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Talking With Nolan Bushnell

Posted by Hemos on from the the-man-with-the-plan dept.

Milktoast writes "Joystick101.org has posted their interview with gaming legend Nolan Bushnell. The arcade guru who founded Atari, invented Pong, and started Chuck E. Cheese talks about the decline of the arcade, education, robotics, and gaming as a narrative. "

2 of 90 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Decline of the arcade? Sure... by Erasmus+Darwin · · Score: 5, Interesting
    "1) 3D fighting games, 2) 3D racing games, 3) 3D shooting games"

    What it really boils down to is a single category of "games which have a physical arcade advantage over home game systems". Fighting games -- two joysticks and a steady stream of opponents. Racing games -- steering wheel, pedals, and (sometimes) movement of the entire game. Shooting games -- dual guns with better performance than home systems (continuous tracking versus tracking when someone shoots).

    Now that home systems can generally compete with the big boys as far as graphics go, it's really just about the peripherals.

  2. Re:Decline of the arcade? Sure... by GTRacer · · Score: 4, Interesting
    (I don't have time to read the 300+ messages here, so forgive me if there's a redundancy)

    The decline for me came when arcades shifted from mostly-unlimited skills-based games to time or resource-limited luck-fests.

    I can name a dozen games from "back in the day" that I could play for 30 minutes to a couple of hours on one play. I didn't care if it cost 25 cents or a buck. The point was I could play as long as my skill (and maybe a little luck) held out.

    My best example? The original Atari Star Wars sit-down vector unit. I could easily play until I gave up because I had memorized the patterns and as long as I executed my moves and avoided things, I played until my bum fell asleep. My best game was a 5.5 hour marathon which saw me rolling over 99 levels and scoring over 32 mil. I finally walked away because the clots in my legs were breaking free and headed to my brain.

    Nowadays, with the exception of pinball, I can't readily name any games where you can play based on skill. It's either timed, lapped, or rounded in such a way that you finish in about 5-10 minutes, regardless. And no free plays, either!

    I still like arcades, but at least on my PS2, DreamCast and N64, I can keep at it until I decide it's time to quit.

    GTRacer
    - DC + Internet + pr0n = Odd...

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    Defending IP by destroying access to it? That makes sense, RIAA/MPAA. Go to the corner until you can play nice!