+Alexander Mejia great insight! I agree, it's pretty obvious Sega was right to not release it but man, I can't help but applaud them for being so ambitious. It was just too soon. As you eloquently summarized modern VR, now is the time to really get excited about VR. I highly recommend you guys look up Alex's company, Human Interact, and their upcoming game Starship Commander. human-interact.com

Actually I predict the demise of VR this time around as well. No one I know has a VR headset (I know a lot of gamers) and we are all of an age where we can afford these things now no matter the cost. It’s funny how there seems to be endless optimism for VR. Didn’t Zuckerberg pay 3 billion for his VR tech? I wonder what he thinks of his purchase now.

There is so much time, tallent, and development time poured this round into VR that it's hard to imagine a world where we all just put it up and say "Nope, wasn't really worth it after all." In medical, they are curing lazy eye, and PTSD with higher rates than any therapy or drug usage. In the real estate market they are mocking up homes/offices way cheaper than they could have in the past using real time game engines (which are free right now) and the process of traveling all over town will be a thing of the past when you can walk around 10 homes way quicker in VR to narrow down the search, in the finance industry they are paying money hand over fist for data visualization where people can manipulate data in VR, and people can watch on the sidelines using their phones and tablets. There's so much more to the VR industry than games and entertainment. I'm personally bullish on the Entertainment side, but I'm also developing an entertainment product so take that for what you will.

To be fair, the Gaming VR market is young, and could still collapse from price alone. If not enough users are there to buy content, the content that consumers demand (high quality AAA titles on par with Hollywood Production values) will just not be viable to create. The good news is that the numbers you can find from research firms that track these things show promise of hitting this target.

Many Different Things you seem to have been so eager to insult me you appear to have been quick to make a number of assumptions, some of which could have been avoided by actually reading what I said. You seem to think those that don't believe the hype are all clearly morons for having a different point of view to you. I have however gathered all my intellectual ability together and managed to get through the entirety of your post. You assume the anti-hype majority want VR to fail. This could not be further from the truth. I am an avid gamer and spend plenty of time and money on gaming and would love to experience the the kinds of immersive gameplay promised in the sci-fi movies and books I read growing up. Also as I alluded to in my first post, my friends and I are all grown up with full time jobs and plenty of disposable income. We can afford it. I am also old enough to have grown up in the heady days of the first round of VR hype in the 90's and play video games to this day so can compare this to the latest round VR hype trains started by Palmer Luckey and Mr Zuckerberg. Im sure there are plenty of people out there putting up with motion sickness, sore necks and rehashed or inferior games that have been brought to them by the latest round of VR devices. You seem however to be heavily in denial about the success of these systems and devices techcrunch.com/2017/08/26/this-vr-cycle-is-dead. Yes Playstation has been the most successful with 1 million units sold but there is a user base of around 60 million? So that's very roughly 1 in 60 people adopting the technology. Been on Steam recently? Where are all the advertisements for VR? Where did they go? Don't ask me I have no idea it's like they vanished into thin air. Maybe the latest games promised by playstation for VR will be awesome. There's that new one, I think it's called The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim or something. Can't wait to check it out. Oh look I wrote a giant wall of text too! I must be smart.

+Steve Bjork Hi Steve, I'm honored you took the time to watch and comment. I found a little bit of Iron Hammer game footage from a few years ago but opted not to use it since it was shot with a camera pointed at a TV screen and obviously didn't use the VR headset. I give Sega a lot of credit for attempting something so ambitious. The people working on the hardware and games such as yourself are pioneers. One thing I couldn't find was why third party testing was done so close to the original launch date. I don't suppose you happen to know why? I have my own theories but I like to leave personal conjecture out of my videos. As a side note I loved the Rocketeer game as a kid. I believe that was one of the ones you worked. Thanks again, sir!

will maybe you could revive iron hammer now that psvr, oculus, and vive are out you could bring it out, and psvr and oculus is great, maybe sega could revive the projects from sega vr and release them on psvr or oculus.

Hi Steve, do you have any more information about your work or experience on this project anywhere?

@steve bjork the VR Legend! Such an amazing thing to see a comment from yourself! Your work was and still is amazing!

Steve, many years ago an ex-SOA employee gave me large proto boards of both "Iron Hammer" and "Nuclear Rush" -- both of which appear to be complete and playable on standard Genesis hardware without the head tracking and dual display. Do you recall if there were versions developed that specifically required the helmet? From what I can see another prototype of "Iron Hammer" exists and the binary has been dumped but so far it appears I have the only known prototype of "Nuclear Rush". This same Sega employee told me all of the existing VR Helmet hardware was sent back to Japan in the mid-90s and has never been seen since. BTW, nice to see a famliiar name from my old CoCo days -- your Color Computer port of Zaxxon blows me away to this day. I'm totally amazed at what you guys were able to wring out of a 6809E and NTSC red/blue color artefacting!

+aritark thanks!

+Mike Mitchell Totally agree. Sega deserves credit for trying something so ambitious.

Mike Mitchell they should have spend more time defining the quality of their inventions instead of rushing to put them out and think ahead when it came to power and future proofing...and making sure extra money wouldn’t have to be spent by consumer ahead in the near future ..like the genesis...if they had a 12bit palette & sound chip with crisper ,clearer voice samples and music,with more kbs...to store more audio ..and the 6button controller at launch..I think they would have still been here...then to think they was into 3d before systems was fully cacpable,but designed he Saturn around 2d cd rom games ?...something makes no sense ..!..at all...

Dude, why are you stalking wrestling for 0_0

Same way I do now, I rerouted my urethra into my colon years ago so I poo a weird sluice of poo and pee

I don’t know, I don’t want to take anything away from sega, but Nintendo did the same thing with the virtual boy. I give sega credit though, they provided huge competition to Nintendo and that probably made both companies better, making them both take risks they might not of otherwise.

+Pip I give them a lot of credit for trying something so ambitious.

Pip yes always

Until they saturated their own market with shiet.

Xband was the first to to online gaming but it was available first on the Genesis. GTA was always 3D it just changed the view in GTA3.

@DAYD111 didn't Sony steal the PlayStation from Nintendo?

@@laos85 I would simply be happy with cords that don't get tangled and messed up

@@jonnym4670 Quest 2 - No cords

@@DavenBigelow oh yea i got one of those last Xmas so much better then WMR

I play this game with my dad... still trying to find him

I did it too in a Calgary mall in 94. Those 40 bucks I spent remain the best money I spent to this day !!

95 Indianapolis mall. Went to hooters when it really was hooters. Outside was 2 huge VR machines that you stood in the circle and couldn't leave. Our game was a shooting game and had a flying dinosaur. Big map. Everything was blocky but I remember it like it was yesterday. Great times. Wish I could go back 20 years and start over lol

People just have different tolerances. Some people will never be able to fully tolerate VR. PSVR titles actually run pretty well. Even when they're 60 fps, they feel like 120fps. However, narrow viewing angles and super low resolution is known to give people nausea. That said, I would try out PSVR2 when that comes out. Increased FOV and high resolution should alleviate the biggest hardware issues with the original in terms of motion sickness.

koolerpure Ikr why did they stop

@@tylerblade3020 Did you even watch the video? They massively screwed up on the VR thing and that was just the beginning of the end. Being 'ahead of your time' is sometimes a nice way of saying 'their ideas were unrealistic and poorly-planned'.

+HistoricNerd in fact, they would've felt better than ever.

S H U T U P

Lol

rofl

+Michelle Osorio's Kill9TV Thanks so much! 😊 The Sega VR obviously had its issues but I love how ambitious Sega was to even attempt this.

U said u work on vr. Is there a bigger vr coming by chance. I know the technology is growing but just curious

Michelle Osorio's Kill9TV I would one hundred percent agree with you.

Yeah, all throughout 1993, I was waiting to get my dirty little paws on a Sega VR set to no avail. At least I got Gunstar Heroes, Rocket Knight, and a superior version of Street Fighter 2 for my Genesis instead. Secret of Mana, Starfox, Super Mario All-Stars, and Link's Awakening rounded out the excellent Nintendo side of things for me. Getting a Virtual Boy at launch finally stifled my interest in VR for the next 20+ years and I still have yet to get an Oculus Rift. I should probably wait for the higher res lenses at the very least.

+JoeGamer81 that's awesome 😊

+GTV you're so right! I remember thinking that games couldn't possibly look better. Lol. I've seen a few modern low poly games and they do look pretty nice.

Try Superhot, it adopted the low poly look and has an awesome UI that draws inspiration from the past. The UI is actually part of the game.

I think Morphite would be a good fit for the PSVR.

Or try digital space Traveller

Coloured and low polygon games with no gourad shading or textures look sooo good

me too!

I have a monitor dedicated yo my ol Sega Genesis Nomad now :)

@@WrestlingWithGaming and me

Me too😢

yeah nice hardware..ahead of its time..but the games🙈 sega jp had only arcade in mind.. sega america did well with the sports genre..saved sega in terms of games sega brazil(tectoy) still selling mega drives still better then shitendo..thou snes and 64 were nice consoles i miss sega too but their sonic team racing is shit...the new one..yakuza i hate it

+vangelis milonas well put.

Thy didnt have to report to shareholders I think thats a big issue.

Hell look at EA and the yellow tab carts.

Now they have micro transactions and their core bases mothers wallets

@@aussieguy1012 that's probably why valve is picking up the slack. I hope they never enter the stock market.

Awesome to hear man. Thanks!

Thanks for watching!

+John Squarez nah, just plug that Oculus into a Genesis. What could possibly go wrong? 😂

Frederick Röders but then you'd just have a 360 degree video player. They only track orientation not spacial position.

Could you imagine 5 or 6 kids at a birthday just after eating loads of candy and Soda all hyped up full of junk food playing this, poor mom standing around with the power chuck rags waiting to clean up.

Thanks!

+Nerman Talakic thanks man. I just try to cover stuff that's interesting to me. Glad to see I'm not the only weirdo into these topics lol

how much more can you possibly change it?

Yea I was thinking that, It looks sleeker than some modern headsets, unfortunately the the technology needed just didn't exist yet. I do wonder whether the Sega VR would give an experienced VR user VR sickness, how much of its sickness issues were caused by adjustment time instead of limited tech.

@@Clara_Page I'd guess so. Modern headsets only make some people sick, under certain provocative situations but when things go totally off the rails, even an experienced person can get sick or get a crippling headache within a second. There was however the Forte VFX1 for decent DOS gaming machines in 1994 which apparently didn't nearly suffer that much from these issues, so it most def was doable at the time.

If the hardware design hadn't changed, it wouldn't run on any modern system. 'Hardware' really means what's inside it, not the outer shell of a component, so the hardware has definitely completely changed. Even the appearance isn't 'the same' any more than every pair of glasses is 'the same'.

+Manuel Clément thanks! I'd love to try it out myself.

Yeah. I had the Amiga 500 back in late 80s, and it was a generation ahead any gaming system.

+Darkslayer289 Thanks man. Despite it not coming to market I love that Sega even tried something so ambitious.

There's a lot of different disciplines that had to come together to make VR a reality. Everything from neuroscience to acoustic engineering to computer engineers.

Thanks. I actually never heard of the Famicom 3D system. Might have to try to hunt one of those down.

+A Ham thanks!

+Xalen Maru Thank you. I'm surprised the Sega VR is so rarely talked about. Then again with it not being released I guess a lot of people just don't know about it.

The games would have if it had been done right, but realistically, technology still wasn't there in a reasonable price point at all. When Dreamcast was out, LCD televisions were barely hitting the market and 3d wasn't anything. a VR Dreamcast would have probably cost $2000 if it were made well enough to play for more than a few minutes.

@@jamescarter3196 like that OLD VR system where you shoot at each other. Then the VR went dead due to price.

No it still would have been shit. VR was nowhere near being ready for anything until probably the 360 or PS3

+Useless Duck Company Thanks man! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Not releasing it was the right decision but I selfishly wish they would have. I'd love to try one out just to see what it was like.

+CorvetteZ06owner Thanks a lot, I really appreciate that. It's something I've been working on so don't be surprised if the voiceovers aren't quite as good in my earlier videos. Lol

+D3Vlicious Quite welcome. Thanks for watching.

+Manjoume thanks man. So the Tom Kalinske audio is from the "r/retrogaming podcast episode 7." I ended up saving the mp3 locally but it wasn't easy to find. I believe to find it I had to put this link into the way back machine at archive.org: revrob.com/sci-tech/264-tom-kalinske-talks-about-his-time-overseeing-sega-as-its-ceo-in-the-90s-reveals-that-sega-passed-on-virtual-boy-technology-considered-releasing-3do The talk with Mark Pesce is at this link: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/iMyRjLJn1JvKZGQ.html If you want even more info you can find a word doc with most of my sources here: drive.google.com/file/d/0B7bw-DZcYVuHZXhfRzNtMEZOYk0/view?usp=sharing

Yeah, I think you're right. This would've been perfect for an AVGN episode had it been released. I selfishly wish they would have released it just so I could try it out but I suppose keeping kids' brains from imploding is somewhat important. 😊

I couldn't help but hear your voice in my head as I read this comment, LBJ...which only served to make it all the more entertaining. L-O-U!

If it had been functional, say on something with more power than my alarm clock, it could have spawned a series of upgrades and innovations. Instead it ended up being a small footnote in the laundry list of things SEGA did wrong.

I think you video game nerds are generally pessimistic about media in general, could have been awesome, you dont know, you assume the negative which is characteristic of this community

I always thought Sega was a head of is time just look at the Dreamcast I had a Genesis first console that made me a gamer I had a nes before but there was something different about the Genesis console

+Hail To The Chin thanks. Yeah, I've been pretty fortunate with view the last couple of months. I never thought I'd have one, let alone several videos with 100K views. It's crazy.

It's good stuff! Thinking back to the 90's pushing VR and it stalling - much like motion control with the Power Glove (which did find success with the Wii as a flash in the pan) - and now everyone is rushing to it again with what seems like limited consumer enthusiasm is interesting (could be wrong, but I don't feel a genuine mass market buzz around VR). It's like how 3D films come around every 20+ years and then fade out again. The mixed reception probably doesn't have much to do with the tech as each time VR is pushed, like 3D film, there are lovers and haters, even though graphics & tech get way better. It's probably not the tech, it's people's eyes and brains. I have tried 2 VR headsets, watched a few films with different 3D glasses and hate the whole experience. Everything is slightly out of focus and blurry - especially where motion is concerned. Yet, friends watching the same film and trying the same headsets at conventions have not agreed with what I saw and enjoyed the experience. Maybe it's similar to the white bg/black text vs. black bg/white text issue blogs face. No one ever complains about white bg/black text, but people do complain about the opposite causing vision issues and eye strain and probably why, no matter the tech, VR will always fail? Unless they can plug the experience straight into the brain Matrix style and forego the eyes.

+Hail To The Chin I think there are two big hurdles VR is facing now. One, is an affordable price point for a high quality headset PLUS a powerful enough pc to run it properly. Two, truly great VR titles. There are a few but not many. I've only tried modern VR a few times and it's feast or famine. Either a great experience or an underwhelming mess. Hopefully the new VR bubble doesn't burst before they get it all together.

He is very lucky to break through! Hard to do and he deserves it. If only every quality channel lurking out there could get big and replace the garbage out there!

+GTV aww, thanks 😊

+Kzero Thanks man. I wish some of the prototypes had made it out into the wild. I know that it wouldn't have exactly been great but I would love to try one out.

The future truly is now

Don't get all memberberried up. we have decent VR now.

@@UmVtCg Thats the point, it was a new thing then. It is not new now.

+K7 Avenger thanks so much man. I got pretty lucky that KZfaq's mysterious algorithm feel in love with me for a month or so lol. Appreciate the support 😊

Thanks! It was a fun one to do.

Whether or not it was intended as a VR machine, its name was marketed to capitalize on the concept of VR.

i guess the sega vr handheld unreleased acessorie for the gamegear was the virtual gear

Consumer technology wasn't there yet. Commercial technology was. Making it affordable was a problem. I think we could have had VR during the 64 bit era, but because of the failure companies were not willing to try it again.

+liz white lol 😂

7:48

But I already control the universe!!! just not very well... sorry America I might have to abandon this save file and start a new one

Lol

Counterpoint: First Wii bowling broke flat screen TVs, now it's VR breaking flat screen TVs. Back in the Genesis days, TVs were as solid as bricks. So in some ways, Genesis VR was safer (for your wallet) than today's VR. ;)

Thanks for watching man!

Oh really, if it had been more advanced then, it would be more advanced now? Really! Well, it wasn't successfully released, because the technology wasn't there. Had a flying car been successfully released back then, imagine how refined it would be now! Just imagine! Because that didn't happen, just like Sega making good VR.

+Sonsky Infante haha. Thanks for continuing to check the channel out!

I did the same... I kinda remember this being talked about when was young ✨

+Liam Cooper yeah, I think it's actually pretty cool looking. The design really held up well over the years.

+cloudtx thanks man. Yeah, it had its problems but I think Sega deserves a lot of credit for trying something this ambitious.

Absolutely, they deserve some credit for that. When are we gonna hear you talk about some Sony stuff?. You could go over the Nintendo PlayStation debacle or perhaps the underrated PSP.

+cloudtx I touch on the Sony-SNES CD in my CD-I video but I don't go into it in a ton of detail. I'll probably cover the PlayStation 1 at some point though and go into detail then.

PSVR is just the highest selling, but only because you can use any PS4. It is "popular" based on sales, but not on impression if you've tried higher end HMDs. It is easily the least innovative of the big 3 HMDs. No 360 degree motion tracking and they are using old technology for their motion controls which can be poor at times. Obviously it is the only choice for console only users. Not saying it is garbage, but it isn't a forerunner in the technology. Sadly console peripherals often stagnate for years until a stronger console is created. PC is where technology is ever changing and can evolve the quickest from different sources. Not just a single company. I would say Valve has the most VR innovation at the moment, they even pushed Oculus forward back in the day when they shared their tech with them. It was their demonstration room they set up for them that got Facebook interested in buying them out.

I understand what you're saying but I think the most important thing is to get VR to become mainstream and stop being niche. In that regard, Sony is winning the battle. While other devices may be more advanced, if the PS VR gets more and more popular it will get more and more games. Because of that, I prefer it.

Thanks and thank you for watching.

+Mr Rats Hey man, good to see you again. My first name is spelled Yahel but you can call me by my wrestling name if you prefer, no worries. I actually had to remove my wrestling matches from the channel. They were giving me monetization issues. I totally agree with you about AVGN, he actually includes a lot of history and knowledge in his videos. I still watch him to this day but hey, I won't complain about you sending people my way lol. Thanks again for continuing to check the channel out man.

Still enjoy watching that movie every now and then to this day :O

Retro Game Players remember that game? It was sooo difficult

I still play it every now and then and yes it is a very hard game!

+Baron von Quiply 😂

Thanks for watching. I think you may be the only person in the comments besides me that actually remembered it lol

+Paul Raso thanks for the support man, it's very much appreciated.

+doghous3 Thanks for checking it out man. I give credit to Sega for trying something so ambitious but unfortunately the tech just wasn't there yet.

+Alderon Sabbet thanks for watching!

Nathie!!

Nice ascii emoji

+Nathie Fancy seeing you here! lol ;-)

ive heard alot of people say it makes them sick, and a few people who have tried my vive and played some of the more extreme games with all the comfort options off have to stop after 15 min or so, but for me, ive never once gotten sick. ive been slightly off balance when getting used to trackpad locomotion, but now i am completly unphased, and is as natural and mouse and keyboard aiming in a first person shooter, hell its LESS disorienting than a fps played on a monitor IMO. a big problem is people dont adjust the IPD correctly, or have the headset on tight enough. if its loose on your head, then the entire geometry of the virtual world will become skewed and distorted as you turn your head, and i think this has a huge impact on people getting sick. if bethesda doesnt have the option for trackpad locomotion in Doom VFR, im going to be insanely pissed off. just teleporting around is a fucking stupid idea for doom, and if it works as well as it does in Sairento VR, then there is NO reason why it wouldnt for doom, and doom is the LAST game that should be trying to make people feel comfortable and safe. sure keep the option for just teleportation, but dont hold back the rest of us.

It should be the standard in games to have the option to choose between teleportation and free locomotion. I don't like it when a game forces me to use teleportation only. Another beef I have is blinders that can't be turned off (I'm looking at you, Ubisoft ಠ_ಠ).

I'd say VR sickness issue is more about getting used to it. There is a popular term , "getting your VR legs". Which very much correlates with sea sickness. I had a difficult time with locomotion at first in my Vive, but after two weeks, I haven't gotten sick since. If I'm showing VR to friends or family, I put them in teleportation experiences/games only. Only a few of my friends have gotten to play enough to get used to locomotion and play games like Onward and Pavlov. They no longer get motion sick as well.

Gameplay and Talk only bitch asses complain about sickness. There is no problem.

SEXCOPTER RUL I only played a few times. As a very young child. And never gotten sick. As an adult, I was on a ship to Korea, USMC...no sickness. But on the way back, sea sick as a dog. Point: it's all about our own personal ways, and actions that ALSO affect us. I don't think it was ONLY the games that was a factor. But a lot of average people...then after that, average game players, weren't active in real life. Then this computer generated game, which our brain has to constantly focus and unfocus on and translate to being real, close to real, or not real at all....THEN it moves in such a way to simulate real movements....it continuously make us FEEL like we're moving....all those factors put into the minds of below average active kids and nerd adults...of course motion sickness will be a problem. They should've sucked it up for the most part, is what I'm saying

+Deaf Omega Thanks for checking out. I appreciate it!

+foamidable thanks so much man. Already three pages into a script for another video 😁

Superb! Greetings from Germany :-)

+foamidable wow, Germany. Didn't know anyone from there watched these. That's awesome 😁 . Greetings from Florida, USA.

+meetoo594 I was actually wondering about the refresh rates myself but I couldn't find any conclusive numbers. That being said the numbers I found for it were basically pretty low, as you'd expect.

I imagine the lcd`s would be gamegear or lynx quality, pretty low refresh and the blur would probably make most games unplayable. The screendooring would be horrendous as well. Mini crts like the ones in camcorder viewfinders would have been a better bet at the time, although the megadrive probably still couldnt generate 90+fps. Love your channel btw, loads of info I wasnt aware of.

+meetoo594 Yeah, I assumed they'd be considerable to the game gear, maybe a bit better at best. Thanks for checking the channel out.

i dont think the megadrive can do 60 let alone 30... i think it topped at 25 frames. hence why VR would never ever work with it lol.

Nick871203: Yeah, pal is 25fps in 2 alternating interlaced fields for 50hz displays, ntsc is 30fps/60hz. I guess Sega would have boosted the display tech in an external unit for higher fps. You are still limited by the refresh rate of the hmd displays though. I have no idea how much a 90hz+ mini lcd/crt cost back then, if they even existed but theres no way Sega could have sold this thing and profited from it

Thanks! 90s Sega was often ahead of their time, sometimes to their own detriment.

Wrestling With Gaming I agree totally

AirCooledMan2006 vive and rift were also too far ahead. haha :-D we would still need faster GPUs and better displays to improve comfort and immersion. Of course sega was top far ahead. They were so far ahead, it was unplayable.

Thanks so much!

+George Watanabe Thanks man. Obviously they couldn't release it but I give them credit for trying something so ambitious.

+streetmagik thanks man. Yeah, that would've been a disaster if it had been released.

Agreed!