🚀 go-pugleaf

I had a chance to look over the Viewmaster unit about a month ago at a
San Francisco Bay Area Home Store.  The does provide a limited form of
interaction in a very very clever way.

The unit is plugged in >>between the TV and VCR<<.  Cables run from the
outputs of the VCR to the ViewMaster unit and from there to the TV.  I
believe it requries a stereo VCR for reasons that will become clear.

In essence, it uses each channel of the stereo soundtrack, and two sides
of the TV image, switching these on and off as appropriate.  Also, some
limited graphics are generated in the same style as those on the tape,
lending a kind of integration to the whole show.

I presume that at times the machine is playing one sound track and
downloading game software on the other.  They may have timing marks on
the interlace as well as data on the soundtrack.

Its one of those engineering marvels working against a very limited medium.

How its used:

The tape I saw played runs beginning to end with no stops.  Uncle
Scrooge Duck (?) introduces various animated sequences from Disney short
subjects starring Donald Duck and clan.  Then, Uncle Scrooge intros a
little game, all typically simple hit the object type games.  The
videotape provides the background, the game unit generates typical game
graphics over this.  A timer is displayed in the frame showing how much
time is left to score.  That display is probably just recorded on the
videotape.

After several games Uncle Scrooge says "OK, let's see how you did."  A
score is listed in the semi-handwritten style of the video tape images. 
Then Uncle Scrooge appears >>on the left or right of the screen<< giving
either a "Good job!" or "Better luck next time!" message.  The video
unit chooses the appropriate soundtrack and blacks out the opposite side
of the screen.

A neat idea.  Its lifetime depends on how quickly CDI and whatnot enter
the consumer market.

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