Nolan Bushnell: Today's games are "unadulterated trash"

Oh, god! I just actually READ the article:

"Wow, he's sounding more like our real dad every day."

Holy shit that is too much. I'm seriously going to get fired for my obvious and blatant internet usage at a government job. Damn you McElroy!

Heh, he does look kinda, "There be gold in them thar hills!"

We used to have to walk all the way to the arcade, uphill both ways, just to play Galaga on the flickering screen and with the sticky buttons. And god damn it, we liked it!

We used to have to walk all the way to the arcade, uphill both ways, just to play Galaga on the flickering screen and with the sticky buttons. And god damn it, we liked it!

Oh how I miss the days of Chuck-E-Cheese.

...with those...disembodied limbs on the wall that would sporadically start clapping and banging symbols together when the animatronic band wasn't playing.
I never did get the the F-ck was up with that when I was a youngin'.
...Hell, I *still* don't..!

As much as I respect Atari, I can't help but agree that this guy sounds like he's having a "back in my day" rant. Don't get me wrong, Atari and games like Pong helped usher in the era of video gaming which we've all become so accustomed to. However, like any for of expression or media, video games have progressed and evolved over the years. Yes, games of today are radically different from those of the past and it seems that many companies have lost sight of creating a great game and are more concerned about being a business. However, that's not to say that there aren't still fantastic, well-made, innovative, and most importantly, fun titles being made. As Joystiq points out, Bioshock succeeded in being both a great game in the gameplay aspect but also a work of art in it's direction, style, and visuals.

Change is inevitable. It's simply a matter of embracing that change for the better.

Chuck E. Cheese?!! Phhfft!!

Back in my day it was the Showbiz Pizza Place!

That's what it was, and we LIKED it!

That creepy anamatronic bear would stare me down every time we went there.

It was Showbiz for me too. Samfish is a youngin' :P

Hell yeah, I remember Showbiz. After they changed over to Chuck E. Cheese, they took out the sit-down Star Wars cabinet, and I never went back.

Whats wrong with you people, it was Chuck E. Cheese first, THEN Showbiz, and THEN back to Chuck E Cheese. I loved Chuck E. when I was a kid and devistated when it turned into Showbiz.

Not where I lived, it wasn't. It was Showbiz first, THEN Chuck E. bought them out.

That's when I stopped going. They took all the arcade games out, and put in crap games.

Showbiz was mostly in the South, if memory serves, while Chuck-E-Cheese kinda had the West coast and New England locked up.
My dad was the regional account manager (or something) for Chuck-E-Cheese, so we went there ALL the time. Between spending several days a week there and Atari, it's how I dun gots mah start!

BUT YEAH! Rotten kids! Not knowin' that Chuck-E-Cheese was before Showbiz Pizza Place! What's the world comin' to these days?!

We had Showbiz in Aurora Il when I was a young-un.

The anamatronic gorilla scared the shit out of me.

Ahh, that's right! It was a gorilla, not a bear. That creepy-ass gorilla used to scare the bejebus outta me, too.

Except what the kids call "music" these days really is crap.

Is fall out boy crap? Is Britney Crap? Is Emo Crap?

If you said "no" to any one of those questions then GTFO!

look harder... there's plenty of good stuff out there.

On topic: I don't really understand why he's making attention grabs when he is completely irrelevant today.

There's plenty of great stuff, it just so happens not to be successful, or at least not as successful as the bands/genres you've mentioned.

Slipknot is not crap.

yeah new pop/rap music sucks ass

i just listen to techno and classic rock and jazz

"Slipknot is not crap."

Damn right. They're MEGA CRAAAAAP!

Ever heard about a band called Radiohead?
Or Queens of the Stone Age?

raiohead's only good album was ok computer (which is a great one, i love it)

"radiohead's only good album was ok computer"

gonk = FAIL.

Funny, I was listening to radiohead in the late 90s. Pretty sure Queens of the Stone age was around then also.

But POPULAR music now is CRAP by any real standards. Technically, interpretively, artistically. Its crap.

It's funny you mention Led Zeppelin, 'cuz I read that Nolan Bushnell built all those Pong machines in an abandoned roller rink high as hell and blasting Zep over the speaker system. The guy used to know how to party.

"raiohead's only good album was ok computer"

Now THOSE are fightin' words!

'"radiohead's only good album was ok computer"

gonk = FAIL.'

You're right, it was The Bends.

@samfish (MSDF- Nurse Outfit!)

If thats so why do they double and triple platinum albums and songs?

I'm 22, and I'm of the same "old geezer" mentality as you ridicule.

Most popular bands today ARE NOT MUSICIANS. The best way I've heard of explaining it is that the modern band is a group of athletes. Sure, they can play ridiculously fast and in tune, and they have trained exceptionally well. *coughDragonforcecough* No one is seriously arguing that music today is "easy" to bust into. There's also a lot of excellent singer/poets out, that can make songs that are beautiful to read. But the love of music, the ability to understand the effect of music on the human psyche and manipulate it, as well as the knowledge of musical theory both these entail, is just sadly lacking in the modern generation of music. You might be able to write a bitchin' riff or a beautiful, poetic song. You might know, all the chords. But these alone don't make what you're doing musical art. The people that have these talents, who are striving after art and achieve it, are usually pushed aside for the flashier, prettier types. Many of them were pushed aside in the old days, true. But in the volatile early days of the music industry, a lot of the true musicians were able to break into the industry based on their own talent. It's not that way anymore. Sadly, "American Idol" is probably the best way for a talented person to enter the musical industry. I hate having to write that sentence, but it's the honest-to-God truth, unfortunately. (Aside note: I'm not promoting the indie scene. If I had to choose between either indie music or "mass market" music, I'd pick the later in nanoseconds. There are some good musicians in the indie scene, but there are a helluva lot of bad ones.)

hahahah, loved that.

Or even better yet, "Custer's Revenge". I'll have to give "Cluster's Revenge" a try.

- Typo police

"Custer's Revenge" was an atrocity. Parents are worried about games today, well yeah just take a look back at what you grew up playing first. God damn, my mom was pissed when she saw that game, made the grandmother cry, all that good stuff. Natives are so damn emotional, must be where I get my intense rage.

I blame Rockstar.

IMO What he ment is Rockstar

"Rockstar games today are a race to the bottom. They are pure, unadulterated trash and I'm sad for that."

See now it all makes sense.

And maybe

"Rockstar and EA games today are in a race to the bottom. They develop pure, unadulterated trash and I'm sad for that."

It also makes sense.

Nothing personal EA but is crap that you haven't released the Sims 3.

He misses pr0ng.

I think he was referring to the snuff games on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 2... you know, lowest common denominator garbage like Mortal Kombat Armageddon and Saint's Row that appeals to humanity's basest instincts. That's what I gathered from the interview, anyway.

and hitman 2? which is also going on wii

LOL

I love you.

Bu...But the pole position :(

BTW @ Jerk face

Your likes for fat men disturb me.