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Power Glove

Power Glove, American model
Manufacturer	Mattel (United States) PAX (Japan)
Type	Game controller
Generation	Third generation era
Release date	NA: October 1989
Lifespan	1 year
Introductory price	US$75 (Equivalent to $184 in 2023)
Discontinued	1990 (1990)
Controller input	1 Crosshead A B Action Buttons Start Select Buttons Turbo Buttons
Connectivity	Serial port
Backward compatibility	Nintendo Entertainment System

The Power Glove is a controller accessory for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The Power Glove gained public attention due to its early virtual reality mechanics and significant marketing. However, its two games did not sell well, as it was not packaged with a game, and it was criticized for its imprecise and difficult-to-use controls.

Development

The Power Glove was originally released in 1989. Though it was an officially licensed product, Nintendo was not involved in the design or release of the accessory. Rather, it was designed by Samuel Cooper Davis for Abrams/Gentile Entertainment (AGE), made by Mattel in the United States and PAX in Japan. Additional development was accomplished through the efforts of Thomas G. Zimmerman and Jaron Lanier, a virtual reality pioneer responsible for codeveloping and commercializing the DataGlove, who had made a failed attempt at a similar design for Nintendo earlier. Mattel brought in Image Design and Marketing's Hal Berger and Gary Yamron to develop the raw technology into a functional product. They designed Power Glove over the course of eight weeks. The Power Glove and DataGlove were based on Zimmerman's instrumented glove.

Design and functionality

The Power Glove is based on the patented technology of the VPL Dataglove, but with many modifications that allow it to be used with modestly performing consumer hardware and sold at an affordable price. Whereas the Dataglove can detect yaw, pitch and roll, uses fiberoptic sensors to detect finger flexure, and has a resolution of 256 positions (8 bits) per finger for four fingers (the little finger is not measured to save money, and it usually follows the movement of the ring finger), the Power Glove can only detect roll, and uses sensors coated with conductive ink; their analog signal is converted into two bits per finger. yielding a resolution of four positions (2 bits) per finger for four fingers. This allows the Power Glove to store all the finger flexure information in a single byte. The design of the Glove was based on RoboCop from the 1987 film of the same name.

Games

Two games were released with specific features for use with the Power Glove: Super Glove Ball, a faux-3D puzzle maze game; and Bad Street Brawler, a beat 'em up. Both games are playable with the standard NES controller, but include moves that can only be used with the glove. These two games are branded as part of the "Power Glove Gaming Series". Since no Power Glove-specific games ever retailed in Japan, the Power Glove was sold only as an alternative controller.

Two more games, Glove Pilot and Manipulator Glove Adventure, were announced but never released. Another unreleased game, Tech Town or Tektown, is 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 can be seen in a sneak peek in the Official Power Glove Game Players Gametape.

The Power Glove was adopted by the emerging virtual reality community in the 1990s to interact with 3D worlds in a cheaper way to the popular high end DataGlove produced by VPL Research. REND386 was the bridging shareware software to support it.

Reception

The Power Glove sold nearly one million units and was a commercial success. However, it generally received extremely poor reception, because the controls for the glove were incredibly obtuse, making it completely impractical for almost every game on the console. Only two games were specially constructed for the Power Glove, and many users had no practical use for it for other noteworthy games of its time. Consumer complaints also noted the poor connection signal between the glove and the console, build quality of the materials, and high price point for 1989 (retail price was $100, approximately $250 in 2024).

In popular culture

This section is in list format but may read better as prose. You can help by converting this section, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (September 2024)

The Power Glove is featured in the 1989 film The Wizard, wielded by antagonist Lucas Barton (Jackey Vinson), who infamously declares, "I love the Power Glove - it's so bad."

In 2013, a documentary titled The Power of Glove was put into development. The film was released in 2019.

The Power Glove was featured in the 2021 movie 8-Bit Christmas, and New York Times writer Calum Marsh describes the Power Glove's "awfulness" as what "sets the plot in motion".

References

1. Vizard, Frank (October 1989). "Popular Mechanics". Popular Mechanics Magazine. Vol. 166, no. 10. p. 106. ISSN 0032-4558. Retrieved 15 March 2018. ...Power Glove comes in two sizes, and is targeted at players between the ages of 8 and 14...
2. "Backwards Compatible - The Power Glove". ABC website - Good Game. Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). 19 May 2008. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
3. ^ "A.G.E. Tech". Abrams Gentile Entertainment. Archived from the original on 25 May 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
4. "History". Scott Belsley, MD, FACS. Archived from the original on 30 December 2008. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
5. Applegate, Jane (21 June 1991). "Putting a Design on Bigger Market Share". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
6. "Inside story on: The power glove (Cover)" (PDF). Design News. 45 (23): 63. 4 December 1989. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
7. "La Réalité Virtuelle - Chapitre 7". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
8. "Patent US4542291 - Optical flex sensor".
9. Townsend, J. Eric. "PowerGlove FAQ". Mellott's VR. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
10. "1993 VR Conference Proceedings". North Carolina State University. 1993. Archived from the original on 7 July 2009. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
11. "Losing Their Grip: An Oral History of Nintendo's Power Glove". 12 September 2021.
12. New Game Available. Official Power Glove Game Players Gametape (VHS). Vol. 1. Spring 1991. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021.
13. "Homebrew Virtual Reality". 14 June 2017.
14. "What happened to REND386".
15. Zachary, George (November 1996). "Generator". Next Generation. No. 23. p. 24.
16. ^ "How the Nintendo Power Glove Worked". HowStuffWorks. 25 March 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
17. "The promise of the Nintendo Power Glove". www.acmi.net.au. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
18. Greene, Andy (28 May 2015). "Flashback: 'The Wizard' Unveils Nintendo's Power Glove". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 19 August 2023.
19. Matulef, Jeffrey (13 July 2013). "The Power Glove gets its own feature-length documentary". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
20. Watercutter, Angela (11 July 2013). "There's a Nintendo Power Glove Documentary Coming (Yes, It Has a Wizard Reference)". WIRED.
21. McFerran, Damien (19 September 2019). "Feature: Uncovering The Unlikely Story of the World's Worst Controller in the Power of Glove". Nintendo Life. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
22. Marsh, Calum (24 November 2021). "'8-Bit Christmas' Review: Now You're Playing With Power". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 July 2024.

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Category

• Game controllers
• Nintendo Entertainment System accessories
• Products introduced in 1989
• Virtual reality
• Gesture recognition