TSA Advent Calendar: Day 3
It's time to look at whether our Christmas wish-lists are really up to scratch.Published 03/12/2009 at 17:00 by Lorcan
TSA Advent Day 22: The Console Nativity [31]
TSA Advent Calendar: Day 7 [19]
TSA Advent Calendar: Day 5 [25]
And so this is Christmas, and what have we done? Asked Santa for all the latest and coolest gifts? Maybe in some futuristic wish-list you have Natal, the motion controller, a 3D TV and OnLive as must have gifts. It’s all such new and fantastic technology isn’t it? We sure have come far haven’t we? Well, not really.
That big 3D telly on your list is pretty flash right? You can play your games with your magic glasses and see them pop out right in front of you. You’re friends will be jealous! Except that you’re 22 years late to the party. 3-D WorldRunner on the NES was released in 1987 and came complete with a free pair of anaglyph glasses and 3-D mode which did indeed make the image pop out of the screen as you ran, face first, into pillars and had a hard job avoiding the “Hand Man”.
Then there’s OnLive. Steaming games from a server straight to your TV. That’s a 2009 innovation right? Well, yes, I suppose it is, but a very similar service was actually available in 1981 in the form of PlayCable for the Intellivision. The service gave it’s subscribers access to games which could be downloaded through a TV cable and was loaded into the internal memory where it would be ready to play. However, as soon as the console was switched off, the game was lost.
But it makes you think about the PSN and XBLA which are both fairly new and exciting, giving the ability to download top quality games to play on your console. Well GameLine for the Atari 2600 also featured a similar system, this time downloading through phone lines, and was also available in the early 1980s.
So the Motion Controller, Natal and the Wii. They’re still pretty nifty right? Well, motion control first entered the console market way back in 1989. I love the Power Glove. It’s so bad! The power glove was indeed very bad and was universally hated for being imprecise and having horrendous controls, but it still managed to lay down some pretty important foundations in Nintendo’s idea banks. Had it not been for the Power Glove, a truly “next gen” HD Gamecube could have been with us today.
So there are some fun facts for you! I’ve sure put you whipper-snappers and your “modern technology” back into your places eh? I hope you’re revising your wishlists as we speak. Give it a day and we may even be able to give you a hand or two with some suggestions…
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
parker | 03/12/2009 17:06
Member
1033 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
Nice, a few facts in there that I didn’t know!
I’m not convinced by OnLive – I reckon the route they’re taking will be adapted by Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo with there next gen systems – and it will fail miserably due to this. Just my two cents.
I’m actually looking forward to the Motion Controller too, But won’t get it unless there is enough games that support it.
cc_star | 03/12/2009 17:36
Team TSA: Writer
7869 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Sony, Nintendo & Microsoft are hardware company’s who need you to re-buy a new unit every 5-7 years… OnLive will do away with that (if it works)
I think lag won’t be the issue, it’ll be their hardware scalability which will be the problem, although they say they’ve overcome that
Lorcan | 04/12/2009 06:06
Team TSA: Writer
1248 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
I think it’s one of those “too good to be true” things. I just sort of disguard it because I just can’t really believe that it’ll work. Still though, time will tell and if it will work with my connection, I’m there!
Really not sue if I can see myself abandoning the Playstation yet though.
BIGAL-1992 | 03/12/2009 17:38
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1257 TSA Points | Member since: Jan 2009
So basically, all these new innovation (PSN, LIVE, Cloud gaming, motion controller), have already been used? I never knew that.
hazelam | 03/12/2009 17:41
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3950 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
on live isn’t exactly like that intellivision thing, the game was still running on your hardware, it’s more like the downloadable demos for the ds that last only as long as the system is powered up.
have you actually see the wizard, the film your power glove line comes from?
wasn’t a terrible film actually, not for an hour and a half advert for the nes and super mario bros 3 anyway
keep em coming anyway….. but where’s the chocolate?
Lorcan | 04/12/2009 06:07
Team TSA: Writer
1248 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
I think I saw the film when I was little, but I can’t really remember it. Someone sent me a link to that scene though a few weeks ago. He makes it look easy!
Ryan1991 | 03/12/2009 17:49
Member
1996 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
Didn’t Rad Racer do a similar thing to 3-D WorldRunner too?
Lorcan | 04/12/2009 06:09
Team TSA: Writer
1248 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
Yeah, it did. So did JJ on the NES, Magic Carpet on the PC and Sly 3 on the PS2!
gazzagb | 03/12/2009 17:58
Master of speling mitakse
2760 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
Nice facts today, although i dont think OnLive will kick off…
skibadee | 03/12/2009 19:42
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3917 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2009
not shore of that OnLive myself I remember that big gray glove tho good info.
waddo_89 | 03/12/2009 18:41
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493 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
OnLive, as a concept at least, is very appealing. No discs, no faff, an all in one (very very small) gaming system. But it’s those t’internet requirements that pose a problem. Is my 4.5Mb/s download and miserable 0.3Mb/s upload going to be able to handle much more than SD titles? I mean did anyone else that article about the best broadband countries around the world. The UK fell into the category of something like ‘OK for now but not very future proof.’
waddo_89 | 03/12/2009 18:42
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493 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
*anyone else read
Doh.
besidavi | 03/12/2009 19:37
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96 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2009
Sorry to be a pain in the ass, but you’ve spelt calendAr wrong in the header. Site reputation and all that!
besidavi | 03/12/2009 19:51
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96 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2009
someone’s quick!
seedaripper1973 | 04/12/2009 00:50
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1730 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
ey lorcan u gt sum mad ryttin skillz bruv i laffed at wot u sed keep up d gud wrk!
*bangs on head* sorry mate i think i was possesed, by the ghost of urbankilla…top read (athough i knew the facts anyway)
Severn2j | 04/12/2009 09:34
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1553 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
“Had it not been for the Power Glove, a truly “next gen” HD Gamecube could have been with us today.”
Spoken like a true WiiHater..
Lorcan | 04/12/2009 10:16
Team TSA: Writer
1248 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
Oh no! I didn’t mean it to come out like that!
I don’t like the Wii myself, but I know that had a “true” next gen Gamecube come out, it probably wouldn’t have survived with the PS3 and 360 battling it out as they are just now.
Obviously it would have been a different market because of that, but after the Gamecube, they really did need to mix things up and I think they’ve done it right.