Duration: 0:22

373 views

10

Video about the cancelled virtual reality console codenamed Toaster and later Rush in development for Hasbro in the mid '90s.
The system was suppose to use Argonaut's BRender.
The project was killed because the costs were too high for the mass market.
Hasbro lost around US$ 59 million on it.

This video was taken from the youtube channel madopal for preservation purpose.

Except the last few lines even the text was taken from the same user who worked on the project.

Toaster was a codename for the project, originally "Sliced Bread Project" (best thing since). It was developed as a project between the David Sarnoff labs in Princeton and, I believe, Abrams/Gentile Entertainment.
The marketing went through a few iterations.
X-Scape (used to sell the project before Hasbro bought in) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxCzX43t_DQ
Rush (near the end before Hasbro pulled the plug): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcQ59pHL0ao http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgB-ONvnKZ4
The original games were:
- Lancelot's Quest (Warren Robinett's company at the time)
- Faceball (Bulletproof)
- Nero Zero (Katrix, some Princeton guys)
- Fasa Interactive/VWE's game, which went from what's billed as "Intruder." Then became some of their Mars racing game. I don't remember now who was doing Holosports Fighter or the other one.
Near the end, there was a port of Magic Carpet that was running in it, as well as Descent (you want vomit inducing? Play something like Descent in a head mount).
The software stalled because the console hardware never materialized...that was why Hasbro killed it. They had a great HMD and nothing to run it on but SGI machines.
———
I'm the source. I worked on the project. Still trying to figure out how to tell the story, as it's fascinating. With all the Oculus love, you'd think they'd be mining the research that was done for this project (and there was a LOT), but I haven't seen any of those guys sniffing around. They must just like to reinvent the wheel.
Still amazing that more hasn't gotten out about. Steve Tice/QuantumWorks has had those pics up forever. I'm amazed no one has seen it. Heck, I've had those clips up on YouTube for a few years as well.
————
Problem was, only the HMD was ever completed. It was good, too, for the time. There was no console, though. Everything that was shown was run on SGIs. So they spent all that money developing a headset for a console that didn't exist. They probably still own the results, but with the resolution of the time (I think it was running a whopping 320x240, non-stereoscopic - interpupilary distance can really mess up stereo effects), it's not worth much today. The tracking hardware was pretty nifty, though. Same tech as the PowerGlove, also done by AGE...infrared to keep costs low.

———
https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1u18y7/hasbro_toaster_unreleased_video_game_console/