Heh. I actually heard that, but that's because I'm an announcer/producer for the local NPR affiliate. :)

Pong! Such great memories! $500!!!

Wow.. Makes me glad NPR has the foresight to post their programming on the website. Would have sucked to have missed this and not have a recording. Definately agood listen.

Mr. Bushnell really has a bitter distaste for the state of games today. In all fairness, the industry wouldn't be where it is today if games hadn't matured past the arcade games of the 70s,80s, and early 90s.

I can only imagine what will usher in the next era of games.

Bushnell is a textbook definition of 'obsolete'.

He doesn't have a distaste for the games of today. He has a distaste for the games of the last two decades. I didn't listen to the NPR thing but my impression of Bushnell is that he probably thinks Asteroids was too complex and violent.

@gameware: A lot of people think the next era of games is being ushered in by the Wii and PS3's motion control.

This is all crap. All this is is Bushnell trying to plug his new restaurants. Every time he tries a new venture, he fails. Then he comes up for air, reminds everyone who he is and plugs his next big project by being "controversial".

He seems bitter about the fact that he no longer is major player in the industry. "Violent games". Pfff. Sounds like somehthing Chaplin would have said if he had seen Pulp Fiction.

@Jman1980: Congrats, now over 50% of your comments consist of begging for money.

"Your social security check is late! Stuff costs more than it used to! Young people use curse words!"

@CaoCao:
Hey, I calls 'um likes I sees 'um

Whale Biologist

@FeendRendor: I would argue that it is the mainstream-ing of gaming. That is a much bigger jump than anything tangible.

i really don't get where he's coming from with this 'too complex' stuff. what exactly does he mean by 'too complex'? i would tend to argue that turning a knob back and forth is not 'complex' enough, and that it only serves to reason that people would get bored of this simplistic control scheme.

he talks as though the developers have taken video games in a direction that has been harmful to the industry. i would argue that if video games had not gone in that direction there would be no industry.

Nolan's just mad he can't pay 5 people $20 and not give them credit to rip off GTA or something

He's crying because nobody cares about him any more. : (

Point of interest, this weekend also marked the anniversary of Michael Jackson's "Thriller".

Here's an interesting tangent from Steve Wozniak's book iWoz that I just read. The software and hardware for Breakout was designed by Wozniak in 4 days (without sleep). Games at the at time would take several months to develop.

I think wii sales are proof that games don't need to be violent or complicated to be fun and sell well.

Where are these complicated games? Honestly, can someone give me an example of a game that can be/should be considered complicated?

is it just me or is the npr flash player broken and wont play the story..only plays the live stream....
how can i complain about this guy when i cant even hear him :P

Everyone needs to stop dissing this guy. He practically invented an industry that all of you love and participate in practically everyday. Pong is important and so is one of its creators by proxy. He may not be as important or prominent as he was during the 70s but he deserves his kudos just as much as any modern video game developer today. Also don't write him off as some old codger reminiscing about the good old days, when some of you still think good video gaming ended with the SNES or PS1. Things have changed yes, and their are also benefits and consequences that went with that. Its only constructive criticism so don't be hypocrites and attack him on something you're guilty of doing yourselves. Learn your gamer heritage, never forget who made the first step for all of us.

poor nolan. he really misses the 70s coke money and banging the secretarial pool in the company hot tub, and is still bitter that warner didn't like his management "style" and pushed him out after he sold atari to them. and nolan was far from the first step, he was the first to strike it rich. anybody remember william higinbotham or ralph baer? didn't think so. or how about al alcorn, the guy who bushnell actually hired to design and build pong? didn't think so. so yeah, learn your gamer heritage.

@SemiSarcastic: A first step which he took, then proceeded to pour about 2 metric tons of concrete on, and not removing his leg from as it hardened.

@SemiSarcastic: No, that would be Ralph Baer [en.wikipedia.org] . Nolan Bushnell just stole the idea and marketed it successfully. He's a douche. :/
[ahcs.bungie.org]