Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Elford Stephens, Phil Thomas, and Andy Hunter. We celebrate one year of video game controversies with a mulit-part series on how video games got age ratings in the United States.  

In today's episode, we  look back at tech fads that influenced the way people thought about video games, starting with virtual reality. Would VR give us the Holodeck or the horrors of the Lawnmower Man?  And how did the seemingly limitless possibilities of virtual reality influence video games?

Topics discussed include:  The surprisingly long history of VR; the potential marketing benefits of the Data Codpiece™; how VR invaded TV, movies, and video games; and the possibilities and pitfalls of "teledildonics."  

Check out Fatroll Gaming (Phil's Elden Ring show): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4AxENRyXMhWlPG14-fgTog 

Theme Music: Occam's Sikhwee by Sikh Knowledge (Free Music Archive: https://bit.ly/33G4sLO), used under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US (https://bit.ly/33JXogQ) 

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com.