{"video_id":"fp_ASNdN84Pjg","title":"How Bad is VR from 1994?","channel":"Linus Tech Tips","show":"Linus Tech Tips","published_at":"2025-09-30T16:57:00.029Z","duration_s":886,"segments":[{"start_s":0.0,"end_s":6.8,"text":"The 90s is back, baby! Time to grab some crystal tepsi on ice, toss a tray of bagel bites into the oven,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":6.8,"end_s":10.8,"text":"and kick back and enjoy some cutting-edge virtual reality.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":12.3,"end_s":22.2,"text":"Well, that's not a joke. Consumer VR is yet another modern trend that owes its popularity, at least in part, to the 90s.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":22.2,"end_s":25.7,"text":"It was in our arcades, our theme parks, our movies, TV shows,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":25.7,"end_s":28.9,"text":"so of course it made its way into our video games,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":29.6,"end_s":37.0,"text":"Okay, yeah. Those of you old enough to remember Nintendo's Virtual Boy will probably say that that barely counts as VR,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":37.0,"end_s":45.6,"text":"and Sega's offering only got as far as a demo at CES before Sega pulled the chute claiming that it was too realistic for public consumption.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":45.6,"end_s":53.0,"text":"But over on the PC side of things, we had numerous options for relatively affordable VR.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":53.0,"end_s":59.6,"text":"Virtual iOS, eyeglasses, Victor Max's CyberMax, and this.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":59.6,"end_s":69.6,"text":"The VFX1 headgear from Forte, which came out disappointingly just six days after Christmas in 1994.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":69.6,"end_s":73.6,"text":"Now for a disappointing segue, to our sponsor.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":73.6,"end_s":89.2,"text":"This old tower here runs Windows 95 like an absolute stud, but the thing is, we're not playing full tilt pinball here,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":89.2,"end_s":93.9,"text":"so we're going to bail on nice-to-haves like a graphical user interface","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":93.9,"end_s":98.2,"text":"and run our games a little closer to the metal using MS-DOS 7.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":98.3,"end_s":104.0,"text":"After navigating to the install directory, which delightfully I was still able to do somehow,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":104.0,"end_s":111.6,"text":"I just need to open up setvfx1.exe and, oh wow, 3D graphics.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":111.6,"end_s":117.7,"text":"I've been told that I'm going to stay seated for most of this demonstration because otherwise I might throw up on set.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":119.4,"end_s":124.0,"text":"You can move the ear cups in to have it put on easier.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":124.0,"end_s":131.6,"text":"The visor obviously flips up and down. The IPD is adjustable just by moving the lenses in and out manually,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":131.6,"end_s":136.0,"text":"and then you've got individual focus control as well. Wow, look at that!","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":136.0,"end_s":144.1,"text":"I did find to get the right focus, you did need to have the optics really close to your eye sockets.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":144.1,"end_s":151.4,"text":"Dude, us 90s kids were so much harder. We didn't need like cloth or rubber gaskets on things that sat right next to our eyes.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":151.4,"end_s":154.4,"text":"We liked hard plastic. So you've got it in focus there?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":154.4,"end_s":161.5,"text":"Yeah, I've even got a little bit of 3D effect. It seems like the screen is bulging out towards me, which was the fashion at the time.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":161.5,"end_s":166.4,"text":"Conveniently, it doesn't seal very well, so I can just see my keyboard under me.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":166.4,"end_s":171.0,"text":"So go to F3, which is testvfx1, and this is going to be the headset side.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":171.0,"end_s":174.7,"text":"Oh yeah, look at that, with only a marginal delay.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":174.7,"end_s":179.1,"text":"So the next piece is the cyber puck. It just goes forward and back and then side to side,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":179.1,"end_s":182.7,"text":"and then you've got three buttons that your fingers kind of align on there.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":182.7,"end_s":193.3,"text":"Oh, okay. So it rotates and twists, but has no awareness of like a side to side or forward and back movement.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":193.3,"end_s":197.5,"text":"So it will only go to the 90 degrees. Okay, got it. It's all 90s all the time, baby.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":197.5,"end_s":202.3,"text":"Time to play some Quake? Yeah. Yeah. Oh wow, this must have been a nightmare.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":202.3,"end_s":205.8,"text":"It supports only specific updates for Quake.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":205.8,"end_s":211.3,"text":"Yep, and depending on the application, support was either like an EXE","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":211.3,"end_s":218.0,"text":"that kind of intercepts things and read as controls, or as rudimentary as just a control map.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":218.0,"end_s":221.3,"text":"If you want to click on single player and new game,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":221.3,"end_s":225.7,"text":"this will drop you into the intro spot where you actually pick your difficulty","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":225.7,"end_s":229.5,"text":"by going through one of these hallways. So turning, you tilt.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":229.5,"end_s":233.9,"text":"Whoa, there we go. Whoa, there Nelly.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":233.9,"end_s":238.3,"text":"And then you can move forward and back by tilting forward and back.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":238.3,"end_s":241.5,"text":"Your top button should be shoot.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":241.5,"end_s":246.1,"text":"Your middle button should be change weapon. So you have a fire axe, I believe.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":246.1,"end_s":249.7,"text":"And your bottom button will be jump.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":249.7,"end_s":256.5,"text":"Hup, hup, hup. Picking normal may have been ambitious.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":256.5,"end_s":260.9,"text":"Nuh-nuh.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":260.9,"end_s":265.9,"text":"The realism is too much. The reason it's so real is because Quake was one of the few games we found","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":265.9,"end_s":269.4,"text":"that actually has stereoscopic 3D. So you should have the 3D effect there.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":269.4,"end_s":274.1,"text":"Dude, I do. I mean, it's not a lot, but oh, what the hell did I walk on?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":274.1,"end_s":277.3,"text":"Rottweiler. Oh, what the? Oh, I didn't see it.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":277.3,"end_s":281.9,"text":"Yeah, before this, there was no jump. He's gonna jump and do. There wasn't really any look up and down either.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":281.9,"end_s":285.4,"text":"Oh, yeah, let's go. That's something that you haven't tried yet.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":285.4,"end_s":288.8,"text":"Try looking up and down. Okay.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":288.8,"end_s":292.0,"text":"Whoa, buddy.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":292.0,"end_s":297.8,"text":"I didn't know Quake does that. Normally, that would be like page up and page down on your keyboard.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":297.8,"end_s":303.1,"text":"Whoa, that is extremely nauseating.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":303.1,"end_s":307.4,"text":"That's the chair. Wow.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":307.4,"end_s":311.0,"text":"Can you see any of the UI elements on the bottom there? Oh, yeah, yeah, I can see everything.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":311.0,"end_s":315.8,"text":"96, 139. There's a Minecraft creeper.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":315.8,"end_s":320.1,"text":"Oh, God, looking up and down is like, hmm, hmm.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":320.1,"end_s":325.8,"text":"You know what? The gyro aiming is actually not awful.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":325.8,"end_s":330.5,"text":"I must look like an idiot right now, though.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":330.5,"end_s":335.7,"text":"This is, this is very carpal tunnel inciting.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":335.7,"end_s":339.8,"text":"Yeah, no, that was one of the things I noticed, especially when I was testing things.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":339.8,"end_s":343.8,"text":"Your wrist gets real. Buh-bow! Buh-bow!","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":343.8,"end_s":346.8,"text":"Sorry, especially when you consider though,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":346.8,"end_s":350.4,"text":"like how small a typical screen was in these days.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":350.4,"end_s":353.8,"text":"Like this level of immersion? Oh, it was completely unheard of.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":353.8,"end_s":357.0,"text":"A big TV was like 27 inches. Yeah.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":357.0,"end_s":362.5,"text":"How do my eyes look? Because they feel awful.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":362.5,"end_s":365.5,"text":"And that was five minutes and 35 seconds.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":365.5,"end_s":370.8,"text":"You know what though? Everything from the contrast of the displays","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":370.8,"end_s":376.4,"text":"to the immersiveness to the gyroscopic controls","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":376.4,"end_s":382.4,"text":"legitimately feels completely next-gen incredible technology","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":382.4,"end_s":387.6,"text":"compared to what I would have been playing, you know, with a mouse and keyboard on a tiny CRT.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":387.6,"end_s":391.5,"text":"However, I get the feeling that I couldn't have afforded this.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":391.5,"end_s":395.7,"text":"How much did this cost? MSRP was $6.95.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":395.7,"end_s":398.7,"text":"Which, realistically, is not that far off","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":398.7,"end_s":402.4,"text":"of what you'd pay for a cutting-edge VR headset today.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":402.4,"end_s":406.9,"text":"I'm surprised at how good the displays are more than anything else.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":406.9,"end_s":411.8,"text":"Yeah, can you think of any other small LCDs that would have been to that quality at that time?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":411.8,"end_s":417.5,"text":"I don't think I even had ever seen an LCD at that time. They had them on laptops, but they weren't great.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":417.5,"end_s":421.5,"text":"And almost nobody had those. Oh, no, they sucked ass.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":421.5,"end_s":426.8,"text":"Yeah, they were horrible. Honestly, it looks better than that. It's like playing an emulated SNES game.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":426.8,"end_s":430.1,"text":"Sometimes it looks better on your CRT. Let's try another game, shall we?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":430.1,"end_s":435.1,"text":"I hate that it looks so much better when I really cram it into my eye holes.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":435.1,"end_s":440.7,"text":"So this one doesn't have the stereoscopic 3D. So it will look flatter in the display.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":440.7,"end_s":445.7,"text":"In terms of the controls, though, I actually felt that it moved a little bit nicer.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":445.7,"end_s":449.1,"text":"How do I jump again? This one has no jump. Oh, no jump, okay.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":449.1,"end_s":453.4,"text":"So this is on the doom engine, which did not have jump. Just run onto the thing, so it won't go up.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":453.4,"end_s":454.1,"text":"Oh, God.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":457.3,"end_s":461.3,"text":"Oh, God. Oh, God, I'm bouncing around.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":462.9,"end_s":467.9,"text":"Okay. Whoa, that was very unpleasant.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":467.9,"end_s":470.9,"text":"That might be enough of that one.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":470.9,"end_s":475.9,"text":"What else we got? We've got one more game. We've got Descent, which is the most interesting","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":475.9,"end_s":479.9,"text":"from the perspective where you have all of the degrees of freedom.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":479.9,"end_s":482.9,"text":"Okay. Oh, man, I do not want to go back in here right now.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":482.9,"end_s":485.9,"text":"Because of the limited controls that we have,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":485.9,"end_s":489.9,"text":"auto-ship leveling is turned on, but if you whip back and forth too much,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":490.3,"end_s":493.8,"text":"sometimes it will get disoriented again. Whoa, oh, God.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":493.8,"end_s":497.3,"text":"Oh, God. Oh, my God. This is so disorienting.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":497.3,"end_s":500.8,"text":"So pitch up and pitch down is pitch up and down.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":500.8,"end_s":507.8,"text":"Yeah. Okay. I'm good so far. But then roll is yaw, which, okay.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":507.8,"end_s":511.3,"text":"And then my head is just, oh, that's terrible.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":511.3,"end_s":514.8,"text":"It moves the entire cockpit, but doesn't move my aiming.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":514.8,"end_s":518.3,"text":"Yeah. Uh-huh.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":518.5,"end_s":519.5,"text":"Okay.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":525.2,"end_s":532.2,"text":"This, dude, I just have my hands in here. It's like I'm holding it up for balance or something.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":532.2,"end_s":535.7,"text":"This is so disorienting.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":538.2,"end_s":541.2,"text":"And this is where the auto-ship leveling kind of failed you.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":541.2,"end_s":543.4,"text":"Now you're up against the wall sideways.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":545.9,"end_s":549.3,"text":"Okay. Boy, did we ever make a lot of progress","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":549.3,"end_s":550.7,"text":"in the last 30 years.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":552.7,"end_s":555.8,"text":"Good job hardware and software developers.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":555.8,"end_s":562.7,"text":"Gee, I wonder why this didn't take off. Oh, oh, and take off.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":562.7,"end_s":568.2,"text":"It did not. We did manage to track down more than 110 games","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":568.2,"end_s":573.7,"text":"on its compatibility list, but only about half of them used the CyroPuck controller","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":573.7,"end_s":577.8,"text":"and only a couple dozen supported proper stereoscopic video.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":577.8,"end_s":583.2,"text":"The rest are just kind of flat, but, you know, embiggened screen mode.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":583.2,"end_s":586.4,"text":"Theoretically, Forte's VR mouse could add support","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":586.4,"end_s":591.4,"text":"to any DOS app with keyboard and mouse support, but that seems to have required a bunch","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":591.4,"end_s":595.9,"text":"of manual configuration to dial things in. And Lord knows these guys aren't going to pick up","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":595.9,"end_s":600.2,"text":"their support phone line these days. What we can do is take a closer look at the hardware though.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":600.2,"end_s":603.8,"text":"That was very unpleasant. Oh.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":604.8,"end_s":610.1,"text":"We've already touched on the displays and lenses, but we haven't really taken a closer look at the audio","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":610.1,"end_s":615.4,"text":"or the plastic helmet itself. For starters, as large as it is,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":615.4,"end_s":619.8,"text":"I'm kind of surprised it doesn't weigh more. It's pretty wearable,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":619.8,"end_s":623.5,"text":"especially given that it has so many touch points around your head.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":623.5,"end_s":627.8,"text":"As for the headphones, what they lack in, you know, adjustments,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":627.8,"end_s":631.2,"text":"they kind of make up for in having the world's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":631.3,"end_s":636.1,"text":"sproingiest cushions on those. And the foam is,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":636.1,"end_s":639.8,"text":"I think best described as improvised. Yeah, here you go.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":639.8,"end_s":645.5,"text":"Oh, I see. They were improvised by us and this is the original.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":645.5,"end_s":649.8,"text":"It seems in better days. I don't know that they were that much better.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":649.8,"end_s":653.9,"text":"This is pretty crappy. Oh God, now it's everywhere.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":653.9,"end_s":657.9,"text":"Yeah. One cool thing though is that this Velcro","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":657.9,"end_s":661.1,"text":"that we used to attach our makeshift foam was original.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":661.1,"end_s":665.4,"text":"So it was designed to remove and replace maybe to wash it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":665.4,"end_s":669.6,"text":"because they optimistically imagined you'd want to be in it for longer than three minutes at a time.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":669.6,"end_s":673.2,"text":"At the bottom, we've got what appears to be a VGA connector,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":673.2,"end_s":679.3,"text":"but when we open it up, we see actually that has a lot more than 15 pins.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":679.3,"end_s":682.6,"text":"So this would have done display audio pass through","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":682.6,"end_s":687.0,"text":"for the puck controller, which uses what looks like an RJ45,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":687.0,"end_s":691.3,"text":"oh no, RJ11 connector,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":691.3,"end_s":696.3,"text":"good gravy, as well as data for the gyroscopes","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":696.3,"end_s":699.5,"text":"that were built into the headset itself. The coolest part though,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":699.5,"end_s":705.7,"text":"is actually in the tower. The VFX one came with a proprietary ISA card,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":705.7,"end_s":710.5,"text":"which is the predecessor to PCI, which is the predecessor to the very first generation","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":710.5,"end_s":716.0,"text":"of PCI Express. And we're on like what five now for consumer platforms.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":716.1,"end_s":719.1,"text":"It uses, oh, no way.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":719.1,"end_s":724.0,"text":"It uses an FPGA. I mean, yeah, that totally makes sense","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":724.0,"end_s":729.1,"text":"because of course it does. So that would be a big part of why this was so expensive.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":729.1,"end_s":733.7,"text":"That right there is a programmable processor that would have allowed them to hit","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":733.7,"end_s":738.3,"text":"a sort of consumer price point with acceptable performance","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":738.3,"end_s":743.1,"text":"without being able to do the volumes to do a fully mass produced ASIC.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":743.1,"end_s":748.3,"text":"At the back, we've got their proprietary interface again. We've got an RJ11 port for the cyber puck","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":748.3,"end_s":752.9,"text":"if we don't want to use the pass through. And then we've got audio loop ports.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":752.9,"end_s":756.2,"text":"I guess you could describe them as to go in and out of your sound card","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":756.2,"end_s":759.2,"text":"for the speakers and mic on the VFX one.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":759.2,"end_s":763.2,"text":"The coolest part though, is actually this interface back here.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":763.2,"end_s":766.7,"text":"This is the 26 pin feature connector.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":766.7,"end_s":769.6,"text":"And what it enables is direct communication","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":769.7,"end_s":774.7,"text":"between the VFX ones card and the VRAM on our GPU at speeds","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":774.7,"end_s":780.4,"text":"that they say are up to five times faster than relying on the ISA bus.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":780.4,"end_s":783.7,"text":"How do we not have cool stuff like this anymore?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":783.7,"end_s":789.0,"text":"I mean, we do. NV links pretty cool. It's just enterprise only.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":789.0,"end_s":792.0,"text":"That is so sick. And this was a standard.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":793.9,"end_s":798.6,"text":"I couldn't afford a good computer back when this was current. So like, I've never seen this before.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":798.7,"end_s":803.2,"text":"This interface wasn't just for RAM access. It could also carry color info and data.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":803.2,"end_s":808.5,"text":"And sadly went away as PCI and then AGP took over for GPUs.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":808.5,"end_s":812.2,"text":"And also GPUs just got a lot more integrated.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":812.2,"end_s":816.0,"text":"It's amazing how many of the same brands are still kicking around today though.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":816.0,"end_s":821.2,"text":"There's some Samsung memory chips. SEC, we'll love to see it.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":821.2,"end_s":825.3,"text":"Speaking of brands that are still around, while Forte themselves is not,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":825.3,"end_s":828.7,"text":"their assets were acquired by Interactive Imaging Systems,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":828.7,"end_s":833.2,"text":"which in turn became Viewsix. I actually sat next to the product manager","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":833.2,"end_s":837.1,"text":"for some of their head mounted displays back when I worked at NCIX.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":837.1,"end_s":841.0,"text":"So yeah, so they're kind of a competitor for like Xreel.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":841.0,"end_s":845.3,"text":"Yeah, crazy. On the one hand, the dream was there","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":845.3,"end_s":850.7,"text":"and was surprisingly well realized, but it's not a huge surprise given where the tech was","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":850.7,"end_s":854.0,"text":"that they are kind of fizzled out until the 2010s.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":854.1,"end_s":857.4,"text":"Still, it's shocking to me though how similar this is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":857.4,"end_s":861.1,"text":"in its overall form and function to a modern VR headset.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":861.1,"end_s":865.4,"text":"And all of this was just, oh, okay, 30 years ago.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":865.4,"end_s":871.3,"text":"Oh lordy, I need to sit down and recover. From both realizing how old I am","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":871.3,"end_s":875.1,"text":"and realizing that I haven't told you about our sponsor.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":875.1,"end_s":879.6,"text":"If you guys enjoyed this video, why not check out our review of the big screen beyond two","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":879.6,"end_s":882.6,"text":"for a look at the state of the art of modern VR?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":882.6,"end_s":886.5,"text":"It's smaller and better in every way.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"The 90s is back, baby! Time to grab some crystal tepsi on ice, toss a tray of bagel bites into the oven, and kick back and enjoy some cutting-edge virtual reality. Well, that's not a joke. Consumer VR is yet another modern trend that owes its popularity, at least in part, to the 90s. It was in our arcades, our theme parks, our movies, TV shows, so of course it made its way into our video games, Okay, yeah. Those of you old enough to remember Nintendo's Virtual Boy will probably say that that barely counts as VR, and Sega's offering only got as far as a demo at CES before Sega pulled the chute claiming that it was too realistic for public consumption. But over on the PC side of things, we had numerous options for relatively affordable VR. Virtual iOS, eyeglasses, Victor Max's CyberMax, and this. The VFX1 headgear from Forte, which came out disappointingly just six days after Christmas in 1994. Now for a disappointing segue, to our sponsor. This old tower here runs Windows 95 like an absolute stud, but the thing is, we're not playing full tilt pinball here, so we're going to bail on nice-to-haves like a graphical user interface and run our games a little closer to the metal using MS-DOS 7. After navigating to the install directory, which delightfully I was still able to do somehow, I just need to open up setvfx1.exe and, oh wow, 3D graphics. I've been told that I'm going to stay seated for most of this demonstration because otherwise I might throw up on set. You can move the ear cups in to have it put on easier. The visor obviously flips up and down. The IPD is adjustable just by moving the lenses in and out manually, and then you've got individual focus control as well. Wow, look at that! I did find to get the right focus, you did need to have the optics really close to your eye sockets. Dude, us 90s kids were so much harder. We didn't need like cloth or rubber gaskets on things that sat right next to our eyes. We liked hard plastic. So you've got it in focus there? Yeah, I've even got a little bit of 3D effect. It seems like the screen is bulging out towards me, which was the fashion at the time. Conveniently, it doesn't seal very well, so I can just see my keyboard under me. So go to F3, which is testvfx1, and this is going to be the headset side. Oh yeah, look at that, with only a marginal delay. So the next piece is the cyber puck. It just goes forward and back and then side to side, and then you've got three buttons that your fingers kind of align on there. Oh, okay. So it rotates and twists, but has no awareness of like a side to side or forward and back movement. So it will only go to the 90 degrees. Okay, got it. It's all 90s all the time, baby. Time to play some Quake? Yeah. Yeah. Oh wow, this must have been a nightmare. It supports only specific updates for Quake. Yep, and depending on the application, support was either like an EXE that kind of intercepts things and read as controls, or as rudimentary as just a control map. If you want to click on single player and new game, this will drop you into the intro spot where you actually pick your difficulty by going through one of these hallways. So turning, you tilt. Whoa, there we go. Whoa, there Nelly. And then you can move forward and back by tilting forward and back. Your top button should be shoot. Your middle button should be change weapon. So you have a fire axe, I believe. And your bottom button will be jump. Hup, hup, hup. Picking normal may have been ambitious. Nuh-nuh. The realism is too much. The reason it's so real is because Quake was one of the few games we found that actually has stereoscopic 3D. So you should have the 3D effect there. Dude, I do. I mean, it's not a lot, but oh, what the hell did I walk on? Rottweiler. Oh, what the? Oh, I didn't see it. Yeah, before this, there was no jump. He's gonna jump and do. There wasn't really any look up and down either. Oh, yeah, let's go. That's something that you haven't tried yet. Try looking up and down. Okay. Whoa, buddy. I didn't know Quake does that. Normally, that would be like page up and page down on your keyboard. Whoa, that is extremely nauseating. That's the chair. Wow. Can you see any of the UI elements on the bottom there? Oh, yeah, yeah, I can see everything. 96, 139. There's a Minecraft creeper. Oh, God, looking up and down is like, hmm, hmm. You know what? The gyro aiming is actually not awful. I must look like an idiot right now, though. This is, this is very carpal tunnel inciting. Yeah, no, that was one of the things I noticed, especially when I was testing things. Your wrist gets real. Buh-bow! Buh-bow! Sorry, especially when you consider though, like how small a typical screen was in these days. Like this level of immersion? Oh, it was completely unheard of. A big TV was like 27 inches. Yeah. How do my eyes look? Because they feel awful. And that was five minutes and 35 seconds. You know what though? Everything from the contrast of the displays to the immersiveness to the gyroscopic controls legitimately feels completely next-gen incredible technology compared to what I would have been playing, you know, with a mouse and keyboard on a tiny CRT. However, I get the feeling that I couldn't have afforded this. How much did this cost? MSRP was $6.95. Which, realistically, is not that far off of what you'd pay for a cutting-edge VR headset today. I'm surprised at how good the displays are more than anything else. Yeah, can you think of any other small LCDs that would have been to that quality at that time? I don't think I even had ever seen an LCD at that time. They had them on laptops, but they weren't great. And almost nobody had those. Oh, no, they sucked ass. Yeah, they were horrible. Honestly, it looks better than that. It's like playing an emulated SNES game. Sometimes it looks better on your CRT. Let's try another game, shall we? I hate that it looks so much better when I really cram it into my eye holes. So this one doesn't have the stereoscopic 3D. So it will look flatter in the display. In terms of the controls, though, I actually felt that it moved a little bit nicer. How do I jump again? This one has no jump. Oh, no jump, okay. So this is on the doom engine, which did not have jump. Just run onto the thing, so it won't go up. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God, I'm bouncing around. Okay. Whoa, that was very unpleasant. That might be enough of that one. What else we got? We've got one more game. We've got Descent, which is the most interesting from the perspective where you have all of the degrees of freedom. Okay. Oh, man, I do not want to go back in here right now. Because of the limited controls that we have, auto-ship leveling is turned on, but if you whip back and forth too much, sometimes it will get disoriented again. Whoa, oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, my God. This is so disorienting. So pitch up and pitch down is pitch up and down. Yeah. Okay. I'm good so far. But then roll is yaw, which, okay. And then my head is just, oh, that's terrible. It moves the entire cockpit, but doesn't move my aiming. Yeah. Uh-huh. Okay. This, dude, I just have my hands in here. It's like I'm holding it up for balance or something. This is so disorienting. And this is where the auto-ship leveling kind of failed you. Now you're up against the wall sideways. Okay. Boy, did we ever make a lot of progress in the last 30 years. Good job hardware and software developers. Gee, I wonder why this didn't take off. Oh, oh, and take off. It did not. We did manage to track down more than 110 games on its compatibility list, but only about half of them used the CyroPuck controller and only a couple dozen supported proper stereoscopic video. The rest are just kind of flat, but, you know, embiggened screen mode. Theoretically, Forte's VR mouse could add support to any DOS app with keyboard and mouse support, but that seems to have required a bunch of manual configuration to dial things in. And Lord knows these guys aren't going to pick up their support phone line these days. What we can do is take a closer look at the hardware though. That was very unpleasant. Oh. We've already touched on the displays and lenses, but we haven't really taken a closer look at the audio or the plastic helmet itself. For starters, as large as it is, I'm kind of surprised it doesn't weigh more. It's pretty wearable, especially given that it has so many touch points around your head. As for the headphones, what they lack in, you know, adjustments, they kind of make up for in having the world's sproingiest cushions on those. And the foam is, I think best described as improvised. Yeah, here you go. Oh, I see. They were improvised by us and this is the original. It seems in better days. I don't know that they were that much better. This is pretty crappy. Oh God, now it's everywhere. Yeah. One cool thing though is that this Velcro that we used to attach our makeshift foam was original. So it was designed to remove and replace maybe to wash it because they optimistically imagined you'd want to be in it for longer than three minutes at a time. At the bottom, we've got what appears to be a VGA connector, but when we open it up, we see actually that has a lot more than 15 pins. So this would have done display audio pass through for the puck controller, which uses what looks like an RJ45, oh no, RJ11 connector, good gravy, as well as data for the gyroscopes that were built into the headset itself. The coolest part though, is actually in the tower. The VFX one came with a proprietary ISA card, which is the predecessor to PCI, which is the predecessor to the very first generation of PCI Express. And we're on like what five now for consumer platforms. It uses, oh, no way. It uses an FPGA. I mean, yeah, that totally makes sense because of course it does. So that would be a big part of why this was so expensive. That right there is a programmable processor that would have allowed them to hit a sort of consumer price point with acceptable performance without being able to do the volumes to do a fully mass produced ASIC. At the back, we've got their proprietary interface again. We've got an RJ11 port for the cyber puck if we don't want to use the pass through. And then we've got audio loop ports. I guess you could describe them as to go in and out of your sound card for the speakers and mic on the VFX one. The coolest part though, is actually this interface back here. This is the 26 pin feature connector. And what it enables is direct communication between the VFX ones card and the VRAM on our GPU at speeds that they say are up to five times faster than relying on the ISA bus. How do we not have cool stuff like this anymore? I mean, we do. NV links pretty cool. It's just enterprise only. That is so sick. And this was a standard. I couldn't afford a good computer back when this was current. So like, I've never seen this before. This interface wasn't just for RAM access. It could also carry color info and data. And sadly went away as PCI and then AGP took over for GPUs. And also GPUs just got a lot more integrated. It's amazing how many of the same brands are still kicking around today though. There's some Samsung memory chips. SEC, we'll love to see it. Speaking of brands that are still around, while Forte themselves is not, their assets were acquired by Interactive Imaging Systems, which in turn became Viewsix. I actually sat next to the product manager for some of their head mounted displays back when I worked at NCIX. So yeah, so they're kind of a competitor for like Xreel. Yeah, crazy. On the one hand, the dream was there and was surprisingly well realized, but it's not a huge surprise given where the tech was that they are kind of fizzled out until the 2010s. Still, it's shocking to me though how similar this is in its overall form and function to a modern VR headset. And all of this was just, oh, okay, 30 years ago. Oh lordy, I need to sit down and recover. From both realizing how old I am and realizing that I haven't told you about our sponsor. If you guys enjoyed this video, why not check out our review of the big screen beyond two for a look at the state of the art of modern VR? It's smaller and better in every way."}