U-Force

The U-Force is a game controller made by Brøderbund for the Nintendo Entertainment System.[1] It employs a pair of perpendicular consumer IR sensor panels to translate the user's hand movements into controller signals.

From a print advertisement c. 1989:[2]

Introducing U-FORCE, the revolutionary controller for your Nintendo Entertainment System. So hot, no one can touch it. Now you can feel the power without touching a thing. It's U-FORCE from Broderbund - the first and only video game controller that, without touching anything, electronically senses your every move, and reacts. There's nothing to hold, nothing to jump on, nothing to wear, U-FORCE creates a power field that responds to your every command--making you the controller. It's the most amazing accessory in video game history - and it will change the way you play video games forever. It's the challenge of the future. U-FORCE. Now nothing comes between you and the game.

Reception

The U-Force was ranked the eighth worst video game controller by IGN editor Craig Harris.[3] MSN listed it as one of the top 10 worst game peripherals, writing "Second only to the Sega Activator in terms of all-out crappiness, the U-Force also used infrared sensors to create a truly nightmarish controller...'Don’t Touch' said the adverts for the device, in a rare example of an advertising campaign that got it spot on."[4]

gollark: I know about the "quadratic number field sieve" but it just does factoring.
gollark: Not very efficient.
gollark: PotatOS just counts up until it hits a prime.
gollark: I don't know vast amounts of anomalous number theory.
gollark: Don't know any.

See also
  • Freedom Stick and Supersonic the Joystick, contemporaneous joysticks for the NES that also used IR technology

References
  1. Tricked-out Videogames, BY FRANK VIZARD, Popular Mechanics, Oct 1989, Page 106
  2. Original advertisement
  3. "Top 10 Tuesday: Worst Game Controllers". IGN. 2006-02-21. Retrieved 2013-09-16.
  4. "U-Force". MSN. Archived from the original on 6 September 2009. Retrieved 23 September 2009.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.