Sega Digitizes What Nintendon't
August 24, 2016 7:49 AM Subscribe
Leave it to the Japanese to take a development tool, literally something nobody else will ever see besides the engineers at Sega and their partners, and package it up with a nice case and bezel and logo. This isn't the only example I've seen.
But man, that System 1 with the light pen on a vertical screen? I can't imagine how many engineers developed gorilla arm from that.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:16 AM on August 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
But man, that System 1 with the light pen on a vertical screen? I can't imagine how many engineers developed gorilla arm from that.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:16 AM on August 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
Is it wrong for me to want the Sega Digitizer System for my future virtual reality interface?
posted by fairmettle at 8:18 AM on August 24, 2016
posted by fairmettle at 8:18 AM on August 24, 2016
Follow your dreams.
posted by overeducated_alligator at 8:25 AM on August 24, 2016
posted by overeducated_alligator at 8:25 AM on August 24, 2016
Leave it to the Japanese to take a development tool, literally something nobody else will ever see besides the engineers at Sega and their partners, and package it up with a nice case and bezel and logo.
Not quite the same, but I recently visited the Air and Space Museum Annex where they have some now declassified computers that were used for spy satellite control and image analysis and was struck by how over the top some of the branding was for devices that presumably very few people would ever see and were more or less locked in through the combination of the constrained bidding process and the expense of switching to anything else.
posted by Candleman at 8:25 AM on August 24, 2016
Not quite the same, but I recently visited the Air and Space Museum Annex where they have some now declassified computers that were used for spy satellite control and image analysis and was struck by how over the top some of the branding was for devices that presumably very few people would ever see and were more or less locked in through the combination of the constrained bidding process and the expense of switching to anything else.
posted by Candleman at 8:25 AM on August 24, 2016
I wouldn't be surprised if that branding was a necessary advertising effort to ensure that they *kept* getting picked for the next bid - when you absolutely want to make sure your client prioritizes your name and not the competitors on some visceral level that will influence a tens-or-hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars contract decision.
posted by FatherDagon at 8:51 AM on August 24, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by FatherDagon at 8:51 AM on August 24, 2016 [6 favorites]
Leave it to the Japanese to take a development tool, literally something nobody else will ever see besides the engineers at Sega and their partners, and package it up with a nice case and bezel and logo. This isn't the only example I've seen
This is actually a pretty common thing to do. Most of the internal test and development systems I work on are packaged well, have nice machined control panels, and are well labeled and documented because WE have to use them. We put company logos on them because we're proud of our efforts internally.
posted by Dr. Twist at 9:15 AM on August 24, 2016 [5 favorites]
This is actually a pretty common thing to do. Most of the internal test and development systems I work on are packaged well, have nice machined control panels, and are well labeled and documented because WE have to use them. We put company logos on them because we're proud of our efforts internally.
posted by Dr. Twist at 9:15 AM on August 24, 2016 [5 favorites]
Also, similar to what FatherDagon mentioned, when we make nice looking and functioning internal tools customers see them and have verbally noted their build quality. This doesn't hurt from a marketing perspective either.
posted by Dr. Twist at 9:19 AM on August 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Dr. Twist at 9:19 AM on August 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
Or recruiting. If you spent your time making graphics for games on your MSX entirely in code, this must've been a revelation.
posted by griphus at 9:27 AM on August 24, 2016
posted by griphus at 9:27 AM on August 24, 2016
At one place I worked, we built custom video displays for dev work on a particular project which generated non-standard graphics outputs for another system also in development. I don't think there were more than five, all created by modifying an off-the-shelf unit and putting it in a home-made case with extra bits.
It was a matter of pride - and fun - to gussy them up so they looked as professional as possible, even to the point of giving them a logo and model number congruent with the company's branding. It doesn't take long, there's usually someone around with the design and prototyping skills to make a good job of it, and you get an extra bonus when knowledgeable visitors do a double-take and wonder what exactly they're seeing.
(Another place I knew, a local TV station in the West Country, had an early computerised play-out and signal routing unit in the gallery, which had a monochrome text CRT display with various fixed areas for timing and other data. The engineers decided to make it look higher-tech and just prettier by making up a screen overlay from various lighting gels that gave those areas different colours. When the manufacturer's agent dropped by to see how things were going, he was nonplussed. "Where did you get THAT?", he asked - turned out that the next version of the unit, still in R&D and not public, had a real colour text display that looked identical in operation. The station engineers were very pleased with the jape.)
posted by Devonian at 9:30 AM on August 24, 2016 [8 favorites]
It was a matter of pride - and fun - to gussy them up so they looked as professional as possible, even to the point of giving them a logo and model number congruent with the company's branding. It doesn't take long, there's usually someone around with the design and prototyping skills to make a good job of it, and you get an extra bonus when knowledgeable visitors do a double-take and wonder what exactly they're seeing.
(Another place I knew, a local TV station in the West Country, had an early computerised play-out and signal routing unit in the gallery, which had a monochrome text CRT display with various fixed areas for timing and other data. The engineers decided to make it look higher-tech and just prettier by making up a screen overlay from various lighting gels that gave those areas different colours. When the manufacturer's agent dropped by to see how things were going, he was nonplussed. "Where did you get THAT?", he asked - turned out that the next version of the unit, still in R&D and not public, had a real colour text display that looked identical in operation. The station engineers were very pleased with the jape.)
posted by Devonian at 9:30 AM on August 24, 2016 [8 favorites]
I'm imagining Gus Honeybun mocking the visitor behind his back.
posted by howfar at 10:28 AM on August 24, 2016
posted by howfar at 10:28 AM on August 24, 2016
A friend had a Commodore 64 and a light pen and paint software, and it was surprisingly fun and tiring to use (we never used it regularly enough to develop proper gorilla arms).
The pen's dither and tracking were adjustable, so you could set both of them at extreme "pure noise" type levels so that simply holding the pen still in the middle of the display would leave a twitchy scribble drawing that covered 1/4 of the canvas.
One of the things unique to light pen digitizes of the CRT era is that since the display is curved, your view of the pen on canvas is something approximating a fisheye perspective, making it really tricky to draw parallel lines or a circle anywhere other than dead center of the display.
posted by ardgedee at 7:04 PM on August 24, 2016
The pen's dither and tracking were adjustable, so you could set both of them at extreme "pure noise" type levels so that simply holding the pen still in the middle of the display would leave a twitchy scribble drawing that covered 1/4 of the canvas.
One of the things unique to light pen digitizes of the CRT era is that since the display is curved, your view of the pen on canvas is something approximating a fisheye perspective, making it really tricky to draw parallel lines or a circle anywhere other than dead center of the display.
posted by ardgedee at 7:04 PM on August 24, 2016
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posted by beschizza at 7:59 AM on August 24, 2016