{"id":475,"date":"2008-06-23T12:42:08","date_gmt":"2008-06-23T17:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/?p=475"},"modified":"2008-06-23T13:49:11","modified_gmt":"2008-06-23T18:49:11","slug":"retro-scan-of-the-week-carpal-tunnel-here-we-come","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/archives\/475\/retro-scan-of-the-week-carpal-tunnel-here-we-come","title":{"rendered":"<span id=\"retro_color\">[ Retro Scan of the Week ]<\/span> Virtual Reality, Real Carpal Tunnel Syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/images\/retroscan\/glove_controller_large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/images\/retroscan\/glove_controller_small.jpg\" alt=\"Video Game Glove Controller Ad - 1998\" class=\"centered\" \/><\/a><span class=\"freecaption\"><em>&#8220;&#8230;easy after you spend a day on it.&#8221;  Then your hand snaps off.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Of all the weird contraptions pitched by obscure third-party controller manufacturers, the <em>Video Game Control Glove<\/em> ranks among the worst.  I have but a simple question: in what way was the regular Nintendo 64 controller bad enough to inspire someone to redesign it into an impractical novelty shape that likely <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessweek.com\/1997\/51\/b3558132.htm\" target=\"_blank\">promotes wrist injury<\/a>?  Better yet, why does anybody do anything stupid?<\/p>\n<p>Because somebody, somewhere, thought it was a good idea at the time.  (And someone else gave them money.)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/images\/retroscan\/glove_large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/images\/retroscan\/glove_small.jpg\" alt=\"Image Desc\" class=\"alignright\" \/><\/a>Upon closer inspection of this ad, you&#8217;ll notice that the company behind this needless exercise in hand strain called itself &#8220;Reality Quest.&#8221;  That explains a lot: exactly 83% of the dumbest video game peripherals ever made were ill-conceived attempts to capitalize on the early 1990s media hype around &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Virtual_reality\" target=\"_blank\">virtual reality<\/a>&#8221; (case in point, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/archives\/314\">StuntMaster headset<\/a>).  At the time, virtual reality was always just around the corner, courtesy of strap-on goggles and gangly game gauntlets that engulfed your hand in gaudy gadgetry.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve never used <em>the Glove<\/em>; my guess is that it falls somewhat short of turning <em>Mario 64<\/em> into an immersive virtual reality experience.   But the next time I need a controller whose function requires rapid, repetitive contortions of one of weakest and least durable joints in the human body, I&#8217;ll keep it in mind.<\/p>\n<p><center><em><small>[ From Electronic Gaming Monthly, November 1998 ]<\/small><\/em><\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>Discussion topic of the week:<\/strong> What&#8217;s the worst video game peripheral you&#8217;ve ever bought?<\/p>\n<p><small><em>If you use this image on your site, please support &#8220;Retro Scan of the Week&#8221; by giving us obvious credit for the original scan and entry.  Thanks.<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;&#8230;easy after you spend a day on it.&#8221; Then your hand snaps off. Of all the weird contraptions pitched by obscure third-party controller manufacturers, the Video Game Control Glove ranks among the worst. I have but a simple question: in what way was the regular Nintendo 64 controller bad enough to inspire someone to redesign [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,13,24,26,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-video-game-design","category-video-game-info-and-history","category-humor","category-retro-scan-of-the-week","category-retrogaming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}