The Power of Glove
directed by Andrew Austin and Adam Ward
Today virtual reality is everywhere, but it only dates back a few decades. One the of the big steps forward came in the form of a glove that could be tracked in space and report back how your fingers moved. Couple that with a video game, and you could punch out Stallone with an actual punch, not just a keypress.
The Power Glove, as it came to be called, combined a lot of raw engineering cleverness and the hot marketing savvy of the world’s biggest toy maker Mattel. But Mattel wasn’t a technology company, and it had flopped miserably with the Intellivsion system released in 1979. It took a second chance with the Power Glove. Many engineers worked on this clever item, and a partnership with Nintendo gave Mattel a wide selection of games that could be adjusted to work with this exciting interface.
But when the glove was released before the games that needed it were created bad publicity torpedoed this project as well, leaving a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. Meet the engineers, the gamers and the fanboys in this delight full retro technology documentary packed with fuzzy VHS ads, analog televisions monitors, and the reminisces of all those kids lucky or unlucky enough to get one of these gems for the holiday. Like wired movies and obscure bans, the Power Glove now has a dedicated following of musicians, gamers, and fanboys that keep the dream alive, if not in the public eye.
This film is presented as part of the 2018 Florida Film Festival.
https://www.facebook.com/thepowerofglove; https://www.floridafilmfestival.com/
