[ Retro Scan of the Week ] Sega IR 7000
March 18th, 2014 by Benj Edwards
“Whispering is for gutless weasels.”
In the early-mid 1990s, Sega experimented with a few electronics items that veered away from mainstream console gaming. Case in point, the IR 7000 PDA, seen here (and don’t forget the Sega Pico).
I’ve never owned an IR 7000, but I have to admit that I wanted one badly back in the day. The thought of sending secret wireless messages to other kids in class (I was 13 at the time this came out) excited me.
Discussion Topic of the Week: In your opinion, what was Sega’s weirdest product?
March 19th, 2014 at 2:58 am
The weirdest thing Sega made? That’s hard. They’ve done a lot, both electronic and not.
But I’mma go with the Pico. Part Genesis, part Touch&Tell, part plain old book, and all confused.
March 20th, 2014 at 12:05 pm
If whispering is for gutless weasels, is this ad implying that one should shout their message for the whole class to hear and publicly own up to the fact that they wish to pass notes in class?
The Pico was certainly weird. “I’m an educational game unit!” “I’m a tool to help kids learn to read!” “I’m a game system for 4-5 year olds!” Make up your mind what you are.
March 21st, 2014 at 11:26 pm
Several years ago, they made a small robotic potted flower that is a sort of virtual pet. If you talk to it you can keep it happy, and it might dance and play a tune. But if you neglect it, its stem, which is extremely thin by the way, will go slack and the flower ‘wilts.’
More recently, they caused quite a stir with the world’s first urinal video games, which interact with the player’s urine stream in hilariously bizarre minigames shown on a screen at eye level.
Those are the first things that come to mind, but they do so much delightfully crazy and mystifying stuff it’s hard to keep track of it all.
March 25th, 2014 at 9:52 am
The 3D glasses that they offered for the Sega Master System. I always wanted a pair, but the price was prohibitively expensive. I finally got to the try them and they really didn’t work very well and I was glad I never spend the money.