Wonderbook: PlayStation's Least Used Feature | The Golden Bolt

It's a book. Wait no don't leave yet it's more interesting than that.
Thanks to Ekster for sponsoring this video! Use my code GOLDEN at www.ekster.com/pages/lp_influ... to get up to 25% off!
Subscribe for more! bit.ly/TGBSub
Support future videos! / thegoldenbolt
Follow me on Twitter! / thegoldenbolt
Become a Channel Member! / @thegoldenbolt
Chapters
0:00 Intro
3:08 History: 1999 Origins & International Infighting
10:54 Wonderbook: Book of Spells
15:26 Wonderbook: Book of Potions
19:17 Walking with Dinosaurs
24:05 Diggs Nightcrawler: The Wonderbook's best title
"The Golden Bolt Theme" composed by AllHailBuckets. Show him some love on Spotify or your music service of choice! open.spotify.com/artist/2dWDm...
This video is not intended for viewers under 13 years of age, and may contain content inappropriate for such viewers. Parental guidance suggested.
#TheGoldenBolt #PS3

[@TheGoldenBolt]

The Wii's Least Used Feature: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qoHXnWuEg9WWepo More like one-hit Wonderbook. If this made you chuckle, please like the video so my family stops calling me a disappointment.

[@lepels]

Super polished video, I'd never heard of the Wonderbook!

[@Capta1nAsh]

Book so rare that it wasn’t even in Astro’s playroom

[@PopitTart_]

the mention of "yes, im treating the Vita itself as an accessory" reminds me of another feature in the running for Least Used PlayStation Feature Ever: Cross-Controller. Not Cross-Play or Remote Play, this is instead a seperate feature that games had to actually design for. It essentially made the Vita work like a Wii U gamepad, and there were also only 4 games to support it! One of which, LBP 2, even locks it behind paid DLC.

[@NottJoeyOfficial]

That actually sounds cool, do you happen to know the other games that support it?

[@XJLuna]

@@NottJoeyOfficial The Deus Ex game on ps3 supports it. I bought it specifically because of that feature and then never played it.

[@ExtraThiccc]

​@@XJLunait works very badly. The game's performance halves while it's activated, and the TouchPad doesn't even work

[@TheGoldenBolt]

I didn't think somebody would actually get the dig as a reference so quickly, rather than just a fun poke at the Vita! I thought about mentioning it and ruining the joke, but I figured there's a good chance there's a fifth game out there that supports Cross-Controller that'd break the tie.

[@jesusramirezromo2037]

honestly would be a cool feature for people who owned both Imagine someone owning two switches being able to play Wii U ports on dual screens like they would on Wii U

[@goldglovegrappler1382]

I watched E3 every year for roughly a decade because of all the guaranteed online discourse and even owned a PS3 and I have absolutely zero recollection of this at all.

[@R3AL-AIM]

Same thing here. I had both a 360/PS3, eventually having the Kinect and messing with my buddies PSMove. After having the PS2 EyeToy, I saw it safe not to invest in PSMove 😂 Even though the Kinect wasn't much more useful outside of Skype, the mic and voice commands.

[@Ronbotnik]

same here, and i fell for ALL of sonys gimmicky stuff at the time. I had the ps move, i had the ps eye, i preordered the vita! and i have literally never seen nor heard of this book before today lol

[@SmokeyChipOatley]

If this video dropped on April 1st I would have believed it to be an elaborate prank.

[@ShinYaguchiSama]

Same Is this the Mandela effect

[@kricku]

I remember the game but I must have missed the part where it's a peripheral

[@MarikoRawralton]

The Wonderbook feels like a long lost Labo experiment that Nintendo never produced.

[@RadeonVega64]

yep

[@albertand2484]

I was one of the kids that owned a Wonderbook (still have it now) and thought it was the coolest thing ever (do not think that anymore, it is mildly interesting at best lol)

[@UnabridgedGamer]

"Odds are good you've never seen one in the wild" ... *Quietly holds up his Wonderbook with a copy of Diggs Nightcrawler* I've been meaning to do a video of my own on it for a bit, but it got buried during a house move. XD

[@bilalbekele367]

My guy will find the least known feature of anything and make a documentary out of it

[@TheDeadmanTT]

I literally don't remember 2012, I was drunk that decade. But thanks for catching me up on noteworthy events.

[@lollaus]

I had the chance to participate in a hands-on and interviewing one of the SCE London developers here in Italy back in 2012. Then I bought all the 4 games and I have 2 copy of the books, all taken at low price. I must admin that it was a nice mixed reality experiment and Sony could have push more on it.

[@BigNerdSam]

WHY THE FISH EATING A CARROT SOUND AT 3:45

[@octoisgay]

the ps2 was hungry smh

[@ghostbabel]

As someone who had / has an autistic hyperfixation on PlayStation / Sony and it’s history, I have never ever heard of this and I’m shocked that this left the drawing board 💀

[@terabitez3374]

I must be having a Mandela effect situation because I vividly remember there being one more wonder book game that was muppets/sesame street

[@SamsonSilvo]

Something like Wonderbook would work great nowadays with modern AR headset technology like the Meta Quest 3 or Apple's upcoming headset. Imagine controlling a tiny game world popping out of a physical book or game board that you're seeing not through a camera feed on your TV but *looking directly at* through your headset, with the headset's stereoscopy making said tiny world look like something you could actually touch!

[@SamsonSilvo]

@@SqualidsargeStudios LOL, I just used Apple's headset as an example of a VR headset that's AR compatible. I never said it was the best option. XD

[@jesusramirezromo2037]

And even less people would use it...

[@bland9876]

What you're describing reminds me of those AR cards that came with the 3DS. They were pretty cool but at the same time it makes sense that they didn't really catch on.

[@TheOneNamedMrLife]

I genuinely love your retrospectives into the lesser-known aspects of Playstation's history. I hope that you will do a Knack retrospective one day.

[@TheGoldenBolt]

I fear for that day

[@SamuelSarette]

Diggs Nightcrawler is the GOAT - I still have my book just for that

[@shannonbateswillis5022]

I’m so JEALOUS about that, my friend! What do you love about it, and would you buy a sequel?

[@tipulsar85]

I do wonder what would have happened if both Move and Wonderbook teams were allowed to cross pollinate so that the AR support of Playstation was just as ingrained in a PS5 world as the VR2. And what affect that might have had on Microsoft AR, which died on the vine. Yes, I think being able to explore ANY Minecraft world in full 3D normal space is a great idea, sepecially if it were to involve the crazy scene of modded Java edition.

[@erbkaiser_]

I picked up the Book of Spells around late 2017 when I saw it gathering dust on a shelf at my local games store. It was the only copy they ever got in and it never sold, so I got it for cheap. I loved the Wonderbook concept and quickly bought the other three games. My then-five year old niece and I played through all of Dinosaurs together. Interesting to see the history behind this all. That the Move controller was shoe-horned in makes so much sense, as the Wonderbook has more in common conceptually with the 'pure' AR that was probably the PS Vita's least used feature.

[@Jonkopaus]

I f'in had this as a child and was so hyped about it.... only getting to play the weird sport game :(

[@RainbowMan9407]

Funny thing: I actually know about this because of Caddicarus mentioning it twice in his PS1 accessories video. I can't believe that this accessory exists.

[@ExtraThiccc]

Same

[@daveintheAM]

Man, i dont even remember him mentioning it lmao

[@diegomedina9637]

Did i hear correctly? someone else acknowleged The Getaway: Black Monday? Now thats a deep cut.

[@-Down-D-Stairs-]

I remember this being shown off at E3 and being absolutely baffled as to what it was and who it was intended for

[@hermannandreaskran9392]

I remember the book, even got it to play the book of spells. Was a short but fun experience

[@BugsyFoga]

Take a look, It’s in a book.

[@ShaderKite]

I saw "The PS3's Least Used Feature" in the title, looked at the thumbnail, saw the wonderbook and sighed :/ I also was one of the few kids whose parents bought them a Wonderbook with one game (The Book of Spells :/). Shame it didn't really go anywhere. It's still there at my parent's home heh Maybe I'll try to get ahold of Diggs Nightcrawler and play it some day :D

[@Dirvinator]

I bought the Wonderbook for an easy Platinum Trophy then returned it the next day. I wonder how many other trophy hunters were as dedicated/delusional?

[@xAleksi22]

Trophy Hunter here Just bought a Wonderbook and all 4 games for easy platinum trophies 😂

[@pemitaza_]

You know its the least used feature when you only find out that it exists now.

[@filipgondol1299]

I own all 4 wonderbook games and i gotta say diggs nightcrawler was my favorite in czech dabing

[@Mrchair905]

Wow I completely missed this somehow, literally zero recollection of this lol.

[@JamesLawner]

The Book of Spells was the only thing I knew about in regards to Wonderbook. That Diggs Nightcrawler game looks sick tho.

[@alwaysabiggafish3305]

I worked alongside one of the designers of the book of spells back when I was working on Rocksmith

[@MiniMii550]

Honestly thought the sixaxis motion functionality on the ps3 controller would be the most useless thing on the console but I am surprised to find out there’s was actually something far more underutilized

[@Ospyro3em]

I do vaguely remember the the trailer for the Harry Potter one, but I had no idea there were others!

[@connorbeith3232]

I mainly heard about it when it showed up as a collectible in Astro's Playroom (it may've gotten a PS Stars trophy as well, but I could be wrong), but it's neat to see what potential it had. Though I have to disagree with your conclusion, while I don't think their creativity should be unregulated, I do think a spark of that creativity should be brought back to PS. Like yeah, it was streamlined, but it was done too much to the point where they mainly make one type of game now. And while I do respect what most of the new franchises do and recognize they have an audience, it's resulted in PS not having many options for kids/families, with the only first-party offerings being R&C, Sackboy, and Astro.

[@Voltana2]

Have Diggs Nightcrawler sitting on the shelf but never played it. Might actually go and give it a try after watching this. Great video!

[@Totavier]

Funny story, I own a Wonderbook, I actually bought the Book of Spells bundle many years ago for 5$, I did it mostly for the "lulz" and mock the game in see how bad it would be. But the joke's was on me because I actually ended up loving this thing and had a great time with it, heck it was probably one of the very few PS Move games that I really enjoyed to play it. After Book of Spells, I bought in my dummy European PSN account the digital bundle of Walking with Dinosaurs and Detective Diggs (it cost only 10€ over there, way cheaper than find the physical copies or buy each game separate digitally on the PS Stores of America) and again both games were pretty good, the only one that I'm missing to play is the Book of Potions. Anyway in any case it's a nice retrospective video but I'm disagree, the Wonderbook wasn't the less used PS peripheral feature on the PS3, that achievement goes to the PS Move Racing Wheel, that thing was probably the biggest peripheral fiasco that Sony made to the PS3, mostly because only TWO games were compatible with that thing: LittleBigPlanet Karting and Need for Speed: Most Wanted and that's it, I mean heck not even Gran Turismo 6 was compatible with it, lol!

[@punk51984]

I still have this - legit found it in my closet while cleaning.

[@TheJapanmonte]

These are my favorite type of videos as someone who loves odd video game history. I always remember this e3 and was curious what happened to it! Thanks for making this video

[@Yorm_]

Your Commentary is always so good! I aspire to have mine like that 👏🏽

[@catholiccontriversy]

I remember seeing this and thinking "this will flop." I was right

[@kiwirocket64]

MAN i love weird AR shit like this honestly the AR cards on the 3ds are so goofy and weird same with this game its got some cool weirdness to it

[@JuniperMe]

Got all 4 on clearance when EB was getting rid of ps3 stuff, also the eyepet ps3 game. I thought diggs looked cool, but after seeing eyepet one of the kids thought it was so creepy they weren't interested in checking out the actual wonderbook stuff lol. I still have them in my pile of peripherals, still want to actually play Diggs one day. Also have eye of judgement but never had a big enough play field in front of the tv to test it properly. Got a load of cards for it too, but none of the hard to find 2nd/3rd series.

[@Corbellations]

I wasn't planning on it today, but looks like a good day for another Golden Bolt marathon

[@thomaskuzma4360]

You know what's weird? A genre of games that could work with this is 3D Platformers!

[@ytfisthisathing]

Oh yeah, this could have worked for a Terraway game, how I didn't I thought of it before?

[@jardex2275]

It would be perfect for Captain Toad's Treasure Trackers. Each of those levels takes place in a shadowbox anyways.

[@Definitely_a_Fox]

What do you mean "Never seen out in the wild"? I saw like, 25 of them down at my local retro store!

[@macaronimatt5531]

Fantastic retrospective, always remember seeing the commercial for this one and thinking it looked cool

[@asfdasdful]

Thank you for the countless hours you put into this video.

[@nathonso_edits]

Loved the eye toy back on the PS2, but I didn't even know this existed. It's also very interesting to know that the move was in development around the same time as the Wii, Nintendo just kind of beat them to it and had motion controls be the main focus, bundled with the console and cheaper than the PS3

[@suntannedduck2388]

Heard about Wonderbook but never saw other than ads. I saw 1 Wonderbook game in my local retro game store and didn't get it as don't have both only Move no Wonderbook so I do wonder how they were the few games that uses it/wasn't sure if it'd be my thing so got Sorcery instead as a good enough magic adventure. If Wonderbook is like EyePet but a book/story/spells then sure.

[@roryisgaming]

I've had this video idea for ages I'm glad this is being covered lol (I have two wonderbooks 💀)

[@The11michelle47]

I remember this so vividly funny enough! This was when I got really serious into watching the reveals. I thought it looked so awesome and never even realized it got made.

[@bland9876]

Wow a wallet commercial thats not Ridge. Didn't see that coming. I personally don't like these kinds of wallets but the ones with the button that slide out are cooler so I'm glad to see a sponsor spot for one of them vs the Ridge that doesn't have that feature.

[@zerghunter3545]

I had one when i was a kid it was fun. I had the harry potter game and the dino one, wasn't sure but the horrible pet one was there 😂 it was bad because there was never enough light

[@alex_-yz9to]

Whats funny is that eyepet originates from the PSP... so i dont know why they decided to move it up like that

[@jordanwhite352]

FINALLY someone covered this this. I was already way out of the industry at this point, but there was a part of me that when I saw this goofy tech all I could think was is that it would be very useful to make a really interesting video game adaption of a Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age.

[@johntroutman7256]

This was great! Thanks for another interesting video.

[@FatDave2112]

Shoutout to your Tokyo Jungle shoutout! That game is dope. Bought it for a dollar, played for 400 hours. If you have the PS+ streaming package, it's totally worth checking out.

[@InhabitantOfOddworld]

I remember getting the Wonderbook and Book of Spells for Christmas one year

[@bosscomplex]

i have sealed big box copies of both the HP "book of" games. should just finish the set finally

[@SoManyHaystacks]

Hearing about Wonderbook here when the video first dropped was such a fun discovery. Fast forward a bit, and i managed to get the full setup and all 4 games for a little less than $100.

[@Swedishmafia101MemeCorporation]

I remember using those weird wand things with the original Playstation VR. They... weren't great. 💀

[@SamuelSarette]

They were amazing for Move stuff. They weren't designed as VR controllers

[@RAFMnBgaming]

I've had some experience with them and... they're ok as long as you get the early ps3 ones with magnetometers that actually keep the tracking working for long periods (good on sony making an unannounced running change to their wands to make them worse for VR on the console they built the VR for), but... still, no sticks/touchpads so that's a bit of a dealbreaker for modern VR. (Clarification, they removed the magnetometers mid PS3 run with no announcement or way to tell which ones have it other than by serial numbers, but didn't add them back for the PS4 versions anyway despite PSVR)

[@ch3burashka]

6:00 I literally started watching Eye of Judgment trailers while this played in the background.

[@hambor12]

I only remember this because Jerma985 had three videos of him using Wonderbooks from EIGHT years ago, posted on his main channel years before he moved to twitch.

[@MyNameDolan]

I'm a huge PlayStation simp and I've never heard of this thing

[@emmajeane]

book of spells being on sale at the gamestop i worked at for like 3 bucks was my in on buying a ps move finally lol

[@BurritoKingdom]

Steel Battalion tank controls was the least used peripheral. Though that's for the Xbox.

[@jamesgrieve8435]

I really wanted this and could never find it, I was really bummed out about it. The card game was disappointing they didn't bring out more. I have it but forgot the name.

[@blueblur98]

Eye of Judgment?

[@jamesgrieve8435]

@@blueblur98 yes that was it thank you. I was going through my boxes of games and systems to see what it was, but I can stop now. Thank you

[@trevorhock8442]

I’m pretty sure I only saw the wonder book just one time, got excited, and then never saw anything about it until now

[@AkiDave]

Great video!

[@GeekExplosion]

I remember getting this for Christmas and it was …. An experience (?)

[@Luca-zt3oo]

oh i remember it. i was a harry potter junkie as a kid and i might have gotten it for christmas or something. had some fun and then forgotten about it lol

[@jetcore4598]

I actually had the wonder book, I had no idea how I learned of it back in the day and only ever got the book of spells but I’m a sucker for some good AR so that’s probably why I got it

[@xerxesYt123]

i would really like to hear some insiders from past developers of the technology into its process and its downfall of the forgotten/less used features of the PlayStation

[@Stelios78910]

Diggs looks sick ngl. Get this worm in PlayStation All-Stars 2 (if it ever happens) 😉

[@RotroBreakteve]

I loooove weird deep cuts like this

[@danshimandle1938]

We had Book of Spells and it was really good, I didn’t know there were other games for the Wonderbook.

[@domportera]

it's surprising howbdeeply creative some of those game mechanics are. some of the neatest ideas are just doomed to die huh

[@TeruteruBozusama]

I remember seeing it, but I never heard of the games so I thought it was something like Sega Pico or something..!

[@mrbransformer4184]

This thing looked so neat.😊

[@knightofarkronia9968]

I wish they’d bring the Wonderbook back! Maybe make it for multiple consoles!

[@liamaspinall6906]

I still have my move controllers, I use them for vr, I still have a ps3, and that ratchet/spyro/sly game and should actually try the game once again

[@blackomet5049]

Daaaaamn, I remember Jerma playing with this thing before he was a streamer

[@thekrinerscoop]

This Is such an Interesting video. Thank you for Sharing. Never heard of this before. Have a like! 🎉

[@tutacat]

The book is a very different controller to the motion wand. The move controller is more versatile because you can do more things interactively, with the buttons on it.

[@tutacat]

Simple QR on camera all the time is easier to track than matching gyroscope and light ball (no rotation other than the gyroscope)

[@otaking3582]

I bought this for my mom one Christmas, because she's a huge Harry Potter fan. I don't think she ever used it, though.

[@bobmcguffin5706]

Having only 1 launch game also probably hampered chances of getting traction. If you show off a system (even one that's a peripheral for a peripheral) the next question is "oh wow what can it do?". The next next question is "oh wow what else?"

[@vargsieber]

Had one of those because when i bought a PS3 in 2012 a bundle with a PS3, the whole move setup, a wonderbook and the dinosaur game was about 25€ cheaper than a PS3 by itself. Never used it, but i had it.

[@jorgediegoolivieri]

As a former owner of Wonderbook, i must say it was amusing at best. Always felt like something was missing. After watching your video, now i know... Great stuff as always. How about one focused on THE EYE OF JUDGMENT while we are on the subject?

[@garioshi6525]

How many games were compatible with the PS3's printer feature?

[@lordeilluminati]

The games didnt exactly need to be compatible with the printer itself, unlike the same feature on the PS2. You could print photos and screenshots from the system itself

[@BullockDS]

That last segment really resonates with me - it feels like the 7th console gen had a ton of wasted potential, especially with the start of the generation promising MASSIVE market growth thanks to the expanded gaming market facilitated by the likes of Wii Sports and the rapid popularization of yearly shooters/sports games (plus Japanese console gaming experiencing a sort of "dark age"). And by the time the market DID "allow" for developers to tap into that lost potential, it was too late and the generation was visibly on the way out (plus in cases like the Wonderbook, relegated to much more niche avenues of exposure than their general platforms) in favor of a generation that was shaping up to be largely far more homogenized than ever before. Even the likes of the WiiU and 3DS saw developers quickly downplay those systems' gimmicks, the Kinect was trusted about as far as it could be thrown after the Xbone's disastrous reveal, and PSVR was a modest success but wasn't nearly representative of the PS4 platform as a whole (not to mention how badly PSVR2 has seemed to fizzle out).

[@SuperRandomNation]

15:27 is that Ni no Kuni music I hear?

[@dudeswerock]

Please do a BUZZ video, i still play buzz today and the legacy of it is huge

[@Smoke393]

I learned about this from Jerma’s old videos

[@SHADOW_MASTER05]

I have this thing, I had eyepet and I loved that game as a kid and then I got the wonder book and I loved it as well, I liked a lot off stuff to do with it

[@CreativeWM_Personal]

I have one of those somewhere, I only have Books Of Spells and I wish I had the other games TBH

[@just_so_meh_]

As a man who is interested in these products recently, as i started PlayStation console games and trophy hunting a few years ago, i love seeing these nifty things and be willing to collect these things and go and finish up these games that are long forgotten. I wanna collect these nifty things and work on them badly, and who knows when ilk get my hands on vr, the book, joycons, and even the camera.

[@captaintijn3511]

i owned it but i only have the book and are probaly going to trow it away but i hope it comes back its greast to learn things from it i had a game with it that were i learned alot about dinosaures. i hope that they remake it, it was alot of fun learning.

[@kiwirocket64]

i know EXACTLY what im doing after this video im printing a GIANT ar card for my 3ds

[@veronicavaes4581]

The PS Move was pretty good. There's a reason the same hardware was used for the first VR headset's controllers. I'm not surprised this all worked pretty well.

[@flamshiz]

diggs reminds me of the VR game down the rabbit hole