Virtual Boy: Would a different color laser have saved it?

[KIWASABI]

Hey everybody,

 

I remember reading in an article about the Virtual Boy that the reason the red laser was chosen for the display was because red lasers were ridiculously cheaper than blue or green lasers. The irony of this forced choice was that the cost of blue and green lasers came way down as soon as the Virtual Boy launched, just barely too late for a switch. What would have happened to the Virtual Boy had it had a blue or green laser instead of a red one?

 

For me, I think I would've liked it a lot better had it had a blue or green laser. I loved Wario Land, it was pretty amazing for the time. Also, the concept of stereoscopic 3d in video games was completely new to me and I loved it. The only problem for me with the Virtual Boy was that it was like staring into the sun in order to play a video game. There was just no other way to look at it than that. I think that if it were easier on the eyes then it wouldn't have been an issue and the idea would've been a hit. My friends and I thought the thing was so awesome until we played it for a while. "This thing is cool but it hurts my eyes really bad".

 

This begs for another question. Would it be possible to replace the Virtual Boy's lasers with blue or green lasers? I would love to give the Virtual Boy another shot in a different color.

[Reaperman]

there's no laser involved--wow imagine the warning booklet if there were... But I probably would have rather had a different color. I would assume they tried it, and I know they tried color display. The effect didn't work as well with color display though.

[KIWASABI]

there's no laser involved--wow imagine the warning booklet if there were... But I probably would have rather had a different color. I would assume they tried it, and I know they tried color display. The effect didn't work as well with color display though.

 

What does it use in place of a laser?

 

IGN made is sound like a cost thing. I doubt they would've chosen red unless they absolutely had to. I would think that a bright green would suffice just fine. Blue would probably be too dark to contrast enough with the black background, but a bright green would've probably worked well.

[fdurso224]

Hi Adam,

 

As a Gumpei Yokoi fan, I can help you with that question.

 

Yes, you can use different colors in a Virtual Boy!! Gumpei Yokoi and his team did try yellow, blue, and green colors. Unfortunately, it was unsuccessful. This is what Yokoi said in "The Ultimate History Of Video Games" by Steven Kent on page 514 2nd quote.

 

"In the beginning of the development, we experimented with a color LCD screen, but the users did not see depth, they saw double. Color graphics give people the impression that the game is high tech. But just because a game has a beautiful display does not mean that the game is fun to play.

I also wished to explain that LED'S come in red, yellow, blue, and green. Red uses less battery and red is easier to recognize. That is why red is used for traffic lights."

 

-Gumpei Yokoi-

(Lateral Thinking of Withered Technology)

 

 

Anthony....

Edited January 22, 2009 by fdurso224

[Atariman]

there's no laser involved--wow imagine the warning booklet if there were... But I probably would have rather had a different color. I would assume they tried it, and I know they tried color display. The effect didn't work as well with color display though.

 

"Warning: Laser Radiation: Do not look directly at Virtual Boy"

[carmel_andrews]

If i recall ccorrectly (from what i remember reading in the rolenta book 'phoenix'), When the Virtual Boy was demo'd at the 1994 Shoshinkai Show in Japan (some nintendo only event) some industry insiders and product reviewers who saw the device weren't impressed with it, saying that just like the Atari cosmos a generation before, the 3d effect didn't add to or enhance any of the gameplay (and that it wasn't totally portable like the gameboy/gamegear etc)

Edited January 22, 2009 by carmel_andrews

[fdurso224]

there's no laser involved--wow imagine the warning booklet if there were... But I probably would have rather had a different color. I would assume they tried it, and I know they tried color display. The effect didn't work as well with color display though.

 

"Warning: Laser Radiation: Do not look directly at Virtual Boy"

 

 

Hi,

 

Use super extreme caution!! (^_^).

 

Anthony....

[Fort Apocalypse]

Were there any handheld or console games other than laserdisc games that employed use of a laser (not counting laser tag)?

[+remowilliams]

that employed use of a laser (not counting laser tag)?

Laser tag does not use lasers, it's IR based.

[supercat]

that employed use of a laser (not counting laser tag)?

Laser tag does not use lasers, it's IR based.

 

Many laser-tag sets use visible-light lasers for aiming or for effect, even though they use other means to detect hits. Actually, I would think the best way to detect hits would be to have the target areas of each vest emit a modulated pattern of light and then have each "gun" incorporate a well-aimed photo-eye. When a person is hit, have the gun radio the victim (identified by the modulation pattern).

[+remowilliams]

Good point, I forgot about the aiming on some of them. I just learned that they are still making Lazer Tag stuff, I had no idea. The guns look rather silly though.

[godslabrat]

Good point, I forgot about the aiming on some of them. I just learned that they are still making Lazer Tag stuff, I had no idea. The guns look rather silly though.

 

Lazer Tag works best when you actually play it in a building full of neon and blacklight... can the little home-kits compare at all?

[J.Max]

Were there any handheld or console games other than laserdisc games that employed use of a laser (not counting laser tag)?

 

 

No, unless you count the Cosmos. Even a low-powered laser can be very dangerous if you look at it directly, so companies have generally avoided using them.

[Ze_ro]

Were there any handheld or console games other than laserdisc games that employed use of a laser (not counting laser tag)?

Funny that you mention laserdisc, but leave out all the other optical media like CD and DVD. Not to mention the PSP, which is probably the only handheld system using a laser.

 

Also, if I'm not mistaken, LD's and CD's both use infrared lasers, outside of the visible spectrum (Though still very much capable of damaging your eye!)

 

--Zero

[Fort Apocalypse]

Were there any handheld or console games other than laserdisc games that employed use of a laser (not counting laser tag)?

Funny that you mention laserdisc, but leave out all the other optical media like CD and DVD. Not to mention the PSP, which is probably the only handheld system using a laser.

 

Also, if I'm not mistaken, LD's and CD's both use infrared lasers, outside of the visible spectrum (Though still very much capable of damaging your eye!)

 

--Zero

 

Doh!

 

I'm so stuck in the 80s and thinking of arcade games like Dragon's Lair, Mach 3, etc. I have no idea why I said that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Laserdisc_video_games

 

To try to make up for it, here's all I could find quickly:

 

Per http://www.gamingdump.com/consoleevolution.html

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console

 

I guess there were quite a few consoles using lasers:

 

CD: TurboGrafx 16 (1989) (optional CD add-on), SEGA Mega Drive (1988)/Genesis (1989) (optional CD add-on), 3DO (1993), Atari Saturn (1994), Neo Geo CD (1994), Playstation (1995) ("The PlayStation was the eventual result of a breakdown of a business partnership plan between Sony and Nintendo to create a CD add-on for the SNES."[1])

 

GD-ROM: Sega Dreamcast (1999)

 

CD/DVD: Sony Playstation 2 (2000), Xbox (2002)

 

GameCube Optical Disc: GameCube (2001)

 

DVD, CD and HD DVD: Xbox 360 (2005)

 

Wii Optical Disc, GameCube Game Disc: Wii (2006)

 

BD-ROM (Blu-ray Disc Rom), DVD-ROM, CD-ROM, Super Audio CD: Playstation 3 (2006)

[J.Max]

Were there any handheld or console games other than laserdisc games that employed use of a laser (not counting laser tag)?

Funny that you mention laserdisc, but leave out all the other optical media like CD and DVD. Not to mention the PSP, which is probably the only handheld system using a laser.

 

Also, if I'm not mistaken, LD's and CD's both use infrared lasers, outside of the visible spectrum (Though still very much capable of damaging your eye!)

 

--Zero

 

Doh!

 

I'm so stuck in the 80s and thinking of arcade games like Dragon's Lair, Mach 3, etc. I have no idea why I said that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Laserdisc_video_games

 

To try to make up for it, here's all I could find quickly:

 

Per http://www.gamingdump.com/consoleevolution.html

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console

 

I guess there were quite a few consoles using lasers:

 

CD: TurboGrafx 16 (1989) (optional CD add-on), SEGA Mega Drive (1988)/Genesis (1989) (optional CD add-on), 3DO (1993), Atari Saturn (1994), Neo Geo CD (1994), Playstation (1995) ("The PlayStation was the eventual result of a breakdown of a business partnership plan between Sony and Nintendo to create a CD add-on for the SNES."[1])

 

GD-ROM: Sega Dreamcast (1999)

 

CD/DVD: Sony Playstation 2 (2000), Xbox (2002)

 

GameCube Optical Disc: GameCube (2001)

 

DVD, CD and HD DVD: Xbox 360 (2005)

 

Wii Optical Disc, GameCube Game Disc: Wii (2006)

 

BD-ROM (Blu-ray Disc Rom), DVD-ROM, CD-ROM, Super Audio CD: Playstation 3 (2006)

 

Cute. Don't forget the M2, CDi, Amiga CD32, and the Dr. 64 add on for the N64.

Edited January 25, 2009 by J.Max

[Video]

Yeah, you might want to mention that the X-box only played HD with an external drive.

 

The VB did use LED's, a single strand that a mirror spun around to make a scanline effect. I don't thinkit would have done any better in a different color, though I think a softer color like green or yellow would have helped with the eyestrain problem. Blue however may havve worsened eyestrain though.

 

Feck the color depth thing though, give us a color variation of the thing. Let the game makers figure the best colors or set of colors to make the games run in. Full color with less depth might make scense in some cases and less color with more depth in other cases. Remember Doom? Many levels of it were various colors or shades of red and brown anyways

Edited January 28, 2009 by Video

[rockman_x_2002]

I always liked the VB. I was one of the lucky few who could seem to play the thing for any length of time without getting headaches from it.

 

However, it's 2009 and I often find myself wondering if, given modern technology is more affordable and much smaller these days, if a smaller, lighter, cheaper VB unit might not be possible. What's more, maybe one that could be done fully in color, not just the one red color we've all seen since 1995.

 

Of course given that the VB flopped like it did, I don't figure there are too many companies willing to sink the $$$ into something like that.

[+FujiSkunk]

3D gaming in general has just never really caught on. Don't forget we had full-color 3D gaming even before the VirtualBoy, courtesy of the Sega Master System. A few PC games have tried to offer 3D as well. The market just wasn't there.

 

Having said that, I would love to see something like Gran Tursimo or one of the Burnout games go 3D... even though I'd probably lose my lunch after the first wreck!

[Artlover]

The VB did use LED's, a single strand that a mirror spun around to make a scanline effect. I don't thinkit would have done any better in a different color, though I think a softer color like green or yellow would have helped with the eyestrain problem. Blue however may havve worsened eyestrain though.

I dunno about that.

 

Red is a very easy low stress color to see. High contrast, clear, doesn't effect night vision.

 

Green or Yellow would have been too bright, and likely would leave you with temporary visual effects "burned" into your retina for a few minutes. Blue absolutely would have been the worse.

 

It "should" have been full color, but in liue of that, choosing red was probably the best option.

[Video]

The VB is one of my favorite toys from the mid 90's, then again, I read the instructions and understood how to properly allighn the lenses, and actually did so, and so didn't deal with eyestrain myself. I also paid $50 for my VB and 4 games (instead of $180 for the system and $30 per game) and that probably helped. I bought the thing going out and had little to no expectations of it, so it did well in my eyes.

 

As was said befor 3d had been tried befor, Vectrix, SMS, PC....the problem is, with all those things, they showed color could be done just fine, first all, but they all had the same weakness. They all worked by covering one eye, and letting only the other eye see, and then flipping. That caused eyestrain because your eye isn't designed to look at a flickering image (the same reason you get eyestrain from looking at a monitor with to low a refresh rate, or under properly (or improperly) synched florecent lights) It also had the disadvantage of dropping the refresh rate to no more than half of what the monitor could handle, on tv, that was around 15 hz (in the 80's) and for top end computer monitors, you would see a 30 hz image.

 

Today with 120+hz tech, evven the old "cover the eyes" tech would let you see an extremely smooth 60 hz image, but the VB showed both images simultanious. I figure if the Sega Genesis, Snes, or Jag 3d setups ever took off, we'd all be looking at a much more 3D world in gameing this day in age. Unfortunately, none of them saw the light of day (to market I mean, though I thnk all were completed and tested) Today, the technology would be rediculously cheap in relation. I mean, you could get a full V B type setup with a low price, probably doable for $50 (as cheap as small AMLCD's are. they dissapear in most all modern appliances these days) Somebodys just got to get over the VB and take a chance on the thing. In today's world, I think people are more ready foir 3D than ever befor, and this time, it would have a great chance o sticking even if its not popular in relation to other things.

 

I'd certainly be first in line to get one, as long as they didnt go overboard in price or expect $60 per game or some shit. Most of what we would see at first would probably be old games translated to 3D at miimul cost anyways, like Doom or something. Long as price wasn't rediculous, I'd certainly give it a chance though.