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When I was in elementary school, I received the Power Glove for Christmas and a classmate received the U-Force. We became rivals, both trying to convince the r

When I was in elementary school, I received the Power Glove for Christmas and a classmate received the U-Force. We became rivals, both trying to convince the rest of the class that ours was the ultimate controller and amazing for giving a competitive advantage in Punch Out!, Rad Racer, and other games. Secretly we both knew both controllers were completely useless and never worked, but we never dared admit it.

gorkish 4y ago
Unlike the U-Force, the power glove actually worked. By that I mean it's ability to track hand and finger positions in space worked really well given how it was designed and buildt. But aside from a single game (Super Glove Ball) no games ever supported anything other than it's controller emulation modes which were absolute junk and made worse by the terrible and unergonomic way it was built. While everyone continues to bemoan the Power Glove as a useless and failed product, I continue to view it as an excellent technical achievement that failed in all other areas. How dissapointing. When I was about 12, I got a cheap powerglove for $20 from a used games place after they were all cast off as useless. I took all the guts out of it and sewed them into a golf glove to make it into a much less cumbersome device. I interfaced it through the PC parallel port, and was able to get it talking in its high resolution mode. That was really pushing the limit of what I could do at the time, so I never got much further than having a wireframe hand floating around the screen, but it was pretty impressive. I still have my construction somewhere!
hbn 4y ago
I love the Power Glove, it's so bad.
- oneepic 4y ago
  And I mean.... bad. (AVGN power glove episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYDuy7wM8Gk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYDuy7wM8Gk)
- anthk 4y ago
  There was a movie about the Power Glove, which was?
  - christoph 4y ago
    I’m guessing you’re probably thinking of “The Wizard” https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098663/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098663/
    - lmas 4y ago
      Pretty sure there's an old movie with Keanu Reeves using some sort of power glove to "browse the net", cyberpunk style. Edit: Oh yeah it was Johnny Mnemonic https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0113481/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0113481/

gorkish 4y ago

Unlike the U-Force, the power glove actually worked. By that I mean it's ability to track hand and finger positions in space worked really well given how it was designed and buildt. But aside from a single game (Super Glove Ball) no games ever supported anything other than it's controller emulation modes which were absolute junk and made worse by the terrible and unergonomic way it was built. While everyone continues to bemoan the Power Glove as a useless and failed product, I continue to view it as an excellent technical achievement that failed in all other areas. How dissapointing. When I was about 12, I got a cheap powerglove for $20 from a used games place after they were all cast off as useless. I took all the guts out of it and sewed them into a golf glove to make it into a much less cumbersome device. I interfaced it through the PC parallel port, and was able to get it talking in its high resolution mode. That was really pushing the limit of what I could do at the time, so I never got much further than having a wireframe hand floating around the screen, but it was pretty impressive. I still have my construction somewhere!

hbn 4y ago

I love the Power Glove, it's so bad.

oneepic 4y ago
And I mean.... bad. (AVGN power glove episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYDuy7wM8Gk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYDuy7wM8Gk)
anthk 4y ago
There was a movie about the Power Glove, which was?
- christoph 4y ago
  I’m guessing you’re probably thinking of “The Wizard” https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098663/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098663/
  - lmas 4y ago
    Pretty sure there's an old movie with Keanu Reeves using some sort of power glove to "browse the net", cyberpunk style. Edit: Oh yeah it was Johnny Mnemonic https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0113481/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0113481/