Joystiq

Bushnell: New encryption chip to effectively end PC gaming piracy

Griffin McElroy — Sun, 25 May 2008 16:30:00 EST

Filed under: PC, Business

As much as we enjoy not paying for things, we here at Joystiq HQ are vehemently opposed to piracy. Partly because we think cheating music, film, and gaming companies out of their hard-earned recompense is a despicable act, but mostly because we don't like equating paltry key-cracking to the visceral thrill of high seas swashbuckling. Apparently, Nolan Bushnell shares our disdain for modern-day "pirates" as well -- in a recent speech to a Wedbush Morgan Securities conference, the Atari founder discussed a new encryption chip which will "absolutely stop piracy of gameplay."

The stealth encryption chip known as TPM will appear on the motherboards of many computers currently being produced, according to Bushnell, and will allow game developers to imbue their future titles with completely uncrackable, unsharable activation passwords. We've found that e-pirates are a resourceful lot, so the prolonged effectiveness of this measure is questionable -- still, it could rejuvenate PC gaming in areas of the world where piracy runs rampant. Lord knows the industry could use a booster shot in Tortuga.

Bushnell: New encryption chip to effectively end PC gaming piracy originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 25 May 2008 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pong creator Nolan Bushnell working on MMO

Scott Jon Siegel — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO

It might not be MMOP (massively multiplayer online Pong), but Nolan Bushnell is definitely up to something in the MMO world, according to a recent interview with Gamespot. No concrete details were given, but the trash-talking industry veteran did confirm that he's involved in at least one massively-multiplayer project.

Specifically, when asked if he had his hands in any MMO-based titles, Nolan Bushnell took a notedly-long pause before responding "Yes." When asked to clarify, Bushnell stated that it's unavoidable that social and massively-multiplayer games have become important, but "as compelling as World of Warcraft is, it too shall find that there are other ways to play a game."

A cryptic comment to be sure. Our buddies at Massively point out that Bushnell has a history in creating social spaces, with franchises like the Chuck E. Cheese arcades and more recently uWink. But can this sort of expertise translate effectively to the cutthroat world of MMO development?

[Via Massively]

Pong creator Nolan Bushnell working on MMO originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Joystiq Podcast 022 - John Moore edition

Justin McElroy — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 12:25:00 EST

Filed under: Podcasts

Who's John Moore, you ask? Why he's only the American hero who designed the gorgeous new Joystiq Podcast logo that you see above. Thanks so much, John Moore. But we're not just talking about John Moore this week. We'll hear from Kevin Kelly about the spectacle of E for All and we'll talk about Nolan Bushnell and a ton of other stuff that you can check out right after the break. Podcast ahoy!

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Hosts: Chris Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann and Justin McElroy

Music: "Get Ready for Love" by Nick Cave, "The Problem With America" by The Vitamen.

Continue reading Joystiq Podcast 022 - John Moore edition

Joystiq Podcast 022 - John Moore edition originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 26 Oct 2007 12:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bushnell clarifies 'unadulterated trash' talk, moans about innovation etc.

Ludwig Kietzmann — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 09:30:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Retro

Following up on Nolan Bushnell's recent labeling of our post-Pong games as "unadulterated trash," Gametap's Curt Feldman decided to have a chat with the Atari founder on the tel-uh-fohn. In the resulting interview, Nolan Bushnell explains that his scorn is just reserved for a "narrow segment" of gaming, which happens to include (you're not going to like this) Halo 3 and Grand Theft Auto. While Rockstar's sandbox gets predictably deplored for its "deification of antisocial behavior," Bungie's critically acclaimed shooter is deemed no more than "Doom 1 in different clothing." As he puts it, "Clothing or not, the clothing is nicer, but the game is the same."

Continue reading Bushnell clarifies 'unadulterated trash' talk, moans about innovation etc.

Bushnell clarifies 'unadulterated trash' talk, moans about innovation etc. originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 26 Oct 2007 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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

Justin McElroy — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 11:45:00 EST

Filed under: Retro

The man behind Atari and founding father of the video game industry Nolan Bushnell has shared with electronic design just how unhappy he is with the industry he helped to usher in, saying, "Video games today are a race to the bottom. They are pure, unadulterated trash and I'm sad for that." Wow, he's sounding more like our real dad every day.

As sorry as we are to hear Bushnell's displeasure with gaming's behavior since it sprang from his intellectual loins, we do have to say that we think he's generalizing just a bit and coming off a tad -- dare we say it? -- curmudgeonly? We know the guy plays plenty of 360 and loves his Wii, so why all the anger? Gaming has its share of crap, but there are also plenty of bright spots, even if they aren't the sort of game that packs 'em in to a Chuck E. Cheese.

[Via Gamasutra]

Nolan Bushnell: Today's games are "unadulterated trash" originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 22 Oct 2007 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Joystiq interview: Nolan K. Bushnell -- Atari founder and restauranteur

Kevin Kelly — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 20:33:00 EST

Filed under: Arcade, Culture, Sony PlayStation 3, Retro, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Interviews, Business, Casual

We caught up with Nolan Bushnell at the "I Am 8-Bit" party, and asked him a few questions. Since he founded two of our favorite things, Atari and Chuck E. Cheese, it's hard not to be impressed with the guy. Plus, since he's not in the game business anymore, he can be snarky and honest about the current console wars. Also ... he sort of looks like a pirate.

Check out the interview after the jump where he comments on the success of the Wii, calling the PlayStation a mistake, and some of the details on his new gaming restaurant venture.

Continue reading Joystiq interview: Nolan K. Bushnell -- Atari founder and restauranteur

Joystiq interview: Nolan K. Bushnell -- Atari founder and restauranteur originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 18 Apr 2007 20:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Atari founder says PlayStation an accident

Justin Murray — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 15:55:00 EST

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

Nolan Bushnell , founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese, looks to be a new member of the Microsoft Defense Force. In an interview with Red Herring, Bushnell took the time to trash the entire PlayStation brand, not just the PlayStation 3. While we can expect the SDF to come out swinging, Bushnell's comments leave even those of us sitting on the fence with raised eyebrows.

Bushnell is absolutely convinced the PS3 will fail ... and not just fail to reach the vaunted nine-digit milestone for the third time, but outright flop. Bushnell told Red Herring that "It would not surprise me if a year from now they'll be struggling to sell 1 million units ... I think in the the number of early adopters you have is actually around 300,000." Furthermore, he goes on to say the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 were merely accidents, reaping rewards not by being the best, but by being in the right place at the right time.

The PlayStation did not succeed because Sony had a Field of Dreams moment; it was supported because developers loved how it was easier to develop than the cumbersome Saturn and consumers bought it because the software was far cheaper than the N64. My PlayStation didn't just fall off the shelf and into my shopping cart, I bought it for a reason. While it would take a fanatic to believe the PS3 will sell over 100 million units, thinking the PS3 will only sell one million units by this time next year -- and fail to sell out of the launch units -- is crazy.

[Via GameDaily]

Atari founder says PlayStation an accident originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 08 Nov 2006 15:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Atari founder praises 360. PS3? Not so much

Richard Mitchell — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: News, Console wars

In a short interview with Red Herring, Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese, speaks his mind about the next generation of gaming. He makes the comment that he likes Xbox Live because it may become the "platform for the living room." With Live gaining more and more functionality, we're hard-pressed to argue. He further praises the Xbox 360 while simultaneously denigrating the PS3. When asked about Sony's strategy, he replies that "Sony shot themselves in the foot," and that "the price point is probably unsustainable."

Bushnell believes that Microsoft's easy to use development tools and the extra money to be made on Live will ultimately be what separates the 360 from the PS3.

"For years and years Sony has been a very difficult company to deal with from a developer standpoint. They could get away with their arrogance and capriciousness because they had an installed base. They have also historically had horrible software tools. You compare that to the Xbox 360 with really great authoring tools [and] additional revenue streams from Xbox live... a first party developer would be an idiot to develop for Sony first and not the 360. People don't buy hardware, they buy software."

While we agree with many of Bushnell's points -- we are fanboys, after all -- we're not as eager to agree that the PS3 will outright fail. According to Bushnell:

"It would not surprise me if a year from now they'll be struggling to sell 1 million units. I think in the U.S. the number of early adopters you have is actually around 300,000."

Bold claims to make about a company with one of the largest brands on the planet. Then again, there may not even be 300,000 PS3s to be had.

[Thanks, Vic]

See Also:
UWink: Chuck E. Cheese for Adults

Atari founder praises 360. PS3? Not so much originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 08 Nov 2006 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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UWink: Chuck E. Cheese for adults

Kyle Orland — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 11:58:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Retro, Business

G4's Feed blog brings us some pictures and thoughts on uWink, the "media bistro" that opened Monday in Woodland Hills, CA after months of planning. The restaurant/gaming parlor comes from the mind of Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari, creator of Pong and, later, the man behind the Chuck E. Cheese chain of arcades/pizza parlors.

Alissa Bushnell, Nolan's daughter, says the bistro is geared towards adults and women, with casual games that take two or three minutes to play built in to every table. Buying food and drinks from touch-screen menus earns patrons play time on the games games, from trivia contests to Pong clones.

Three more locations are planned for southern California soon, and the company hopes to expand nationwide in the coming months, meaning you mights be Winking pretty soon. Eh? Eh? Thank you, I'll be here all week.

UWink: Chuck E. Cheese for adults originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 18 Oct 2006 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Legendary computer scientist Alan Kotok has died

Conrad Quilty-Harper — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 19:30:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Retro

Alan Kotok, a pioneer that helped create the first video game, SpaceWar! on the PDP-1, and helped the joystick, this site's namesake, become an icon of video gaming passed away peacefully in his sleep over the U.S. Memorial Day weekend.

His help in creating Spacewar! was invaluable, although not necessarily conventional. In one memorable incident, Alan forced Steve Russel (the main author of Spacewar!) to get his act together by calling up the maker of the PDP-1 to get some math routines required to write movement code for the game. Once he'd received the code he slammed down the tape on Steve's desk (who was widely known by the nickname "slug") and said "Here you are Russel. Now what's your excuse?" Steve got the point and went on to finish Spacewar!

Had Alan not taken the initiative like he did, the entire history of video games could have turned out differently. A man called Nolan Bushnell was later inspired by Spacewar! to try and make video games accessible to everyone: he eventually went on to found a little company called Atari. There's nothing to say that games wouldn't be as popular as they are today had Alan not given Steve Russel the kick up the arse he needed, but it certainly makes you think.

Another of Kotok's achievements was working with John McCarthy of Stanford to create the first computer program that could credibly play chess. The program, which could look at 1100 positions per second, took part in an international competition with a USSR chess program in 1966. The match took nine months to complete!

Alan is survived by his three children and one grandchild. His wife, Judie, passed away last year. Rest in peace, Alan.

Update: see comments.

Legendary computer scientist Alan Kotok has died originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 02 Jun 2006 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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