Funniest examples of "next big thing" failures?

</div></div></div></div></div>I remember seeing that thing set up in Gamestop stores as a kid and even then I thought it was a terrible idea and didn't know how it would ever catch on. Also VideoNow, the JuiceBox(some crappy media player that Cartoon Network heavily promoted in 2005 or so) and the advent of releasing movies and TV show episodes on GBA cartridges. I couldn't understand the appeal of those one bit(the first VideoNow could only show videos in black and white for crying out loud) I almost laughed out loud at the TV ads trying so hard to sell the VideoNow.

Speaking of things only being shown in black and white there was also the Game.com, how anyone ever thought that piece of crap could ever compete with other handheld gaming systems is beyond my comprehension.

For another failed media format there was Divx(not the video format of the same name that people use now, supposedly they bought the rights to the name or something like that). It was a short-lived competitor to DVD heavily promoted by Circuit City in the late 90s, the gimmick was after you rented the discs they would only be good for 48 hours and you could only watch them through some special cable box(or something like that) that you paid a monthly subscription for. Many argued that Circuit City investing and promoting that failed format so heavily was one of the main reasons that led to their downfall. The Divx streaming service was discontinued in 2001 so all of those Divx releases became useless overnight(and they were already arguably obsolete when they came out as apparently the video quality was lousy with all of the releases being in fullscreen instead of widescreen like DVDs and some VHS tapes at the time had and picture quality was worse overall to the point where it barely looked better then a VCD)and now only exist in the wild as expensive drink coasters(unless there's some way to crack and play them that i'm not aware of yet).

</div>Oh wow, between you and a semi-recent Scott the Woz video, I had forgotten those "wannabe" portable video players for kids in the early-mid 00s, they were advertised like crazy on TV and in magazines and part of me wanted one even though I was already past the target demographic, I just wanted to watch some cable TV mmmmkayyyy XD Nicktendo did a great comprehensive video on Gameboy Advance video years ago. TBH, I think they would have done better in the early-mid 90s, when "portable video" was completely novel (my own family used to hall a combined TV/VHS player on long trips and it was a BEAR to get set up).  I have heard of Juicebox, but that's about it, know nothing else about it.
The Gamecom probably looked old even THEN. Similar to the Nokia Ngage, but at least that thing LOOKED more like a video game console, and was somewhat visually appealing.
Thanks for the info on Divx! That definitely qualifies for the thread, and it's one I hadn't heard of, even though I used to go to Circuit City back when it was a thing, and quite liked the show. I feel like "individual company store pushed products" have very mixed results, and lean more negative. Had no idea that anyone tried to compete with DVD either, VCDs of course existed, but those weren't popular at all in the USA, only abroad. 

Thanks for sharing! I have seen a video on the "high definition VHS," and it was such an interesting idea.
Definitely haven't heard much of those other failed formats, outside of Laserdisc which was of course VERY successful in Japan.
The Nuon was actually mentioned in some panel I was in recently, what a strange idea, I guess if you made it work like visual novels or point and click games...maybe? But I could never see studios wanting to push all that effort into a "weird hybrid thing" when they could just release like extra games WITH the movie itself as special features in the DVD, or these days, push out a cheap mobile game thing.