroy tanks this way. And it was 432 00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:12,080 Speaker 1: a simple demo, but a really compelling and effective one. 433 00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:15,639 Speaker 1: The demonstration was a hit for folks who've got to 434 00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:19,600 Speaker 1: try it, although the system also had some latency, which 435 00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:22,639 Speaker 1: meant it could be pretty easy for at least some 436 00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:25,359 Speaker 1: people to feel a bit of motion sickness after using it. 437 00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:28,600 Speaker 1: Latency in this case is the delay between taking an 438 00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:31,760 Speaker 1: action such as turning your head and then seeing the 439 00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:35,360 Speaker 1: result play out, which would be like your perspective changing 440 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:37,679 Speaker 1: as you turn your head. So we humans are pretty 441 00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:41,480 Speaker 1: sensitive to latency. A noticeable lag between when you turn 442 00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:44,359 Speaker 1: your head and when your perspective changes is really off putting, 443 00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:47,679 Speaker 1: and personally, I find as I get older, I am 444 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:50,640 Speaker 1: far more susceptible to motion sickness from this kind of thing. 445 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:53,959 Speaker 1: So I'm pretty sure that after just a few minutes 446 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:56,600 Speaker 1: of playing this, I probably would have felt rumbly in 447 00:25:56,720 --> 00:26:00,359 Speaker 1: the tumbly, so to speak. Anyway, Reflection Technology started to 448 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:03,120 Speaker 1: try and find an application or a partner to work 449 00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:06,399 Speaker 1: with to bring this invention to market and to just 450 00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:08,199 Speaker 1: pull it out of R and D and put it 451 00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:12,440 Speaker 1: into some sort of product, and they approached a lot 452 00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:15,480 Speaker 1: of different companies in the gaming and toys space, so 453 00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:18,120 Speaker 1: like Sega was one of them, and Sega said no. 454 00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:23,320 Speaker 1: They weren't terribly crazy about the monochromatic display, which could 455 00:26:23,359 --> 00:26:26,159 Speaker 1: still only show just red on a black background, and 456 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:29,600 Speaker 1: they weren't really keen on the idea that kids might 457 00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:32,240 Speaker 1: get dizzy and puke after playing the device for just 458 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:34,280 Speaker 1: a couple of minutes. That seemed like a tough sell. 459 00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:36,680 Speaker 1: So Sega passed on it, and a lot of other 460 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:39,800 Speaker 1: companies said yeah no, thanks to this private eye headset. 461 00:26:39,960 --> 00:26:43,840 Speaker 1: But Reflection Technology had better luck in meeting with you 462 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:46,920 Speaker 1: guessed it, Nintendo. So at this point Nintendo was writing 463 00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:50,560 Speaker 1: super high. The Neees was a mega blockbuster hit, the 464 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:56,639 Speaker 1: Game Boy was an incredibly popular handheld system. The Super 465 00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:59,679 Speaker 1: Nintendo didn't do quite as well as the ns did, 466 00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:04,160 Speaker 1: but sold tens of millions of units. So the company 467 00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:07,920 Speaker 1: is the high bar in the gaming space. And fortunately, 468 00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:12,359 Speaker 1: when Reflection Technology would send a representative to Japan to 469 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:16,199 Speaker 1: meet with Nintendo executives, they would find a company that 470 00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:21,399 Speaker 1: was interested in taking some risks and making a big 471 00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:25,960 Speaker 1: change in just the way that people play games, and 472 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:29,040 Speaker 1: that was never a guarantee. But there was one person 473 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:32,879 Speaker 1: in particular at Nintendo who would become sort of the 474 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:39,320 Speaker 1: champion and cheerleader of the Virtual Boy project named Gunpay Yakoi, 475 00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:45,560 Speaker 1: and he found Reflection technologies demonstration of their private eye 476 00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:49,720 Speaker 1: headset to be really exciting, and he also really liked 477 00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:53,359 Speaker 1: that they had found ways of using inexpensive components to 478 00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:56,040 Speaker 1: get an incredible result, which is of course a key 479 00:27:56,080 --> 00:27:58,760 Speaker 1: decision if you want to mass market something to the 480 00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:02,920 Speaker 1: general public. So he would become a large reason why 481 00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:06,600 Speaker 1: Nintendo would take a big chance with this private eye 482 00:28:06,680 --> 00:28:10,680 Speaker 1: technology to develop what would become the Virtual Boy. I'll 483 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:13,359 Speaker 1: tell more about the Virtual Boy's story in just a moment, 484 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:16,159 Speaker 1: but before we do that, let's take another quick break 485 00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:28,400 Speaker 1: to thank our sponsors. Okay, before the break, I mentioned 486 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:31,480 Speaker 1: gun pay Yukoi was really excited by this, and he 487 00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:35,320 Speaker 1: was particularly enthusiastic about this idea of playing games in 488 00:28:35,359 --> 00:28:39,400 Speaker 1: a new and different way from other consoles. So his 489 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:42,480 Speaker 1: focus had always been on finding new means to allow 490 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:45,360 Speaker 1: people to play, not just video games, but just play 491 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:48,440 Speaker 1: in general, Like why should we be limited to a 492 00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:52,720 Speaker 1: specific form factor like a screen and a controller? Why 493 00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:56,120 Speaker 1: should that be the only way we play? He was 494 00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:58,600 Speaker 1: also not a fan of how the industry was trending 495 00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:02,120 Speaker 1: toward a race to push faster, more powerful machines is 496 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:05,320 Speaker 1: sort of the sole path towards success, which I think 497 00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:08,080 Speaker 1: anyone who's been into gaming in the last decade or 498 00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:11,520 Speaker 1: so kind of can really identify that. That is a 499 00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:15,280 Speaker 1: trend that continued at least between Sony and Microsoft, right, Like, 500 00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:18,080 Speaker 1: every time new consoles come out between the two of 501 00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:20,960 Speaker 1: those companies, you pretty much just break it down by 502 00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:26,080 Speaker 1: comparing stats and specs, and there's not much other innovation there, Like, yes, 503 00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:30,480 Speaker 1: the new machine can process things faster with a better 504 00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:34,760 Speaker 1: frame rate and higher fidelity graphics, but otherwise everything's the same. 505 00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:37,240 Speaker 1: You're still playing with a controller. Maybe you get a 506 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:40,560 Speaker 1: little innovation now and then, and sometimes it works out, 507 00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:44,479 Speaker 1: sometimes it doesn't. So like Sony Move definitely had a 508 00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:47,880 Speaker 1: higher success rate than the Microsoft Connect for that for example, 509 00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:52,840 Speaker 1: you call over at Nintendo. He wasn't interested in just 510 00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:56,840 Speaker 1: pushing for better graphics and better sound and just have 511 00:29:56,960 --> 00:30:00,520 Speaker 1: that be the defining factor for game systems. He wanted 512 00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:04,520 Speaker 1: to find new means of letting people play games. And 513 00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:07,240 Speaker 1: you can see some of Yakoi's philosophy and other Nintendo 514 00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:10,280 Speaker 1: products that came out even after his passing, such as 515 00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:13,800 Speaker 1: the Wei console, I would argue, kind of embraces this philosophy. 516 00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:17,480 Speaker 1: The Wei didn't have the same processing power as the 517 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:19,880 Speaker 1: competing consoles on the market at the time, but it 518 00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:23,200 Speaker 1: did introduce innovations in gameplay that made the console a 519 00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:26,560 Speaker 1: huge hit for the company. People who never bought a 520 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:29,680 Speaker 1: game system got interested in the Wi because of its 521 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:34,000 Speaker 1: approach to gameplay. Anyway, Yacoi saw the private Eye system 522 00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:37,680 Speaker 1: of reflecting technology as a means to innovate beyond just 523 00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:42,280 Speaker 1: making consoles more powerful. Yakoi thought the darkness of a 524 00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:46,880 Speaker 1: Private Eye headset without the LEDs on were a pure black, 525 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:49,200 Speaker 1: and it meant that you would have a perfect canvas 526 00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:52,000 Speaker 1: for your games. That players would be unable to see 527 00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:54,400 Speaker 1: the edges of the display itself because it would all 528 00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:57,240 Speaker 1: just be black, and so they'd be completely immersed in 529 00:30:57,320 --> 00:31:00,360 Speaker 1: whatever world the game developers wanted to create. Well, it 530 00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:03,680 Speaker 1: was a really compelling vision from a game developer perspective, 531 00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:08,000 Speaker 1: no pun intended, or maybe no pun nintended. The Reflection 532 00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:11,360 Speaker 1: Technology team got what they wanted, and then some Nintendo 533 00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:15,000 Speaker 1: agreed to a worldwide exclusive license to the Private Eye 534 00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:19,280 Speaker 1: headset technology. Reflection Technology got a hefty licensing fee plus 535 00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:23,200 Speaker 1: guaranteed royalties, not a bad deal. The development at that 536 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:26,960 Speaker 1: point started to shift toward Nintendo, and the company encountered 537 00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:30,080 Speaker 1: a few challenges along the way. So originally Yakoi was 538 00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:33,840 Speaker 1: hoping to create a wearable headset with the Private Eye 539 00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:37,440 Speaker 1: display as sort of the Crown Jewel, but it turned 540 00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:41,280 Speaker 1: out that to build a system capable of playing different games, 541 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:44,040 Speaker 1: the company would need to build in a CPU that 542 00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:47,800 Speaker 1: had a tendency to emit a lot of electromagnetic radiation 543 00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:52,000 Speaker 1: and the two problems that this would raise is that one, 544 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:54,959 Speaker 1: there wasn't enough research on the subject to determine if 545 00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:58,480 Speaker 1: having an EMF emitter that close to your noggin was 546 00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:01,600 Speaker 1: medically safe, so the company would be taking on risk. 547 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:05,400 Speaker 1: Right if it were discovered later that, oh, having something 548 00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:09,040 Speaker 1: blasting EMFs that close to your brain is going to 549 00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:11,880 Speaker 1: give you a brain rod or whatever, then Nintendo could 550 00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:14,760 Speaker 1: be potentially liable. So that was one problem. The other 551 00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:19,080 Speaker 1: was that if you were playing close to other EMF emitters, 552 00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:20,880 Speaker 1: you could end up getting a lot of interference and 553 00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:24,680 Speaker 1: that would impact your gameplay experience. To solve for these problems, 554 00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:28,920 Speaker 1: Nintendo chose to cap the processor with a metal plate 555 00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:32,560 Speaker 1: and that would block these emissions so that you didn't 556 00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:35,320 Speaker 1: have to worry about it. However, the metal plate added 557 00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:38,720 Speaker 1: a significant amount to the weight of the device, which 558 00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:42,640 Speaker 1: meant it was no longer practical as a wearable headset 559 00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:44,360 Speaker 1: because no one would want to wear it for long 560 00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:46,000 Speaker 1: enough to play a full game. It would just be 561 00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:49,680 Speaker 1: too heavy. So first, Yukoi explored an alternative solution, which 562 00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:52,640 Speaker 1: would be to have the display mounted on kind of 563 00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:57,600 Speaker 1: a structure that would fit over the player's shoulders. So 564 00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:00,360 Speaker 1: this way the player could still wear the device. It'd 565 00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:02,560 Speaker 1: be kind of like being a batman in the Tim 566 00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:05,120 Speaker 1: Burton Batman film, where you couldn't turn your head. You 567 00:33:05,120 --> 00:33:08,240 Speaker 1: had to move your whole upper body to turn. But 568 00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:11,480 Speaker 1: this approach would be mean the weight would be distributed 569 00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:14,720 Speaker 1: on the shoulders rather than on the head, and that 570 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:18,400 Speaker 1: meant that you could still have some tracking technology in there. However, 571 00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:21,280 Speaker 1: lawyers at Nintendo were worried about scenarios in which a 572 00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:23,840 Speaker 1: player could be injured while wearing the gadget, like if 573 00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:26,280 Speaker 1: they're just walking around their house and then toppled down 574 00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:30,160 Speaker 1: a flight of stairs or something. So because of the 575 00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:35,880 Speaker 1: perceived liability they would encounter if they used this design, 576 00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:39,080 Speaker 1: they mixed that approach, so then ya Koi had the 577 00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:41,040 Speaker 1: face facts. The only way he was really going to 578 00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:44,240 Speaker 1: get this new system approved and out the door was 579 00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:48,640 Speaker 1: to turn it into a stationary console. So if it's stationary, 580 00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:50,880 Speaker 1: if you're just going to put it on a bipod, 581 00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:53,760 Speaker 1: as they ultimately chose to do, that means you no 582 00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:56,280 Speaker 1: longer need to have any head tracking technology in it 583 00:33:56,400 --> 00:33:59,880 Speaker 1: at all, because it's not moving, it's staying still. The 584 00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:03,200 Speaker 1: new concept would be a headset just mounted on a 585 00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:05,800 Speaker 1: bipod that you would PLoP on a table or desk 586 00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:08,960 Speaker 1: and you would just lean forward and look into a 587 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:12,760 Speaker 1: display instead. Now, on the bright side, that motion sickness 588 00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:14,920 Speaker 1: issue wouldn't be as big a deal this way, because 589 00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:17,359 Speaker 1: even if you had latency, well, it's not like you're 590 00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:20,400 Speaker 1: moving your head around expecting to see your point of 591 00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:24,560 Speaker 1: view change instantaneously. Now, according to a wonderful piece by 592 00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:28,640 Speaker 1: Benja Edwards in Fast Company titled Unraveling the Enigma of 593 00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:32,840 Speaker 1: Nintendo's Virtual Boy twenty years later, I highly recommend you 594 00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:34,920 Speaker 1: read it if you're interested in the Virtual Boy. It 595 00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:38,560 Speaker 1: goes into much greater detail. Well, Yakoya himself began to 596 00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:43,960 Speaker 1: feel misgivings about this project. He had to compromise several 597 00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:47,040 Speaker 1: times in order to get his product designed to a 598 00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:48,839 Speaker 1: point where the company would actually give it a go 599 00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:51,840 Speaker 1: ahead to go into production. And part of making all 600 00:34:51,920 --> 00:34:55,080 Speaker 1: these compromises meant that, despite the fact that the Virtual 601 00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:57,839 Speaker 1: Boy was now going to be a tabletop device, he 602 00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:01,080 Speaker 1: also was not allowed to upgrade the processors so that 603 00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:03,600 Speaker 1: it could display great graphics. I mean, now he's like, well, 604 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:06,839 Speaker 1: if we're not worried about weight, because it's not going 605 00:35:06,920 --> 00:35:09,919 Speaker 1: to be worn in any way. Maybe we could put 606 00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:14,719 Speaker 1: in a different processor and have higher fidelity graphics in 607 00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:19,360 Speaker 1: this thing, but Nintendo said, no, We've already invested in 608 00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:22,880 Speaker 1: the reflection technology approach, so it doesn't make sense for 609 00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:25,200 Speaker 1: us to switch that. So you're going to be stuck 610 00:35:25,239 --> 00:35:28,200 Speaker 1: with those specs. It meant that he would have to 611 00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:32,640 Speaker 1: use things like wireframe graphics or simple sprites, and you 612 00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:35,400 Speaker 1: could argue this was a sunken cost fallacy issue that 613 00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:37,960 Speaker 1: Nintendo was like, well, we can't switch now because we've 614 00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:40,000 Speaker 1: already spent too much money. But you know, there are 615 00:35:40,040 --> 00:35:42,439 Speaker 1: some practical limits here. I mean, you could also argue 616 00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:45,600 Speaker 1: that Nintendo was a company that this stage was essentially 617 00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:49,000 Speaker 1: printing money and they could have invested more heavily into 618 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:53,560 Speaker 1: Virtual Boy, but that just didn't unfold. So it meant 619 00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:57,479 Speaker 1: that Yakoi was stuck with some design elements that were 620 00:35:57,760 --> 00:36:01,799 Speaker 1: really limiting, and even though he could have tried to 621 00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:05,000 Speaker 1: push for a device that had more compelling selling points, 622 00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:08,759 Speaker 1: the company just wasn't interested. So, as Ben Edwards explains 623 00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:11,479 Speaker 1: in that brilliant Piece and Fast Company, Nintendo had also 624 00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:15,200 Speaker 1: commissioned studies to look into how the LED display might 625 00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:19,719 Speaker 1: adversely affect vision. Again, Nintendo wanted to make sure this 626 00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:24,200 Speaker 1: gadget wasn't going to cause legal problems for the company 627 00:36:24,239 --> 00:36:27,680 Speaker 1: Further down the line, it wouldn't do for Nintendo to 628 00:36:27,680 --> 00:36:30,520 Speaker 1: release the Virtual Boy only to discover that after a 629 00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:33,880 Speaker 1: prolonged session of play, kids were complaining that their eyeballs 630 00:36:33,880 --> 00:36:36,960 Speaker 1: didn't work so good. So they commissioned this study, and 631 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:39,880 Speaker 1: apparently the study found that as long as the vertical 632 00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:44,560 Speaker 1: alignment of the two screens was correct, then there really 633 00:36:44,560 --> 00:36:47,719 Speaker 1: were no issues with vision. If one screen, however, was 634 00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:51,319 Speaker 1: at a different vertical alignment than the other screen, kids 635 00:36:51,320 --> 00:36:53,920 Speaker 1: could develop a lazy eye, particularly if the kid was 636 00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:57,600 Speaker 1: younger than seven years old. So Nintendo made some design 637 00:36:57,600 --> 00:37:00,720 Speaker 1: adjustments to ensure that the two screens were properly aligned, 638 00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:03,360 Speaker 1: and just for good measure, they slapt a warning on 639 00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:05,680 Speaker 1: the device saying that kids under the age of seven 640 00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:09,640 Speaker 1: shouldn't play with it. There were other warnings that the 641 00:37:09,680 --> 00:37:13,800 Speaker 1: company released as well. The system itself would remind players regularly, 642 00:37:14,040 --> 00:37:16,760 Speaker 1: like you know, like every fifteen minutes that they should 643 00:37:16,800 --> 00:37:20,160 Speaker 1: take a break to rest their eyes. And because there 644 00:37:20,239 --> 00:37:23,520 Speaker 1: was this incredibly harsh law in Japan that essentially said 645 00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:26,279 Speaker 1: a company would be liable if someone used one of 646 00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:30,520 Speaker 1: their products and then got injured unless the company explicitly 647 00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:34,200 Speaker 1: warned users against that specific use case. So, in other words, 648 00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:37,040 Speaker 1: like you would have to anticipate all the ways that 649 00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:39,680 Speaker 1: customers might use your product that could be done in 650 00:37:39,719 --> 00:37:42,080 Speaker 1: a dangerous way, and you would really need to lay 651 00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:44,719 Speaker 1: it out clearly that you're not supposed to use it 652 00:37:44,760 --> 00:37:46,759 Speaker 1: this way, because if they did use it that way 653 00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:48,719 Speaker 1: and they got hurt, they could sue the company and 654 00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:51,640 Speaker 1: there'd be legal standing for it. You couldn't just argue, well, 655 00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:54,319 Speaker 1: this was an unreasonable use of the technology. No one 656 00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:56,480 Speaker 1: is supposed to do that, because they would say if 657 00:37:56,480 --> 00:38:00,040 Speaker 1: no one's supposed to do it, why didn't you say so. So, 658 00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:03,960 Speaker 1: in other words, Nintendo would go overboard explaining out how 659 00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:07,239 Speaker 1: you were not supposed to use the Virtual Boy in 660 00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:11,239 Speaker 1: order to limit the liability, And the result was that 661 00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:13,600 Speaker 1: the manual made it sound like the Virtual Boy was 662 00:38:13,640 --> 00:38:17,000 Speaker 1: about as safe as going skydiving without taking a lesson first. 663 00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:19,799 Speaker 1: So it created a reputation for the Virtual Boy as 664 00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:23,239 Speaker 1: being potentially dangerous, But really it was just a manifestation 665 00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:25,560 Speaker 1: of a company trying to head off potential lawsuits. In 666 00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:28,400 Speaker 1: the future. Now, the first time folks outside of Nintendo 667 00:38:28,440 --> 00:38:31,120 Speaker 1: itself could give the Virtual Boy a whirl, which up 668 00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:33,960 Speaker 1: to that point the project was actually named VR thirty two. 669 00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:37,560 Speaker 1: It hadn't received the Virtual Boy brand yet. Well. The 670 00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:40,320 Speaker 1: first time was at a software industry conference in Japan, 671 00:38:40,480 --> 00:38:43,600 Speaker 1: and this was in late nineteen ninety four. At that time, 672 00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:46,799 Speaker 1: Nintendo's hope was to sell the Virtual Boy in North 673 00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:49,640 Speaker 1: America for around two hundred dollars, and they had high 674 00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:52,279 Speaker 1: hopes that they would see really healthy sales by the 675 00:38:52,360 --> 00:38:54,640 Speaker 1: end of the first year on the market, and boy, 676 00:38:54,719 --> 00:38:59,440 Speaker 1: howdi that would not be the way it would play out. Meanwhile, 677 00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:02,239 Speaker 1: the reaction among the attendees of this conference was one 678 00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:05,960 Speaker 1: of the fuddled apathy. The monochromatic display was a big 679 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:07,799 Speaker 1: turn off. I mean, people were starting to get used 680 00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:10,560 Speaker 1: to pretty decent graphics at this point. It was also 681 00:39:10,800 --> 00:39:13,160 Speaker 1: kind of lame that you had to PLoP this device 682 00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:15,520 Speaker 1: on a table and then lean forward to view anything. 683 00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:18,760 Speaker 1: Pretty quickly, folks noticed that unless you had the height 684 00:39:19,080 --> 00:39:21,960 Speaker 1: just right between you and the Virtual Boy, you were 685 00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:23,799 Speaker 1: likely going to have to binge your neck in such 686 00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:26,360 Speaker 1: a way that pretty soon things would be uncomfortable. So 687 00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:30,719 Speaker 1: It wasn't exactly a stellar debut, but Nintendo continued on. 688 00:39:31,239 --> 00:39:35,080 Speaker 1: They showed the Virtual Boy off at the following Consumer 689 00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:38,480 Speaker 1: Electronics show in Las Vegas, Nevada, and again they got 690 00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:41,440 Speaker 1: a pretty lackluster response among the press in the public, 691 00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:44,520 Speaker 1: which wasn't a great sign. But what was worse was 692 00:39:44,560 --> 00:39:47,600 Speaker 1: that back in Japan, the press was latched onto those 693 00:39:47,640 --> 00:39:51,759 Speaker 1: warnings that Nintendo had included both on the systems and 694 00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:54,719 Speaker 1: in the manual. So again, Nintendo was doing this in 695 00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:57,760 Speaker 1: an effort to avoid legal problems due to a really 696 00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:01,080 Speaker 1: harsh law in Japan. But the question the prescot was 697 00:40:01,120 --> 00:40:04,680 Speaker 1: that the Virtual Boy was dangerous, that it was potentially 698 00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:07,239 Speaker 1: bad for your eyesight, which in fact, none of the 699 00:40:07,239 --> 00:40:11,279 Speaker 1: studies Nintendo had commissioned seemed to back up. It was 700 00:40:11,360 --> 00:40:14,840 Speaker 1: again just that they were trying to avoid issues because 701 00:40:14,880 --> 00:40:20,080 Speaker 1: of this pretty restrictive law, and instead the Virtual Boy 702 00:40:20,120 --> 00:40:22,520 Speaker 1: got a reputation for being bad for your eyes and 703 00:40:22,560 --> 00:40:26,120 Speaker 1: that reputation was another strike against the system. It really 704 00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:29,040 Speaker 1: did a number on sales in Japan, or at least 705 00:40:29,160 --> 00:40:31,200 Speaker 1: was a big contributing factor to that. I don't think 706 00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:34,719 Speaker 1: you could point to any single reason as why it 707 00:40:34,760 --> 00:40:38,319 Speaker 1: would sell terribly in Japan, but there were lots of 708 00:40:38,360 --> 00:40:41,080 Speaker 1: different factors that kind of converged at the same time. 709 00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:44,719 Speaker 1: Nintendo launched the Virtual Boy in Japan on July twenty first, 710 00:40:44,800 --> 00:40:47,319 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety five. The launch in North America was on 711 00:40:47,400 --> 00:40:50,640 Speaker 1: August twenty first of nineteen ninety five, and like I said, 712 00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:53,520 Speaker 1: sales in Japan were super slow. They didn't even hit 713 00:40:53,560 --> 00:40:57,040 Speaker 1: two hundred thousand units sold. According to most sources I found. 714 00:40:57,280 --> 00:41:00,440 Speaker 1: They did better in North America, but it was like 715 00:41:00,680 --> 00:41:03,359 Speaker 1: a blockbuster hit. It just sold better than it did 716 00:41:03,400 --> 00:41:07,080 Speaker 1: in Japan. The final retail price, at least initially when 717 00:41:07,080 --> 00:41:10,400 Speaker 1: it launched in America, was lower than the two hundred 718 00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:12,919 Speaker 1: dollars that was expected. It was at one seventy nine 719 00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:15,640 Speaker 1: to ninety five. And if we ad just for inflation, 720 00:41:15,680 --> 00:41:18,120 Speaker 1: that means the Virtual Boy system costs around three hundred 721 00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:21,480 Speaker 1: and sixty five dollars in today's money, So three hundred 722 00:41:21,480 --> 00:41:23,440 Speaker 1: and sixty five bucks. That's one dollar for every day 723 00:41:23,480 --> 00:41:25,800 Speaker 1: of the year that you're not playing the system. Assuming 724 00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:27,919 Speaker 1: it's a leap year, you play it that first day 725 00:41:27,960 --> 00:41:31,000 Speaker 1: and never touch it again. Sales were better, like I said, 726 00:41:31,040 --> 00:41:34,320 Speaker 1: in North America, but they did not meet Nintendo's hopes. 727 00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:37,200 Speaker 1: They weren't anywhere close to what the company had been projecting. 728 00:41:37,239 --> 00:41:40,440 Speaker 1: They were thinking sales would be in the millions of units. 729 00:41:40,800 --> 00:41:44,040 Speaker 1: It didn't hit a million in the US, so in 730 00:41:44,080 --> 00:41:47,360 Speaker 1: October nineteen ninety five they lowered the price down to 731 00:41:47,440 --> 00:41:51,040 Speaker 1: one fifty nine ninety five. But in Japan they made 732 00:41:51,080 --> 00:41:54,480 Speaker 1: a much more drastic decision. Within six months of launch, 733 00:41:54,560 --> 00:41:57,799 Speaker 1: they decided, yeah, this is not working. It is a 734 00:41:57,840 --> 00:42:00,640 Speaker 1: total flop, and they pulled the plug and oof, the 735 00:42:00,719 --> 00:42:03,640 Speaker 1: Virtual Boy was gone in Japan, six months after I 736 00:42:03,640 --> 00:42:07,360 Speaker 1: had launched a huge black eye for Nintendo. Virtual Boy 737 00:42:07,440 --> 00:42:10,520 Speaker 1: would have a better lifetime in North America, or at 738 00:42:10,600 --> 00:42:13,160 Speaker 1: least a longer one. It lasted about a full year 739 00:42:13,360 --> 00:42:16,440 Speaker 1: before Nintendo killed it off here at North America. By then, 740 00:42:16,520 --> 00:42:19,400 Speaker 1: the system was selling for just ninety nine dollars, so 741 00:42:19,719 --> 00:42:22,760 Speaker 1: it was a clear whiff from Nintendo, and it seemed 742 00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:25,440 Speaker 1: the folks at the company were awfully embarrassed by the 743 00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:30,080 Speaker 1: whole thing, and Yakoi himself would he would have one 744 00:42:30,160 --> 00:42:33,560 Speaker 1: more hit at Nintendo before he would retire. He was 745 00:42:33,600 --> 00:42:38,120 Speaker 1: already considering retirement from Nintendo to pursue other opportunities before 746 00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:42,400 Speaker 1: the Virtual Boy thing even became a Nintendo project, but 747 00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:46,160 Speaker 1: he did leave after one more success. The press would 748 00:42:46,600 --> 00:42:51,280 Speaker 1: consistently link his retirement with the failure of Virtual Boy. However, 749 00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:54,920 Speaker 1: and tragically, he would die in a car accident just 750 00:42:54,960 --> 00:42:58,080 Speaker 1: a couple of years after retiring, So his story is 751 00:42:58,080 --> 00:43:02,400 Speaker 1: a very sad one. Tons of reasons that The Virtual 752 00:43:02,480 --> 00:43:05,720 Speaker 1: Boy failed. For one thing, it wasn't actually a VR 753 00:43:05,760 --> 00:43:07,839 Speaker 1: product by the time it came out, you know, it 754 00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:11,120 Speaker 1: lacked most of the components that folks tend to associate 755 00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:15,400 Speaker 1: with VR. It didn't have It wasn't wearable, it lacked 756 00:43:15,440 --> 00:43:19,759 Speaker 1: head tracking, and so it really wasn't virtual. And yet 757 00:43:19,760 --> 00:43:22,920 Speaker 1: it was called the Virtual Boy, again a nod to 758 00:43:22,960 --> 00:43:26,680 Speaker 1: the Game Boy handset system, which was incredibly popular, so 759 00:43:26,920 --> 00:43:30,319 Speaker 1: people thought that was hubris. The Virtual Boy had a 760 00:43:30,360 --> 00:43:33,600 Speaker 1: limited library of games. That was partly because Nintendo had 761 00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:36,920 Speaker 1: this corporate culture at the time in which different departments 762 00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:40,080 Speaker 1: were kind of competing against one another. The idea was 763 00:43:40,120 --> 00:43:43,120 Speaker 1: that by competing against each other, the best ideas would 764 00:43:43,200 --> 00:43:46,000 Speaker 1: rise to the top. It would compel them to really 765 00:43:46,080 --> 00:43:49,359 Speaker 1: push the company forward. But it also meant that some 766 00:43:49,480 --> 00:43:53,160 Speaker 1: of the top tier titles and characters were not really 767 00:43:53,719 --> 00:43:57,840 Speaker 1: available for Virtual Boy titles, and that really set the 768 00:43:58,200 --> 00:44:01,279 Speaker 1: game system back quite a bit. The form factor was 769 00:44:01,280 --> 00:44:04,400 Speaker 1: another big strike against the Virtual Boy. That bipod stand 770 00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:06,600 Speaker 1: made it awkward to play the system, and he really 771 00:44:06,600 --> 00:44:09,200 Speaker 1: could get a sore neck from the thing. The press, 772 00:44:09,280 --> 00:44:12,080 Speaker 1: particularly in Japan, played a huge part in discouraging the 773 00:44:12,080 --> 00:44:15,360 Speaker 1: public from adopting the system and played up the supposed 774 00:44:15,440 --> 00:44:18,480 Speaker 1: risks of the device, despite you know, not having evidence 775 00:44:18,520 --> 00:44:22,279 Speaker 1: to back up the supposed harmful effects. The limitations of 776 00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:25,320 Speaker 1: the display also hurt the Virtual Boy's chances in the market. 777 00:44:25,719 --> 00:44:29,640 Speaker 1: Nintendo's refusal to upgrade components to support better graphics meant 778 00:44:29,680 --> 00:44:33,680 Speaker 1: it was stuck with that monochromatic screen, which, while innovative 779 00:44:33,920 --> 00:44:38,280 Speaker 1: and cost effective and boasting a really sharp resolution, still 780 00:44:38,320 --> 00:44:42,480 Speaker 1: had real performance limitations. And then, not too long after 781 00:44:42,520 --> 00:44:45,880 Speaker 1: the Virtual Boy kind of flopped, there was a bigger 782 00:44:45,920 --> 00:44:51,000 Speaker 1: flop in VR in general. Right Like, people got disillusioned 783 00:44:51,239 --> 00:44:55,040 Speaker 1: by virtual reality because the experience they had was not 784 00:44:55,239 --> 00:44:58,240 Speaker 1: what they expected given all the hype and the media 785 00:44:58,360 --> 00:45:01,799 Speaker 1: representations and such, and so the interest and support for 786 00:45:01,920 --> 00:45:05,760 Speaker 1: VR dropped dramatically before the end of the nineties, leaving 787 00:45:06,080 --> 00:45:11,080 Speaker 1: VR research and development projects without much funding or support, 788 00:45:11,480 --> 00:45:15,240 Speaker 1: and things would take a lot longer to progress because 789 00:45:15,239 --> 00:45:17,359 Speaker 1: people just didn't have the assets they needed. They were 790 00:45:17,400 --> 00:45:20,920 Speaker 1: still working in the field, and they were taking advantage 791 00:45:20,960 --> 00:45:24,399 Speaker 1: of things like the power Glove, for example, to kind 792 00:45:24,440 --> 00:45:27,920 Speaker 1: of take up the slack that was left since they 793 00:45:27,920 --> 00:45:33,200 Speaker 1: didn't have the funding to build all new hardware. But yeah, 794 00:45:33,560 --> 00:45:37,120 Speaker 1: Virtual Boy was just one drop in the bucket of 795 00:45:37,160 --> 00:45:40,240 Speaker 1: the failure of VR in the nineties. But my virtual 796 00:45:40,280 --> 00:45:43,200 Speaker 1: hat is off to ign for a really fun April 797 00:45:43,200 --> 00:45:46,279 Speaker 1: Fool's gag with the Virtual Boy pro and again, if 798 00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:48,200 Speaker 1: you want to learn more about the system and the 799 00:45:48,239 --> 00:45:51,959 Speaker 1: stories behind it, including more details about the tragic ending 800 00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:55,160 Speaker 1: for Yakoi, then make sure to read BENJ. Edwards article 801 00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:58,719 Speaker 1: unraveling the Enigma of Nintendo's Virtual Boy twenty years later 802 00:45:58,840 --> 00:46:01,839 Speaker 1: over on Fast Company. It's really well worth a read. 803 00:46:01,880 --> 00:46:04,440 Speaker 1: I drew from lots of different sources for this episode, 804 00:46:04,520 --> 00:46:07,080 Speaker 1: but that piece in particular had a wealth of information 805 00:46:07,160 --> 00:46:10,200 Speaker 1: about the failed Nintendo system. That's all. I hope you 806 00:46:10,239 --> 00:46:12,520 Speaker 1: had a good April Fool's Day. I hope for those 807 00:46:12,560 --> 00:46:15,400 Speaker 1: of you who were able to view the eclipse that 808 00:46:15,480 --> 00:46:17,960 Speaker 1: happened today, I hope it was a great experience. Actually, 809 00:46:17,960 --> 00:46:20,799 Speaker 1: took a little break from recording this episode to do it, 810 00:46:20,840 --> 00:46:23,480 Speaker 1: and it was neat and I hope you're all well 811 00:46:23,880 --> 00:46:32,720 Speaker 1: and I'll talk to you again really soon. Tech Stuff 812 00:46:32,800 --> 00:46:37,279 Speaker 1: is an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit 813 00:46:37,360 --> 00:46:40,920 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 814 00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:45,680 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.