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 a haptic vest that supposedly let you feel all the action of your favorite games, but the reality of the Aura Interactor was on a spectrum of kinda-sorta-cool to annoying. What started out as a premium, expensive product that would fully immerse gamers into the fantastic worlds of legendary video games would turn into a clearance rack staple.
What went so wrong with such a unique idea? How did pieces of the 1980s Star Wars Missile Defense program wind up in the annals of retro technology and retro gaming? And why does it feel like I keep getting kicked in the back?!
#retrotech #gaming #popularscience #technology #haptics