Popular Science
The VR Backpack Gamers HATED (Interactor)
The 1980s cemented the role of the home video game console. By the early 1990s, gamers wanted to take their experience to the next level by harnessing physics and haptic feedback into a wearable gaming vest called the Aura Interactor… or did they?! The lure of cymatics and the excitement of 90s tech experimentation generated…
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@MikeStavola
August 21, 2024 at 1:56 pm
I absolutely loved my Interactor lumbar pad. It lasted like 10 years, too.
@popularscience
August 21, 2024 at 2:04 pm
Did you use it for gaming, or music too?
@beefy45
August 21, 2024 at 2:10 pm
I bet you could adapt this for adult toys
@hybridvigga
August 21, 2024 at 3:22 pm
Maybe if it worked with drum and bass or death metal, to get enough big vibrations going.
Damn, those quiet bits in Metallica’s the one, then the bass kicking in, would be like edging 🙂
@sneakyomni
August 21, 2024 at 2:16 pm
I don’t recall ever seeing ad or anything for this back then. I was 12 in ’90 I would think this would’ve stand out if I saw it
@OCDRex11
August 21, 2024 at 3:36 pm
Same, 12 and I never saw it either?! If you were like me, we knew everything. But apparently we didn’t. lmao
@B_Van_Glorious
August 21, 2024 at 2:28 pm
Toe Jam and Earl has been my ring tone for over a decade. I love that shit!
@sarasa-sarason
August 21, 2024 at 2:29 pm
You featured many games from my childhood. Thank you for your excellent videos!
@The8bitbeard
August 21, 2024 at 2:47 pm
I saw one of these at a thrift store in the late 90s. I was tempted to pick it up, but I left it where it was.
@Absbor
August 21, 2024 at 3:02 pm
Stan Lieber? Lieber sounds like the german word “lieb”, meaning “friendly”/”kind”.
the actual german word “lieber” is either “dear” (letter) or “preferable” and I rather (got the joke?) like his name is “Stan Kind”
@Darkyryus_
August 21, 2024 at 3:02 pm
W video
@autingo6583
August 21, 2024 at 3:05 pm
the other day i read an article about how some seriously hearing impaired folks who actually hear rather nothing at all still like to go clubbing, just to feel the bass and dance. in the ever growing mainstream market of gaming i think this bassbox could make a rather interesting niche product for them, if executed properly.
@hybridvigga
August 21, 2024 at 3:20 pm
It’s that discreet subwoofer feel, most people without a home cinema audio set up only get it at theatres, it’s that ‘sound’ you can feel in your chest after the audible explosion has stopped.
Deaf people ‘feel’ the music in their chest, I mean the rest of us do too but because we can hear it as well we don’t focus on the feeling as much as the music, the same way someone who’s blind feels the door handle better than we do when we see it as well.
@uwulord7458
August 21, 2024 at 3:27 pm
…complains it hurts to feel a kick and punch…. like it says…
@OCDRex11
August 21, 2024 at 3:37 pm
And the audience is off to eBay!!!
(I am there now and there are 80 results. Let’s see if that changes, lol)
@peehandshihtzu
August 21, 2024 at 3:40 pm
This makes me feel weird and it tickles…
Eek!
@AnonymousFreakYT
August 21, 2024 at 4:22 pm
OMG, that intro. It took me a while to realize that it _wasn’t_ actually a real ad for it from back in the day.
@blokestop7269
August 21, 2024 at 4:28 pm
I had this..I hated this
@miaouew
August 21, 2024 at 4:28 pm
My mom thought this thing would hurt you for real, lol. What’s crazy is she wasn’t some old lady, she was young. Just always seemed to be wary of new tech. Which nowadays makes a lot of sense…
@bman5988
August 21, 2024 at 4:37 pm
Glad you got the cymatics working. I was going to say duct tape the thing to a board!
@domm948
August 21, 2024 at 5:20 pm
Has anyone tried to hook one of these up to an oculus for the true VR experience?
@dirtrider88
August 21, 2024 at 6:32 pm
19:50 i cant believe so much time wasted talking about seeing the subwoofer, including all your failed attempts. thats cool but it means absolute jack shit. what would have added to this video was taking it apart and showing us whats inside.
@EricCoop
August 21, 2024 at 6:36 pm
I’m 45 and don’t remember this at all.
@MakeSomething
August 21, 2024 at 7:02 pm
I also had In Utero on cassette. As well as the 20th anniversary vinyl, 25th anniversary vinyl and again suckered into the 30th anniversary vinyl. I LOVE this series.
@Alex-07C2
August 21, 2024 at 7:41 pm
Never heard of this device 🙂 I remember playing Doom on an actual VR for the first time at circa 1994 – there was a mall in our neighborhood (northeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine) where some guys set up a corner with a PC and a helmet/single-hand controller pair (no idea what make/model it was) connected to it; in-game movements were controlled by moving a hand with a controller in a corresponding direction and action/shooting were triggered by pressing controller’s buttons – no feedback of course. Felt amazing back then, but I got motion-sick after playing for merely several minutes (and I still have the same problem with modern helmets :)). Any chance of a Power Glove video btw? 🙂
@fireaza
August 21, 2024 at 8:24 pm
It turns out the Interactor was simply ahead of it’s time. Not only in its concept of force-feedback in games, but the way to do it.
We got force-feedback for the first time with the N64 rumble pak and this ended up becoming a standard feature in consoles moving foward. However, unlike the Interactor, this was done via a motor with an off-balance weight on it. Crude, but it certainly makes the controller vibrate.
In the modern age, the PS5 introduced a more detailed and refined force-feedback that allowed you to feel a much wider range of sensations. And how does it do it? Not by using a motor, but by using voice-coil actuators, just like the Interactor did!
@BloodDripss
August 21, 2024 at 8:38 pm
2:38 hold up association for WHAT
@jansenart0
August 21, 2024 at 9:11 pm
You’re scaring the children!
@TommyCrosby
August 21, 2024 at 9:17 pm
This technology might have flopped as a backpack in the ’90s but found a new popularity with the modern Skullcandy Crusher series of headphones.
@Raziel1984
August 22, 2024 at 2:23 am
my dad bought MK Trilogy for the N64 with me when i was 12 (i am not 100% sure about the exact age)
@lewisveasey1674
August 22, 2024 at 2:50 am
A friend of mine wrote an app for the computer that made this work with VR. It used web sockets to play certain sounds and tones out of the app for different haptic sensations. It works really well for a cheap haptic solution.
@TheBurson
August 22, 2024 at 3:20 am
I bought one of these for $20 at Pic N Save (now Big Lots) back in the day. It was pretty much worth just that. Got rid of it at a garage sale that same year.
@adambutsch2820
August 22, 2024 at 5:59 am
I had one of these when I was 12 years old. I took mine apart and made the world’s first sex robot. Happy to report Brenda and I are still together and we’re thinking about adopting a roomba next year.
@kokitsunetora
August 22, 2024 at 7:33 am
My parents played mortal kombat. I was the one who thought it was disgusting 😂
@SuperUTubeLogin
August 22, 2024 at 9:17 am
I have the feeling that if this thing came out tomorrow, that it would sell super duper well because we are all so much more interested in haptic feedback right now. This may have been a victim of being the first to do something.
@ericwilson9457
August 22, 2024 at 10:06 am
I was a kid in the 90s that owned this. Got it from a discount toy store for $20. Played mortal Kombat 2 on SNES. I thought it was going to be more smart. Even as a kid thought it was gimmicky. Just a speaker in a backpack
@JamesThames1987
August 22, 2024 at 10:11 am
The best way to use this device is to play games where the music can be disabled. If the music is left on it’s a buzzing vibrating mess. You forgot to mention that the device gets warm on your back over a short period of time. It’s quite alarming but it is normal but it still would have been funny to hear. 😀
The Aura Interactor can also be worn on the front of your body as well according to the instructions. Yeah… I did this once. It was awkward; but at least it felt cool to take a blow from an Imp in Doom and have the damage come to and be felt in the right direction.
A cool novelty but not the best thing in the world.
Oh, and they expected you to want to use this on your T.V. and VCR too. A sort of universal gadget that would have been terrible for using while watching T.V.. I never tried that setup as I basically knew how that would feel… Punches, uppercuts, explosions, sex, and more!!! XD
@superbros64deluxe
August 22, 2024 at 10:16 am
7:16 why the hell does the boomshakalaka sound like the Max Headroom tv high jacker?
@ajspice
August 22, 2024 at 10:59 am
I had one of these! My mom found one at Big Lots for like, $10 and bought it as a little surprise for me. It was….interesting. I used it for movies.
@jfh400
August 22, 2024 at 11:56 am
I had one of these as a child in the late 90s, I picked it up for almost nothing on clearance after it was discontinued. This sure brought me back. I remember all the pieces, especially the enormous power brick. I think the “meh” reviews pretty much summed it up! Even when it fits you perfectly, it’s just not that interesting of a sensation.
@bananabro980
August 22, 2024 at 12:24 pm
far cry from my quest 1 and 2 that actually works lol
@Tur713
August 22, 2024 at 12:43 pm
I owned one of these! Picked it up at a surplus store for much less than the msrp. Never felt immersed in games while playing it, but the novelty was fun.
@amnesite3573
August 22, 2024 at 2:05 pm
Even though it wasn’t made for it, I bet it’d feel better on the chest
@fooboomoo
August 22, 2024 at 2:51 pm
Can I subscribe to just your videos?
@wizap7
August 22, 2024 at 3:35 pm
5:00 if you think thats big, you should see the one for a colleco
@claywalker1980
August 22, 2024 at 3:38 pm
Great video. I was one of those kids that daw an ad for this and was blown away. I never had one though just like everyone else.
@franzpattison
August 22, 2024 at 4:13 pm
Best newspaper headline ever 😂 “Association for Retarded 40 Year-olds”
I think I must be the president of that club
@CoruscationsOfIneptitude
August 22, 2024 at 4:52 pm
colour the water
@NateTheGnat
August 22, 2024 at 4:59 pm
I think Toejam and Earl would be awesome to play with this.
@RlsIII-uz1kl
August 22, 2024 at 6:22 pm
KB toys yeah but who remembers
Children’s Palace?
@megan_alnico
August 22, 2024 at 6:56 pm
I had one of these as a kid and the problem was that the frequency of the sound was not directly related to what was happening on the screen. Connecting one nowadays to the rumble signal might actually work better. Especially something like Nintendo’s HD rumble which is capable of playing sounds.
@sannyassi73
August 22, 2024 at 7:19 pm
I remember really wanting one of these when I was a Kid back in the 90s
@RobertShane83
August 22, 2024 at 9:07 pm
Action button reviews gaming backpack? Nope, video too short.
@tolontolon5538
August 22, 2024 at 9:19 pm
kevin: hey ma what do u think about mortal kombat?
ma: its top shelf kusoge
@earthshipcyrus547
August 22, 2024 at 9:52 pm
i still have one brand new in the box… NO CAP
@bennutt5050
August 22, 2024 at 10:13 pm
Shoot can someone see if they would par up with skull candy crushers XD
@casualSeth
August 22, 2024 at 10:20 pm
Also being 11 in 1994, I dreamed of getting one of these and pairing it with a Victormaxx Stuntmaster, and an Atari Jaguar with Aliens vs Predator for the ultimate VR experience. I never lived my dream fully but did manage to find a Stuntmaster very cheap in my teens and quickly realized I didn’t miss much.
@modifierle
August 22, 2024 at 11:28 pm
Wow, I actually owned one of these! I used to play genesis with it. I never knew of its obscurity, I though every had one.
@orderofmagnitude-TPATP
August 23, 2024 at 12:51 am
Lol i had this….thing.
Used it for saturn quake and saturn duke nukem.
All i got was a hot sweaty back with searing pain later on 😅
@DjMikeWatt
August 23, 2024 at 12:54 am
I always assumed dual shock referred to the two different size weights on each side. I still think that’s it.
@Gadgetman1989
August 23, 2024 at 1:03 am
I actually picked up a pair of these after watching Nostalgia Nerds channel and personally love these things, I actually plan on combining one of these with my bhaptics x40 and using it in modern VR games and such!!
Also slight edit, there was a vest that was similar made for the n64 (nuby reality vest) and I saw it once at a pawn shop about 5? Years ago…. I should have bought it but didn’t have funds at the time
@roadkillavenger1325
August 23, 2024 at 1:09 am
I had one! I’ve actually been trying to find out what it was called for years. Thanks for posting this!
@jordanWAH
August 23, 2024 at 4:27 am
4:23 – That huge box power cord reminds me of how things were when I was a kid. (Born 1982) The name “power brick” was definitely fitting.
I had a commodore 64 and I had the biggest version of the box cable. It was like seriously the size of a brick or almost as big as a box of tissues. It was cumbersome, but in the 90s, most power cables had the box on the plug itself, it couldn’t fit most places or block anything close to it. Gotta love usb C for sure.
@josecabanas6293
August 23, 2024 at 4:52 am
Failure will always be your greatest teacher =:3
@adcaptandumvulgus4252
August 23, 2024 at 6:53 am
I miss the arcade vibes, great 3rd space, even if broke
@adcaptandumvulgus4252
August 23, 2024 at 6:58 am
I heard a lot of vsauce transition music in my head when I watch this
@MarquisDeSang
August 23, 2024 at 7:20 am
I loved it, it was great with MK3 and PS1 Doom.
To work, you need headphones with external sound isolation.
Today I use a ButtKicker (Tactile Subwoofer)
@MarquisDeSang
August 23, 2024 at 7:35 am
15:31 is that Tucker Carlson’s voice?
@ShadiestDeveloper
August 23, 2024 at 7:36 am
Sim racers are also familiar with « Buttkicker », I invite you to take a look at this device, it uses the same principle…
@PJZombie
August 23, 2024 at 9:51 am
I’m 55yrs old and I bought two of these in Australia from Jaycar Electronics in the late 90’s for around $49 each.
They were terrible.
It was terribly underpowered, and if you let it rumble for too long at a high level you would see and smell smoke and burn the unit out.
If your game had deep bass explosions, you could filter mostly everything else out and just feel the explosions.
But 99% of games had explosions, gun shots etc at a similar bass level (frequency) as the music or other sound effects.
That meant you felt just about every sound which was useless.
You can even hear distorted sound coming from the backpack. (It’s loud).
It’s a Transducer, similar to the Ass Kicker used in Driving Simulator setups and also in Cinemas under your seat.
However those are more powerful and as i mentioned before, the Frequency is tuned to only set off the Transducer (Speaker) for the specific sounds required.
In music/gaming mode utcwas really really bad and just distorted and vibrated all the time.
I had fun holding it up against your head when it vibrated, it would send your vision absolutely nuts….
Things like this need a separate Frequency to be fed to it to trigger ONLY at times it is needed.
@polerix
August 23, 2024 at 9:52 am
Got mine from Princess Auto for $20. Still works.
@PJZombie
August 23, 2024 at 9:58 am
By the way, it isn’t a Speaker.
It’s a Transducer.
@segamatthews5023
August 23, 2024 at 10:26 am
12:58
Blaster Master music
@fattiger6957
August 23, 2024 at 11:04 am
I got one of these in probably ’96 and I’m certain I didn’t pay anything close to its original retail price (since I was 10 years old and didn’t have $90) I bet I got it for probably $20.
I don’t recall using it very much, so I must not have been impressed. Plus, it was pretty uncomfortable.
@miketran4289
August 23, 2024 at 1:28 pm
I had one, I got it as a clearance from Jaycar store back in 1998 for around $50AU and recall using it for a week and never looking at it again. It’s now in the garage doing nothing.
@joeszymanski3540
August 23, 2024 at 2:48 pm
It would sharpen you up & get you ready for a bit of the ol… Ultraviolence
@obrysii
August 23, 2024 at 6:26 pm
This thing sounds like its a predecessor to the “HD rumble” of today – which uses sound files to trigger linear actuators. I’m only half-way through the video so you might mention that.
@adolfmena904
August 23, 2024 at 9:17 pm
I owned one as a kid and it was absolutely disappointing definitely didn’t live up to the advertisements
@michaelnichols9850
August 23, 2024 at 9:19 pm
I got one of these when I was 11 from KB TOYS on clearance for $14.99, my mom bought it for me. As a kid it was very difficult to setup, I only used it a couple times because it didn’t work as advertised. It was just a speaker on your chest!!!
@jonnym4670
August 24, 2024 at 12:27 pm
I owned one of these not sure if it was the same brand because it was really cheap it was bad
@alanfike
August 24, 2024 at 12:41 pm
OH-KAY! A product that could wholesale liquidate at $20 was set at $250. They deserved to fail on that greed alone.
@VSPhotfries
August 24, 2024 at 12:44 pm
Audio guy here: Basically it’s just a wearable subwoofer. Those have been around for ages and there’s even several currently either available or in “kickstart” mode. Like the kind of transducer you can put on your couch to rumble your backside, they’re novel, but few people will truly enjoy them more than just having a regular (if overcranked) sub, less because the experience is bad and more just they’re a pain in the bum to set up/power/charge/strap on/calibrate compared to just sticking a large dedicated sub in a room or buying bass heavy headphones and calling it a day.
It’s for the Home Theatre nerd types, not the average person. That’s cool for them but they’re never going to be a big “thing” so every time they’re marketed that way, it fails.
@alanfike
August 24, 2024 at 12:47 pm
16:21 Wow. We’re seeing one major company rip off another major company right before our eyes. It looks like whoever had the rights to Happy Days apparently never secured the word “Fonz” as a trademark, so SEGA took advantage of it.
@alanfike
August 24, 2024 at 12:57 pm
17:45 TickeTV sounds way cooler to me than Pay-Per-View.
@alanfike
August 24, 2024 at 1:04 pm
Wouldn’t it be better to have it in the front?
I get the “child’s back shape” factor, I dunno what to do about that. You could put pillows to make a flat shape but that’ll muffle the haptic feedback.
Would it be a safety issue perhaps?
I mean, I don’t wanna get “hit” in the back when I’m playing Mortal Kombat, when they’re hitting my character from the front.
@z.s.7992
August 24, 2024 at 2:07 pm
There is nothing more 90s than a backwards orange visor
@HoneyMike
August 24, 2024 at 2:16 pm
Anyone else see one of these on the Game Chasers?
@andrewosborne7544
August 24, 2024 at 2:30 pm
I owned a couple of these back when they were super cheap, and they sucked
@TheBrotherGrim
August 24, 2024 at 2:39 pm
I was a huuuge sucker for video game gimmick products back in the day, and while i didnt have this one i definitely wanted it. However I did have the Sega Activator, and the weird glove controller for PS1. My dream was to get this headset called the Scuba, which promised to be the newest in VR game tech….in like 95 ot 96. Thank goodness my parents could never find it, because from all reports the picture was horrible and it weighed a ton.
@TheThorns
August 24, 2024 at 2:58 pm
I did an unboxing video of this back in 2016. It actually works with modern games!
@sh0ckwaveVR6
August 24, 2024 at 4:24 pm
Did you ever heard of the Panasonic shockwave cassette and CD player with the VMSS Sound systems? its was basically headphones with actuator that shake following the bass line of the music you’re listening.
@ventiankraus980
August 24, 2024 at 4:41 pm
We had one we picked up yard hawkin’. As I recall, wearing a backpack outside of school seemed a bit lame.
@carlosnumbertwo
August 24, 2024 at 5:30 pm
It’s just a sub woofer. So stupid.
@Terry-hb6wc
August 24, 2024 at 5:34 pm
Still got a rumble pack for the n64
@Eternyl_bliss-nj9se
August 24, 2024 at 5:53 pm
Who owns one of these?!!!! (waves his hand) – mine is still new I didn’t pay a lot and I see it still holds no value 🙁 – also imagine a redesign wearing a full body outfit using 1000 watt subs and channeling through a stereo receiver.
@Mr_Lou
August 24, 2024 at 6:36 pm
Shift 30 years and we still use the exact same tech but now we put it in gaming chairs from walmart lol
@15digitlongname
August 24, 2024 at 6:45 pm
ive been using this for vr for years now
very neat
@CodeRed001
August 24, 2024 at 7:16 pm
The idea is good, the execution was bad. I have a woojer vest, it basically does the same thing, except it does it very well and it’s comfortable. When I wear it for games, you feel the shockwave of a gun when it fires, you feel the vibration of thunder and explosions, you feel the bass in music as though you’re standing in the middle of a live concert. Seems the interactor was a much much worse version of a good idea.
@ryannewland5572
August 24, 2024 at 7:24 pm
i remember my best friend had one, i thought it was really cool but then again we were in our mid teens and was using it while playing independence day and others on the sega saturn and playstation lol
@AzraelThanatos
August 24, 2024 at 7:46 pm
I remember the old Afterburner arcade games having the same things built into the seat with the booth version.
But with the Interactor, I had one for a bit and it was interesting, not entirely that good in operation, but okay for what it was. The basic thing seemed like something that might have ended up going somewhere interesting as things continue along since things like the rumble features in games are similar there. I got it when it was on heavy clearance along with the Activator and Menasor.
But the Interactor felt like something that was more of an early version of something that would be really cool…and, in a way, it was due to rumble features being relatively standard now
@patchescoleman4228
August 24, 2024 at 8:02 pm
My dad got me this for Christmas and he took it back because it didn’t work right. My dad swore he never got it for me
@gregoryirwin263
August 24, 2024 at 8:12 pm
Lol had one of these back in the mid 90s was terrible
@tonybilliot
August 24, 2024 at 8:43 pm
I had one. I got mine for christmas of 1996. I used it like 3 or 4 times and never used after that. It was useless and NOT like it was advertised. Total wasted Christmas gift.
@TronixGuy93
August 24, 2024 at 9:14 pm
I sold a lot of those. They were hard to keep on shelves at my store. I wonder why people think this product was so unpopular. They were ahead of their time and most MFGs were unwilling to budge on parts cost which is really the two factors caused the device to fade into obscurity.
@The-Kool-_-Aid-Man74
August 25, 2024 at 2:00 am
Imagine what one could do with all of the collected haptic chips from phones and small circuitry and screens from devices. This is a tinkerers dream to be alive in 2024.
@jamesburke2759
August 25, 2024 at 2:01 am
Once used, Never Forgotten. Kept it to one day make it actually better.
@GameOnRadio1
August 25, 2024 at 2:27 am
I got this for Christmas in 94 and I just thought it was the coolest thing but now at 42 I realize it was just a damn subwoofer in backpack form LOL
@FerintoshFarmsPhotography
August 25, 2024 at 2:53 am
Ya, this video was better. You showed the actual tech off a fair bit more.
@werewolflover8636
August 25, 2024 at 2:53 am
Your mother should be ashamed for buying a game labeled for adults for a 11 year old!
@user-yg1jd6dt1b
August 25, 2024 at 3:17 am
Omg my buddy had this it was such a POS.
@PutTheKettleOnGromit
August 25, 2024 at 7:12 am
KB Toys, man… I remember them.
@TheElcentralen
August 25, 2024 at 8:59 am
So its a base shaker. I got 2 of em in my shair. It works pretty good.
@AttenBot
August 25, 2024 at 9:14 am
the idea clearly worked.. Now we have the likes of Woojer haptics for real vr. this was way ahead of its time and paved the way for future products
@XeroCool420
August 25, 2024 at 9:24 am
I have enough back problems at almost 40 years old without having owned one of these things, I can only imagine if I had owned one of these things as a kid I’d be in a wheelchair right now without the use of my legs
@jeremyjw
August 25, 2024 at 9:55 am
i was thinking that you could carry a computer around in a backpack and connect it to a VR headset
@guardianali
August 25, 2024 at 10:09 am
21 Minutes of the most over exaggerated body expressions, wide eyes, and over annunciation of words….wow….
@icarus42046
August 25, 2024 at 10:09 am
As a deaf gamer, I had 3. I think I still have one. I will buy the next iteration of this. They made movies and music enjoyable too.
@poindextertunes
August 25, 2024 at 10:11 am
Kid commercial in the 90s should be their own glorious genre 🔥
My favorite was: CROSSFIRE!!!
YOU’LL GET CAUGHT UP IN THE
CROSSS FYYYYUUUHHH!!!! 😂
@blzbubb5135
August 25, 2024 at 1:36 pm
Song has been in repeat in my head since the early 90s😅
@1982pantro
August 25, 2024 at 10:44 am
I THOUGHT IT WAS A REAL COMERCIAL,!!!😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂SPOT ON.
@TieDyeShyGuy
August 25, 2024 at 11:12 am
I had one as a kid, and it sucked so much I took it apart 2 days after getting one.
@DASHReviews
August 25, 2024 at 11:20 am
I have one now and if you couple it with psvr, it’s actually not bad. The walking dead is more immersive.
@kevincollins8620
August 25, 2024 at 12:28 pm
My parents were soo COOL they got us one on release. Unfortunately it was too loud to use practically!
@kevincollins8620
August 25, 2024 at 12:30 pm
It’s funny my parents or my dad was gunna order the activator to go alongside the interactor. We gave them a real review and told em… the thing is just a giant speaker. But we got this due to ads too!!
@kevincollins8620
August 25, 2024 at 12:32 pm
Funny cool memory too. I did use the interactor for Eternal Champions. My mother was cool she is actually the one who got us the game. I was 9-10 came home (didn’t even know about the game… like I heard it was gory… probably saw a glimpse in electronic gaming monthly… but I was an SF kid.
She not only got us the game day one. She tracked down the blood code. She was cool even to let us take off school to grab MK 2… by 3 she wasn’t playing video games with us anymore.
@lain__d
August 25, 2024 at 1:55 pm
i had 2 of these growing up. They sucked so much. I ended up using them as subwolfers for a home made DDR cab
@ReiverBlue1971
August 25, 2024 at 3:50 pm
I used to ocassionally (against my better judgement) sell “pap” games hardware like this, mid to late 90’s. I had a synesthesia client, another who was agrophobic, who found some of the sound chairs, vibration vests etc could actually provide some “comfort” to them in their circumstances, of some description. As such, I rarely recommended them as genuinely useful to the average gamer 😛
@Metal-Josh
August 25, 2024 at 3:52 pm
Sounds like this thing… “hertz”! Huh?… huh?
@SLMK-rk7ht
August 25, 2024 at 5:01 pm
I remember buying it in 95-96 at McFrugles (BigLots) at a discount. This brought in a lot of memories and yes, it felt like sub in a box on a back, not that interactive.
@johndemetro8184
August 25, 2024 at 6:49 pm
Does it work on the pornputer?
@DrumInfected
August 26, 2024 at 12:56 am
I’m a music producer and use a subpac to feel the lower frequencies in music, movies, games and it’s pretty much a Interactor in 2024.
@javierm7339
August 26, 2024 at 4:26 am
Never saw one in the 90s
@thesplatt1980
August 26, 2024 at 5:43 am
I got one on the cheap after they failed, me and my mates would wear it whilst listening to techno on headphones at house parties. Fun times.
@Haulinbassracing
August 26, 2024 at 1:40 pm
They make essentially the same thing that you now sit on instead of wear for sim racing
@delscoville
August 26, 2024 at 2:01 pm
I didn’t know anyone that had one, and I never even had someone come into my shop asking about one.
@kinorai
August 26, 2024 at 4:37 pm
How irresponsible of you to give us the blood code for Mortal Kombat on Genesis (in 2024)!
THINK OF THE CHILDREN! 😆😉
@silverslider562
August 26, 2024 at 5:00 pm
I begged my mom to buy me this… 30 years later and to this day it’s still the most disappointing purchases I’ve ever made in life. This was just straight up false advertisement and a complete swindle.
@gizmo1252000
August 26, 2024 at 5:26 pm
i had one ,it worked well with racing games ,you could feel the kerbs in f1 . but it was awkward .and you would have to fine tune it to every game . i would work well with some games but would be complete crap on other games lol
@MafiaAt2amLIVE
August 26, 2024 at 6:19 pm
I remember buyin one for 20$ at a clothing store and I swear I never was able to get it hooked up to my sega
@DJA-BOMB
August 26, 2024 at 6:51 pm
Bravo! I laughed out loud multiple times throughout this video.😊
@LouBettino
August 26, 2024 at 11:36 pm
I had this lol it was awesome
@mizukarate
August 27, 2024 at 1:58 am
Save your cash
@mcbaby
August 27, 2024 at 2:08 am
I begged my mom for this when I was 8. We ended up going to Toys R Us 3 times to replace it because it never worked before I smartened up and got something else.
@double_tap_to_edit
August 27, 2024 at 6:27 am
hey it’s hick up from how to train your dragon
@TradeWorks_Construction
August 27, 2024 at 10:20 am
I remember playing Donkey Kong on SNES and Mortal Kombat on my neighbors Sega in the 1990’s and TODAY is the FIRST TIME I’ve ever heard of this thing. I remember my Dad buying me the Nintendo Gauntlet or Power Glove and then maybe returning it or selling it when it didn’t let you control the video game like advertised. Can someone make a video or find old advertisements by Nintendo for selling that thing or is there one already?
@Boogie_the_cat
August 27, 2024 at 1:44 pm
I was a Mega Drive owner in the 90’s and nobody used the word VR for that backpack Homunculus.
Way to attach buzzwords to things improperly Popular Science.
Even the motion control crap like the Activator wasn’t referred to as VR.
I hate your lying thumbnail. 100 thumbs down.
@beatzbyreefah
August 27, 2024 at 2:11 pm
Don’t feel bad bro I never knew anybody that had one either although the commercials were awesome. I never really thought about the fact that I didn’t know anybody that had one until today.
@jerrodbalzer7317
August 27, 2024 at 2:30 pm
I bought a Woojer a few years ago that’s kind of a modern equivalent.
@jacobwebb2623
August 27, 2024 at 4:57 pm
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I thought I was the only one who remembered this thing. I never got one but a local video store we had in my town, had one to rent but I never tried it.
@jacobwebb2623
August 27, 2024 at 4:57 pm
GREAT video, by the way!
@dichromaticb3c
August 27, 2024 at 5:50 pm
I had one of these I bought from KB toys on the cheap as a kid. It sucked and was a huge disappointment compared to how it was advertised.
@jvoidhuey3088
August 27, 2024 at 8:43 pm
I bought one of these still sealed just a couple years ago for about 30 bucks. Why? BECAUSE YOU CAN USE IT WHILE PLAYING BEAT SABER, AND OTHER GAMES, AND IT IS AWESOME! Plugs into the Quest AUX socket.
@zer0sinder
August 27, 2024 at 9:36 pm
Man i haven’t thought about this thing in decades!
@Z-Shooz
August 27, 2024 at 10:47 pm
I have one of these in the box. Tried it a few times.
@posthumanistpotato
August 28, 2024 at 12:52 am
I bought one for $19.99 back int he day 🙂
@azztylezas
August 28, 2024 at 1:37 am
I never heard of that thing,but now i own a Woojer Edge Vest and it Rocks!! I use it to play Half life Alyx on VR and also to listen to music and let me tell you guys that i dont regret paying 250 dollars for it.
@RuubRoyce
August 28, 2024 at 2:22 am
I bet at least a few people watched porn with this device “strapped on”.
@lucyluwickerbeast851
August 28, 2024 at 3:18 am
you had me at kb toys i am only 31 but wow so much memories and wareng g heck ya lol
@lasskinn474
August 28, 2024 at 6:06 am
you could just put playdoh to attach the flat chladni plate on it. or have it suspended next to it
@theneedsabides
August 28, 2024 at 8:47 am
I had this silly thing. Haha. It wasn’t great for what it was intended for, but I used it as a subwoofer. Sf II sounded pretty cool with it.
@xXBLAKGOATXx
August 28, 2024 at 9:54 am
Wow your mum looks so young
@xXBLAKGOATXx
August 28, 2024 at 10:01 am
What ? You explain it well i feel like you would have to be an idiot to not understand and they still make equivalents today just with more speakers and a vest as the format im sure they are much better like i can imagin the plastic rumble coming off that thing
@user-qy3hj3gi1l
August 28, 2024 at 11:38 am
I don’t think gamers hated it. No one used it so how could they hate it.
@CynHicks
August 28, 2024 at 3:16 pm
Back in the day Bell Labs was on most people’s* dream job list. Alexander was even more of a legandary role model back then too. Kids like myself loved that dude. 😅
*You know what I mean.
@felino86
August 28, 2024 at 4:47 pm
Thank you for another great video Kevin! And great job on the opening, I absolutely adore it 😁
@daysgonesequel
August 29, 2024 at 2:29 am
I remember seeing the commercial for this ONE time, and never heard or seen anything else about it since, until this video😂🤣😂
@dasofdoom
August 29, 2024 at 6:24 am
I have the cushion version of this, picked it up at a garage sale. Its pretty cool but uncomfortable, then moved onto a ButtKicker which does the same but bolts to any office chair. It essentially gives you the bass feeling of a good surround system without cranking volume,
@sauce777
August 29, 2024 at 3:34 pm
This kind hertz.
@clipper1083
August 29, 2024 at 7:45 pm
I always wanted one of these as a kid, my dad always shot me down saying it was a silly gimmick… Dad as always knew best.
@JordanHowellMusic
August 29, 2024 at 10:05 pm
Yo! You got another gig!?
man, its about time. . Michael and, whoever everyone at Vsauce just….with respect still, are not cutting it anymore. So, good for you, and i will watch more of this if you’re gonna be on here.
@gregnm369
August 30, 2024 at 1:00 am
I had one as a kid. Interesting to say the least.
@Nuculer9001
August 30, 2024 at 5:31 am
It’s space-age technology.
@ncapone87
August 30, 2024 at 10:42 am
I had one of these in the mid 90s; my dad must’ve found one super cheap somewhere. I didn’t work that well. And you have to remember that the video game accessory market was super saturated at that point. I don’t remember seeing any ads for this thing at all and I had multiple magazine subscriptions. It’s forgotten because barely anyone knew about it to begin with and it sucked. Saved you 21 minutes
@kegatron
August 30, 2024 at 11:50 am
I remember buying 4 of these from Jaycar, and installing the transducers into my front seats of my car, one on the bottom seat pan and one on the back, running them through a modified sub amp, people used to love the idea and still talk about it when mentioning some of the “cool crap” I used to build… Good times 😂
@andresbravo2003
August 30, 2024 at 12:52 pm
Feels like I was a futuristic kid.
@guaposneeze
August 30, 2024 at 2:15 pm
“I’ve got a billion dollar idea for a vibrating massager thing for gamers.”
“Neat. Hey, very slight minor little followup question, do you think we’ll have any issues with only hitting half the potential market by selling a vibrating massager for video gamers if we mainly target video game stuff marketing at only boys?”
@MrMarkalroberts
August 30, 2024 at 3:46 pm
This video effect makes you look like I’m on meth.
@Frank-eg9we
August 30, 2024 at 9:37 pm
I love the topics you choose to cover, but I can never make it past the first couple of minutes cause of your forced erratic movements. What’s meant to keep me engaged is making me roll my eyes homeboy
@cyphre
August 31, 2024 at 10:14 pm
Crazy how we’ve come full circle with that Woojer wearable bass thing. They created a full vest for basically this exact same function in gaming.
@jonnyreverb
September 1, 2024 at 12:19 am
Yes, everything was invented at either Bell Labs or a university. Those are the only sources of research in the world.
@Psythik
September 2, 2024 at 1:23 am
This is basically a proto seat shaker. They work a lot better for music and movies than games, although some games work better than others. It’s fun at first but basically a gimmick. I removed mine from the living room and stuck it under the driver’s seat of my car to enhance the subwoofer. They do a great job at making bass seem louder than it is (since you can both feel and hear it) but that’s about it.
@benhaslam8854
September 2, 2024 at 5:52 am
As an Aussie, I remember when Jaycar was selling them cheap, then months later they were selling the bare transducer without the backpack part, but with the control box. I nearly bought one, they got very cheap in the end.
@sparagnino
September 2, 2024 at 8:12 am
In 1994 I got Super Mario Bros. 3 for my 2 years old NES and I was told by my parents that it was the state of art.
Growing up I understood we were just poor.
@ristopoho824
September 2, 2024 at 10:04 am
A little off topic but. VR enthusiasts have this thing called phantom touch. Which you can practice. If you see something happen to your body, your brain sorta makes you feel it. And. Well it’s amazing. I’m not feeling it too strongly but sometimes it. Well. Feels like it almost feels like something?
My friend thought she burnt her hand when she dipped it in a boiling pot. She feels things real well with real little suggestion. I’m almost jealous.
Still. Waiting for real haptics to come to market. Sound based ones do seem quite promising. Haven’t tested any and likely won’t until they become mainstream. But it would be cool.
@csteegs8681
September 2, 2024 at 10:57 am
“Feel the throbbing heat of being in fire”
@southweststrangla420
September 2, 2024 at 4:12 pm
i got this when it came out and returned it the same day lol. what a piece of crap
@profoundwanderer1441
September 2, 2024 at 4:29 pm
I was born 1990.. (also new to this channel) and somehow was able to figure out the guy was edited in. 😅
Commercials were WILD back then, but this still seemed a little too good to be true..
Dude sweating/ acting like he just smoked a ton of crack.. 😂 basically was every gaming commercial though.
So pretty spot on actually. 🙌
@mariia_sova_mua
September 2, 2024 at 4:52 pm
Bro looks like Jesse Pinkman
@npoddubny
September 2, 2024 at 4:52 pm
Bro looks like Jesse Pinkman
@Rebrn-bk5em
September 4, 2024 at 9:55 am
my thoughts exactly lol
@AppNasty
September 2, 2024 at 6:29 pm
I want this so i can wear it while toting the nes zapper gun and dress 80s and 90s style for halloween……or mondays.
@FlameSoulis
September 2, 2024 at 6:52 pm
Except this isn’t a VR backpack—it’s just an audio transducer/bass shaker, which still lives on. That’s like calling headphones studio grade speakers… okay, not really, since there’s a grain of truth to even that. I mean, what would you call the probe that was sold with REZ, then?
Rest of the internet, don’t answer that. We all know that answer. I mean, if you know, you know.
@TheDoc73
September 2, 2024 at 9:20 pm
All I could think of when I heard this called “the interactor” was The Activator. A far worse product.
@jonathanjackgoodman2764
September 3, 2024 at 2:43 pm
Parents are disgusting, vids are art. Zero conversation.
@RealAaron317
September 3, 2024 at 6:03 pm
I was a 12-year-old Mortal Kombat freak. Should created it for the chest region not back
@GTSN38
September 3, 2024 at 8:31 pm
Nobody wants the haptic bs in controllers today. It’s about 80 dollars for something that should cost 20. I hate modern game controllers.
@SpOculus33
September 3, 2024 at 9:33 pm
And here we are in 2024 and the best VR out there, barely tops first XBOX graphics 😢…. When VR headsets put you in a straight up Unreal Engine 5, open world… then VR is basically a joke!
@Rebrn-bk5em
September 4, 2024 at 9:54 am
I didn’t know Jessie Pinkman had a YouTube channel😛
@xhonzi
September 4, 2024 at 4:31 pm
I had a handful of these, and enjoyed playing Quake and other things at the time with them. I thought it made deathmatch and CTF more intense.
@Astrovite
September 4, 2024 at 6:38 pm
I was gonna say the ad was a bit odd, literally insulting the buyer. Then I realized the ad was made by the channel lmao.
@phonotical
September 4, 2024 at 8:18 pm
Kind of wanted to see inside
@johnDingoFoxVelocity
September 5, 2024 at 12:04 am
Okay if you are going to cover this piece of technology you need to cover the woojer It’s a whole new monster That does exactly what this thing did but only on a scale That is increasingly painful and will make your gamer chat go Deaf
@eazyrider17
September 5, 2024 at 2:01 pm
I have no memory of this and I was super into these kinds of things as a kid.
@solonsaturngaming3727
September 6, 2024 at 6:45 pm
what’s next your gonna say next video “I Might be related to Jerry Siegel of Superman” lmao great joke there my man XD
@SoilentGr33n
September 6, 2024 at 9:56 pm
If you had access to some sort of audio EQ, you would’ve been able to run your console through the soundsystem and plug in a pair of Panasonic Shockwave headphones and just dime the sub bass.
It’s probably the same principle but just on your head.
@etackhelicopter
September 7, 2024 at 10:48 pm
this is youtube dude, now you have to build your own equally useless but more functional version that actually works with a 3d printed adult size pack and an arduino with some janky code that can recognize unique to your caricature sounds, create millisecond recognition signatures, and play haptic reactions appropriate for the signatures.
@insane-in-the-membrain5005
September 7, 2024 at 11:49 pm
love it
@michaelwilliams3104
September 9, 2024 at 1:46 am
I had high hopes that the Korex vest would bring haptic vests mainstream but sadly Covid made sure that this company would never open their doors:(
@dizz6340
September 9, 2024 at 5:44 am
On the topic of shitty VR. I remember it was like my 8th birthday, my mom and dad bought me a VR headset with gloves.
It was basically the same quality as those shitty 1000 games in one knock off console you could get for 40 dollars.
Obviously it was not real VR. You put on this massive headset and these gloves are wired to the headset. The game was very simple. You had pixel jpegs of ninjas getting closer to you or they would throw a ninja star, and you’d have to punch to kill the ninja or block the ninja star. No sound effects, nothing. Literally a shitty pixel picture of a ninja or.ninja star getting close to you and you punched. Your punches often wouldn’t even register.
Good times.
@muzboz
September 9, 2024 at 6:23 am
I had one of these. Truly horrible! Really hurt your back, very uncomfortable, made a loud buzzing noise. Just… horrible. 🙂
@Phoenix42.0
September 9, 2024 at 9:13 am
Jordans furniture Imax features subwoofers in the seat of every chair they call butt kickers. Seems like the same tech just in a movie theater
@popularscience
September 9, 2024 at 9:25 am
@@Phoenix42.0 is that the one on Rt 9?
@Phoenix42.0
September 9, 2024 at 9:56 am
@@popularscience Yep yep!
@mikelumaro5164
September 9, 2024 at 9:33 am
I had one of these. It was trash. A subwoofer with backpack straps. Wasn’t even that loud, or deep. I used it a couple times, and never used it again. My earliest memory of buyers remorse.
@kylefitz7543
September 9, 2024 at 10:26 am
I had a friend a few doors down that had this, and I had forgotten all about it. There is a present-day version of this I saw a few years ago. I’m probably spelling it wrong, but it was something like “Woojer.” It might be worth getting one to compare the two and see if the tech has improved at all.
@izbr661
September 10, 2024 at 12:17 am
These are pretty advanced for the time
@nelsoncabrera6464
September 10, 2024 at 1:17 am
Oh God I remember playing Turok 64 wearing this thing and a Philips Scuba headset. In retrospect it was a really awful experience that I somehow tricked my teenaged mind into enjoying. There were so many cables that I had to sit down and not dare move lest I end up looking like my cousin after one her marathon hours-long sessions talking on the kitchen phone with the 16 feet long stretchy cord ie: wrapped like a weird “cyberspace” mummy.
@mikewebb7807
September 10, 2024 at 12:40 pm
Anybody else notice the neck of this guy’s shirt pretty much makes the sigil of Satan? 😂
@marcmathes41
September 10, 2024 at 8:30 pm
so its a tactile transducer rated in force pr ft parts express sells them
@purplebooger6410
September 11, 2024 at 2:07 am
I remember wanting to feel the music coming out of my headphones on my new Walkman cd player so I plugged in my backpack speaker thing and laid back to enjoy. It was never comfortable on my back especially while laying on it with all my weight so I put it between my mattress and box spring, WOW BASS! Suddenly my entire bed was a subwoofer! The low bass notes and vibration that it produced was rad! It worked even better and was even louder when I took the driver (speaker) out of the backpack and put it between my mattress and box spring without the plastic backpack. When I got my first car I put that driver/speaker, basically a speaker magnet with a peace of fiberglass on either side of a voice coil, under the passenger seat. People still talk about how they could feel the bass from my RadioShack subwoofer’s. Not knowing my secret!
@BicirikBey
September 11, 2024 at 4:51 pm
I didn’t know Vsauce2 had another channel.
@bon7029
September 11, 2024 at 7:50 pm
I remember my neighbor just HAD to have this. He absolutely INSISTED on it.
He got it as his Christmas president, called me up to come see it, I show up, he puts it on, starts the game was after about 5 minutes he says, “Well, this thing SUCKS.”
His dad turned red in the face because he had to spend MONTHS listening to the little shithead preaching the gospel of this thing and shell out a small fortune to get it.
@theskullchild1975
September 12, 2024 at 11:17 am
First time one of these fake vhs intros makes me laugh and almost convinces me that it’s an actual 90s commercial due to how cheesy it is
@marcinkarpinski9163
September 12, 2024 at 12:44 pm
This is a spinoff from Vsace who lied to the public and tried to cover it. DO not recomend unles you like being lied to straight into your face
@Gigatech151
September 12, 2024 at 2:56 pm
I still have one of those, I go it brand new for 10 bucks, around 96 or 97, I was probably 16 or 17… and used to play STARFOX, KILLER INSTINCT, DOOM and some other SNES games. And TBH, I kinda like it. It was OK to me, only a gimmick with a bass Speaker… pretty much the cheap tech of the time. Kind a Rumble pack but with a mere speaker in your back. I think “HATE IT” is way to exaggerated to describe the experience…. Probably if you paid the initial price.
Now, if you notice… at the end of the video, you can see that most sound that pump up is when Sub Zero gets hit, that Jax Grab was a massive blow. The Idea was good. But I BET that some executives though the overprice for such cheep electronics was not a problem. A lot of VR tech was F-up back then because greedy corporate assholes…. Just like today!
@Exoterrestrial
September 12, 2024 at 11:25 pm
I can only imagine how long you were standing in front of your camera slightly shaking just to record that intro bravo my good sir bravo
@tsartomato
September 13, 2024 at 4:25 am
i remember
@UFighterX
September 13, 2024 at 2:11 pm
You didn’t need a fancy review back then to see what a pos this was. They became ornaments at every game store next to that useless baseball bat.
@timthedim
September 13, 2024 at 11:30 pm
I miss kevin leiber
@jmar1973
September 15, 2024 at 4:13 pm
As a 21 year old in 1994,I was SO unimpressed by this device. Even then looking at the promos,I felt like it was a lame cash grab meant to appeal to 90s pre teens with fancy jargon (No offense to the content creator and his contemporaries)…At the very least, if it were at least a full body vest,I’d have been at least have been intrigued.
To be fair,I felt the same way about a lot of that 90s tech,including the Virtual Boy.🤷🏿♂️😹
@KingSevenString
September 15, 2024 at 9:10 pm
i wore this thing every day for years.. i absolutely did not hate it.