Ralph Baer interview on hightimes.com

[WizDawg]

http://www.hightimes.com/mainsite/Entertainment/content.php?bid=908&aid=2

Very good interview.

[lendelin]

Great interview indeed, thanks for the link.

I think Baer is right, Bushnell stole indeed the spotlight for too many years; and there are still the 'ambigious' and inconsistent statements of Bushnell about where he got his Pong ideas from. :)

Baer's feelings are understandable. If you contribute something substantial to a business which becomes more and more successful and acknowledged, and others hog too much credit with smart PR, that's disturbing.

Thank goodness the record was corrected.

[lendelin]

I think Baer is right, Bushnell stole indeed the spotlight for too many years; and there are still the 'ambigious' and inconsistent statements of Bushnell about where he got his Pong ideas from. :)


I don't remember hearing Baer sound as bitter towards Bushnell as he does in that interview. By Baer's own admission, he was never one to seek publicity for any of his inventions, and only did so when the subject became the focus of a lawsuit, in '76. So when Bushnell was running around enjoying the "King Pong" moniker, Baer remained quiet. Yeah, Bushnell "hogged" the spotlight back then, but video games were a fledgling industry that really needed someone like him to make it take hold as fast as it did.

Ever since the lawsuit with Magnavox, we all know where he got the idea from Pong. I don't know of any inconsistent statements that Bushnell made lately about it. Where did you see that?

Bushnell didn't make inconsistent statements about it lately, but he sure did in the mid-90s for years after the record was gradually corrected. (I rely here mostly on Kent's book, and an interview by Kent with Baer in EGM from the mid 90s) Bushnell very hesitantly admitted (and first denied) that he saw the Pong machine at an electronics show, initially he said he didn't attend, then he said he did attend but didn't see it, and now of course he saw it indeed and used it as an inspiration.

Bushnell never claimed that he invented Pong and videogames in the 80s and 90s; but what he did was misleading nevertheless. When very often accredited with the invention of games and hailed as THE father of videogames in interviews and articles, he never denied or corrected it and exploited the situation with smart PR by reenforcing the image simply based on incorrect facts. That's hogging the spotlight indeed for something he didn't deserve credit.

Bushnell deserves lots of credits and has a proven record of accomplishments; but give Bushnell what's Bushnells, and Baer what's Baers.

[lendelin]

I don't remember hearing Baer sound as bitter towards Bushnell as he does in that interview.

Btw, I was surprised too that Baer used this kind of tone about Bushnell, that's the first time in public (as far as I know) he made a frontal attack like this against Bushnell; usually he sounded very relaxed and lenient when it came to this issue (at least in public).