Quote Originally Posted by nihil
It was intended to get Nintendo into the US market following the video game collapse of the early '80's. It worked because stores would stock a "robot toy" rather than a video game. As far as I am aware the actual device functioned as it was designed to, just like the Tamagotchi?
Not quite like tamagotchi... R.O.B. didn't exactly "work as designed"... Trust me I want a R.O.B. I've been scouring "retro toy stores" and video game shops for years now... I've found two in all that time... and neither store was willing to sell, they had them for "display purposes only". However R.O.B. doesn't work... The concept was cool but poorly designed. The response time was slow, so you essentially had to play the game and know how the game worked, so you could give R.O.B. commands before it needed to perform them.

Sorry, I don't understand what the technological issues are? Do the things actually work, or is it one of those "too late to market" things?
This is probably just a "too late to market" thing... The mini-disc worked... It's flaw was that compared to other media that existed it was a poorly concieved idea (at least in my mind).. It's sort of like Mini-DVD in my mind... When selecting my (cheap) video camera... I had a choice between Mini-DV tapes and Mini-DVD (whatever they care called.. but the sony cameras use them)... I chose Mini-DV... It's a reliable format and DV has stood the test of time...


That surprises me, as I have generally found Logitech stuff to be pretty functional and reliable. At the risk of sounding cynical, it would not be the first time that I have heard of companies giving or selling rubbish product that they can't retail to their staff

I can't help wondering if any of them perform 100%?
It could be that... However as far as I understood he brings them home new, in package... I've also experienced sales people in the store cursing out the display model. As for Logitech... I was a fan of them for quite some time... well over half of my peripherals are logitech (steering wheel, joy stick, game pad, web cam, speakers, etc)... However they are definitely going down hill... I think the problem is the same as it's always been... I just didn't know it before. Previously I purchased "low-end" electronics because I was a student and I needed something that was cheap and worked... logitech owns that market... However now that I have some money to spend I've got a step above logitech on most things, and the quality has improved 10x over.