Post by Fatal Rewind on Aug 1, 2023 12:32:35 GMT -5
I don't have a problem with the game in itself, just how it started.
I was in high school when I ran across some magazine article (which I ended up saving for years) about some game called "Photon" where you ran around in a maze and you shot other players with some kind of light ray gun or something. That sounded pretty awesome.
I didn't really think much of it at first when some place called Star Laser Force opened up in Houston, as it was also this laser tag thing, so I was already familiar with the idea. Me and several friends went and it was, indeed, freaking AWESOME. That was a real blast. Unfortunately it severely got the shaft because laser tag was thought to be a fad (over 25 years later it's still around...humph), some company bought it out, came out with a home version of it and shut it down, not even lasting three years. (This is a whole other thread altogether about how unfair this was but not the point.)
Supposedly the guy who brought out Star Laser Force had the idea before the Photon guy and was crushed when he saw the same article I did about it and he was beaten to the punch (obviously Star Wars was a huge influence, having come out not only 10 years before).
Laser Zone in Chicago actually came out beforehand as well. So S. Laser Force was the third one EVER in the entire world, which is still pretty cool, but again, that's a totally different thread.
My problem is that people need to stop kissing Photon's ass. There's a laser tag blog and in regards to Laser Zone they said several times in the writeup "if they were only six months earlier...". Who freaking CARES? Because the guy who came up with Photon gave a speech a few years ago and he was either introduced (or he introduced himself) as to being the guy who invented laser tag and if it wasn't for him there wouldn't BE laser tag at all. He either got a wild round of applause or a standing ovation. That's a load of crap if the guy behind S. Laser Force came up with the idea first; his wife in a news group claimed that S. Laser Force was first but research was done and found the first Photon in Dallas was the first and then there was Laser Zone.
Dozens, maybe 100 or more Photons appeared but how long did they last? Not even 10 years. If they were so great, why didn't they last? It makes no difference this was a new technology and each center cost $1 million to open.
Sure, Laser Zone "only" had seven locations, but they lasted nearly 25 years. I think that should be celebrated more than Photon, as an attempt was made for Photon it to be brought back as Photon Qui (or maybe it's Qai, I don't remember), but that lasted even a shorter time, not even being three years, if I remember correctly. Because unless the original Photon guy went to the press for a year before he even came out with the first one, it's very, very, very, very unlikely for Photon to come out, the Laser Zone people to go "hey, that's cool, let's do our own", they planned, created their own equipment, built (or had someone else to do it) their own maze, and opened up the business in only six months after the first Photon. I don't see how that's possible.
Also, me and several kids once played "Star Wars" in third grade where we ran around and shot each other with Lego guns. We had the idea back then, so where's our credit? Many people had the idea before.
I was in high school when I ran across some magazine article (which I ended up saving for years) about some game called "Photon" where you ran around in a maze and you shot other players with some kind of light ray gun or something. That sounded pretty awesome.
I didn't really think much of it at first when some place called Star Laser Force opened up in Houston, as it was also this laser tag thing, so I was already familiar with the idea. Me and several friends went and it was, indeed, freaking AWESOME. That was a real blast. Unfortunately it severely got the shaft because laser tag was thought to be a fad (over 25 years later it's still around...humph), some company bought it out, came out with a home version of it and shut it down, not even lasting three years. (This is a whole other thread altogether about how unfair this was but not the point.)
Supposedly the guy who brought out Star Laser Force had the idea before the Photon guy and was crushed when he saw the same article I did about it and he was beaten to the punch (obviously Star Wars was a huge influence, having come out not only 10 years before).
Laser Zone in Chicago actually came out beforehand as well. So S. Laser Force was the third one EVER in the entire world, which is still pretty cool, but again, that's a totally different thread.
My problem is that people need to stop kissing Photon's ass. There's a laser tag blog and in regards to Laser Zone they said several times in the writeup "if they were only six months earlier...". Who freaking CARES? Because the guy who came up with Photon gave a speech a few years ago and he was either introduced (or he introduced himself) as to being the guy who invented laser tag and if it wasn't for him there wouldn't BE laser tag at all. He either got a wild round of applause or a standing ovation. That's a load of crap if the guy behind S. Laser Force came up with the idea first; his wife in a news group claimed that S. Laser Force was first but research was done and found the first Photon in Dallas was the first and then there was Laser Zone.
Dozens, maybe 100 or more Photons appeared but how long did they last? Not even 10 years. If they were so great, why didn't they last? It makes no difference this was a new technology and each center cost $1 million to open.
Sure, Laser Zone "only" had seven locations, but they lasted nearly 25 years. I think that should be celebrated more than Photon, as an attempt was made for Photon it to be brought back as Photon Qui (or maybe it's Qai, I don't remember), but that lasted even a shorter time, not even being three years, if I remember correctly. Because unless the original Photon guy went to the press for a year before he even came out with the first one, it's very, very, very, very unlikely for Photon to come out, the Laser Zone people to go "hey, that's cool, let's do our own", they planned, created their own equipment, built (or had someone else to do it) their own maze, and opened up the business in only six months after the first Photon. I don't see how that's possible.
Also, me and several kids once played "Star Wars" in third grade where we ran around and shot each other with Lego guns. We had the idea back then, so where's our credit? Many people had the idea before.
*hides*
