All language subtitles for The.Power.Of.Glove.2017.720p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

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The challenge is finding
new challenges,

one is this year’s new
Christmas present: the Power Glove.

Well this is the latest thing
in computer games:

no keyboards, no joysticks,
just this glove.

I was about 11 years old,

and my mom & dad thought
it was a dumb idea.

It was totally worthless,
but it looked cool at the time.

It was the future, you know,
when we were young.

There are those of us
with Power Gloves, and there are...

the rest of us,
who sadly are without.

Seeing my hand actually,
you know, in the game...

oh, to a kid, that was awesome.

Yes, I have the power! (LAUGHS)

And now back to “Video Power.”

Welcome to “Video Power,” Novak.

Hey Johnny, when I said
I’d be on “Video Power” anytime,

I expected a little advance notice.

I’m sorry Novak, I couldn’t wait
to show my friends the Power Glove.

Ah, what can I say?
Uh, since you’re here,

why don’t you give us
a few demonstrations?

Sure, basically the Power Glove
turns your arm into kind-of...

a 3-dimensional joystick
made out of meat.

Well, my name is Novak.

I worked at Mattel Toys for
about 4 and a half years...

and I worked on the
Power Glove project...

for about a year and a half.

I designed the custom game software
for use with the Glove.

The only one that was ever published
was “Super Glove Ball.”

The Power Glove originally started
at VPL in Redwood City, California.

And so they had a glove they’d made
called the DataGlove.

The DataGlove was this $10,000 glove
that NASA used for research.

There were a lot of inventors
that would come in...

from all over the world
to show stuff to our executives.

When we flew into L.A.
to pitch the product to Mattel,

You know, to sell it.

I was still trying to get
the Power Glove demo working.

They presented, I think they had
the prototype of the Glove...

We had a meeting with Mattel.

and they were demoing it with
a game, a commercial game...

called “Punch-Out.”

Well, the demo went pretty well.

Everything worked.

And the President, Jill Barad...

Then Jill Barad stands up,
and she said, “I wanna try!”

And we thought, “Oh my God...

there’s no way she’s going
to be able to do this.”

and, you know,
she put the glove on.

And you have to throw punches
like this,

and she said, “OK, no problem.”

She starts the game, and she
starts making these wild motions.

I don’t know what she’s doing!

And the first thing she did:
she punched and she knocked...

the video game opponent out.

It was a complete fluke.

And she was completely thrilled.
She un-velcros the glove,

she throws it off her hand,
and she says, “Everybody...

out in the hall!
We’re doing this fucking product.”

(EXCITING HEAVY METAL MUSIC)

Actually making you
part of every Nintendo game!

Ultrasonic tracking
gives you precision control!

All your Nintendo games come to life
with the Power Glove!

Hey, that looks just like...

the Power Glove!
Everything else is child’s play.

Wow, I really have
a lot of Power Gloves!

(COUNTING)

The Power Glove, to me,
means the origins.

You know, I got heckled a lot.
A lot of people were like,

“You’re a grown man, why are you
still wearing the Power Glove?”

But they just didn’t understand
the cultural significance of it.

Earth is kinda boring. (LAUGHS)
It really is!

So if you’re not an astronaut,

or a soldier,

or you’re one of those guys
who’s landing the probe on Mars...

realistically, society is
really kinda boring.

In video games, your imagination
is as far as technology...

allows you to express it, and
the Power Glove connects me to that.

If I didn’t wear the Power Glove,
I’d be like most gamers...

in the world, who just grew up.

They loved it when they was a child,
they had all the imagination,

and when they grew up,
they lost the imagination.

And I’m like, well I’m gonna wear
the Glove no matter what,

because I have the courage
to withstand the world...

whether they like it or not.

And then, you know,
so I live like two lives...

two different personalities.

I don’t wanna say I’m like Batman,
but I knew that was gonna come up.

So, I’ve been doing this for
a very long time,

and I don’t see
where I’m gonna stop.

This is a part of my, um,
this is who I am.

I’m Tri-Force: Game-Master.

(ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRONIC MUSIC)

I’m interested in how people
interact with technology.

I call human interface
where the bits meet the flesh,

and that’s the threshold
I work on.

I’m Tom Zimmerman & I’m the inventor
of the original DataGlove,

and this is my friend Sam Wantman,
who was there at the beginning.

We collaborated to create
what became the DataGlove.

So the idea for a glove...

a DataGlove, came from discussions
we were having about ways...

to control electronic music
with gesture.

The electronic music that was
happening in the 70s went through...

so much equipment that it was
a total cerebral experience.

You had to think about what
you wanted to do to make the sound,

and you had to plug in wires and
you had to turn the knobs.

And we were like,
we don’t wanna do that!

We wanna just feel it.
We wanna make it interactive.

We wanna feel it. We don’t wanna
know what all the details are.

I wanted to be able to go like this
and actually hear...

Jimi-Hendrix-kind of guitar
coming out of the speakers.

So I boiled it down to a problem,
an engineering problem,

of: how do I measure
the bending of fingers?

The DataGlove,

well the DataGlove started out
when Tom had a simple glove...

This is
the earliest existing prototype...

of the precursor
to the Power Glove.

that was pretty much analagous
to what the Power Glove was...

as far as the sensors
are concerned, the bend sensors.

I was so enamored with the idea
of conducting virtual orchestras...

and playing air guitar
that I actually developed...

this flex-sensor that could
measure finger bending...

and hooked them to my Atari 400.

Now I had a working system;

I could demonstrate of the ideas
we had just been talking about...

for several years.

It turned out what happened was
once we finally built those systems,

it was really hard to play
air guitar...

without the physical feedback
of the neck of the guitar. (LAUGHS)

But I was interested in it,
and then I met Jaron,

and that changed a lot.

Hello! So, now you wanted me to talk
about virtual reality a bit?

< Sure.

OK, so, alright I started
this company; it’s called VPL.

Hi new cameras! (LAUGHS)

And um, what we’re working towards
is building...

a new level of reality called
Virtual Reality.

In 1982 I moved out to California
and joined Atari.

I had the glove,
and I actually showed it to Atari.

They offered me $10,000
for the patent.

And I talked to a friend of mine
in New York and he said,

“No! It’s worth more than that!”
So luckily I didn’t sell it to them.

And um, I met Jaron Lanier
at an electronic music concert.

When Jaron Lanier & Tom Zimmerman
got together, Tom had...

a simple version of a glove,
and Jaron had an idea...

for a visual programming language.

And it was peanut butter
meets chocolate.

The glove was a very rich
input device and...

he had this
visual programming language.

So I started making gloves for him.

And we then added the
ultrasound tracking,

which gave tracking the hand
in 3D space, which really then...

made it possible to do
virtual environments.

VPL was a fun place,
a fun place to work.

It was a little bit
of a pressure cooker.

VPL was a small company and
was chronically under-funded.

We had very short deadlines and
kinda really big ideas...

and then we wanted to do something
about them right away.

We were mostly
a research organization.

So it was VPL Research, Inc.

We were always trying to do
more than we possibly could do.

We were open to every possibility.

We tried to do
a programming language,

medical applications,

virtual reality,

so mostly we were interested
in researching the boundaries...

between human
and computer interface.

Uh, along the way,
we had to make money.

So, Jaron was developing
a visual programming language...

and I remember there were
kangaroos and ice-cubes,

and so we were using the glove
to manipulate those.

I think what happened
was people said,

“We’re really not interested
in programming computers.

We just want to play video games.”

< Meet Chris Gentile.

< The soon-to-be-released
music glove,

one of many products of Chris,
his older twin brothers,

John & Anthony Gentile,
and toy-executive Marty Abrams.

< They are the New York-based
Abrams/Gentile Entertainment,

or A.G.E.

Abrams/Gentile Entertainment
was started back in 1986.

My brothers were involved...
they were artists...

and they were producing
movie posters...

for all of the film studios.

And one of the movie posters
they were doing...

was a movie poster
for the movie “Rambo.”

And my brothers said, “Rambo?
That could be a cool toy!”

(EXCITING MUSIC)
# Rambo the Force of Freedom! #

< Here’s a present, Havoc!

Wow! >

< Rambo, behind you!

So they went to the studio to look
for the licensing rights for it.

And basically the studio said,

“Do you really want to do this?
This is an R-rated movie.”

Because no toys were ever made
before from an R-rated movie.

So they basically gave the license
to my brothers,

and as everybody knows, Rambo was
one of the hottest toys...

that came out on the market.

So that’s what got them
into the toy industry.

We had basically
the hardware already...

and we just needed to turn that
into a commercial product.

So we went to Mattel and to A.G.E.

So we met Jaron Lanier up at VPL.

He basically handed off
the device to us...

and then we started playing
with it.

This is a technology that we took in.

$10,000 glove, has a sensor,
has optic fibers,

knows where your hand is
in three-dimensional space.

We tried to apply it
to the toy industry;...

our first product was a thing
called the “band of the hand.”

(MUSIC: Ascending musical scale)

We have a drum.

DRUM SOUNDS

Snare.

DRUM SOUNDS

Here this prototype demonstrates
the technology.

The glove knows
where your fingers are...

and the prototype here shows you.

The inventor group was called A.G.E.

And I had been working with them...
I think for a little over a year.

So we closed the deal
with Jill Barad...

for the Nintendo Power Glove,
and that’s when...

the real challenge started,
because we had...

this $10,000 VPL DataGlove...

So one of the challenges
was figuring out a way...

of making this thing
cost-effective.

And there was a lot of tension.

This was a very high-profile
product at Mattel.

You have to understand...

that the Power Glove
is a different product for Mattel...

compared to the other products
they were doing because they had...

a bad history that happened
in the gaming industry...

with Intellivision.

I’m Keith Robinson,

I’m president today
of Intellivision Productions, Inc.

Intellivision was originally
introduced by Mattel...

in the early 1980s.

It was their first foray
into the video game industry,

which was a brand new industry.

There really had been no such thing
as video games before the early 70s.

And it was pretty much Pong games.

Everybody wanted to play Pong.

It wasn’t really until the mid-70s
that Atari invented...

the “Video Computer System.”

It became renamed the “Atari 2600.”

And it was really for the first time
a computer in a device...

that you could play.

And it really looked like this
is where the future was going to go.

And Mattel being the biggest
toy company in the world,

billion dollar toy industry,
said, “We should have one of those!”

‘Intellivision:
intelligent telivision by Mattel’

‘More sophisticated than any
video game that has come before.’

So they came out
with the Intellivision,

which was quite a commitment
for them,

because here they’d been selling
$5 Barbie Dolls and now suddenly...

here’s a $300 electronic unit.

‘What you are about to see
will change your mind...

about television.
Intellivision!’

‘So intelligent, no game plays
the same way twice.’

‘Intellivision!’

‘The most exciting
family entertainment system...

since television itself.’

But uh, so it was a commitment.

It took several years for them
to kinda, you know,

get it through the board
of directors and everything.

But when they finally did,
it just took off phenomenally.

The toy company had been making
a profit, nice & consistent,

of about $40 million a year,
and here comes along this system...

that makes $100 million—
200 million dollars in 1982.

And so, “Wow this thing
was going great!”

“This is just gonna be the future
of toys!”

“This is the future of Mattel!”

And then at the end of 1982,

it just hit the wall.

Everything fell apart.

They introduced all this
new hardware,

put all this money into development,
but the games—

The games were still selling.

There was like a 10% increase...

in the desire
for video games in 1983,

but there was like a 300% increase
in availability...

because every company
was getting into it.

You had third-party developers like
Activision, Imagic, you had now...

not only Atari & Intellivision
but ColecoVision got into the game.

And there was just too much product,
and a lot of it was not very good.

And um, Mattel lost in 1983
about $380 million.

Well, when Mattel Intellivision
went out of business,

it almost brought
Mattel Toys down.

They sold off a lot of assets,
lost a ton of money.

In order to save it, they actually
had to sell off...

51% of the corporation.

And pretty much the attitude
at that point was,

“Boy those video games, that’s it!
Boy, that was was a mistake!”

“We really blew that!”

And then Nintendo came along
a couple years later...

with a new paradigm.

You couldn’t make a glut
on the market because...

you couldn’t sell games
for the Nintendo...

without Nintendo manufacturing
them for you.

The Nintendo system really kind of
re-established video games...

as being this kind of positive,

“Hey we’re gonna make
a lot of money now!”

But Mattel was really gun-shy.

They can’t go to their shareholders
and say, “Hey,

we’re getting back
into the video game business!”

Everybody’s gonna say,
“Are you crazy?

You’re gonna bankrupt us again!”

So it was really pretty bold of them
to pick up...

a video game related peripheral,
but then it wasn’t the software...

that they were concerned about;
it was the hardware,

which is what they do best.

I’m David Warhol and I led
the team of four that developed...

the hardware prototype and
the circuit board and...

the firmware for the Power Glove.

What a lot of people don’t realize
is that the Power Glove...

is based on ultrasound
rather than infrared light.

It’s based on the speed of sound.

On the Glove itself, we have
two transmitters:

Transmitters A & B.

And we have, over at the TV set,
three receivers:

Receiver 1, Receiver 2,
and then Receiver 3.

So, the way the Glove figures out
where it is in space...

is that it chirps Transmitter A
and then listens on Receiver 1...

for how long it takes
for the sound to get there.

Then we do another chirp
on Transmitter A...

and listen for it on Receiver 2,

and then we do another chirp
on Transmitter A...

and then we receive it on 3.

Then, we repeat that whole sequence,
but using Transmitter B.

So, given the amount
of time it takes, we triangulate...

the distance of the Glove,

the rotation of the Glove,

the yaw.

Now, what we didn’t realize
when we started the project...

but became apparent
about halfway through...

is that based on the manufacturing
tolerances of the transmitter,

and based on the speed of sound,
this whole cycle...

could only be done
20 times a second,

which is 3 times slower than your
typical Nintendo hand-controller.

So we knew from halfway through
that the use of the Glove...

as a hand-controller would not be
as responsive as using the actual...

controller itself.

What really became important
was that games would be ready...

that used these interface
tolerances as part of their design.

My name is Tracy Hall.

I was project designer for Mattel
in the preliminary concept group...

for the Power Glove project
when it was brought to Mattel,

and I was in charge
of bringing in the technology...

so we could reliably manufacture
this product for $89.99.

From the beginning, we started out
literally with nothing but an idea.

So we had to deal with all
the human ergonomic features...

A looks-like demonstration
had to be ready for CES...

first week of January 1989.

We literally had about 8-10 weeks.

We worked day & night;
we were working Thanksgiving...

through Christmas.

I remember we had teams of people
sleeping at the office.

At that time, the bend sensor
didn’t work,

the ultrasonic sensors
didn’t work.

We made something that looks
like this,

but it had $10,000 technology
inside of something...

that looked like this.

So some of this was even inspired
by the movie “Robocop”...

or the type of look
that we were looking for.

Something that kids would feel
empowered...

when they put this thing on,
that they thought that this was...

the coolest thing in the world,
and that this was...

maybe a $1,000 robotic type
of glove that they were putting on.

My name is Noah Lane.

I am the senior project coordinator
for iam8bit, which is...

an art gallery in Los Angeles.

I am also the artist
behind “Beat It,”...

which is
the Michael Jackson Power Glove.

I think the Power Glove is
still around,

or just in the memories
of so many gamers...

is just because it’s so iconic.

It’s something you can wear,
so first of all,

you can take it out of your home
and, “Oh, it’s a fashion accessory!”

It looks like it’s something
from the future.

You know, people were really
into virtual reality at the time.

I think of it as a cool design.

I wouldn’t call it, like,
“Oh that’s a masterpiece!” but...

nobody really used it who was
a real, serious gamer.

I mean, I know of TriForce, who’s
always wearing his when he’s out.

I’ve seen him, TriForce, on Kotaku
and just other blog sites...

when he’s going, “Oh
I’m gonna line up for a Wii-U...

or any Nintendo product, like,
weeks early” and then...

he gets to meet Regie and they get
to get their photo taken.

I’ve seen that.

So right now, we’re lining up
for the Zelda symphony event.

It’s the 25th anniversary orchestra.

and it is 10 o’clock
Thursday night,

and the event happens
6pm Friday night.

As you can see, we’re already
lining up,

so we’re gonna have to spend
the night out here,

so I’m just gonna relax out here,
and that’s pretty much it.

CROWD CHEERS

< This is for the people who were
here yesterday? There’s a line?

Oh, OK. Isaiah TriForce Johnson.

TriForce?
Yeah we know who you are. >

< Oh OK, so you already know.

Events like this...

pretty much binds the heritage
of our old school...

with the new school...

and I think the Power Glove
is a part of that experience.

The reason why people understand
the Power Glove now...

is because there’s context
behind it,

and I don’t wanna sound arrogant
but the context is me.

APPLAUSE

< It’s so great to be here and
it’s so great to recognize...

some of the fans in the audience.
That means a lot to us.

We came up last night to see some
of the people that were sitting...

outside and I just want to give
a big shout-out to TriForce,

who’s out there somewhere.

< Alright!

APPLAUSE

So, it’s our pleasure,
and let’s begin.

APPLAUSE

(DRAMATIC ORCHESTRAL MUSIC)

APPLAUSE

There will never be a time when I
put up the Power Glove because...

the Power Glove repurposed
me as a person.

The Power Glove has been such
a great inspiration to me that...

that inspiration has transformed me
into TriForce permanently.

Long live the Power Glove!

< From a cultural standpoint,
I thought there were...

< some interesting things
out there.

< There was that community,
that fanbase, that really embraced...

the Glove for what it meant
to them.

And I was signing autographs.

People were sending me
their manuals to sign.

But then, 15 years after
the Power Glove came out,

there was the Nerdcore calendar,
which...

it’s naked women
with the Power Glove.

Wow! >
< Yeah! So that’s how you knew...

that the fanbase
was actually getting older...

because they went from wanting
to play little video games...

to, you know, porn.

My name is Daniel. >

I’m the owner of Lost Ark Video Games
and...

I had a Power Glove
in the display case...

since the day we opened.

And it’s gotten reactions
pretty much every single day...

I’ve been here.

There’s always someone seeing it
and getting excited to see it...

for the first time
or show it to their friend.

So...

a Power Glove party.
Why not?

Give people that chance
to feel the Power for themselves!

Woah! Hello!
Now it’s going into crazy mode!

Well, I already feel more powerful.

Alright, so I appear to be throwing
a pool cue at a wall of bricks.

Now you can, like, grab the ball
and, like, throw it down...

where you want it.

Oh no!

Yo, gimme that ball!

I don’t think I’m playing it
very well.

Wow, that does give you gas.

Ah!

< Did you get him?
No! >

And now I have three balls going.
I don’t know what I did.

Wait, what’s it doing?
It’s, like, freaking out.

Ha! OK, they all died.

This is awkward and unenjoyable.

I can’t catch the bastard!

And this thing: it barely works.

This is pretty impressive, actually.

Almost!

And my fish— the fish
keeps grabbing my ball...

which is a common problem in life.

Wait, wait! Ah!

They’re trying really hard
to be super cool in 1989.

Do you mind if I keep...

if I can go a couple more rounds?

I’ll admit it: I never played it.

I didn’t really want to.

Now I have.

I don’t regret it.

Did it change my life?

Maybe.

Did it awaken a nascent fire
inside my sleepy soul?

Possibly.

Nothing...

nothing really captures
that retro experience...

like the Power Glove.

OK, could you show us a few moves? >

< Yeah, OK, sure.

Here’s a basic move.
It’s how to get a lot of power-ups...

in the beginning
of “Super Glove Ball.”

The trick is: you just don’t hit
the ball, you grab it.

And then you ram it up
against a question mark and let go.

Keep doing that
until you get the “Super Ball.”

ELECTRONIC BEEP

Hear that sound?
It means you did it right.

< “Super Glove Ball” was—
it’s a game of, um...

< essentially virtual handball.

There he is: the wizard!

< You’re viewing a pseudo 3-D space
with a ball bouncing around...

< inside of it.

< And you’re trying
to hit the ball with your hand...

and throw it and spin it.

When I first saw the Power Glove,
you know,

we had a top-level Mattel executive
saying, “We’re doing this.

No matter what, we’re doing this.”

Being the video game guy,
I thought it was kinda silly.

You want it? You got it!
This is it! The Power Glove!

This will change the way
you play Nintendo games forever.

< You’re looking at the future, kid.

Awesome! >

< To me, the only cool thing
about the Power Glove...

was having custom-designed software
that could take advantage of it.

Using it as an NES controller...

sucked.

< They didn’t want to wait
to make the game software.

< Mattel was so anxious to get
the Power Glove to market...

that they released it a year ahead
of any softwares ready for it.

And so one poor guy, I remember
his name was Darin,

spent six months
going through every Nintendo game...

trying to see how the Glove
would work...

with existing off-the-shelf
Nintendo games.

My name is Darin Barri
and I’m the poor guy...

who had to play all the existing
Nintendo games and write templates...

for them so that they
would work with the Power Glove.

< The games that were developed
for the Power Glove...

were not gonna come out
for another year,

so it was important to have
all the games work...

with the Power Glove—
pre-existing games.

And that’s what I did.

I had to actually play each game,
learn it, & then write a code.

This is really cool, and I was
really glad when I found this.

So, I shot video of our test-mode,
which basically was a cartridge...

that you would plug into the NES.

And this represents everything
that the Glove was doing.

So for instance, this was X and Y,
this was Z,

these are the three sensors
that were on top of the television,

the ultrasonic sensors, and
these represented the bend sensors.

So when I moved the Glove around...

you can see I was moving
left & right, up & down,

and this was Z, this was in & out.

And then this was rotation, and
these represent all the bend sensors.

So this was actually a really good
working sample, really clean.

It was really beautiful.
And then also I could test...

the buttons on the control pad
if I wanted to as well.

The technology for the time
was quite amazing.

It knew where it was in 3-D space,
it knew if you rotated your hand,

but when we were working on it,
we had absolutely no idea...

that people were going to covet
these things and hack them...

and create, you know,
musical instruments.

(ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRONIC MUSIC)

Uh, my name is Yeuda Ben-Atar.
I go by “Sidebrain.”

I’m a producer, a sound designer,
a musician...

and the music that I make
is down-tempo electronic music...

heavily influenced by hip-hop,
and I perform my music...

using the Power Glove.

I think the Power Glove is such
a failing product,

and at the same time,
it’s such an amazing looking object.

It’s just something that you...
you are awed by it because...

it’s such goofy looking,
nerdy looking,

and at the same time,
so awesome & cool!

And by the way, that’s exactly
how music is: tension & release.

And the Power Glove,
because it’s a glove,

and the way I’ve programmed it,

it allows me
to actually grab the music,

and it sounds like the music
is in a certain space,

and then release it.

And it’s such
an interactive experience.

Only the Glove
will allow me to do that.

It’s super portable!
You know, I’m just taking the Glove!

I can put the Glove on, take
my computer, & I’m ready to go!

And, I mean, it’s a glove.
It’s a glove that makes music.

I think everyone
can get inspired from that.

The other main part of my job
was to present the Power Glove.

And, you know, as good looking
as I am,

the powers-to-be at Mattel really
thought that it would be best...

to have professional models &
actors & actresses present the Glove.

So I was asked to help
those people out...

because nobody really knew
how to use it except for myself.

So I spent a lot of time
& I developed these relationships...

with all these people who are still
some of my best friends today.

We were... We were kinda
rock stars at this point.

I say that...
We were living the high life.

We were put up in nice hotels.
We were given transportation, limos.

And we kinda had the run of the town
as long as we showed up...

and did our job and presented well.

There was really nobody else there
to guide us or direct us...

or watch over us,
so we kinda just did what we wanted.

I can honestly say it was some
of the best times I’ve ever had.

(EXCITING HEAVY METAL MUSIC)

I’m with the internationally known
Novak, that’s “Novak,”...

game designer,
inventor of the “Glove Ball.”

What do you have to say?

It’s a wrap!

You know, the relationship
between Mattel & Nintendo...

was really thorny
from the beginning.

First off, Nintendo management
really disliked the Power Glove.

They thought it was a gimmick.
They thought it was exploitive.

The Power Glove had a major,
major issue...

about two weeks
before we were launching the product.

We had shipped 83,000 units
from China into the U.S. and...

they were sitting in our warehouse
ready to be shipped out.

And then one night we got
a phone call from Nintendo,

and Nintendo was not going
to allow...

Mattel to ship the product
with their Seal of Approval on it.

Every product— every Nintendo
product had this Seal of Approval.

At the end of the day,
you’re not going to ship...

a Nintendo product
without their Seal of Approval.

So: on a plane was myself,
Jill Barad... five of us...

flew up there and went
into a conference room...

where they just ripped us!

One of the things was:
inside each Glove— right now...

there’s a bit of material here;
it’s brushed tricot.

It’s nice & soft.

Well, the Gloves that were shipped
early didn’t have anything in there.

You know, their hands were chafing.

And they weren’t really able
to figure out...

from the instruction book exactly
how to actually get it to work.

There was some calibration
that had to be done.

There was a “Center” button,
and it wasn’t clearly spelled out...

in the book.

So when I got there, I had to give
a demonstration and basically...

come up with a rebuttal
to all their complaints.

So when they said, well,
they couldn’t knock out anybody...

on “Tyson,” I sat there,
put the Glove on,

knocked the guy out in seconds.

When they said that they didn’t
understand the centering thing,

I said well— I showed them
how to exactly do it...

and there was a little light
that came on and...

Basically, the meeting got to a point
where they said,

“You cannot ship the product
the way it is.”

And they left the room.

So again, you know, I was just a,
you know, a dumb kid...

and I really had no business
being there other than the fact...

that I was going to demonstrate
the Glove. So I just kinda spoke up.

I said, “Look guys, you can put
a white cotton glove on.

“That would really help
with the chafing issue.”

And then I said, “We can always put
a poster or something in there...

that’s really cool that had
basically the keys...

to calibrate and get it ready.

“We can print up a new manual
really quickly...

with different types of pictures
with arrows.”

What was important was to have
the Glove and showing the motion.

I threw all this out there at them
and they were like, “Fine.”

“Go sell them on it.”

So I literally walked into this room
by myself where there was...

you know, the three top guys
at Nintendo.

And I knocked on the door. I said,
“Hey guys, look, here’s the deal.

“We’re gonna create a ‘comfort kit.’
And it’s gonna be a bag.

It’s gonna have a glove.
We were planning on re-shooting...

that instruction manual anyway.
We’re just gonna expedite that.

And we’re gonna put a poster in there
to go over a lot of the basics.”

And they go,
“Can you do that in two weeks?”

I said, “Yeah, of course.”

I walk back into the room
with our guys.

I said, “Yeah no problem.” I said,
“We gotta do it in two weeks.”

And from that point on,
it was complete mayhem.

Literally the next day,
we set up a photoshoot,

and we shot the new manual.

One of the other issues that Nintendo
had was that their arm got tired...

by holding it up.
I said, “Well yeah, of course,

because you’re not using
the recommended position, which is...

to actually put your elbow
on the arm of a chair.”

And so we then shot this picture
of me sitting in a chair.

We shot this manual & had it printed,
83,000 copies in less than a week.

We had the poster printed, & we then
went into the warehouse,

built these three assembly lines
out of wood...

and hired all these workers
to come in, carefully open...

the package, put all
the new materials in. You know,

stuff the “comfort kits”
into the poly bags...

and put everything into it,
and we shipped everything...

two weeks later.

It was phenomenal.
It was awesome.

< Here’s a company coming along
trying to do this novel, crazy thing.

They just thought it was
a big gimmick, and you know,

Nintendo is all about gameplay.
“Gameplay! Gameplay! Gameplay!”

Well that drove Mattel marketing
crazy because Mattel is,

if nothing else,
a marketing machine.

They, you know,
they’d do a media blitz.

They actually spent more
on the TV commercial...

than they did on the actual game.

‘The Power Glove for your NES!
Now you and the games are one!’

< Oh, it was marketed really well.

It showed what it could do,
but in the first year...

of the Power Glove’s existence,
it couldn’t do that.

Because what they were showing
it could do in the TV commercial...

is playing this game,
and this game wasn’t made yet.

Um, so that’s where they really
dropped the ball.

They thought just on sheer
marketing power...

they could sell the Glove in,
even though it didn’t work so hot...

with other people’s games.

Oh! Here’s the script...

here’s the original script
for “The Wizard” movie.

I was— the credit just says
“Power Glove Consultant.”

So I helped the blonde haired kid
who was playing “Rad Racer.”

Oh, here’s a picture— here’s
a photo on set of “The Wizard.”

That’s Howard Beech from Mattel,
that’s me,

and here are the two kid actors.
I guess that’s, what, Fred Savage?

I think the original photo
I gave to my mom.

Hey, I’m Todd Holland,
and I’m the director of “The Wizard.”

So, “The Wizard,” in case anybody
doesn’t know,

is a video game road movie
with kids, and it was kid action,

a “kid action movie.”

It’s these kids who— a brother
played by Fred Savage...

who takes off on the road
to help his younger brother,

Jimmy, who is troubled & semi
Austistic-seeming, you know,

basically fulfill this journey
he wants to take...

to go to California
for some reason.

And they end up meeting Jenny Lewis,
the Haley character,

and they commit to go
to this video game competition...

because they’ve discovered that
Jimmy is a savant at video games.

Along the way, they meet a character
named Lucas Barton.

Lucas has a locked case and opens it
to reavel the Power Glove.

I think that the sentiment
behind making the Power Glove worn...

and used by the villain:
it empowered him.

It made him more equipped
and more skilled...

..& more intimidating for our heroic
underdogs in the narrative.

And it just... it made Lucas bad.

I love the Power Glove.

It’s so bad.

“The Wizard” was the kind of movie...

I sorta think of
as a Hollywood sausage.

You know, it’s sort of this concocted
commerce decision to put...

this incredibly popular young actor
in a movie about video games,

which were soaring in popularity,
and then put all this together...

in this confection.

The president of Universal Pictures
at the time basically told me...

they wanted like
a TV-movie director.

They wanted somebody to just come in
& do the job & leave.

They didn’t want a lot of fuss.

They didn’t want
a lot of creative fuss.

And it meant more to me than that,
you know.

I really emotionally got hooked
into the journey of these kids.

And that idea that you could create
this sausage & pump it out...

..& people would consume it
ravenously, that’s what prompted...

the greatest disappointment
in “The Wizard”’s box office,

because audiences are just kinda
too clever for that.

So, you know, how the Power Glove
ended up in the movie...

is not as mysterious
as it might sound.

It was a different era
in product placement for movies.

If you wanted to put Coke
in your movie, you called Coke up...

and they sent you a bunch of cases.

There weren’t whole divisions
of studios trying to monetize...

that placement in a movie.

Mattel had come on and offered
the Power Glove.

We had “Super Mario Brothers 3.”

‘Super... Mario Brothers...
THREEE!!!!’

And they sent a rep out prior to show
us what the Power Glove was,

because we had to film it,
so we had to know.

And the guy came with his locked
briefcase and they opened it,

and there it was laying
in this foam, you know,

this cut foam enclosure,
which is where I, of course,

stole the idea to do that exact
same thing in the movie.

We thought it felt
so incredibly cool.

We put the Power Glove
in “The Wizard,”

and “The Wizard” basically
failed at the box office.

I assumed the Power Glove went on
to great fame & fortune.

I didn’t know until much later...

much like the fate
of “The Wizard,”...

I didn’t know till much later
that the Power Glove...

had actually fizzled
very rapidly after the film.

And so “The Wizard”
& the Power Glove, their fates...

are kinda tied together.

Both came out with great hype
and anticipation.

Both failed to find the commercial
foothold in the marketplace...

that they’d hoped to...

and both have risen now,
decades later, to have...

a romantic cult following.

And I find that kind of...

charming & hilarious.

< Uh, I’m Chris Bishop >

< I’m one of the writers for
the television show “The Goldbergs” >

I wrote the episode that features
the Power Glove.

No way!

< Yes way!
It was the Nintendo Power Glove. >

< It was magical.
And it was mine. >

Obviously when I was a kid, I loved
Nintendo and then...

the movie “The Wizard” came out
and I got very excited.

“I love the Power Glove.
It’s so bad.”

Um, that moment.

It’s not working!
The damn thing’s not working! >

< You’re swinging it! Stop swinging!

I’m batting?
I thought I was pitching! >

‘Everybody remembers the Power Glove
because it was so different...

and it was so out there.’

You don’t get that excitement
anymore for a toy.

You know, things are always
constantly coming out,

so this one was like this big thing
that was coming out...

around Christmas time
and you were psyched for it.

It was the greatest thing ever.

And that’s why I thought
the Power Glove...

was a perfect thing to put
on “The Goldbergs”...

because it resonates
and it has this power.

And it’s, you know, the eighties.
It really reminds you of that time.

For years it was always
the butt of jokes.

Like, “this piece of crap!”

“Remember this when you
were six years old?”

But, you know, the hardware worked
really well.

The three-dimensional poisitoning
worked really well...

if you calibrated it correctly.
So people started hacking.

Well, I guess people started getting
home computers...

and started hacking the hardware.

My name is Linda Jacobson and I am
a virtual reality evangelist.

I’ve been writing & speaking
about virtual reality...

and producing virtual experiences
for about 25 years.

And I wrote the book
“Garage Virtual Reality” in 1994.

I grew up in the sixties & seventies
and I was really affected...

by the political Zeitgeist
of the time,

the “We shall overcome!” and
“Power to the people!”

But back in the late eighties
and early nineties,

this really cool technology
that we were hearing about,

virtual reality, was not
a technology for the people.

They were all
in prestigious research labs...

and working for government agencies
or universities.

And the technology was not accessible
to hobbyists.

Here this Power Glove didn’t do well
with the little kids,

but it didn’t take
a great leap of imagination...

for very smart, geeky young adults
to figure out...

that they could hijack
this really cool toy controller...

to control their computers.

Young people at home saw
this affordable controller...

as a really great way
to gain access...

to this techno-elite world
of virtual reality.

So it went
from “Power to the People!” to...

“Power Glove to the People!”

For as long as I can remember,

I have been completely obsessed
with the eighties.

I’ve tried to base as much of my life
around it.

I listen to eighties music.

I wear clothes from the eighties.

And obviously the Power Glove...

is the iconic eighties
video game controller.

I think this
is the coolest looking glove...

ever! Of all time!

The only problem is that I couldn’t
use it to do anything today.

When I started tinkering
with the Power Glove,

I didn’t have one specific thing
I wanted to do.

And it’s true I put in a lot
of new hardware and new things,

but really all I did was make
the original functionality...

work with today’s
computers & software.

A lot of people have told me what
the Power Glove was supposed to do...

and how it really never delivered
on these promises,

and I think that it still can!

I think if anybody had the chance
to take apart the Power Glove...

and to see how it works, put it
together— if they had a vision...

of what they wanted to do, then
they would also probably have...

a lot more interest in electronics
or coding by the end of it.

We are here at
Silicon Valley Virtual Reality expo!

This is like 20 years ago but better.

The hardware is amazing!

This is our digital glove, we call it
Perception Neuron glove.

We’re using small sensors like this,
and every single one sensor...

is capturing
my finger orientation & position.

And by using multiple sensors
like this,

we can capture
the real-time hand motion.

The Power Glove is like
the first generation...

of all those kinds
of digital gloves.

It’s 26 years later,
and you can see the impact...

that the Power Glove made
on the generation of gamers,

because here they are!
They’re entrepeneurs.

They’re investors.
They’re developers.

And they’re creating
this whole industry that’s really...

going to democratize
virtual reality.

One of the things that I truly
believe is that the Power Glove...

was the first consumer device
to break the barrier...

between the virtual world
and the real world.

People were very interested
in the Power Glove.

That’s why the initial sales
were really high.

‘A.G.E.’s Power Glove
for the Nintendo System...

hit the marketplace and raked in
over 85 million dollars in sales...

with its first introduction.’

We were already working
on the next-level platform.

‘The new Power Glove with i-touch
technology...

replaces the mouse & joystick
for web & internet navigation,

and enables users to interact with
i-touch websites as never before.’

‘With total Serial and USB
compatibility, the Power Glove...

will take hold of both
the explosive PC gaming market...

and the upcoming next-generation
gaming platforms.’

‘The Power Glove with i-touch.’

‘The better link
between man & machine.’

But then the sales
started to drop off.

And their board members & their stock
holders, I’m sure, were concerned...

that they were getting back...

into the place they went
before with Intellivision.

And they decided
to walk away from it.

I think the product itself – and
a lot of products end up...

being this way – is the product
was a compromise,

because we couldn’t make
our own software.

So we had to try to make this
play games where you do this.

And that by itself
is a bit of a losing proposition.

20 years later, the Wii comes out.

They changed all those games
from twitch games to games...

where you have
big demonstrable motions.

They developed software.

They developed, seriously, not only
software, but an entire platform...

< based on this.
They designed the games for it. >

It’s not an easy compromise.

And in the toy industry,
you’re always dealing with:

Do you want to be first?
Do you want to be second & best?

If you get out there first and
you don’t catch their interest,

will you get a second chance?

Unfortunately in the toy industry,
you notoriously...

do not get a second chance.

If they had released the softwares
with the Glove,

it could have had
a whole different ending.

The Power Glove
as a piece of history...

is just a momentary thing that
somehow caught people’s attention.

It caught people’s fancy.

It’s stayed in the vocabulary
for a long time.

A lot of American history
is like that.

The Pony Express only operated
for 18 months.

Yet for being in existence
for such a short time,

there’s more film
about the Pony Express...

than the time the Pony Express
actually ran.

The Power Glove has kinda gotten
that same kind of thing.

It’s like a lot
of the American story.

Tiny little incidents
take on broader meanings.

So the Power Glove has kind of
become the icon,

even though in reality,
I don’t think anybody used it...

as a toy for more than six months.

It’s been re-used a lot, but it was
only a part of the popular culture...

for such a very short time.

American history and American stories
is made up...

of all the small stories and
the little things that occurred,

not the big incidents.

We’re much more fascinated
with the little stories that go on.

So, hey!
I’m a part of the little story!

In some ways, I have a connection
to the Pony Express,

which is pretty good
because I’ve never ridden a horse.