Power Glove

Power Glove

The Japanese Power Glove, manufactured by PAX
Manufacturer	Mattel, PAX
Type	Video game controller
Generation	Third generation era
Storage capacity	1 B 80386 microprocessor
Connectivity	Serial port

The Power Glove is a controller accessory for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and the first peripheral interface controller to recreate human hand movements on a television or computer screen in real time.^[1] The Power Glove wasn't popular and was criticised for its imprecise and difficult-to-use controls. The Power Glove laid the foundation for the Wii Remote controller for the Wii console.^[2]

Development

The Power Glove was originally released in 1989.^[1] Though it was an officially licensed product, Nintendo was not involved in the design or release of this accessory. Rather, it was designed by the team of Grant Goddard and Sam Davis for Abrams Gentile Entertainment (AGE), made by Mattel in the United States^[1] and PAX in Japan. Additional development was accomplished through the efforts of Thomas G. Zimmerman and Jaron Lanier, a virtual reality pioneer responsible for co-developing and commercializing the DataGlove^[3] who had made a failed attempt at a similar design for Nintendo earlier.^[4] The Power Glove and DataGlove were based on Zimmerman's instrumented glove (US Patent 4542291 issued 1985). Zimmerman built the first prototype that demonstrated finger flex measurement and hand position tracking using a pair of ultrasonic transmitters. His original prototype used optical flex sensors to measure finger bending which were replaced with less expensive carbon-based flex sensors by the AGE team.

Design and functionality

The glove has traditional NES controller buttons on the forearm as well as a program button and buttons labeled 0-9. A person presses the program button and a numbered button to input commands, such as changing the firing rate of the A and B buttons. Along with the controller, the player can perform various hand motions to control a character on-screen.

The flex sensors in the Power Glove are a carbon-based ink on plastic. Bending the flex sensors causes the carbon to compress, decreasing the resistance. The sensors in the DataGlove are based on optical fibers that are scratched near the bending joint to cause it to transmit less light when bent, an innovation developed by Young L. Harvill (US Patent 5097252) of VPL Research. There are two ultrasonic speakers (transmitters) in the glove and three ultrasonic microphones (receivers) around the TV monitor. The ultrasonic speakers take turns transmitting a short burst (a few pulses) of 40 kHz sound and the system measures the time it takes for the sound to reach the microphones. A triangulation calculation is performed to determine the X, Y, Z location of each of the two speakers, which specifies the yaw and roll of the hand. The only dimension it can't calculate is the pitch of the hand, since the hand can pitch without moving the location of the two ultrasonic speakers.

The Power Glove is based on the patented technology of the VPL Dataglove, but with many modifications that allow it to be used with slow hardware and sold at an affordable price. Whereas the Dataglove can detect yaw, pitch and roll, uses fiber optic sensors to detect finger flexure and has a resolution of 256 positions (8 bits) per four fingers (the pinky finger is not measured to save money, for it usually follows the movement of the ring finger), the Power Glove can only detect roll, and uses sensors coated with conductive ink yielding a resolution of four positions (2 bits) per four fingers.^[5] This allows the Power Glove to store all the finger flexure information in a single byte.^[6] However, it appears that the fingers actually feed an analog signal to the microprocessor on the Power Glove. The microprocessor converts the analog signal into two bits per finger.

Games

Only two games were released with specific features for use with the Power Glove, Super Glove Ball, and Bad Street Brawler, a beat 'em up, playable with the standard NES controller, but allowing exclusive moves with the glove. These two games are branded as part of the "Power Glove Gaming Series". However, Super Glove Ball was never released in Japan. Since no Power Glove-specific games ever retailed in Japan, the Power Glove was sold only as an alternative controller. This decision damaged sales and eventually caused PAX to declare bankruptcy.

Two more games, Glove Pilot and Manipulator Glove Adventure, were announced but never released. Another unreleased game, Tech Town or Tektown, was a virtual puzzle solving game in which the player moved a robotic hand around a deserted space station type of setting, using the glove to open doors and to pick up and use tools. It could be seen in a sneak peek in the Official Power Glove Game Players Gametape (Vol. 1 No. 9), as "New Game Available Spring 1991".

Games without specific support could also be played with the glove by inputting codes on the glove's keypad that set a control scheme for the glove.

Reception

The Power Glove sold over 100,000 units in the U.S.^{[citation needed]} Its gross sales totaled $88 million.^[1] The games that were especially made for the Power Glove sold poorly and the Power Glove itself was a critical and commercial failure. However the technology used in the development of the Power Glove paved the way for the highly popular and successful Wii console.^[2]

IGN editor Craig Harris ranked the Power Glove as the seventh worst video game controllers.^[7] It was rated #4 on ScrewAttack's Worst Gaming Peripherals list.

In popular culture

In The Wizard, Lucas Barton wielded a Power Glove, declaring that he loved it because it was "so bad".

The Power Glove was prominently shown off in the Nintendo-produced film The Wizard, memorably wielded by antagonist Lucas Barton (Jackey Vinson), whose smug boast, "I love the Power Glove. It's so bad!" became an internet meme years later.^[8][9] Mutant Reviewers from Hell noted that

…the Power Glove was an odd controller for the NES that required you to wear a huge glove that really did very little, but the movie treats it with such awe, such holy reverence that all of the witnesses to its mighty power are left speechless. That is, until Lucas gives us one of the film's most memorable lines: 'I love the Power Glove. It's so bad!'^[10]

The Power Glove is also referenced in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare where Freddy had trapped one of his victims in a video game. The victims' friends attempt to rescue the victim from Freddy. Freddy states: "Hey! You forgot the Power Glove!" The Glove is modified with the face buttons attached to his regular glove. When his victims' friends run away Freddy finishes off his victim with the controls on the modified power glove.^{[citation needed]}

References