I took a media history class and ended up writing my final paper on the history of the power glove. It's one of those things that seems like it could have genuinely made groundbreaking technology if they hadn't cheaped out on mass production to get it into stores by Christmas.
Thanks for the article! I enjoyed learning about the various films and designs over the years that drew from the promise and disappointment.
For the Power Glove, I think it was definitely a refusal to spend enough money on components to make the motion tracking robust. You saw the same thing with the initial version of the Wiimote—that's why they had to add that Wii Motion Plus attachment a couple of years after launch. And when I saw the initial prototype of the Xbox Kinect at E3, it was much better at tracking your movements than the version they eventually shipped. In all cases, I think if they were just willing to risk $8-$10 more on parts, it would've made a difference.
But the Humane Pin, sheesh... I feel like they could've poured another $50M down the tubes on R&D, and it still might not've gotten to a tipping point of effectiveness and utility.
I take that to mean that he can punch bad guys in front of a scrolling background image of Düsseldorf while an 8-bit chiptune version of Die Toten Hosen plays, and that he can punch bad guys in front of a scrolling background image of Tokyo while an 8-bit chiptune version of Guitar Wolf plays, and he can punch bad guys in front of a scrolling background image of Stockholm while an 8-bit chiptune version of Ebba Grön plays.
I took a media history class and ended up writing my final paper on the history of the power glove. It's one of those things that seems like it could have genuinely made groundbreaking technology if they hadn't cheaped out on mass production to get it into stores by Christmas.
Thanks for the article! I enjoyed learning about the various films and designs over the years that drew from the promise and disappointment.
Perhaps if the releases of these things had waited until all the kinks were taken care of, they might have actually been successful.
For the Power Glove, I think it was definitely a refusal to spend enough money on components to make the motion tracking robust. You saw the same thing with the initial version of the Wiimote—that's why they had to add that Wii Motion Plus attachment a couple of years after launch. And when I saw the initial prototype of the Xbox Kinect at E3, it was much better at tracking your movements than the version they eventually shipped. In all cases, I think if they were just willing to risk $8-$10 more on parts, it would've made a difference.
But the Humane Pin, sheesh... I feel like they could've poured another $50M down the tubes on R&D, and it still might not've gotten to a tipping point of effectiveness and utility.
Chris, what do you recon is an “ International Punk Music Rocker “ exactly? Obviously a step up from a mere “national punk music rocker,” sure, but…
I take that to mean that he can punch bad guys in front of a scrolling background image of Düsseldorf while an 8-bit chiptune version of Die Toten Hosen plays, and that he can punch bad guys in front of a scrolling background image of Tokyo while an 8-bit chiptune version of Guitar Wolf plays, and he can punch bad guys in front of a scrolling background image of Stockholm while an 8-bit chiptune version of Ebba Grön plays.