Sega’s Activator, aka the retro Kinect
The Sega Activator was an odd duck, for sure, but it was also the first full-body motion controller, predating the Xbox 360’s Kinect motion control add-on by over a decade.
Designed by Sega and Interactive Light, 1993’s Activator was an octagon-shaped ring you placed on the floor and plugged into your Sega Genesis. You could then, in theory, kick and punch, and a game would interpret those actions to make your in-game character do the same. In practice, it wasn’t a great way to play most games. Any games, if we’re being honest.
