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

[Larry]

I did the box art for this when Datel re-released the product in Europe in the early '00s, they wanted to give it an anime look.

[icarus]

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.

[nicholas_scott]

I bought pallets of these around 2000-2003. They were such a huge failure that there was a warehouse full of them. I would take them apart, and remove the tactile transducer from them, and resell them for home-theater use. Basically, take the transducer (basically, a bass speaker without a cone), and bolt it to the frame of your couch, and you can feel the bass in your home theater as your couch vibrates. It worked amazing in this application. I must of resold 1, 000 or so of them. But by 2003, pallets were drying up, and it wasnt worth the effort to buy them in singles.

[abishekkkkkkkk]

That intro is something else!!!!
Well done Kevin!

[poindextertunes]

Kid commercial in the 90s should be their own glorious genre 🔥
My favorite was: CROSSFIRE!!!
YOU’LL GET CAUGHT UP IN THE
CROSSS FYYYYUUUHHH!!!! 😂

[speedybeattie]

I owned that! I liked it.
I stepped on the interface unit and the plug from the vest broke off inside of it. Both the vest and control box became useless.

[BeeCeeJay]

These continue to be some of my favorite videos on YouTube, Kevin, in no small part to the beautiful endings. As always, thank you for making this.

[fartzinwind]

Nobody young believes me when i bring up the Mall traveling VR games from the 90s. You stood in a ring, held a gun, and put on goggles. Maybe also seen at carnivals. They were terrible. I played a horrible shooter game that at one point i got stuck on because apparently you had to shoot out the next part of the path, but there was absolutely no indication of that in the game.

[felino]

Thank you for another great video Kevin! And great job on the opening, I absolutely adore it 😁

[boowiebear]

I had one of these. It was total a$$. The gap between what you wanted it to be and what it was crushed you.

[irrelevantpanda]

The algorithm gave me the gift of this series today, and i proceeded to watch all of them. Incredible job. Two observations after spending all morning binging the retro tech videos: 1. Kevin's parents are the unsung heroes of the videos and 2. The comments section are a goldmine.

[MikeStavola]

I absolutely loved my Interactor lumbar pad. It lasted like 10 years, too.

[JordanHowellMusic]

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.

[autingo]

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.

[DJA-BOMB]

Bravo! I laughed out loud multiple times throughout this video.😊

[oxpolitik]

I was so excited to get one of these for a birthday or Christmas.

When I realized it was essentially just a giant speaker on my back rattling my kidneys. My disappointment was immense.

[sarasa-sarason]

You featured many games from my childhood. Thank you for your excellent videos!

[lonreed]

My mom won a Panasonic home stereo system in the early’90’s with huge subwoofers. I figured them to work through our TV/VCR and I got the full sense with my whole back up against it. It was pretty cool.

[MakeSomething]

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.

[KoshiVirii]

I got one of these after seeing a Nostalgia Nerd video on the cushion version, I pulled the speaker with a huge bolt through it from the backpack and attached it to the bottom of my sim racing seat.