Nolan Bushnell Interview in Wired Magazine

[+cvga]

There is a mall area in Hollywood now that is sort of like Downtown Disney.  I have only driven past it but it looks nice.  For those of you who don't live in Los Angeles, Hollywood is really a pretty grimey place aside from a few well-tended landmarks.  This mall is intended to change the character of the neighborhood.  I would be best if it wound up in there but I doubt he could afford the rent.  He could open up elsewhere on Sunset Blvd. but it wouldn't get anywhere near the same exposure.

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Have you looked at the PDF on the uWink site? It has a picture that appears to be the actual location of the restaurant. It looks like there's an AMC Theatre, a Sport Chalet, and either a JC Penney or a Macy's depending on whether you look at the photo or the drawing. Maybe you can identify the location by the picture.

[Retro Rogue]

Nolan Bushnell, best known as the founder of Atari and inventor of the Pong arcade game,

 

no disrespect but, didn't he steal pong?

 

or did you mean 'Pong arcade' as in he put it in arcade form?

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The subject's up for debate.

Bushnell's position was that he had Pong designed before he ever saw the Odyssey.

 

And quite bluntly, it's not the hardest concept to come up with in the first place anyways.

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Yup. Ralph Higginbotham had them both beat.

[Retro Rogue]

Lets hope it does really well, he makes a few million and then buys back Atari 

 

Its just a dream I know 

 

But just imagine a NEW Atari Console - I would call it the Atari Phoenix

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More like a nightmare. Nolan doesn't exactly have the greatest track record business wise. Just about every company he's started has failed/gone bankrupt, etc. This is his second iteration of uWink now, and its basicly just a cross between his old chuck e. cheese and places like Damon's.

 

Some call Atari his big fluke of a success, and are quick to point out that he sold Atari (and then left) before he could run that one in to the ground as well (though the former towel guy that replaced him did a pretty good job of that himself).

[Retro Rogue]

Nolan Bushnell, best known as the founder of Atari and inventor of the Pong arcade game,

 

no disrespect but, didn't he steal pong?

 

or did you mean 'Pong arcade' as in he put it in arcade form?

944616[/snapback]

 

It's unfortunate that people get hung up on the Pong controversay. If you remove Pong from the equation, early Atari was still a clear innovator.

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Yup. Pong, pong doubles, puppy pong, space race (pong in space), pin pong, quadra pong, super pong, rebound (basketball pong), volleyball (volleyball pong), goal4.....

 

Oh, and then there's home pong that launched the consumer division in '75. With the Sears versions of Pong, Pong IV, Super Pong, Super Pong IV, Pong Sports II, Pong Sports IV, Hockey-Pong, Hockey-Tennis II, and Speedway IV (more pong). And the Atari versions of Pong, pong doubles, super pong, super pong ten, super pong pro-am, super pong pro-am ten, ultra pong, and ultra pong doubles.

 

A lot of innovation going on there. Reminds me of the Monty Python spam sketch.

 

 

And I think if you would have removed pong from the equation of the early Atari, you wouldn't have had an Atari judging by the above.

Edited October 12, 2005 by wgungfu

[AKB]

I am Nolan Bushnell's daughter, and I'll try to answer any questions I can about uWink Media Bistro. It seems like the WIRED article has sparked a few comments.

[antron]

Anyway, no body's asking the BIG question - what's on tap? 

 

Also, will there be any PC's for surfing, online play, etc..?

[AKB]

Anyway, no body's asking the BIG question - what's on tap? 

 

Also, will there be any PC's for surfing, online play, etc..?

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No PC's - too isolating. uWink Media Bistro will have touch screen-based games & entertainment that fosters interaction, just like the original Pong did.

 

And to answer the BIG question - full bar!

[Curt Vendel]

Glenn,

 

I disagree... Atari was a strategic marketer of itself for the first couple of years (until about 75') Let's be honest, 73- late 74 was nothing more then the Atari "How do we refry these beans" years of just making every conceivable off-shoot of Pong (with perhaps the exception of Gotcha which was a great game - Mazecraze on the 2600). Gran Trak 10, Atari's first driving game got delayed numerous times and if it wasn't for Al Alcorn actually coming and taking the project back and completing it, it may not have made it out till 75' It finally took games like Gran Trak, Tank and Qwak to start to show some unique game design within Atari and to actually say - Yes they were innovative. 75' is truly the turning point for Atari (Breakout, Anti-Aircraft, SharkJaws) and from 73-74 Atari could barely make payroll from week to week, Nolan probably spent more time busting his ass to keep the books balanced, bills paid, the lights on and the doors open in those early years.

 

So really and honestly, Pong was THE key part of the equation and Atari uses PONG's name as a selling tool for its other products to get people's attention and to use something recognizable, THAT was the reason things moved forward and the momentum picked up.

 

I agree on the whole violence, and porn sides of video games, its just totally out of control. You have an industry that caters and feeds to the 15 yo testosterone players, add to that the Japanese influence of videogaming with every girl looking like a cross between Sailor Moon with Pamela Andersons breasts. I like the idea of bringing back the straightforward, simple challenge games, so if "Ping" or Octo-Pong or whatever the 8 player Pong game turns out to be called is one step to putting videogames back to being games, then that's certainly a good thing.

 

Videogames were about taking a break from the realworld to have some fun, that meant challenging games, not to jump into sexual and violent romps in fantasy worlds where you get to decide when you car-jack a mother, should you stab her or drag her along side the car for a few blocks. Or pick up hookers while stealing cars and so on and so forth... Even the porn industry has more class then some of videogame producers these days.

 

The rating systems also mean nothing when little Jimmy says "hey dad, on the way home can you pick me up GTA please" and dad walks into some vg store, says "let me have GTA for my PS2" and the guy at the counter plops it into a bag, off daddy goes home and tosses it to little Jimmy who runs off into his room and dad doesn't know any better.... the argument will be, the parent should know better, and yes parents should be more vigil. However the game stores should, just like Blockbuster does, have a Mature/Adult section and keep all that content in that section so that the parent knows and see where this game is coming from, the tiny M on the box doesn't mean anything when its mixed in with the other background noise of the artwork on the packaging. Games that shouldn't be in kids hands, games that kids (and some adults) shouldn't be exposed too are just to readily available, video games have gotten way out of control.

 

As for the Media Bistro, hmmm..... will it work, I think its funny, because I sat down right in front of Nolan during a lunch meeting in 99' to discuss the initial uWink products (he had me cracking the old Playnet OS and removing the games out of it and also giving him the coin/bill routines out of the OS - hmmmm, he never did pay me for all that) and specifically said to him, why not have two LCD touchscreens on a swing arm facing each side of a booth in a restaurant be installed with the CPU pack under the table for people to pull up a food menu, then play some games while waiting for food and Nolan told me, it was not a good mix, I guess his opinion has changed over the years.

 

 

 

Curt

 

 

 

Nolan Bushnell, best known as the founder of Atari and inventor of the Pong arcade game,

 

no disrespect but, didn't he steal pong?

 

or did you mean 'Pong arcade' as in he put it in arcade form?

944616[/snapback]

 

It's unfortunate that people get hung up on the Pong controversay. If you remove Pong from the equation, early Atari was still a clear innovator.

944655[/snapback]

Edited October 14, 2005 by Curt Vendel

[Kokovec]

I agree on the whole violence, and porn sides of video games, its just totally out of control.

 

Here Here Curt! I completely agree.

My wife and I babysat my 8 year old nephew a little while back and took him to a game shop to rent some PS2 games.

It was difficult to find a title that did not have some type of violence or sex in it.

 

Anyway, I finally found a couple of age-appropriate titles but it wasn't easy.

In the end I just broke out the FB2 and my nephew and I had a great time playing those.

 

Listen, I am all for first amendment rights (I do work in Hollywood after all) but when it comes to games parents should take responsibility for what their child is exposed to. The gaming industry should be helping parents in that regard.

 

Incidentally I picked up a copy of some gaming magazine a little while back. A young reader wrote in and claimed that his parents would not let him play violent video games. The magazine responded by ridiculing the parents and claiming that this is a form of censorship! That in my opinion exemplifies the irresponsible behavior of the gaming industry.

[+cvga]

I am Nolan Bushnell's daughter, and I'll try to answer any questions I can about uWink Media Bistro.  It seems like the WIRED article has sparked a few comments.

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Thanks for joining AtariAge and answering questions!!! I have a couple more for you.

 

1. Was I correct about the location being in the Century City Mall?

 

2. When do you think the Bistro will officially open for business?

 

3. What will it cost to play these games? Are you charging by the game or by the amount of time someone plays?

 

4. Will the Bistro be linked with other locations that currently offer the uWink system?

 

5. Is there a list of establishments that currently have uWink systems available for play? I'd like to try one out.

 

Thanks! I'm really looking forward to your answers.