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With Sony's Move due out on September 19 and Microsoft's Kinect not far behind, the motion-control war is nearly upon us. But while we sincerely hope these motion-based peripherals are truly a thing of the future, gaming's past is littered with failed attempts to take the buttons out of play. Grab a joystick before proceeding -- we get the feeling you're going to need it.

Nintendo might be the current king of motion-control, but they spent years as the court jester thanks to the awful (and awesome) Power Glove. While it looked like all kinds of cheesy fun, its rickety motion-control tech barely worked. Making matters worse, only two games specifically built for the Glove were ever released, quickly turning it into more of a failed curiosity than a must-have. Its one credit? Spawning the so-bad-it's-good Fred Savage flick, "The Wizard."


Amiga was responsible for this odd Atari 2600 peripheral, which let players control a game by shifting their weight, much like the Wii Balance Board. Trouble is, it worked with just one game -- Mogul Maniac -- which was forgotten just as quickly as this revolutionary device.




It might earn huge style points for its Star Wars-meets-laptop look, but make no mistake: the U-Force was a total bust. Players would wave their hands to interact with infrared beams criss-crossing the controller's field, which sounds super cool. Unfortunately, all the force in the world couldn't get gamers to buy into its broken gimmick.


A decade before Dance Dance Revolution kickstarted the exergaming craze, Nintendo gave gamers the Power Pad. Too bad gamers weren't quite ready to shape up. Boasting 12 pads for players to stomp on, the gizmo was definitely ahead of its time, but a lack of compelling software sent it to an early grave.

Sega Activator -- Sega Genesis

Excited about Kinect's promise of controller-free gaming? Heed this word of warning: Activator. Released as an add-on for the Sega Genesis, the octagonal pad used infrared beams to read your movements, which mostly involved punching and kicking at thin air. Sadly, it barely worked, leading to immediate deactivation by disgruntled gamers.

Konami Laserscope - NES
Featuring voice-activated control that seemed to constantly malfunction, the Laserscope was a bad idea from the start. Still, the fact that gamers were supposed to strap this goofy gun to the top of their heads at least freed up their hands to do other things...such as picking up the phone and calling the store to ask for a refund.

Roll ‘n Rocker - NES
Everyone loves Rock 'n Roll, but no one loves the Roll 'n Rocker. Essentially a large plastic board sitting on a slightly smaller plastic ball, the rickety device was intended to act as a giant D-pad. Instead, it terrified those trying to balance on it -- and with a 100 lb. weight limit, it mostly just terrified children.

The Glove - PS One
Eight years after the Nintendo Power Glove made a mockery out of motion-control, along came Reality Quest and their creatively named "The Glove" peripheral for the original Playstation. Covered in confusing buttons but boasting full-on analog motion-control, it failed to resonate with gamers, partly because they were just coming to grips with the excellent Playstation controller. The other reason? It sucked.