pedrocasilva Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 “That slide’s not right. It shouldn’t read 100 megabytes,†Nolan Bushnell says. “We didn’t have 100 megabytes back then.†He should know. Hailed as “The Father of Video Games,†Bushnell is responsible for taking Pong to the masses. And unlike today, he didn’t have the luxury of endless memory and oodles of polygons that young game developers take as a given. “The first element of design is timing.†Timing seems to be something he knows well. Bushnell helped spearhead the gaming boom of the 1970s and early ’80s, making a mint and getting out right before business got bad. Bushnell instead got into the restaurant business, creating Chuck E. Cheese, cashing in on pizza and arcade games. “The second element is clear objectives.†He comes off more as a businessman than a “pure†designer or developer. He even brings graphs and charts to show which market segments could be exploited today. In 1982, he tells us, there were 44 million gamers. Today, there are 18 million. Where’d they all go? “Complexity lost the casual gamer,†he says. “Violence lost the woman gamer.†He ventures into Nintendo territory, even slamming the PS2 controller. “The 3D controller that Nintendo is on to is a very good idea,†he says. “If you look at today’s controller with triangles, Xs, squares and circles, it’s scary. It’s like a keyboard. People are interface phobic.†“The third element is predictability.†All I could read was “machinma.†Bushnell skips the slide before I even have a chance to register the rest of it. “This isn’t very interesting,†he says. Instead, he finishes up his speech with a slide of his latest business venture: uWink. The Father of Gaming is getting in the dating industry. He’s planned a series of pizzerias that have simple tabletop games, which supposedly open up communication between the sexes. The idea itself is intriguing, but I fear that it’s a case of something looking better on paper than in practice. “I guarantee you if I can help guys meet girls, I will make a lot of money,†he says. He wraps up his speech and exits the stage to thunderous applause, while I check my watch to see if he’s gone over his allotted speech time. It seems he has. DIEC 2005 [Ritsumeikan University] Source: http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/diec-2005/diec-ataris-founder-slams-sony-praises-nintendo-140629.php A praise is a praise... and... does this mean he's getting a revo? does he want to play pong-revolution in it? he's right about simplicity though, Pong is about the simplest game ever, meaning anyone can play it, and one of those classics who will never have a film on cinemas (cough* DOOM, Halo, Resident Evil and Mario *cough) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pit-Jr Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 18 million? where did he get that number. The PS2 alone sold near 5 times that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Link Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 18 million? where did he get that number. The PS2 alone sold near 5 times thatNah, It's just that each PS2 owner gets through about 5 consoles! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowser57 Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 The thing is, Bushnell stole the idea for Pong from Ralph Baer, so he's in no position to be slinging mud really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pedrocasilva Posted December 3, 2005 Author Share Posted December 3, 2005 18 million? where did he get that number. The PS2 alone sold near 5 times thatmaybe he means regular gamers, like in, hardcore gamers, and probably he mentions only america numbers, Playstation 2 sold like 32 million units there, counting people who bought it for their homes and children and didn't play much, and broken consoles (a lot of them, but that's to expect) maybe, I wouldn't really doubt there's only 18 million harcore gamers there, as for example, xbox live as far as I know reached 1 million users in 2004 and didn't reach 2 million yet. My mom was a player back in the 80's, now all she plays is DS (a lot) but she had like 10 years, where she didn't play anything anymore. The thing is, Bushnell stole the idea for Pong from Ralph Baer, so he's in no position to be slinging mud really.I didn't knew that :X Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triforce_keeper Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 well I think hes right!!!! I hate sony and this is good yay!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liquid_Vegeta Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 well I think hes right!!!! I hate sony and this is good yay!!! Thanks for that, to be honest Bushnell isn't the kind of person whose advice I would take to heart, as previously mentioned he stole Pong and helped oversaturate the market so while responsible for gaming as we know it he was also responsible for nearly killing it in the market crash of the 80's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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