fiddlepaddle Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 Just in case anyone is interested, Nolan Bushnell now writes a blog for Inc magazine: http://blog.inc.com/nolan-bushnell/archives.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godzilla Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 my wife told me that recently since she reads that magazine, I thought that was pretty durn cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jahfish Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 i think it's kinda lame ... did you read the patent article? he claims that he owned every patent for any videogame produced between 1971 and 1978 ... but every atari consoles has ralph baer's patent numbers listed next to the serial number Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triverse Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 i think it's kinda lame ... did you read the patent article? he claims that he owned every patent for any videogame produced between 1971 and 1978 ... but every atari consoles has ralph baer's patent numbers listed next to the serial number Those Ralph Baer patent numbers are for the technology to make the game interact with the TV and various other things inside the system. Part of it is mentioned in my interview with Mr. Baer and definitely covered on his site: http://www.retromags.com/forums/Ralph-Baer...game-t4535.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herbarius Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 had he not pioneered gaming like he did do you really think that Alexey Pajitnov would have created Tetris? Yes, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmel_andrews Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 Perhaps he's looking for more 'green' investors that want to loose money Nolan, you had one good idea, best not try and repeat it eh... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brojamfootball Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 (edited) Perhaps he's looking for more 'green' investors that want to loose money Nolan, you had one good idea, best not try and repeat it eh... Funny, I didn't see that he was looking for any investors anywhere in any of his blogs. There was a lot of sound advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. Also, he had several good ideas, not just one. He created the company Atari, and with it built, marketed and sold successful arcade games. Then he essentially created the home video game market as we know it with the Atari 2600, having to sell his own company to make it happen. Chuck E. Cheese was also his baby, but I don't think they have those on your side of the pond Those places are still around--I played some Donkey Kong, Skeeball and Star Wars Trilogy in one just a few weeks ago. Good big ideas there, all of them made up of many smaller good ideas. Saying that he had only one is understating the hell out of it. Edited July 19, 2009 by brojamfootball Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmel_andrews Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 (edited) Atari was his one good idea....everything else since then has been notable (by numerous commentators) by their remarkable lack of success (perhpas he left his atari sucess book at atari and forgot to take it with him, assuming that warners would let him do so) Edited July 19, 2009 by carmel_andrews Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herbarius Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 (edited) Chuck E. Cheese was also his baby, but I don't think they have those on your side of the pond icon_smile.gif Those places are still around Oh, I didn't know they still exist. No, I don't think we have them in Europe, I only heard of them on the Internet. However, maybe they just aren't present in Germany (since Arcade games are 18+ since 1983), but maybe in other European countries... Edited July 19, 2009 by Herbarius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jahfish Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 no, nolan's idea "to make the future better" in form of pizza backing and playing vintage arvade games only exists in the us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiddlepaddle Posted July 19, 2009 Author Share Posted July 19, 2009 Atari was his one good idea....everything else since then has been notable (by numerous commentators) by their remarkable lack of success Unfortunately for us idealistic consumers, good ideas rarely translate into successful businesses right away. It usually takes multiple attempts, often by a series of entrepreneurs, for a good idea to evolve into something lots of people will pay for. Mr. Bushnell may not fit appropriately on the pedestal you've envisioned, yet it's undeniable that his legacy is recognized by millions. Despite human frailties that have been picked at and magnified by the attention he has received over the years, he has been, and remains, a significant role model for me. He has imagination, he dreams of better things, and he has made it happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kskunk Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 Unfortunately for us idealistic consumers, good ideas rarely translate into successful businesses right away. It usually takes multiple attempts, often by a series of entrepreneurs, for a good idea to evolve into something lots of people will pay for. Speaking of Nolan's failed businesses: When it opened, I went to the Silicon Valley uWink out of curiosity. It's now closed. There were occasional flashes of brilliance there. Whenever a restaurant-wide game of Word Scramble started, at least half the guests were furiously competing with their neighboring tables. Competing with strangers for your position on the leader board was genuinely fun. It got people at adjacent tables talking and laughing, and the kids were eating it up. But seriously, the software totally sucked. The games were just awful. The only slightly enjoyable one was Word Scramble, and only because it was multiplayer. The UI was straight out of the 'How to Make Your First Interactive Webpage' tutorial. Forget PopCap-style production values, even the worst stuff on Kongregate.com looks and plays better than uWink. Opening restaurants is not cheap. Nolan ventures are well funded. I don't understand why he spent so little time and money on the technology when it was supposed to be the crown jewel of the whole concept. Even the touch screens were awful -- laggy resistive touch when capacitive multi-touch is so cheap they're using it on ATMs and gas pumps. I still admire the man, but maybe he needs some good execution people to round out his visionary ideas. - KS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarian63 Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 Perhaps he's looking for more 'green' investors that want to loose money Nolan, you had one good idea, best not try and repeat it eh... Funny, I didn't see that he was looking for any investors anywhere in any of his blogs. There was a lot of sound advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. Also, he had several good ideas, not just one. He created the company Atari, and with it built, marketed and sold successful arcade games. Then he essentially created the home video game market as we know it with the Atari 2600, having to sell his own company to make it happen. Chuck E. Cheese was also his baby, but I don't think they have those on your side of the pond Those places are still around--I played some Donkey Kong, Skeeball and Star Wars Trilogy in one just a few weeks ago. Good big ideas there, all of them made up of many smaller good ideas. Saying that he had only one is understating the hell out of it. Yep, several true nuggets in what he says, my experience says they are right! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarian63 Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 no, nolan's idea "to make the future better" in form of pizza backing and playing vintage arvade games only exists in the us Yeo, just saw some Cuck E chesse Ad's on TV today. It's not Nolan's baby anymore but it still exists, shows the concept was sound. That is a long track record for that particular idea, not to mention all of us still picking at and playing with his original idea. I would be happy to have any legacy nearing his.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmel_andrews Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 (edited) no, nolan's idea "to make the future better" in form of pizza backing and playing vintage arvade games only exists in the us Yeo, just saw some Cuck E chesse Ad's on TV today. It's not Nolan's baby anymore but it still exists, shows the concept was sound. That is a long track record for that particular idea, not to mention all of us still picking at and playing with his original idea. I would be happy to have any legacy nearing his.. Try Tramiel (pronounced TramEL apparently)....he's legacy goes back to the late 50/s early 60's...even if he did ultimately run the big A into the ground (he created the first 1bn in sales computer company) and he gave some people (the original 'commodorians') a vision of his 'religion' (that's why they are still wearing an impression of JT's shoe/boot on their A-end and the sound of his voice ringing in their ear's like an orchestral choir) Edited July 20, 2009 by carmel_andrews Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mos6507 Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 Atari was his one good idea....everything else since then has been notable (by numerous commentators) by their remarkable lack of success (perhpas he left his atari sucess book at atari and forgot to take it with him, assuming that warners would let him do so) Lightning rarely strikes twice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mos6507 Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 (edited) But seriously, the software totally sucked. The games were just awful. I did eat at the Bistro in Hollywood once for the sake of posterity. The games definitely don't appeal to classic gamers. No touchscreen game can, even if they had capacitive multitouch. You really need a joystick or a trackball for some genres. Really, technology has moved on. The novelty is not there anymore. Computing is already ubiquitous. If you want to play games in a restaurant you can whip out a Nintendo DS, iphone, or netbook and there is now free wifi at many restaurants. The only thing that would be cool would be a sort of experience where the whole table is an interactive display. Like one giant multitouch iPhone. Obviously that would cause some problems with actually eating on it, but still. Having the kiosk over to the side is just not the right placement. Edited July 20, 2009 by mos6507 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 Pose the question to Nolan --- What happened to the $24 million in investments from 1999-2004 that were poured into uWink and all Nolan could turn out were flashy versions of the same touch screen entry systems used at the drive thru window at McDonalds to send your order to a video display in the kitchen prep area. Now his high tech restaurant, which I knew would fail because it offered nothing truly unique to keep drawing people back - has... failed and the poor economy only hastened its demise, it was already on a steep decline well before the recession. 30+ years later and he also still can't get past his ego and, suck it up, be a gentleman and a man, and give proper and respectful credit to Ralph Baer, Sanders and Magnavox. Curt Perhaps he's looking for more 'green' investors that want to loose money Nolan, you had one good idea, best not try and repeat it eh... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmel_andrews Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 Hence why i bought up the tramiel thing curt.... I know he rubbed up some investors the wrong way (with their investments) I don't see the F.T letting Nick leeson giving titbits to would be Euro/Uk Bankers or Stock Brokers (F.T.=Financial Times) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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