The Virtual Boy: How To Sell A Headache
It was the mid Nineties and Nintendo was set to wow the crowds with their new 3D virtual reality portable, Virtual Boy. Unfortunately, it was a huge flop and ultimately led to the demotion of it's designer, Gunpei Yokoi. Not only was the product met with lukewarm reviews, it also gave horrible headaches to those brave enough to pay the $180 price tag and check it out.
This clip is from a British news broadcast featuring the Virtual Boy making an appearance at a trade show. Nintendo's own press maven, Perrin Kaplan is on hand to explain the ins and outs of the VB, followed by some quotes from a couple of very unimpressed people. My favorite quote though, is from the British (Disney?) Imagineer who puts his feelings about the system quite succinctly:
The Virtual Boy? I'm not a fan of it. I call it the Virtual Bore.
[via Aeropause]
Fruit Brute
Posted to Video Games, Videos on 7 March 2007
· Comments (5)
Other stuff like this: headache, nintendo, perrin kaplan, virtual boy
I had a Virtual Boy and personally, I think it's really underappreciated. I loved it! I really really really did! Especially WarioLand. That game rocked. Too bad there weren't really enough good games made. I'll give it that.
But hey, at least Nintendo tried something new. It's not like every experimental innovation can be a hit.
Gunpei Yokoi is a rock star! Too bad he never got the credit he deserved. Now it all makes sense why Nintendo started to slip in the console war...because he died!
How did Perrin K. get so hot?
I remember renting one back when blockbuster used to do console rentals. I was nauseous for a week. You had to use the thing on a table top and lean in, you couldn't sit comfortable on your couch, not to mention the mess of cables it had. The graphics were too gameboy like for being dubbed "virtual", and the word "boy" implies portability, which this thing was not. It did have a pretty cool robot boxing game, as well as mario tennis (which Wii Sports reminds me of incidentally). Yes, I was a critic even when I was 11 years old.
I rented one from Blockbuster for three days and returned it the next day. Couldn't play more than hour without headache. I do have one, found it years ago for 39.99 at kaybee toys.