And All That Hype, Game Systems, Head Mounted Displays, VR Companies, Where Are They Now?
In 1993, Sega stood in front of the world’s press, showed off a $200 virtual reality headset for the Genesis, and then quietly strangled it in a back room. The official cause of death — and I need you to sit with this — was that it worked too well. The...
Around the World, Game Systems, Head Mounted Displays, How-To; Teardowns; Tutorials, VR Companies
W-Industries (Virtuality) always seemed to have a PR person riding herd on any video material that was released about the company or products. Everything the public saw was tightly scripted and edited. But… here’s a 1992 video from inside the factory...
And All That Hype, Game Systems, Head Mounted Displays, In the Movies, On TV, VR Companies, Where Are They Now?
ABC Primetime covers the VR scene in Sept. 1991. Although this news report conflates computer animation footage with Virtual Reality, it also features interviews with Jon Waldern, Fred Brooks, Howard Rheingold, Mike McGreevey, and C L Dodgson (virtually, of course.)...
And All That Hype, Game Systems, Head Mounted Displays, Stereoscopic 3D, VR Companies, Where Are They Now?
Sega (all hail Sonic!): 1991 brought the announcement of Sega VR, a $200 headset for the Genesis console, a prototype finally shown at summer CES 1993, and consigned to the trash heap of VR in 1994, before any units shipped. Sega claimed that the helmet experience was...
And All That Hype, Game Systems, Head Mounted Displays, VR Companies
“Inside Jaron Lanier is a precocious eight-year-old who got together with some friends and built a spaceship,” wrote Howard Rheingold in his 1991 book, Virtual Reality, the definitive history of VR to date. “Now he wants us all to take a ride in...
Around the World, Game Systems, Head Mounted Displays, How-To; Teardowns; Tutorials, Position Trackers
Several months ago I shipped off an MRG2.2 to Mnemonic in the Ukraine. He said he wanted to do a few mods and some experimenting. Little did I know that he would put together a totally sweet augmented reality system, where the view inside the VR helmet combined the...
Around the World, Game Systems, Head Mounted Displays, Stereoscopic 3D, VR Companies
Forte VFX1 was the most advanced, complex and expensive consumer VR system that appeared on the market during VR craze in mid-nineties. Introduced in 1995, VFX1 was in the shops all around the world in 1996. [scrollGallery=id:1;] Hardware overview System consisted of:...
Game Systems, Head Mounted Displays, VR Companies, Where Are They Now?
Chris Hand from Leicester Polytechnic offers a delightful history of W Industries, the company who brought us the various Virtuality VR game systems. His history begins in the early 80’s and takes us only to early October of 1991, not long after the commercial...
And All That Hype, Game Systems, VR Companies, Where Are They Now?
From 1991 to 1996 W Industries Virtuality systems defined the image of VR in the location based entertainment arena. Here in the US, Horizon Entertainment was their sole distributor. W Industries was remarkably innovative with their use of technology, but their...
Game Systems, VR Companies
Sphere is a game that was made for the Virtuality 2000 Series sitdowns (SD). You control a tank and have to capture a sphere in the battlefield while avoiding to be shot by other tanks....
Game Systems, Head Mounted Displays, VR Companies
I don’t really agree with the Virtual Boy being VR’s “nail in the coffin”. I think it was just one of many crappy products. Maybe it could have saved the VR hype for a while if it was a big success, but as it is it’s just one of the many...
Game Systems, Head Mounted Displays
Nintendo’s 1995 Virtual Boy was a whole cartridge based game system inside a desktop-mounted-head stereoscopic immersive display. Designed by Gunpei Yokoi of Gameboy fame, and offered for $180 retail, the market was less than kind. It was withdrawn from the...
Game Systems, Head Mounted Displays, VR Companies
Jaron walks us through all eleven reasons, from Gates Envy to Movie Projectors. Strangely enough I agree! The Top Eleven Reasons VR Has Not Yet Become...
Game Systems, Head Mounted Displays
This looks like the closest thing yet to a real-life holodeck! The Virtusphere is (as the name suggests) a large hollow sphere which sits on a set of computer monitored wheels. This allows the sphere to rotate a complete 360º whilst still allowing the computer to...
Game Systems, On TV, VR Companies
The ill fated GamePro TV did a 1991 “Cutting Edge” feature on the original Virtuality arcade systems, including footage from their premier multi-player Dactyl Nightmare title. Be careful not to fry your eyeballs on host J.D. Roth’s outfit; did anyone...
