Atari MindLink controls video games with your mind - Videogame History #76 - Retro Review

gabox (68)in #gaming • 6 years ago

The technological industries that are in charge of developing innovations for the market over time carry out various researches and studies to evolve in different aspects, in the past the video game console developers were working in parallel with these industries, one of those companies that at the time was very successful was Atari, as many already know was one of the main companies that dominated the market of video games in the early and mid-80s, many of its engineers and programmers were inspired by various films and science fiction novels, from this way their minds could innovate both new games and accessories, this time we will see a failed attempt an unusual accessory which was quite innovative at the time, "The Atari MindLink".

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MindLink was born from the idea of being able to control videogames with the mind, its project began in 1982 and it was able to take out the prototype in 1983, to finally redesign its form in 1984 in order to carry out the appropriate marketing, promote it and be able to sell it to the market, despite MindLink according to its distributor indicated that it was a device that allowed you to control with your mind the video games was not entirely true, its operation was based on sensors that were in the tape that we placed on the forehead, with the muscular movements of our eyebrows and front we could give movement to the object / character on the screen, but at first glance if you saw a person with this accessory and is playing perfectly a videogame you would inevitably think you are controlling it with your mind.

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SourceJack Tramiel

Despite being an accessory with a good design but with a slightly outlandish idea, Atari launched its production, however, a couple of months the company Atari was sold to Jack Tramiel, one of the most important entrepreneurs in those years which directed the development and construction of the Commodore, having total control of Atari decided to cancel the production of this project, since it seemed totally absurd, leaving only some manufactured models which are very difficult to obtain due to its rarity in the market.

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Although this small but interesting accessory was aimed at the world of videogames, many companies in the future served as a reference to carry out various projects aimed at the world of health; Even though the Atari MindLink was a failed attempt you can not deny its small contribution due to its way of playing video games, maybe it was inevitable its failure or maybe it would succeed in sales, that is something we will never know because of never saw light in the market, remaining as one of the most curious and rare artifacts in the history of video games.