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Father of Video Games turning 60

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the looking-to-the-past dept.

Bill Kendrick writes "Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and the "father of video games" will be turning 60 next week, on February 5th. Along with Atari, which Bushnell began in 1972 (and left before the end of the decade), he also founded over 20 other companies, including Chuck E. Cheese Pizza Time Theater restaurants. He holds many patents relating to both video games and other industries. For more on The Bringer of Pong, check out some interviews from the San Jose Mercury, Metroactive and over at Good Deal Games, as well as his Wikipedia entry. Happy birthday, Nolan!"

15 of 189 comments (clear)

  1. I'd claim FIRST POST... by NanoGator · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... but Al Gore would claim he's the father of that.

    --
    "Derp de derp."
  2. Aha! by The+Bungi · · Score: 4, Funny
    So this is the person that is to blame for my wasted childhood - days on end sitting in front of the TV, emanciated and dehydrated, trying to wrap the Asteroids score around...

    Damn you Nolan!

  3. Because of him by The+Analog+Kid · · Score: 5, Funny

    He's the one to blame for obesity in young children and people with no lives. No this is not a flame, troll, offtopic, or redundant. Its my failed attempt at humor.

    1. Re:Because of him by sirsampson · · Score: 3, Funny

      not to mention sudden video game death syndrome...

  4. Ah, the Atari... by Sheetrock · · Score: 5, Funny
    I've got many fond memories of that thing. Such as the game where you move a ship around the bottom of the screen while shooting pixels at moving bugs. Or the game where you move a firefighter around the bottom of the screen while shooting water at moving fires. Then there's the one where you're at a shooting gallery, moving your gun around the bottom of the screen while shooting at moving targets.

    Those were the days. I kind of miss the difficulty switch too.

    --

    Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
    -- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.




  5. Kang and Kodos by Dexheimer · · Score: 5, Funny

    And over here is our crowning achievement in amusement technology, an electronic version of what you humans call table tennis. Your primitive paddles have been replaced with a....well we did build this Spaceship you know. Anyone from a species who has mastered intergalactic travel raise your hand.

    --
    /There are 10 types of people in this world; those who steal sigs and those don't
  6. Of course... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    As the father of video games, he never married
    and has no kids.

  7. CHUCK E CHEESE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Chuck E Cheese OWNS!

    I loved that place.

    Never had pizza with that unique flavor, either.

    1. Re:CHUCK E CHEESE by Wargamer · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yah, they also serve Beer so Dad doesn't get bored!

  8. Re:This is entirely false by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    You obviously don't know the Slashdot motto - "we don't research stories - you do."

  9. Passion for Education? by use_compress · · Score: 4, Funny

    from http://www.uwink.com/docs/nolan.shtml
    a passion for enhancing and improving the educational process

    I think Bushnell, as one of the founders of the video game industry, may be one of the people most responsible for degrading the quality students.

  10. Re:This is entirely false by vistic · · Score: 5, Funny

    A four digit user number and you can honestly say that you're surprised by this? HA!

  11. NO CHUCK E CHEESE! by Derg · · Score: 5, Funny

    Am I the only one who got the bejeebers scared out of them by that damn anamatronic rat as a toddler/youth? I remember vividly my 5th birthday, I would not be made to come out of the ball pit. that giant fucking rat scared the shit outta me ... and his back up singers, popping up out of the dark like they were fucking gonna stab a poor little dergie *curls up in fetal position*THE HORRORS! THE HORRORS!

    To this day I wont go near the damn place, I dont care what arcades they have...

    --
    I'm a little tea pot.
  12. Bushnell's Birthday at Chuck-e-Cheese by GuyMannDude · · Score: 4, Funny

    If there truly is a God in this universe, I want him/her/it to make sure that Nolan Bushnell spends his 60th birthday fighting crowds of hyperactive kids screaming over the din of 100 videogames just so he can choke down terrible pizza while being serenaded by an animitronic rat or bear or whatever the fuck they've got at Chuck-e-Cheese nowadays.

    GMD

    --
    watch this
  13. Re:This is entirely false by lars · · Score: 3, Funny

    Well, I *easily* trump your 1158, which of course makes me completely superior to you in every way, and very, very l33t.

    But anyway, I don't see why the Group of Super Midgets that generated this page for me couldn't be trained to eliminate dupes. If they can't even do that, then quite frankly I don't think they're so super. They're just ordinary midgets. Just like all the other high-tech sweat shop child laborers in India.