Million Dollar Ideas and Missed Opportunities

I have to rant here because I'm f*cking pissed off. There was a recent thread on here asking for us to give game ideas to someone who hacked a Wii. This got me thinking about an old idea for a game I had a few years back. In high school I had to read Dante's Inferno and while most of the kids hated it, I rather enjoyed it. For those of you who haven't read the book, it's actually a three part epic poem written by Dante Alighieri around 1308 titled The Divine Comedy consisting of Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), and Paradiso (Paradise). Dante's Inferno is about Dante's journey through Hell which is composed of 9 layers. Each layer consists of a different group of sinners. The more terrible the sin, the further down you were in this spiraling Hell. The last layer consisted of Lucifer (the Devil), who had three heads which constantly chewed on the bodies of Judas (the Jew who betrayed Jesus), Brutus, and Cassius (the two friends who betrayed Julius Caesar).

One day after Rugby practice and a couple of beers, my teammate and I were bull****ing and thought it would be a great idea to make a video game based on this book. We imaged some bada$$ mutha bursting into Hell and fighting and killing his way to the Devil where he would behead that son of a b*tch, one head at a time. There would have to be non-stop killing and violence to keep the game entertaining, of course, and since it's only 9 layers we wanted to make the game hard as sh*t to beat. Being the lazy piece of sh*t that I am though, the idea never took off. I decided to tell the Wii hacker about the game just to see it out there, so I googled Dante's Inferno to brush up on it before pouring out ideas. Guess what is the first thing that pops up under google? Dante's Inferno Game Official Site. I sh*t you not. Apparently, Visceral Games and EA are teaming up to make this a game next year. I feel like such a dumba$$ for not doing anything with this great idea. I even had a roommate who's cousin worked for EA Sports. All in all though, I bet the game is bada$$.

So, I'm curious, how many of you have had million dollar ideas that you end up seeing in the market? Couldn't you just kick yourself for not doing anything about it?

I once designed a "Jump to Conclusion's Mat". Haven't manufactured any yet, but basically, you take a mat you see, with different Conclusion written on it. Then when ever you have a problem, you literally JUMP to the conclusion!

But seriously. I invented "ttyl" in junior high for instant messaging, but nobody believes me!

I invented the internet. Al Gore stole my idea.

I invented Post-Its.

I've don't like to brag about it but I invented Earth, boobies, and sex.

I thought of these a few years before they showed up but didn't do anything with the idea.

Innovations Proflate-16

Back in 1994 or 1995 I asked to borrow $5000 from my mom to buy a stock called AOL and she said no. Six years later that $5000 would've been almost 10 million.

Do you remind your mom occasionally?

I invented the cubical magnet clips. Everyone uses them, but they never think about where they come from. Such a thankless effort.

I once worked in an electronics R&D company. Granted, they were mostly sensors and controllers, but I mentioned an idea for an MP3 player that would fit into a cassette cartridge so you could play MP3s on a cassette player. (back when 128MB was considered huge).

One of the engineers gave several reasons why it couldn't be done. I was a bit upset, because I didn't really agree with him on battery life, etc. I knew that people had MP3 players, and there cassette adapters already, so why not merge them?

Well, I went back to my desk and did a google search and the first return was the SAME THING I was thinkign of, except they also had the insight to include a headphone jack so you could listen without a cassette player.

There have been several other ideas, but I can't remember them off the top of my head.

Homercidal said:

I once worked in an electronics R&D company. Granted, they were mostly sensors and controllers, but I mentioned an idea for an MP3 player that would fit into a cassette cartridge so you could play MP3s on a cassette player. (back when 128MB was considered huge).

One of the engineers gave several reasons why it couldn't be done. I was a bit upset, because I didn't really agree with him on battery life, etc. I knew that people had MP3 players, and there cassette adapters already, so why not merge them?

Well, I went back to my desk and did a google search and the first return was the SAME THING I was thinkign of, except they also had the insight to include a headphone jack so you could listen without a cassette player.

There have been several other ideas, but I can't remember them off the top of my head.

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This is a very good idea. Not only the idea itself but the thought process you used to arrive at it (merging incoming with outgoing technology). You should keep feeding you thoughts and keep thinking. It is your kind of mind that could/will solve a lot of problems. It is ok if you find someone else has also thought of a similar idea; that should only reinforce that it was a good idea. Keep going!

IrregularPulse said:

Do you remind your mom occasionally?

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Yes. I would've thought the 200 and 300 dollar phone bills I was running up to connect to AOL would'be been a good indicator of things to come, but obviously not.

Brutus Brewer said:

Yes. I would've thought the 200 and 300 dollar phone bills I was running up to connect to AOL would'be been a good indicator of things to come, but obviously not.

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haha for me it would have been an indicator of me being out on my ass! haha $200-$300 phone bills? If my kid ever does that he won't eat for a month to pay it back.

dataz722 said:

I've don't like to brag about it but I invented Earth, boobies, and sex.

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In that case, I have you to thank. Because I'm particularly fond of all of those.

I had a coworker once come up with the idea of combining kool aid and sugar, then portion it out to add to a bottle of water. Everyone told her that she should put it in writing and find out how to patent it. Then about a year and a half later, it was on the shelves. Just thinking that she really could have had a gold mine on her hands if she followed through.

jmendez29 said:

In that case, I have you to thank. Because I'm particularly fond of all of those.

I had a coworker once come up with the idea of combining kool aid and sugar, then portion it out to add to a bottle of water. Everyone told her that she should put it in writing and find out how to patent it. Then about a year and a half later, it was on the shelves. Just thinking that she really could have had a gold mine on her hands if she followed through.

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Maybe she did...


I had an idea as a kid to create a drinking cup that had a straw built into the handle. Saw it in a grocery store a few years later.

FOILED!

i invented spinners

Overdue4Brew said:

i invented spinners

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Sure you want to admit that?

IrregularPulse said:

haha for me it would have been an indicator of me being out on my ass! haha $200-$300 phone bills? If my kid ever does that he won't eat for a month to pay it back.

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I was just out of college and working so I was paying the bill. Otherwise I would've been out on my ass.

I bought 200 shares of Starbucks at their IPO arround 92 or 93.

in 96-99, I slowly sold off the stock. my $3500 investment paid for my $45,000 college education, and a $12,000 car!!!

If i skipped college, and sold it at it's prime, it would have been arround 2.3million dollars. That could have been invested in a safe moneymarket account and turned into 5-6million by today, and i could have retired by the age of 35.

EvilTOJ said:

I invented Post-Its.

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Liar! My uncle did.


Actually, sorta true - he was on the 3M research team that came up with it...

AZ_IPA said:

Liar! My uncle did.


Actually, sorta true - he was on the 3M research team that came up with it...

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They needed a research team to invent post it notes? :cross:

...just kidding, no need to explain.

I by mistake invented glasses that could see through clothing....but only women's and only the good looking ones. Dropped them and they broke and forgot how I did it and didn't take notes.

My idea about 8-10 years ago when flash drives first came out was to put one in the detachable faceplate of your car stereo so you can play MP3's.

Enter the iPod.....

About a year before it hit the market, I thought up the concept for Jolt Cola in the middle of a rant at a 7-11 clerk once; they were out of Coca-Cola; how the hell does a 7-11 run out of Coca-Cola? I thought up airconditioned clothing about 20 years ago. I thought up the concept of ebooks in 1979.

More recently, I've come up with a runway debris detection system. I came up with an idea for a multi freq remote trigger for EOD units to use against IED's. I'm working on adapting the airconditioned clothing idea to be used with body armor. I've also thought of a plastic storage tub design for homebrewers to maximize storage space for "bottle bunkers." So far, nobody who is able to help make these ideas into reality has shown the least bit of interest. Regards, GF.