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Jaguar VR display


Master Phruby

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If no one on this forum has seen it in 15 years, it's probably on the scrap heap somewhere.

 

Went in a similar Sega VR unit at the Sega Playdium in Toronto at about that time. I think it was something ridiculous like $5 bucks a play, or maybe even $7. Still it felt cool to feel like the Lawnmower Man for a few minutes..

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Look here http://www.arcadianvr.com/ they did got the rights and stuff from these items...

 

Website seems rather old so I don't thing there is much left.

 

They're in Kansas City USA so maybe who lives nearby can call and pay them a visit and maybe get stuff from them to preserve history...

Pretty sure this was already done years ago. I don't know that the display turned up, but several headsets and other components were given to a couple of collectors who contacted Virtuality.

 

http://jagcube.atari.org/jaguarvr.html

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Look here http://www.arcadianvr.com/ they did got the rights and stuff from these items...

 

Website seems rather old so I don't thing there is much left.

 

They're in Kansas City USA so maybe who lives nearby can call and pay them a visit and maybe get stuff from them to preserve history...

 

I recognize that VR logo from the Missile Command Boot up screen. Awesome bit of video game history!

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Hi,

 

a few years ago we had a VR prototype from Atari for the Jaguar on the EJag Fest. See:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFZCgNBxkcM

 

Regards

Michael

 

I know I was there and had the opportunity to try it out myself... was not really impressed by it... fun to have gadget... very expensive. I rather would love to see some modern AV glasses modded with some tracker hardware.... these would be better screen quality and much lighter on the head...

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I think the one displayed on the photo was not an atari one ...of course it was displayed at atari jaguar stand but was one made by Vituality company the company that was working together with atari to develop the vr headset for the JAG.So i think this photo shown it the real beginning stages of the development .As far we know only two working complete headset were made for the jag : the red one with low resolution display and the Blue one with much better display and some improvement on tracking... the last time the blue one was displayed to the public was during last italian Jagfest , this is a video:

Edited by litoskin
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  • 1 month later...

I knew SEGA had abandoned their VR headset for the Genesis/MD, Hasbro had abandoned their Home VR project, despite sinking millions into R+D and Nolan Bushnell had told people to expect an affordable Home VR System within a few years (and then nothing ever seemed to be heard of it since), along with Atari's planned Jaguar VR headset, but i was'nt aware (until now) that Jez San/Argonaught had also been developing a Home VR System around same era...

 

They built their own headset (with Motion Tracking), built their own lenses for the optics, built their own renderer and in Jez's own words...

 

'Threw it all away.VR is a theme park experience.It's something people want to try once or twice.They are not interested in playing games in VR, they are just interested in the concept'.

 

 

So, for those thinking the Jag VR might have 'saved' the Jaguar, wonder how things would have turned out, had it made it out there at an 'affordable' price?.

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I would be surprised if anyone was under the impression the VR helmet could've saved the Jaguar, personally I don't really know what to make of how it could've influenced the Jaguar's history. Atari didn't really seem to committed to it, as MC3D was the only game that we know of that had any planned support for it.

There wasn't really a whole lot to get excited about. However, if the VR headset was released at a low enough price point a Jaguar + VR Headset would've been the same as the Saturn or PSX at the time. I think the potential of the VR headset would've stemmed from areas where Atari was already failing miserably- putting out high quality games, and in the VR headsets case, 3D ones.

Maybe with Alien VS Predator & Iron Solider VR .etc it would've helped a little.

Still, I think it's great that we got Missile Command 3D out of the deal. I wonder if virtuality would've ever made that had they not been in negotiations with Atari make a VR headset for the Jaguar? IMO MC3D may be the most impressive game on the platform, and virtuality was in the process of developing Zone Hunter which would've looked amazing at the time (there was even a prototype at an unspecified state of completion that was erased). Personally I think Atari should've contracted a multi-game deal with Virtuality just to get some good looking 3D games on the system instead of wasting time with the JagVR.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8STASuTKDag

Edited by Willard
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There was talk/speculation, call it what you like, in certain quarters of the UK Press that IF Atari managed to get the VR Headset out at an affordable price, espically since retail price of Jaguar had been dropped so low by Atari (in order to appear the low cost entry into Next-Gen gaming) and it 'worked' it could be the very thing Atari needed for the Jaguar to survive (if only in a niche/2nd system type market) and keep Atari's status high enough to remain a 'force' whilst they sorted out Jaguar MK 2, as it would have been the only console offering Home VR.


I posted on industry speculation (at the time) on Jag VR on another forum, months back, will have a root around see if i can find what i posted.

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:-) That was easier than expected:

 

VR Industry Trade Monthly made a claim that things 'went south' during evaluation by Atari on a final development prototype, supplied by Virtuality, with them feeling the project had reached the stage where the next batch of HMD's should include production quality components, meaning Atari would have to invest in production tooling, but Atari felt the project had not yet reached stage where such investment could be justified.

 

This was said to end up with a story running in the Sunset Times, that Atari were going to quit the industry, with paper's alledged source being a 'disgruntled Virtuality employee', keen to assign blame for the deal with Atari breaking down to Atari having diminshing faith in the Jaguar, something Atari's PR department was quick to deny.

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And:

Several figures within the gaming industry always voiced doubts about wether a single Jaguar had the power to generate a convincincing steroscopic 3D enviroment, something it seems even Missile Command did little to restore faith to.Debate raged on just how complex a game engine the Jaguar would be capable of rendering and 'voices' speculated that Jaguar VR was little more than Atari's way of setting up a base camp, as it were in the VR Market, whilst buying time for Jaguar 2 to arrive with the power really needed to showcase the 2nd generation of VR software.

 

Other than that Darryl Still speculating AVP would include link-up and be playable on VR, along with the Zone Hunter story being reported, i never heard of any other VR games planned for Jaguar VR headset, let alone worked on.

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I was at this E3, they showed the Jag proto behind the curtain at the booth. What you're looking at is a virtuality setup. It was pretty awesome. Behind the curtain was Sam, another tech guy I can't remember his name, and someone who I think worked for Atari but can't be sure. The LOL part is Sam would keep asking you "Impressive isn't it? Impressive isn't it, nobody is doing this, we're the first!" After your 10 min or so demo, Sam was standing there with an Atari duffel bag filled wtih Atari goodies. I still have that bag and the chocolate CD LOL which has since turned to dust.

 

As far a frame rate, having played it a couple of times, it seemed fine to me. Its easy to say now how the framerate would have made you sick, but back then, it was AMAZATRON.

Edited by MAYAman
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