Chuck E. Cheese 2.0

theodp writes "Newsweek reports the inventor of Pong and founder of Chuck E. Cheese is getting back into the restaurant game. Adults welcome. At age 62, perpetual kid Nolan Bushnell wants to get gamers out of the house. This week, he will announce a new venture, the uWink Media Bistro restaurantchain. With screens at every table and bar stool, each piping videogames, media content and interactive menus, Bushnell's convinced a young-adult crowd will use the shared-gaming experience as a chance to compete, relax and mingle."

Comments

Ralph Baer made Pong first

[Lahiru]

I remember reading an interview with Ralph Baer in an issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly several years ago. In it Baer asserted that he had created the game and patented it before Bushnell, and that Bushnell copied his concept.

The Wikipedia entry covers pretty much everything said in that interview:

"In 1966, Ralph Baer, then working for Sanders Associates, made a design for running simple computer games over a television set. His ideas were patented, and he created a game resembling Pong proper, except with slightly more complex controls. In 1970, Baer demonstrated his video game system to corporate heads at Magnavox, who became convinced that such a device would help sell more Magnavox television sets. Magnavox and Sanders Associates joined forces, with Baer and his patents at the epicenter, to develop a stand-alone unit called the Odyssey 1TL200 to be sold to consumers for use in the home."

"... Two weeks later, Magnavox learned of Pong, and notified Atari that they already had a patent on the concept. The two companies went to court. Magnavox was able to produce witnesses who had seen Nolan playing the Odyssey's ping-pong game, and they had a guestbook from the event which Nolan had signed. The judge found in favor of Magnavox, and Atari had to pay $700,000 for use of the patents."

As I recall, Baer also invented a boatload of other things, but didn't make much off of them because the patents were owned by the company he worked for at the time. (Memory is fuzzy on the details)

Re:Ralph Baer made Pong first

[Mike Buddha]

Just read The Ultimate History of Video Games. In it Nolan Bushnell credits Ralph Baer with creating the first home video game system, the Magnavox Odyssey. it wasn't "Pong" but it was a ping-pong game. In the book they explain the difference between the games (the ability to put "english" on the ball, the speeding up of the action, etc).

Magnavox had patented the concept of playing electronic games on a TV, and the concept of an electronic ping-pong game. Apparently, according to those involved, the $700K one time fee was a sweetheart deal for Atari. All the newcomers had to pay through the nose.

Also in the book, they explain that Al Alcorn was the engineer who created "Pong", at Nolan's request after he saw and played the Magnavox Odyssey at a trade show.

The book is excellent I highly recommend it for anyone with an interest in the history of video games from the very beginning all the way up to the release of the XBox.

The Ultimate History of Video Games, by Steven L. Kent

Re:Chuck E. Cheese ???

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you not have Wikipedia in your country?

Here.

uWink keeps changing bizplans

[Anonymous Coward]

I remember seeing these guys at vending trade shows when I was in the jukebox biz. They were hawking touchscreen games back in 2000 or so (running Linux, praise be), but never seemed to get indeustry traction. Their website was finally reduced to a one-pager promising something New! and Improved! Real Soon Now for, oh, two years?

Hmm, I think they're on to something ....

Step 1: Write new biz plan.
Step 2: Raise lots of investor cash.
Step 3: Spend it.
Step 4: Lay low until new VC comes along.
Step 5: goto step 1

No "????" step, but no "Profit!" step either.

They spent huge money on trade show booths, that's for sure. But then again, who didn't?

Re:Chuck E. Cheese ???

[phalse phace]

Chuck E. Cheese

It's an arcade for kids

[Anonymous Coward]

It's an arcade for kids, with generically bad pizza and a ball bin for toddlers to get lost in while Mommy relives playing PacMan.

Already done in the eighties

[zr-rifle]

Wasn't this already done in the early eighties with a fast-food chain where kids could eat pizzas and play videogames?