NolanBushnell
Latest
GDC retracts award for Atari founder amid online outcry
Yesterday, organizers for the upcoming Game Developers Conference announced the lineup for the 18th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards, and topping that list were honors for a trio of men who helped build gaming as we know it: Vlambeer co-founder Rami Ismail (Ambassador Award), Double Fine founder Tim Schafer (Lifetime Achievement), and Atari founder Nolan Bushnell (Pioneer Award). But an outcry followed for the latter, and the hashtag #NotNolan surfaced anecdotes of sexual misconduct and harassment that Bushnell had encouraged in Atari's offices during its heydey in the 70s -- stories that he'd actually given in interviews. A day later, GDC officially retracted its award to Bushnell.
Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell launches a VR company
Atari's Nolan Bushnell is busier than ever these days -- in addition to his mobile game efforts, the video game pioneer is launching a virtual reality company. Modal VR is promising a combination of hardware and software that delivers high-end virtual experiences of the sort that make an HTC Vive or Oculus Rift seem like small potatoes. It's completely wireless, low latency (under 10 milliseconds) and accommodates multiple users in areas as large as 900,000 square feet. There are full body tracking suits, to boot. Instead of limiting you to sit-down or room-scale VR, developers could create immersive experiences that fill whole fields and warehouses.
Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell is making mobile games
Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell has teamed up with a small Amsterdam studio to develop and publish new mobile games. Bushnell created the iconic Atari brand in 1972, and oversaw the release of classic systems such as the Atari 2600. He was ousted from the company six years later and ran a bunch of other businesses before returning to Atari's board of directors in 2010. Spil Games, meanwhile, is a relatively unknown name that specializes in mobile and browser-based titles. Bushnell has signed on to develop three games with the studio, with the first scheduled for release in early 2017. We'll soon see if he still has some of that old Atari magic.
Atari founder Nolan Bushnell is betting on iOS, Android to win mobile gaming battle against Nintendo
Nintendo is in a strange place right now. With its home console sales waning, the company has been leaning on the success of the 3DS handheld in order to keep it in the black. But as iOS and Android devices gain power and prominence, Atari founder Nolan Bushnell is betting on the big N to lose the war. Speaking with the BBC, the 70-year-old Bushnell explains that dedicated handheld gaming systems just don't seem to make much sense any longer. "I don't think handheld game-only devices make sense anymore, not when you have an iPod or an Android microtablet. When it comes to the console market, I think the market is truncating," he explains. Of course, this is also the same man who went (jokingly) digging in the desert for discarded copies of the abysmal Atari 2600 version of E.T, so maybe we should take his opinion with a small grain of salt. I've written at length about the risk mobile platforms like iOS pose to gaming as a whole, and while I don't believe console or PC gamers have much to worry about, it's fairly clear at this point that portable systems like the 3DS are going to have to step up their game in order to remain relevant. Still, the battle isn't an easy win for iOS either, and the lack of physical control input is a definite hurdle that will need to be overcome before a victor can truly be declared.
Daily Update for April 9, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Atari's Nolan Bushnell on finding the next Steve Jobs
Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell took a chance on Steve Jobs when he hired the young non-conformist in 1974. Bushnell recounts that decision and his ensuing friendship with Steve Jobs in his recent book Finding The Next Steve Jobs. The book is not a biography about the Apple co-founder, but a frank look at the worrisome trend in business hiring that focuses on productivity over creative thinking. Talking with the LA Times, Bushnell says "Sometimes when you hire people who have to pass a Mr. Congeniality test; you end up losing some of the non-conformists who will give you different views and perspectives." Jobs was one of those non-conformists and he talked with Bushnell at length about the need for creativity in the workplace. "Creativity is every company's first driver. It's where everything starts, where energy and forward motion originate. Without that first charge of creativity, nothing else can take place," writes Bushnell in his book. You can read more about Bushnell and Jobs in this 2012 interview conducted by our own Mike Schramm.
Atari 2600s get PC innards, 22,857 times more processing power
Atari games redesigned in HTML 5 may bring back a flood of nostalgia, but they leave out a key part of the gaming experience: the classic hardware. Hard Drives Northwest filled that void by gutting a limited number of authentic Atari 2600s and stuffing them with modern PC components. Packing a Core i7 3.4GHz processor, the retro console now boasts 22,857 times more processing power than it did in its heyday, according to Microsoft's calculations -- more than enough oomph to handle the recent remakes. Other internals include 8GB of RAM, a 120GB SSD and a Radeon HD 6570 graphics card with 1GB of video memory. With support for USB 3.0 and 2.0, eSATA, DisplayPort, DVI and HDMI, the system is well stocked on the connectivity front. Finally, the signature of Atari founder Nolan Bushnell acts as the cherry atop the faux wood grain-toting package. While the souped-up machines aren't up for sale, a pair of them are slated for a giveaway. Glamour shots and the full set of specs await you at the source.
Atari: celebrating 40 years of gaming history
Forty years. That's a long time in the tech industry and Atari knows it. Today it celebrates four decades in the game, and quite the tale it is. Highs, lows and everything in between, Atari has been there. As one of the most influential brands both in gaming and technology, it only seems right to take a look over the company's history and chart some of the more significant twists in its less than straightforward journey. After the break we speak to the man that started it all and the one currently at the helm, as well as some of the many people whose lives were irreversibly changed by its influence. Happy birthday to you, Atari!
Atari Dev Challenge finalists announced, voting now open
Atari has announced the finalists in its ongoing dev challenge contest, in which developers from around the Internet have pitched updates to the classic Pong game for the iOS and Android App Stores, with the winners to be published and rev-shared by Atari itself. All of those finalists look pretty interesting -- they almost all have gone with a relatively classic take on the game (which is what Atari told us they were looking for), although all of them have updated the old ball-and-paddle gameplay to be a little more complicated. These finalists are all guaranteed a revenue share agreement with Atari to have their titles published, but we still need to decide who's getting the cash prizes for the best entry. And by we, I mean both you and me. You get to vote on Atari's page (over on the side, you can put a star rating up for each different finalist in the contest), and I, Mike Schramm, am serving as a judge in the competition along with Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, Pocket God creator Dave Castelnuovo, developer David Whatley, and a few other folks selected by Atari. The judge's ratings and user ratings are all being thrown into one big pot, and then the winners of the various cash prizes will be announced on August 2nd. It's cool to finally see some actual games coming out of this competition after so long. I'm hoping we judges will get a chance to play all of the finalists soon, and then we'll see the final results in a little over a month.
Nolan Bushnell and Atari on Pong, Steve Jobs, and touch interfaces
As I've posted here on TUAW a few times before, Atari is currently in the middle of a developer competition to have some creative developers put together some new iOS games based on the idea of remaking Pong for a new generation. Along with Nolan Bushnell, Atari's original founder and one of Pong's original creators, I'm also serving at Atari's request as one of the judges on the competition. Last week, Atari hosted a sitdown with the two of us here in Los Angeles, and I got the chance to talk to both Bushnell about his history and what he expected to see from the contest, as well as with Giancarlo Mori, the Executive Vice President at Atari behind the contest. Bushnell has a very famous long history with video games -- not only did he co-found Atari and produce many of the most fundamental and popular titles from that company over the years, but he also founded the Chuck E. Cheese pizza chain, and has over the years been involved with all kinds of impressive and valuable tech ventures. As you might expect, Bushnell is currently working with a few companies on iOS titles, and he says one of the things that most interests him about Apple's platform currently is the emerging technique of augmented reality. "The intersection between the real world and gameplay," he told me. "I feel like that's the area where there's an awful lot to be discovered." Bushnell's also interested in the iPhone's offerings of microgames, little tiny ideas or short segments of games that he says can be played "in between subway stops. The fact that you can set up a game before the doors open -- it's lightly casual and very seamless. Hard to do." Bushnell won't reveal exactly what he's working on yet, but his thoughts lately head in that direction. And of course he's always thinking about interfaces. Bushnell says he hasn't seen developers really take advantage of the iPhone's built-in accelerometer and gyroscope just yet. "It feels to me like there should be a sword fighting game out there, where it's just me against something," he says. "But the problem is you have your motion controller, but now you can't watch it. Maybe you use the iPhone as a controller and the iPad as the image, some kind of interaction." I also talked with Bushnell about his early experiences with Steve Jobs, who was hired on as a technician before Jobs and Woz founded Apple itself. "I hadn't realized until Isaacson's book," said Bushnell, "that I was as much of a mentor to Steve as I was. He basically lived just below me in Woodside for many, many years, before he moved down to Palo Alto, and he'd just walk up the hill to my house and we'd go on and bullshit about stuff. We kept in contact -- I'm writing a book right now called 'Finding the Next Steve Jobs,' because I was one of the few people that ever gave him a job." Bushnell says even at that early point in his career, Steve stood out. "The thing that people miss about Steve is that Steve was very, very driven and very passionate. He was an enthusiastic individual about everything. He had one speed and it was full blast," says Bushnell. Some of the qualities Jobs is now known for were some of the reasons he first was able to join on at Atari back in the early '70s. "We looked at what people did in their spare time, how diverse they were. We never looked at grades, college degrees. One of the best engineers at Atari never graduated from high school, and he was one of the prime architects for the 2600." Bushnell says that attitude at Atari definitely shaped Apple as a company later on. "We were focused on merit. And the fact that we can go to work in tennis shoes and a t-shirt started at Atari and it was taken to Apple. Because we said this is a meritocracy, we don't care where you go to school, when you come to work, we don't care if you come to work, we don't care where you are we you are at work. You get the job done, we're happy." Finally, I asked Bushnell what he's looking forward to seeing in this contest, and he says one thing he'd love to see is the original idea that Pong was based on when it was first created. "The only thing that I kind of somewhat wanted to see is that we had this vision of what Pong was going to be at the very onset, and that was you position a little man with a paddle, and you position it with controller and there was a button, and so you'd position it and hit the button and you'd swing it." In the end, that design was left behind, because just building the paddles as blocks turned out to be enough. "We got the game designed to the point where we had just the paddle, and said this was fun enough, just stop there," says Bushnell. "I've never seen that game that we had very clearly in our brain, and on a blackboard, and so on." Bushnell says that remaking Pong these days would be much different, first and foremost because the tools have come such a long way. Xcode is a much easier way to program than having to deal directly with machine code on often underpowered processors. But there's also a "fundamental disconnect" between touchscreens and video game controls, says Bushnell. "It turns out that Pong is massively fun if you have basically instantaneous response to a knob. A knob specifically. And the reason for it is that small muscle coordination is much better than large muscle coordination. And it turns out when you're on an iPad, it's not the same doing this [swiping across the screen] as doing this [turning a knob]. You get a much finer level of precision and play. And so if you had to play Pong with a joystick, it would have been a failure." In Bushnell's mind, that's the biggest challenge to the 90 entrants who've joined up for Atari's contest. Mori says that Atari (who will make the final decision in the contest), is looking for three things from the winners. "How faithful it is to the original concept and spirit of Pong, how creative it is and innovative it is, and is it a Pong for the future and the new millenium?" Mori says 90 submissions is very high for a contest like this -- in the past, he's seen only single digits or a little higher in complex development competitions of this sort. "And the interesting thing," he says, "is that there wasn't anything that was bad. I couldn't recall one submission where you'd say, 'That's a bad one.' There were a few that were clearly not in line with the guidelines of the contest, but there was nothing in the entries that were really bad." "We had really three classes," he says of the entries so far. "There were ones that were very much a high concept, one or two pages. There were ones that were still by and large in a game design stage only, but it was a full game design document. And there were a few that were actually playable games, a lot more than a proof of concept." The semi-finalists chosen for the contest have about a month to refine their entries, and then we the judges will get a look at them and have our say. After that, it's up to Atari to choose the winner, to pick up a nice cash prize, along with the opportunity to have the games published by Atari directly. Bushnell just wants to see how the current iOS platform does at finding the fun he and his technicians found four decades ago. "Our muscle memory is so precise on certain things," he says. "What we're looking for with an interface is for the interface to go away and have our mind connected to the object on screen directly. When you're typing, you forget that you're typing -- you're just putting words down. And Pong's that way." Hopefully these entrants can reach that point, where we're directly interacting with a game rather than thinking about it, with their submissions for the contest.
Atari announces Pong contest for indie iOS devs
(Disclaimer: As you'll read below, I'm serving as a judge in this competition, though I'm not getting paid or compensated for any time I'm contributing to it.) Atari has been betting big on iOS lately. It recently released a Greatest Hits app with its own controller, as well as remakes like Breakout: Boost (our review) and Asteroids: Gunner. Now the original Atari classic, Pong, is being re-imagined and the company wants help from iOS developers. Atari is offering up to US$100,000 to indie developers who can put together an "original take" on Pong for iOS devices. The contest is essentially a publishing deal. Developers can make an iOS game and submit it to the judging panel, which includes Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, Pocket God creator Dave Castelnuovo and me, TUAW's Mike Schramm. The winner of the contest will be published by Atari on the App Store. In addition, community-based voting will help determine both a community winner and the overall winner, so you'll be able to have a voice in the proceedings as well. The contest's official rules are now available online, and it's basically an opportunity to do some spec work for Atari (some developers have objections -- see Update below). The winner gets a publishing deal with Atari, so part of that $100,000 prize is going to come from splitting up App Store sales, not just a giant check. Still, if you're an iOS developer who's been looking for an idea to jump on, and think you've got a compelling spin on Pong, here's your opportunity to work with a pioneering video game company. I look forward to your entries, and wish good luck to everyone who decides to compete! Update: The rules and regulations for the contest have made it online, and as developer Brian Robbins notes, they're pretty heinous: Atari is basically asking devs to make games for them on spec, with no real indication or guarantee that they'll make money, even if they win the contest (Atari points out that there are some cash prizes, in addition to the publishing deals: $50,000 for first place, $37,500 for second, $25,000 for third, and $5,000 each for up to seven more runner-ups. But obviously, this requires developers to "win" -- if a lot of work is poured into an idea that doesn't make it, there's no guarantee of any reward at all, and the spec couldn't ever be published separately without major changes.) I will say that even despite my reservations about a scheme like this, I am still behind the contest as a judge, and I still think it represents an opportunity to work with Atari that a lot of indie developers might not normally get. But devs, don't go into this thing blind: Know that by entering a contest like this, you're basically entering an arena in which Atari holds most of the cards. If you don't want to submit your game in this way, there's always the option of just publishing on your own. Show full PR text Atari Announces the $100,000 Pong® Indie Developer Challenge Winners Receive Cash Prize, Publishing Agreements and Industry Accolades LOS ANGELES – Feb. 28, 2012 – In celebration of Atari's and Pong's 40th anniversary, the company today announced the official start of its Pong® Indie Developer Challenge, calling on entrants to reimagine the classic game for a chance to win up to $100,000 and see their vision go from concept to market. Beginning Feb. 28, 2012, developers can submit their original take on Pong® for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices, with finalists launching their games on the App Store later this year under the Atari brand. Winning entries will also receive a long-term publishing agreement with Atari that includes development, creative resources and full marketing support. Submissions are now being accepted until March 31st, 2012, 11:59pm ET, at: www.atari.com/pongdeveloperchallenge Following the success of Atari's recent indie-developed mobile games including Asteroids®: Gunner™, Atari's Greatest Hits© and Breakout®: Boost, the Pong® Indie Developer Challenge opens the door for up-and-coming developers to deliver the next smash hit. The judging panel will include notable industry figureheads, including original Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, infamous Pocket God creator Dave Castelnuovo, TUAW's Mike Schramm, and select members of Atari's executive team. Atari fans can participate by submitting their own votes during the selection of an Atari Community Winner. An additional community voting period will also help to determine overall contest winners, details of which will be revealed soon. "The Pong Indie Developer Challenge is a great opportunity to celebrate the 40th anniversary of an iconic game franchise," said Jim Wilson, CEO of Atari. "We are enthusiastic about working with the independent developer community to evolve Pong through a wide variety of creative concepts and gameplay experiences that will further engage our Atari fan base and introduce new consumers to this pioneering video game franchise." For full details regarding the contest and rules, including how to submit, eligibility, timing of submissions and prizes, please visit: www.atari.com/pongdeveloperchallenge For more information about Atari games and the latest news: - Visit our website: www.atari.com - Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/atari - Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/atari - Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/atari
Computer Space turns 40, video games gear up for mid-life crisis
It was November of 1971 that Nolan Bushnell, Ted Dabney and Computer Space officially ushered in the era of the video game. Before running off to start Atari, the two men created the world's first coin-operated video arcade cabinet and, indeed, the first commercial video game ever -- a full six months before the Odyssey. Computer Space was a relatively simple title in which a player used four buttons to pilot a ship around the screen and do battle with flying saucers. The mechanics and graphics should be familiar to anyone who has ever tried their hand at Asteroids. In fact, it is essentially Asteroids without the titular space debris. Technologizer has a rather fascinating and in depth look at the pioneering game, tracing its evolution all the way back to a 1962 DEC PDP-1 tech demo. Head on over to the source to get the full story.
Leonardo DiCaprio to star in Atari founder biopic
Like something out of Bizzaro World, word on the street is that hunky dreamboat Leonardo DiCaprio will play Atari uber-nerd Nolan Bushnell in an upcoming biopic. According to reports, the film will detail Bushnell's life from his early work at amusement parks, through founding Atari and eventually building the Chuck E. Cheese's empire in a "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington meets Tucker" fashion. We understand there will be a thrilling montage where Bushnell soundly defeats every Atari staff member at Pong, then builds the first animatronic Jasper T. Jowls with spare parts from a 1976 Impala.
Atari founder cries wolf about piracy-ending chip
So news is making its way around the internets that at the Wedbush Morgan Securities Management Access Conference, Atari founder Nolan Bushnell proclaimed the end of PC gaming piracy as we know it, thanks to a "stealth encryption chip." The magic chip he's referring to that "will, in fact, absolutely stop piracy of gameplay"? The TPM chip -- what's been on motherboards for years, that apparently Bushnell just found out about. While the tinfoil hats in the house will likely attribute TPM (Trusted Platform Module) and other onboard crypto-chips to the eventual downfall of privacy and personal computing, to date we've yet to see piracy stunted or civil liberties breached because of the little bugger. FUD you later, Nolan.[Thanks, Carl]
Bushnell: New encryption chip to effectively end PC gaming piracy
As much as we enjoy not paying for things, we here at Joystiq HQ are vehemently opposed to piracy. Partly because we think cheating music, film, and gaming companies out of their hard-earned recompense is a despicable act, but mostly because we don't like equating paltry key-cracking to the visceral thrill of high seas swashbuckling. Apparently, Nolan Bushnell shares our disdain for modern-day "pirates" as well -- in a recent speech to a Wedbush Morgan Securities conference, the Atari founder discussed a new encryption chip which will "absolutely stop piracy of gameplay."The stealth encryption chip known as TPM will appear on the motherboards of many computers currently being produced, according to Bushnell, and will allow game developers to imbue their future titles with completely uncrackable, unsharable activation passwords. We've found that e-pirates are a resourceful lot, so the prolonged effectiveness of this measure is questionable -- still, it could rejuvenate PC gaming in areas of the world where piracy runs rampant. Lord knows the industry could use a booster shot in Tortuga.
Pong creator Nolan Bushnell working on MMO
It might not be MMOP (massively multiplayer online Pong), but Nolan Bushnell is definitely up to something in the MMO world, according to a recent interview with Gamespot. No concrete details were given, but the trash-talking industry veteran did confirm that he's involved in at least one massively-multiplayer project.Specifically, when asked if he had his hands in any MMO-based titles, Nolan Bushnell took a notedly-long pause before responding "Yes." When asked to clarify, Bushnell stated that it's unavoidable that social and massively-multiplayer games have become important, but "as compelling as World of Warcraft is, it too shall find that there are other ways to play a game."A cryptic comment to be sure. Our buddies at Massively point out that Bushnell has a history in creating social spaces, with franchises like the Chuck E. Cheese arcades and more recently uWink. But can this sort of expertise translate effectively to the cutthroat world of MMO development?[Via Massively]
Joystiq Podcast 022 - John Moore edition
Who's John Moore, you ask? Why he's only the American hero who designed the gorgeous new Joystiq Podcast logo that you see above. Thanks so much, John Moore. But we're not just talking about John Moore this week. We'll hear from Kevin Kelly about the spectacle of E for All and we'll talk about Nolan Bushnell and a ton of other stuff that you can check out right after the break. Podcast ahoy!Get the podcast:[iTunes] Subscribe to the Joystiq Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3) [RSS] Add the Joystiq Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator [Digg] Like the show? Digg it. [MP3] Download the MP3 directlyHosts: Chris Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann and Justin McElroyMusic: "Get Ready for Love" by Nick Cave, "The Problem With America" by The Vitamen.
Bushnell clarifies 'unadulterated trash' talk, moans about innovation etc.
Following up on Nolan Bushnell's recent labeling of our post-Pong games as "unadulterated trash," Gametap's Curt Feldman decided to have a chat with the Atari founder on the tel-uh-fohn. In the resulting interview, Nolan Bushnell explains that his scorn is just reserved for a "narrow segment" of gaming, which happens to include (you're not going to like this) Halo 3 and Grand Theft Auto. While Rockstar's sandbox gets predictably deplored for its "deification of antisocial behavior," Bungie's critically acclaimed shooter is deemed no more than "Doom 1 in different clothing." As he puts it, "Clothing or not, the clothing is nicer, but the game is the same."
Nolan Bushnell: Today's games are "unadulterated trash"
The man behind Atari and founding father of the video game industry Nolan Bushnell has shared with electronic design just how unhappy he is with the industry he helped to usher in, saying, "Video games today are a race to the bottom. They are pure, unadulterated trash and I'm sad for that." Wow, he's sounding more like our real dad every day.As sorry as we are to hear Bushnell's displeasure with gaming's behavior since it sprang from his intellectual loins, we do have to say that we think he's generalizing just a bit and coming off a tad -- dare we say it? -- curmudgeonly? We know the guy plays plenty of 360 and loves his Wii, so why all the anger? Gaming has its share of crap, but there are also plenty of bright spots, even if they aren't the sort of game that packs 'em in to a Chuck E. Cheese. [Via Gamasutra]
Joystiq interview: Nolan K. Bushnell -- Atari founder and restauranteur
We caught up with Nolan Bushnell at the "I Am 8-Bit" party, and asked him a few questions. Since he founded two of our favorite things, Atari and Chuck E. Cheese, it's hard not to be impressed with the guy. Plus, since he's not in the game business anymore, he can be snarky and honest about the current console wars. Also ... he sort of looks like a pirate. Check out the interview after the jump where he comments on the success of the Wii, calling the PlayStation a mistake, and some of the details on his new gaming restaurant venture.
