The Beamscope TV Magnifier - one of the most worthless game accessories of the 1980s. (gamingafter40.blogspot.com)
from FlyingSquid@lemmy.world to games@lemmy.world on 23 Sep 14:05
https://lemmy.world/post/20095293

#games

threaded - newest

marlowe221@lemmy.world on 23 Sep 14:12 next collapse

The product may have been useless, but they had some awesome art for their advertisement!

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 23 Sep 14:13 next collapse

You needed something to convince gamers it was worth buying. Note the awesome art doesn’t actually give any sort of realistic idea of what the product was like.

billiam0202@lemmy.world on 23 Sep 18:18 collapse

That’s a pretty accurate summation of gaming in general in the 80s. The art in the book was nearly always better than the gameplay for lots of games.

SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net on 23 Sep 17:24 next collapse

I have something like this, but it’s for game boy.

Also utterly worthless; it distorts the picture in uncomfortable ways, and honestly was a much worse experience than just using the screen.

It’s also only a couple inches bigger, so dumb.

sploosh@lemmy.world on 23 Sep 19:19 next collapse

I had one for my Game Gear that added more than few inches to the handheld’s depth, but did a decent job of semi-rectilinearly magnifying the screen. The backlight probably helped, since it wasn’t relying on light bounding in through the lens and then back out.

PunchingWood@lemmy.world on 24 Sep 06:43 collapse

You mean one of those bad boys with foldable zoom lens and light attachment that ate like 4 AAA batteries?

I still have one of those here, thing was amazing to play in the dark lol

Edit, this the one I mean, slightly different model but same chonky boy

hahattpro@lemmy.world on 24 Sep 12:42 collapse

Is it a magnifying glass in front of the screen?

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 24 Sep 12:44 collapse

Basically, yes.