Like the people of the Middle East didn't already hate the Western World Enough. | |
The Gods Must Be Crazy. | |
as long they are happy... more left 4 dead for me!! XD | |
Ah well, give it six months and there'll be a huge spike in Aspirin production... | |
Those wacky Dubains... Wait. Dubains? Dubians? The Dubianese? Just how the hell does that work? | |
Reminds me of the time I found an Iranian radio station. On Radio 1, they were playing Kanye West. On the Iranian radio, it was 'Ice Ice Baby'. | |
lol, this is very very random. Not only does Dubai have access to all 3 current consoles and PC hardware, but all of a sudden the virtual boy just fucking explodes in popularity?
I thought Japan was "far east".
Yeah, I'm expecting this to be a "15 minutes of fame" kinda thing. | |
My dad bought a Virtual Boy when they first came out. *shrug* Super Wario World was pretty fun. I wonder if he still has it stored somewhere... | |
I have that, and the nintendo glove, and the nintendo scope. | |
Gawd I remember taking my SNES Super scope all the way to London to trade in at the CEX exchange store, and the guy behind the counter essentially said 'HAHAHAHAhahahahahahaha....no' and stepped aside to show a stack about 4 feet high just of super scopes. | |
Is anyone else reminded of the TF2 sentry by them? | |
I am impressed, I would probably get one as a piece of conversational sculpture. This kind of amazes me. | |
Heh. I remember when these things were new. Didn't play it until 2 years ago.
Where's this "Japan" stuff coming from? Dubai is in the United Arab Emirates, in the Middle East. | |
The Virtual Boy is the big thing in the middle east? Geez, this explains all the car-bombings; they're clearly batshit insane. | |
I think El Arab is pointing out that the Virtual Boy came from Japan, which is in the "Far East" and not part of the "Western World". | |
Oh Dubai, as if you weren't backwards and awkward enough. They sell all kinds of junk out there that we as a society believe to be obsolete now. But this? Who'da thunk. It's hardly 'big' some dude just found a bunch and sold them to a bunch of collecters :p | |
Lived there eh? Is it true the sewage problem is as bad as they say? I heard it stinks to high heaven. | |
Oh my yes, their regard for environmental saftey and regulation is low to none. The ski slope is unremarkable I used to pass by it everyday and the power it must consume is mind boggling. Yeah the gaming community is...pretty interesting, but I liked the one in Singapore more, Those people know how to PLAY. I swear I knew one guy at school who engineered his megadrive into this old tv-set so you just shoved the cartridge in like a video cassette. Dubai is going to go under, or fall into the control of Abu-Dhabi, it's neighboring Emirate. Sooner or later. I'd never go back there again, I hated the people out there, unbelievably stuck up. | |
Someone liked that thing? OH. HELL. NO. | |
I always kinda liked the virtual boy, the 3d was pretty neat and I kinda liked the red look altho having to lean over a desk got old fast, if they had been able to make it so it would just rest on your head then it would have been a much bigger success | |
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Virtual Boy Big in Dubai
Nintendo's failed attempt at virtual reality has returned to shops in the Middle East in its original packaging, letting a new can experience its migraine-inducing Mario Tennis gameplay.
To gamers in modernized nations, The Virtual Boy is an obscure rune in the history of failed gaming technologies. For local shoppers in Dubai, its this year's Tickle Me Elmo.
Local retail outlets in the United Arab Emirates stumbled upon one hundred decade-old Virtual Boys, the short-lived virtual reality headset system sold by Nintendo in 1995. Still in their original packaging, the game consoles were put on sale despite their age and history of causing headaches among users.
"This product was just left years ago and nobody knew it was in stock," said Vijay Chandrabota, the purchasing manager for Geekay Games in Dubai. "For me, it was dead stock. I didn't even know that this Virtual Boy existed until we found it."
Geekay Games operations manager Layakath Ali was lucky enough to stumble upon the lost shipment before they were trashed.
"[The shipment] was under some old cartons," commented Ali. "There were lots of customers looking for Virtual Boys last year and I told them we didn't have any. I remembered collectors who wanted to have this one, so I could not say it was dead stock."
Before putting them up for public sale, Ali tested one himself and says he didn't suffer from any health problems from wearing the Virtual Boy's visor. "People said it was affecting eyesight but I'm not sure about that," he said. "I enjoyed playing Mario Tennis daily and I have no headaches. I know actually that they say it is a big failure, but it's a good system to have."
Once word of their existence leaked, local game enthusiasts jumped on the opportunity to purchase a piece of gaming lore in mint condition in hopes of reselling it for inflated prices above the couple hundred used Virtual Boys can run for online.
Mr. Omran, an enthuasiast in the area, and his brother bought a number of consoles when they discovered they were on sale nearby.
"I was chasing it in all the shops and all the markets in Dubai Khour, but everything was always vanished," said Mr Omran, a 38-year-old electrical engineer. "It's not an easy system to find."
"I had some local friends who are also Nintendo collectors and they asked me, 'Can you get me one'?" said 23-year-old Hassan. "But you know if you want to spend more than two hours playing on it, your neck will be sore. It's really cool, but I don't want to use it. It was Nintendo's worst invention."
Source: National Newspaper via Kotaku
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