Author: Bill Smith

Reviving Nintendo’s Forgotten 3D Virtual Boy Experiment is More Work Than You Think

Nintendo introduced the Virtual Boy in 1995, with big promises for 3D gaming at home. Players looked through a binocular-style viewer mounted on a tabletop stand, which combined two distinct red LED screens with shaky vibrating mirrors to generate depth. However, the console sold fewer than 800,000 units worldwide before Nintendo discontinued it less than a year later. Several fundamental design decisions rendered the system a failure from the outset. Long gaming sessions resulted in headaches and eye strain due to the red monochromatic glare and the need to stare attentively at it. The stand itself was poorly built, causing

Meta Quest 3S Cardboard Hero Bundle Gets Early Black Friday Price Cut

Black Friday waits for no one, but Amazon clearly couldn’t either. The Meta Quest 3S Cardboard Hero Bundle landed on the site this week for $249.99, down from $299.99 and it’s already selling like hotcakes. For that price you get the 128GB headset, a set of Touch Plus controllers and an exclusive pack for the multiplayer game Gorilla Tag: a Handiwork Helmet, Handiwork Armor and 1,000 shiny rocks worth $45 on their own. Throw in a three-month trial of Meta Horizon Plus for access to over 40 games and this package is one of the best VR entry points out

Limited Meta Quest 3S Xbox Edition Officially Unveiled, Here’s an Early Hands-On Look

Microsoft and Meta have teamed up to drop a sleek, limited-edition Meta Quest 3S Xbox Edition VR headset that’s all about blending Xbox gaming with a touch of virtual reality. This $399.99 bundle wraps a 128GB Meta Quest 3S in Xbox’s iconic Carbon Black and Velocity Green colors, giving it that unmistakable console colorway. This isn’t a brand-new partnership—Microsoft and Meta have been cooking something up since Xbox Cloud Gaming hit Meta Quest headsets in late 2023. The Quest 3S Xbox Edition cranks it up a notch, tossing in a custom Xbox Wireless Controller, matching Touch Plus controllers, a comfy
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Fascinating Look Back at SharkWire Online, a Strange N64 Internet Service from 1999

Photo credit: Guite | 8bitJunkyAZ InterAct's SharkWire Online was launched in 1999 for the N64 console, and it was essentially specialized GameShark cartridge paired with a keyboard. It initially cost $79.95 ($152.45 in 2025) for the hardware alone, while the monthly subscription would set you back $9.95 ($18.97 in 2025) for 10-hours of access. Put simply, it allowed N64 users to connect their consoles to the internet via a 14.4 Kbps dial-up connection. The service was designed around a proprietary online portal, utilizing a licensed version of the Mosaic web browser, developed by Spyglass, Inc. This portal was operated through
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Playing N64 Games in Virtual Reality with RetroTink 4K is Quite the Experience

Playing N64 games, especially Super Mario 64, in virtual reality with RetroTink 4K is most certainly quite the experience. The setup consists of an actual N64 console, a Meta Quest VR headset, an EVERDRIVE-64 X7 cartridge, and then a RetroTINK 4K upscaler device. Simply plug the console into the RetroTINK 4K, and then a Hagibis USB-C Capture Card into the latter. Next, hook up the VR headset to the HDMI adapter, and you're ready to play. For those who get motion sickness, we recommend just connecting the N64 console directly into a standard TV, or you may end up with
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Researchers Unveil MouseGoggles, a Virtual Reality Headset for Mice

Researchers from Cornell University unveil MouseGoggles, an immersive virtual reality headset for mice that was made using low-cost, off-the-shelf components, such as smartwatch displays and tiny lenses. It offers visual stimulation over a wide field of view while tracking the mouse’s eye movements and changes in pupil size. The team hopes that this technology will help unlock neural activity that informs spatial navigation and memory function, thus providing new insights into disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease as well as its potential treatments. How does it stay on a mouse? Well, they aren't exactly wearing the headset, as the mouse stands