Why did it and the VMU fail? Why was such cool technology completely ignored for the modern marvel it was?
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Why did it and the VMU fail? Why was such cool technology completely ignored for the modern marvel it was?
Released at the end of PS1's life, and also Japan only.
1. It never left Japan.
2. Even in Japan, not every Playstation owner had it.
3. Developers didn't want to spend money, time and effort creating mechanics utilizing this gimmick that 90% of player base will never see.
4. Dreamcast got it right by including a VMU with every console, but it was unpopular in itself, so the same principles apply.
You need a really important game that everyone wants to play to make a handheld a success. The VMU was an accessory to an unpopular console that was taken off the market really early and the pocketstation was a japan exclusive accessory released too late to matter. All it really achieved was making memory cards more expensive than they needed to be, all to play silly after-thought mini-games shoehorned into development cycles.
And despite the cost the hardware wasn't very good either. You didn't have a micro-gameboy, you had this barely adequate LCD with a CPU that was designed more as an LCD controller than a general purpose CPU and the sound was just a beeper. And despite all this low power hardware it went through batteries like nobody's business.
>CPU that was designed more as an LCD controller than a general purpose CPU
VMU's CPU can run at up to 6MHz (which is faster than Gameboy DMG), but in official software it only ever enters this mode when connected to the Dreamcast and using it as power source. Homebrew developers found a way to enable this in handheld mode, but it makes batteries deplete really fast.
>CPU that was designed more as an LCD controller than a general purpose CPU and the sound was just a beeper.
Not sure what you're trying to say, but whatever it is you're not doing it very well.
>but it makes batteries deplete really fast.
Just letting it sit there doing nothing does that
Never had this because I wasn’t Japanese but I did have a Dreamcast and VMU when they were new.
They were a gimmick. That’s it. I hardly ever used it but I did think it was cool.
Wouldn't parents get annoyed constantly buying coin cells? Were CR2032s easy to find back then?
They were easy to find and cheap, just like they are today. Every PC motherboard uses them for keeping RTC running and motherboards in late 90s/early 2000s were no different. Some small TV remotes also used them, but I think that was later on. I can get a 5-pack for 2 EUR and even places like station kiosks and post offices sell them for slightly more.
this device is what cememented in my mind that Sony just copycatted everyone else.
>discs? slap that in there
>an analog stick? slap two on there
>memory card with screen and buttons? gotta have it
>hard drive? sure why not, there's a slot for it.......Now
>motion controls? great idea, for us!
>take what works and improve it is... le bad!
they just saw competition doing something and copied it. I cannot even think of a time they improved anything. even the stick placement on their controllers isn't very comfortable.
The shitty, ad-hoc analog stick placement on PlayStation controllers prove that they just copy whatever's trendy.
Sony literally invented the CD format with Philips years before they made Playstation. They were THE CD company at the time. Other companies used their ideas first if anything.
Not for games, which is what this thread is about.
Yes, and that just caused us gradual disinterest in the DC, sadly. Chao Adventure, Power Stone minigames, and MvC2 trading was really fun while it lasted, though.
Because they were dumb gimmicks. Sega ruined its entire controller slapping the VMU in the center of it. The Pocketstation was barely a thing. They're just not useful for anything. I'm glad companies phased out shit like this and the rumblepak bullshit.
Because it was pointless. I can't think of a single game that used it well.
Because something Nintendo did.
I should receive my Dreamcast by the end of the month and I can't wait to mess with the VMU. Apparently the VMU had less memory than the PS1 memory card and it was quite easy to fill it up, specially if you installed a game.