Jump to content
IGNORED

Nolan Bushnell Appointed to Atari Board


Recommended Posts

Yes, it would have been nice to talk about the old Atari and stuff with Ted and Nolan in this thread rather than what we all did here, which was waste their visits and the whole thread (second half), fricking debating who NolanB really was. :|

Famous people need a way to verify who they are in a forum. With all of the nutbags and evildoers out there, you can't instantly trust when somebody claims to be a living legend. We would be gullible idiots if we accepted every supposedly famous person without some kind of verification. It's understandable.

 

Now that everything has been settled, I'm going to blow your mind. I'm not Duane Alan Hahn. My real name is Scadoobie Floinkenburger.

 

Verification, sure. Treat people the way some of you did, no way. At least it's easy to figure out why historical figures aren't dropping by more often.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Verification, sure. Treat people the way some of you did, no way. At least it's easy to figure out why historical figures aren't dropping by more often.

 

"Ralph Baer was at most a pain in the ass. He is what i like to paint as a patent whore."

 

Yup, it sure is. :roll:

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm pretty sure I know what happened in the video chat with Nolan and Curt...

Something like this:

--------------------

Curt: Nolan.. How can you say some of those things. You know you're taking credit for other people's work..

Nolan: It's too bad really...

Curt: And the way you dismiss some of the greats of our industry.. Nolan?

Nolan: Yeah, it's just really too bad...

Curt: And the way you.. er.. what's too bad?

Nolan: Oh, nothing.. what was that you were saying? <sigh>

Curt: What was that sigh? Nolan, what's up?

Nolan: Well, if you really have to know, its just that.. in the movie.. Looks like I'm going to have to cut your character.. In my last re-write, you had a really significant part, but you know studios.. I mean, could.. but you're so mad at me, I'm sure you wouldn't...

Curt: What? I mean.. no way.. Nolan, this is about ethics and history and

Nolan: (I had him interested too)...

Curt: What? Had who interested?

Nolan: Well, it's just that I had Brad Pitt really interested.. I mean, yeah, Kilmer wanted it, but I was really thinking you have that Pitt look... I probably still could call, but.. Sorry, what were you saying Curt?

Curt: Um.. Yeah... I.. history and hones.. Brad? I mean, I always thought that I ... I mean.. No... You couldn't..

Nolan: Let me see what I can do.. I'll make some calls Brad..er. I mean Curt.. See.. Spitting image really... If you close this thread, I think I can work some magic..

Curt: Um, thanx Nolan... Brad huh? Yeah, I'll have to work closely with him to make sure he gets it right... At his house probably.. Will Angelina be there??

Nolan: Of course Curt... Would I ever steer you wrong?

------------------------------

Yep, I'm sure that's exactly what happened... :D

 

desiv

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Verification, sure. Treat people the way some of you did, no way. At least it's easy to figure out why historical figures aren't dropping by more often.

 

"Ralph Baer was at most a pain in the ass. He is what i like to paint as a patent whore."

 

Yup, it sure is. :roll:

 

I know. That certainly won't go down as one of his best literary works. I gave him a little leeway since he was under attack before he even arrived. At best it was a poor choice of words.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm pretty sure I know what happened in the video chat with Nolan and Curt...

Something like this:

--------------------

Curt: Nolan.. How can you say some of those things. You know you're taking credit for other people's work..

Nolan: It's too bad really...

Curt: And the way you dismiss some of the greats of our industry.. Nolan?

Nolan: Yeah, it's just really too bad...

Curt: And the way you.. er.. what's too bad?

Nolan: Oh, nothing.. what was that you were saying? <sigh>

Curt: What was that sigh? Nolan, what's up?

Nolan: Well, if you really have to know, its just that.. in the movie.. Looks like I'm going to have to cut your character.. In my last re-write, you had a really significant part, but you know studios.. I mean, could.. but you're so mad at me, I'm sure you wouldn't...

Curt: What? I mean.. no way.. Nolan, this is about ethics and history and

Nolan: (I had him interested too)...

Curt: What? Had who interested?

Nolan: Well, it's just that I had Brad Pitt really interested.. I mean, yeah, Kilmer wanted it, but I was really thinking you have that Pitt look... I probably still could call, but.. Sorry, what were you saying Curt?

Curt: Um.. Yeah... I.. history and hones.. Brad? I mean, I always thought that I ... I mean.. No... You couldn't..

Nolan: Let me see what I can do.. I'll make some calls Brad..er. I mean Curt.. See.. Spitting image really... If you close this thread, I think I can work some magic..

Curt: Um, thanx Nolan... Brad huh? Yeah, I'll have to work closely with him to make sure he gets it right... At his house probably.. Will Angelina be there??

Nolan: Of course Curt... Would I ever steer you wrong?

------------------------------

Yep, I'm sure that's exactly what happened... :D

 

desiv

 

Now that's funny. Thanks for the smile!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know. That certainly won't go down as one of his best literary works. I gave him a little leeway since he was under attack before he even arrived. At best it was a poor choice of words.

I still don't believe for a moment that it was really Nolan, at least not in the posts from early this morning (before ~2:30). Nobody in Nolan's position would speak publicly in an online forum in those terms.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Verification, sure. Treat people the way some of you did, no way. At least it's easy to figure out why historical figures aren't dropping by more often.

 

"Ralph Baer was at most a pain in the ass. He is what i like to paint as a patent whore."

 

Yup, it sure is. :roll:

 

Sorry but I am with cvga here.

When there are lawsuits and money involved people tend to see things in different ways.

We'd just let such things be sorted out by the "giants" themselves. Lesser mortals like us should just show more respect to all of these great pioneers regardless of personal friendships and I think some people here should really apologies to Mr. Bushnell, whatever he might have said...

 

All best to everyone,

Roberto

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess dude, if you want to be a doubting Thomas as a rule, but RT says people have come here pretenting to be who they are not.

 

I think I'd rather be a doubting Thomas than instantly believe everything without verification, personally, but like I said I think it's one of those 'one way or another' things that people tend to vehemently take one side or the other on.

 

As I said in one of my very first posts, skepticism aside, real Nolan posting here is definitely something very cool and something we all can be proud of! :)

 

Nolan will probably never come back, and it's all my fault. :( He's going to be too torn deciding whether Swedish Chef or Kermit is best, and will forever be scared of AtariAge.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's no apology knucklehead cause there was nothing to apologize for.

 

I wanted to confirm things for all and I did - started out telling Nolan after he said it was him the whole time on all messages that "Sorry, but I still only believe it was you from this morning on" and Nolan just let is pass, so he understands I voiced my opinion that I still don't believe it was him for the first 48 or so messages... we moved on to things and discussed further.

 

Nolan started off saying that I started with a flame post - I said "No, I stated a list of facts, and I wanted detailed line by line rebuttals" So he pulled up the list on his screen so we could go through things.

 

We started at Ted, he had already made most of the apology for that and then he tried to jump ahead of things to discuss Ralph Baer and Simon, I stopped, we then went back to discussing the Odyssey and Pong.

 

Things got a little emotional and personal, so I'm not going to go into public details on that here and now, that was a long discussion.

 

We discussed Chuck E Cheese a bit, and that ended fairly quickly. We discussed Sente, I told him the cabinet designs were innovative and great, but the games all sucked especially Snake Pit which was so highly touted, didn't get much of an argument from him on that, he mentioned floor control technology that went from Sente to Midway to Konami that eventually made its way into Dance Dance Revolution - something new that I learned tonight.

 

Etak came up and it may be that Levon's recounting may be missing one person from the story.

 

Nolan and I discussed that a bit and then we talked about Playnet and my work and not being paid - Nolan apologized sincerely about me never being paid, about the Playnet terminals I purchased, about the code and so forth, its been 11 years, so I'm going to pass that water under the bridge.

 

We didn't totally agree on "Wallruss" and didn't come to a final agreement on that one.

 

Mentions of Ralph by Nolan kept coming in and out of the conversation, and I'd ask to go back on track.

 

As for the personal stuff and the affair comment I brought up, we came to an agreement on that, that it'll stay personal and that would be the end to it, and all I asked was for things to be a bit more civil and honest from him on industry peers going forward.

 

We talked a bit about his work going forward at Atari, then I jumped back to discuss Missile Command and asked him what was his thinking behind that. Nolan feels he may have just gotten some events and dates mixed up. Chuck E Cheese used to see and preview a lot of Atari's prototypes - which is true, and his recollection was most likely in the CeC board room where he saw Atari bring in the prototype of Missile Command after he'd been gone from Atari for a while.

 

I asked about him wanting to can the 2600 in 1978 and was he purposefully doing that just to get fired, because it made absolutely no sense at all. Nolan said that is a misquote, that he felt the design was too constrained in memory and features and he wanted to do a next step up for 79' I told him I would dig into it and see if I could find hardcopy proof to back it up and if so, I'd make sure that it was put out for people to know.

 

He had another call coming up so we had to end it, I told him that a lot of times when I asked questions he never responded and when he did, it was always a short one line response and he needed to provide more details in the future - if he wants his side of the story known, then I need more to work with and we'll go back and forth and as long as the fact checking pans out solid, things can be changed, that we should have more of these video conferences in the future and we'll see how things go. Other then him apologizing for never paying me, there really wasn't anything either of us wanted or expected so far as apologies, I wanted facts, he wanted a chance to clarify a few things, overall it was a very productive conversation overall. Just Nolan and Ralph have some very rough patches to still work through and I can't tell you if or when they will, that is going to be up to them, but no more of the snide or "snarky" (that ones for you Nolan ;-) remarks about each other anymore...

 

Curt

 

 

 

Nolan and I just had a long video conference. Much was sorted out, much is just chalked up to some errors and wrong memories, some forgotten events and I think it was a good talk, it looks like I have one event incorrect and that was regarding Etak which I will go back and re-investigate.

 

On Nolan and Ralph - some personal feelings were shared by Nolan to me regarding the events around the Magnavox-Atari lawsuit, I'm going to leave it to Nolan/Ralph to sort that out as it is something I'm going to leave some room on and discuss out of the public eye until these guys can shake hands and move on.

 

Basically a lot of was sorted out, I think and I hope Nolan will continue to stop by, maybe post some contributions and comments and maybe be a regular visitor. I would hope that Ted sticks around as well and pop up from time to time too.

 

Bottom line, lets close this thread up, and let Nolan have a fresh start here to post and when he forgets something or mis-remembers, he knows we'll be more forgiving and much less hostile when correcting those errors.

 

 

Curt

 

So what your sayin' is you and Marty were wrong(mainly about who NolanB is), Curt, and that "NolanB" is really him just as Ted said he was and you still doubted it even after Ted confirmed the identity. Why can't you just admit when your wrong?

 

But I don't hear a public apology for the messed up stuff you said about him and requested of him here.....who he was sleeping with while married and such.

 

I wouldn't expect Nolan or Ted back here after this bashing thread - Thanks Curt and Marty. :roll:

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does the article praise or rip Kent's highly respected video game history book?

"Highly respected" by whom? Kent's heart is in the right place, but some of his sources are questionable and a lot of his claims are dubious.

 

The only time I questioned his judgment is when he praised the Playstation 2 to the heavens before it was even released, calling its launch a "coronation." Then he quietly went into the bathroom with a Playstation 2 and a box of tissues and locked the door.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Verification, sure. Treat people the way some of you did, no way. At least it's easy to figure out why historical figures aren't dropping by more often.

 

"Ralph Baer was at most a pain in the ass. He is what i like to paint as a patent whore."

 

Yup, it sure is. :roll:

 

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

I know. That certainly won't go down as one of his best literary works. I gave him a little leeway since he was under attack before he even arrived. At best it was a poor choice of words.

 

:thumbsup:

 

Verification, sure. Treat people the way some of you did, no way. At least it's easy to figure out why historical figures aren't dropping by more often.

 

"Ralph Baer was at most a pain in the ass. He is what i like to paint as a patent whore."

 

Yup, it sure is. :roll:

 

Sorry but I am with cvga here.

When there are lawsuits and money involved people tend to see things in different ways.

We'd just let such things be sorted out by the "giants" themselves. Lesser mortals like us should just show more respect to all of these great pioneers regardless of personal friendships and I think some people here should really apologies to Mr. Bushnell, whatever he might have said...

 

All best to everyone,

Roberto

 

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ROTFLMAO!!!

 

That was good "gonna have to cut your character..."

 

I'm pretty sure I know what happened in the video chat with Nolan and Curt...

Something like this:

--------------------

Curt: Nolan.. How can you say some of those things. You know you're taking credit for other people's work..

Nolan: It's too bad really...

Curt: And the way you dismiss some of the greats of our industry.. Nolan?

Nolan: Yeah, it's just really too bad...

Curt: And the way you.. er.. what's too bad?

Nolan: Oh, nothing.. what was that you were saying? <sigh>

Curt: What was that sigh? Nolan, what's up?

Nolan: Well, if you really have to know, its just that.. in the movie.. Looks like I'm going to have to cut your character.. In my last re-write, you had a really significant part, but you know studios.. I mean, could.. but you're so mad at me, I'm sure you wouldn't...

Curt: What? I mean.. no way.. Nolan, this is about ethics and history and

Nolan: (I had him interested too)...

Curt: What? Had who interested?

Nolan: Well, it's just that I had Brad Pitt really interested.. I mean, yeah, Kilmer wanted it, but I was really thinking you have that Pitt look... I probably still could call, but.. Sorry, what were you saying Curt?

Curt: Um.. Yeah... I.. history and hones.. Brad? I mean, I always thought that I ... I mean.. No... You couldn't..

Nolan: Let me see what I can do.. I'll make some calls Brad..er. I mean Curt.. See.. Spitting image really... If you close this thread, I think I can work some magic..

Curt: Um, thanx Nolan... Brad huh? Yeah, I'll have to work closely with him to make sure he gets it right... At his house probably.. Will Angelina be there??

Nolan: Of course Curt... Would I ever steer you wrong?

------------------------------

Yep, I'm sure that's exactly what happened... :D

 

desiv

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After reading through much of this thread (ok, I skipped 1/2 of it, but even that was enough to make my head hurt) I'm glad to see there's some civility being shown now. While I don't know any of you personally, I still feel like we Atari fans are a type of a family, and I hate to see family members fight. I hope that dad (Nolan) and bro (Curt) have worked things out.

 

And in the future when you're not sure of someone's persona, please use Reagan's "Trust but verify" motto before launching the nukes. :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

you still doubted it even after Ted confirmed the identity.

 

Don't call me a knucklehead, I have not said any obscenitites but if you want to I can also. And don't be so damn arrogant Curt -Why do you go back and read your damn post after TED CONFIRMED HIS IDENTITY.

 

I blame you for fucking up my opportunity to converse with Nolan pleasently.

 

Hail Curtis, your never wrong aren't you. :P

 

Whatever man, I'm tired of the bitching and egoes here.(talk about Nolan having an ego)

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mr. Bushnell, Mr. Dabney, Mr. Rubin:

 

If you were stranded on a desert island with only one single outlet with enough power to power only ONE of Atari's coin-op games, which coin-op game would it be, and why? (For argument's sake let's say it's set to Free Play.)

 

Thank you.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really Curt? I would expect more from you. Should you not be setting an example here?

 

That is Nolan BTW, and I am surprised at all these people attacking him. What is wrong with you people?

He does not need to spend his time here answering anything, and for you guys to get all self righteous on him is BULL SHIT!

I am surprised that he even answers you any more. I know after some of the comments above, I would not.

 

I will not get into the details of these arguments here (as someone who was there BTW) and maybe the facts are not 100%, but that is not a reason to be jerks here. By the way, game ideas at Atari were often discussed YEARS in advance of them actually being built, often put in notebooks, and I sat in many of those meetings and discussions (remember, I was hired in early 76) and it is quite possible Nolan sat in a meeting where a game like that was originally discussed and it got filed because the hardware was just not there to do it yet. But who cares, really?

 

Excuse my anger, but this is one of the most pathetic string I have read in a long time, and Curt, you should me moderating, not fanning flames.

 

I can assure you, I will not be answering any questions here until you guys get off your self-righteous butts.

 

SIGH!

 

Signed - The real Owen Rubin - Or am I fake too? <-- Rhetorical question, please do not answer

 

 

Okay "FAKE NOLAN"

 

 

Then go back to your cut & paste and go down each and every statement posted and post "IN DETAIL" your rebuttals.

 

 

Curt

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lighten up before I schmack ya!

 

I'm not being arrogant at all, and read MY post - I said directly to Nolan that I still did not believe it was him until the morning posts and that the 48 first posts were not him.

 

Also, Ted said he talked with him - that could've meant on the phone or through email, he never said "I got a call from Nolan this morning and we talked on the phone for a bit and ...."

 

So that was still a gray area and not completely cleared up.

 

Sorry, I'm anal about the small details, I've been burned in the past by having inconsistent sources and conflicting stories, I'm very meticulous about things these days.

 

Nolan will be back on here again, so relax and also everybody needs to chill out, he's a man, a regular guy, you don't have to be slobbering teen age girls lined up to try and touch one of the Jonas Brothers. He's a normal person, so calm yourselves down a bit.

 

 

Curt

 

you still doubted it even after Ted confirmed the identity.

 

Don't call me a knucklehead, I have not said any obscenitites but if you want to I can also. And don't be so damn arrogant Curt -Why do you go back and read your damn post after TED CONFIRMED HIS IDENTITY.

 

I blame you for fucking up my opportunity to converse with Nolan pleasently.

 

Hail Curtis, your never wrong aren't you. :P

 

Whatever man, I'm tired of the bitching and egoes here.(talk about Nolan having an ego)

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really Curt? I would expect more from you. Should you not be setting an example here?

 

That is Nolan BTW, and I am surprised at all these people attacking him. What is wrong with you people?

He does not need to spend his time here answering anything, and for you guys to get all self righteous on him is BULL SHIT!

I am surprised that he even answers you any more. I know after some of the comments above, I would not.

 

I will not get into the details of these arguments here (as someone who was there BTW) and maybe the facts are not 100%, but that is not a reason to be jerks here. By the way, game ideas at Atari were often discussed YEARS in advance of them actually being built, often put in notebooks, and I sat in many of those meetings and discussions (remember, I was hired in early 76) and it is quite possible Nolan sat in a meeting where a game like that was originally discussed and it got filed because the hardware was just not there to do it yet. But who cares, really?

 

Excuse my anger, but this is one of the most pathetic string I have read in a long time, and Curt, you should me moderating, not fanning flames.

 

I can assure you, I will not be answering any questions here until you guys get off your self-righteous butts.

 

SIGH!

 

Signed - The real Owen Rubin - Or am I fake too? <-- Rhetorical question, please do not answer

 

 

Okay "FAKE NOLAN"

 

 

Then go back to your cut & paste and go down each and every statement posted and post "IN DETAIL" your rebuttals.

 

 

Curt

 

HELLL YEAH!!! ORUBIN!!! I agree with everything you said! Right On Man! ;)

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Signed - The real Owen Rubin - Or am I fake too? <-- Rhetorical question, please do not answer

 

 

Ironically, I may have been able to uniquely validate you last night also :) People that I work with know how much I like my Atari. Anyhow, one guy I work with years ago told me that his uncle was a programmer for Atari and sent him a VCS when he was a kid. I had completely forgotten about that conversation until I saw your post today. I think you might be the uncle!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really Curt? I would expect more from you. Should you not be setting an example here?

 

That is Nolan BTW, and I am surprised at all these people attacking him. What is wrong with you people?

He does not need to spend his time here answering anything, and for you guys to get all self righteous on him is BULL SHIT!

I am surprised that he even answers you any more. I know after some of the comments above, I would not.

 

I will not get into the details of these arguments here (as someone who was there BTW) and maybe the facts are not 100%, but that is not a reason to be jerks here. By the way, game ideas at Atari were often discussed YEARS in advance of them actually being built, often put in notebooks, and I sat in many of those meetings and discussions (remember, I was hired in early 76) and it is quite possible Nolan sat in a meeting where a game like that was originally discussed and it got filed because the hardware was just not there to do it yet. But who cares, really?

 

Excuse my anger, but this is one of the most pathetic string I have read in a long time, and Curt, you should me moderating, not fanning flames.

 

I can assure you, I will not be answering any questions here until you guys get off your self-righteous butts.

 

SIGH!

 

Signed - The real Owen Rubin - Or am I fake too? <-- Rhetorical question, please do not answer

 

 

Okay "FAKE NOLAN"

 

 

Then go back to your cut & paste and go down each and every statement posted and post "IN DETAIL" your rebuttals.

 

 

Curt

 

I've been following this thread since its creation but have stayed out of it because it didn't involve me and because I didn't feel like I had anything constructive to contribute, but I have to say that I agree 100% with this post. Granted, I don't (or at least didn't) know the history that some people around here have with Nolan Bushnell, but I found this thread to be nothing less than appalling. For a site that is dedicated to Atari fandom to talk about and then treat Nolan the way that many of you did shocked me, and I honestly will never think of some of you the same way again. The man is not a saint, but he was a huge part of Atari and we should all consider ourselves lucky that not only Nolan, but Ted Dabney and Owen Rubin all showed up to participate in the conversation. Under other circumstances, we would all be going nuts that folks like that showed up to chat with us. How sad that it had to be under these circumstances and that this is what they will all think of any time they see the name "Atari Age".

 

Chris

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nolan will be back on here again, so relax and also everybody needs to chill out, he's a man, a regular guy, you don't have to be slobbering teen age girls lined up to try and touch one of the Jonas Brothers.

 

But I want to be first in line when he sprays the crowd with his hose, held at the waist and filled with chunky white foam!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

 

Nolan will be back on here again, so relax and also everybody needs to chill out, he's a man, a regular guy, you don't have to be slobbering teen age girls lined up to try and touch one of the Jonas Brothers. He's a normal person, so calm yourselves down a bit.

 

 

Curt

 

you still doubted it even after Ted confirmed the identity.

 

Don't call me a knucklehead, I have not said any obscenitites but if you want to I can also. And don't be so damn arrogant Curt -Why do you go back and read your damn post after TED CONFIRMED HIS IDENTITY.

 

I blame you for fucking up my opportunity to converse with Nolan pleasently.

 

Hail Curtis, your never wrong aren't you. :P

 

Whatever man, I'm tired of the bitching and egoes here.(talk about Nolan having an ego)

But here is the thing. The people who worked with him don't seem to slamming him like you or your friend. One of the people working with him from 76 to 78 has said you are going over the line. You have no proof that the original posts were not Nolan, yet you have dogged determination to think otherwise. The fact that you will not even give this man that amount of decency speaks volumes about you. It speaks about a person who sees what he wants to see once his mind is made up. Of course you could definitely say the same thing about me as well, but I am not the one lobbing the hostile accusations.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...