I find it hard to interpret this image as a good thing.
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Another add-on, the EASI-GRIP, turns your Colecovision controller into a flight-stick style joystick. You know, for all those incredible Colecovision flight simulators out there. They were almost there with that one, but they had to put the obnoxious finger grooves on it.
The third add-on is not as useless as the first two — glue a giant “Sorry” game piece to top of the abysmal Intellivision controller, and you’ve got something way better than the original. But pictured next to it is the QUIK-FIRE, a flaky-looking button attachment for the same controller which probably broke in the first hour of play time. I find it hard to believe that adding any more pieces of plastic to a controller can allow you to press the buttons faster.
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From the instruction manual of the first video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey.
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Early personal computer magazines typically carried at least one ad for computer-themed T-shirts somewhere in each issue, usually in the back. These particular examples from 1983 tout apparel plastered with phrases such as “Byte my Bits,” “User Friendly,” “PC Compatible,” and the perennial classic, “Have You Hugged Your Programmer Today?”
Hey look — it’s Linda! Alternatives to the shirts pictured above include “Software” and “Hard Disk Driven.” Early computer enthusiasts were a desperate, sad lot indeed.
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There was a time in the early 1990s when “Virtual Reality” via bulky goggles strapped to your head seemed like the promise of the future. Video game console manufacturers like Atari, Sega, and Nintendo all dipped their toes into the virtual reality waters, but none devised a practical and cost-effective solution. Those attempting to create affordable consumer VR headsets encountered common problems: a true stereo display using two high resolution color LCD screens and motion tracking was too expensive, and even high quality goggles caused serious motion sickness and disorientation with many users.
Apparently VictorMaxx knew something that companies with multi-million dollar R&D budgets didn’t. They released the StuntMaster VR, a “3-D interactive virtual reality” headset with seemingly impressive motion tracking capability (“point-of-view instantly scrolls or rotates with the turn of your head!”). But alas, I own one, and I know that VictorMaxx only surpassed the competition in hyperbole and false advertising. The StuntMaster VR is a terrible piece of junk.
Imagine that: reality for the masses.
Dare you step forward, cheeze ball? Despite what the box says, the StuntMaster VR is not a 3D display. It contains one extremely grainy low resolution LCD screen in the center of the goggles. If you put it on, it hurts your face. The display singes your retinas with an intensely fuzzy, 
hard-to-focus-on image. The head tracking mechanism is nothing more than a stick you clip to your shoulder (see picture above) which slides through a loop on the side of the headset. When you turn your head, the StuntMaster detects the stick sliding in the loop and translates this into a left or right button press on a control pad, assuming you’ve actually hooked it up to the controller port of your SNES or Genesis. Remember the “point-of-view instantly scrolls or rotates with the turn of your head” quote? I’d love to see that happen in Super Mario World. Obviously, it couldn’t actually work unless the game were programmed for that functionality in advance. Unless, of course, you’re playing Doom and you want to turn left or right by moving your head.
A disturbing, tragic world, yours? Then please, do not buy the StuntMaster VR headset. Mine was so useless that I took it apart about four years ago and wired up some connectors to use it as a tiny LCD monitor. Even then, the LCD screen’s extremely low resolution makes it nearly useless. So now it spends most of its days sitting in its box, partially disassembled, reflecting on the good old days when plants were still green and the Lawnmower Man played out like a guaranteed guide to the future. I still want one of those springy mid-air virtual reality harnesses, by the way.
The StuntMaster headset makes me wonder how long VictorMaxx stayed in business. Who knows, we might hear from a former employee in time. Did anybody else have one of these, or any other VictorMaxx products? Leave a comment and we’ll talk.
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It’s sad to think that some people might have still been using punch cards for data input in 1979, but with the speed at which universities and other institutions updated their equipment, it would be no big surprise. Still, I think this terminal was mainly designed for legacy applications.
Let the punch card memories commence!
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Did/does anybody have one of these and wish to share their thoughts on it?
[ From Personal Computing magazine, December, 1983. ]
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[ From Personal Computing magazine, December, 1983. ]
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Let’s see. Texas-Instruments had Bill Cosby, Commodore had William Shatner, and Atari had Alan Alda. But did you know that Tandy-Radio Shack’s computer spokesperson in the early 1980s was science fiction author Isaac Asimov? I’ve seen a number of TRS-80 ads featuring him, and he always looks way too happy. But that was his job. And I’ve always loved Asimov’s sideburns. It’s like I’ve always said: nothing sells a home computer like a hairy man with a joystick. Take that, Commodore.
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You know the story — a cautionary tale of extreme cockiness and greed. Atari was so confident of their pending success with their first major movie-licensed game, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600, that they rushed it out the door with only five weeks of development time and churned out four million copies of it. Sure, it sold well for a video game, but Atari lost tons of money on the deal, due to both the exorbitant price they paid for the game rights, and the fact that they sold roughly a quarter of the number of carts they manufactured. It was also one of the biggest letdowns of any video game ever, player wise (well, perhaps tied with Pac-Man for the Atari 2600), with frustrating gameplay that only a masochist could love.
Perhaps somewhere in its cold, machine-like gut, Atari felt the faint stirrings of a suspicion that maybe E.T. wasn’t quite up to snuff. Is that why they included this small fold-out strategy hint sheet with the game? Read it and decide for yourself. But watch out for wells, my friends. Watch out for wells.
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