Video Games, Films, Big Bird All in Works for Two-Way TV
Bored with the movie on television? Push a button and change the plot.
At least three companies, including View-Master Ideal Group, are working on advanced two-way home video systems that someday could let viewers change the characters or alter the action.
Mattel, which brought America interactive spaceship toys and the new “Wheel of Fortune” electronic game, is working on a sophisticated compact videodisc player. The player could let viewers engage in a “shoot-out with bad guys, similar to an arcade game on a disc,” says a spokeswoman for the inventor, SOCS Research.
Mattel, which announced the project a year ago, expects to sell the compact videodisc players sometime next year.
The Hawthorne toy company’s leading competitor, Hasbro, is developing a two-way video cassette player in great secrecy with help from electronic game whiz Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari. The toy has been dubbed NEMO, an acronym for “never ever mentioned outside.”
Though Hasbro won’t discuss the toy, industry sources say Hasbro is stumped by some technical problems. Hasbro is working on videos that involve fast action, such as high-speed car chases. Industry sources say the problem is that when the pace of the action quickens, picture quality degenerates.
Meanwhile, View-Master Ideal Group has beaten Mattel and Hasbro to market with its two-way videocassette processors for kids. The processors work when hooked-up to the television and a VCR. The company expects to sell the $125 processors in time for Christmas, along with $25 cassettes.
By pressing a remote control, children can “tell” Sesame Street’s Big Bird what song to sing or story to tell. The 30-minute long cassettes allow children to make a choice every two to three minutes.
View-Master Ideal won’t say how many cassette processors it expects to sell but says that it will only be available in 20 to 25 major U.S. cities. Says Arnold Thayer, View-Master Ideal chairman: “We’ve got more orders for more than we can deliver.”
