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Ralph Baer On Atari/Pong Lawsuit, Birth Of Gaming

Posted by simoniker on from the pre-pac-man-vintage dept.

Roosevelt Franklin writes "GamerDad.com put up a great interview with videogaming pioneer Ralph Baer today. He talks about the birth of the game industry, the Brown Box (Magnavox Odyssey), the Atari/Pong lawsuit, his patents, and a parent's responsibility. Baer is the original Game God and GamerDad calls him the Original GamerDad too!" Baer says of Pong and patent infringement: "After ten years of litigation in courts from Chicago to San Francisco we collected many tens of millions of dollars."

3 of 27 comments (clear)

  1. The Original Gamingdad was a litigious monster by ObviousGuy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I guess back in those days it was common practice to sue people who infringed on patents. Today we call those people heros.

    People who sue for infringement today are called predators.

    In the grand scheme of things, however, neither he nor Atari are around anymore to fight for the home gaming market. Both stagnated and were eventually overcome by the Nintendos, Sonies, and Microsofts of the world.

    --
    I have been pwned because my /. password was too easy to guess.
  2. Who is SCO suing now? by AtariAmarok · · Score: 2, Interesting
    "Who is SCO suing now, damn it?! Oh wait, nevermind...

    Before you touch your joystick again, please pay $699.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  3. MY GOD! by the_skywise · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Lawsuits aside, this guy INVENTED Pong AND Simon!

    Which means he's ultimately single-handedly responsible for starting the video game AND electronic game business of the late 70's early 80's!!

    (You young whipper snappers wouldn't understand, Pong and Simon had about as much market saturation as Pokemon and Yugi-oh.)