Nolan Bushnell is back at Atari!

[Emperor Megas]

So, Ted might still lie to them, no difference.
Or, how can we believe those two people? Are they respected historians? Says who? You? See what I mean, no-one can be sure

I suppose you could take that attitude about almost anything. But in the end, what's the likelihood of them being wrong? I'm not saying if they are or aren't, I don't really follow the Atari legacy, but it just seems like that there are Bushnell loyalists who have less reason to be than people have to believe these guys' accounts of the man. The Bushnell defense almost seems like blind loyalty/admiration, based mainly on an affinity for the former Atari brand.

[Bojay1997]

So, Ted might still lie to them, no difference.
Or, how can we believe those two people? Are they respected historians? Says who? You? See what I mean, no-one can be sure

Look, I don't know you or how long you have been in the collecting community, but Curt Vendel who is one of the two has maintained the most extensive historical site for Atari on the web for almost a decade now. His site is atarimuseum.com. While I haven't always agreed with Curt, there is no disputing that he owns the single largest collecting of internal Atari documents and items anywhere in the world. He also has access to and has interviewed just about everyone who had anything to do with Atari. He also worked with Nolan Bushnell for a while. As if that's not enough, he was also the project manager for the Atari Flashback consoles which where sold by Atari in the last few years. So, yes, I think he knows what he's talking about.

[tom]

Good for you

[otaku]

I can't say one way or the other how I feel about this because I'm unsure but I'm interested in seeing what happens and I hope its good stuff not bad.

[boatofcar]

Sadly, this appears to be the case. After Atari and CEC, he basically spent the next 30 years drifting from one venture to another, leaving a lot of half baked and failing businesses in his wake. Last I heard, his restaurant/interactive bar venture uWink was struggling to keep their last remaining location open. His concepts for on-line and other modern games looked fairly amaterish. I suspect the rest of the video game world left him behind decades ago. I respect what he created with Atari, but this move will almost certainly not bring anything new to either Atari/Infogrames or the classic community.

This. Count me in with the rest of the anti-Bushnell guys. He had two or three great ideas 30 years ago that made him a mint, and hasn't done anything worthwhile sense. Anytime he talks about videogames, he can't help but regard the games he helped make famous as the pinnacle. He's always struck me as a self-aggrandizing, arrogant tool.

[PingvinBlueJeans]

I suppose you could take that attitude about almost anything...

Look, I don't know you or how long you have been in the collecting community...

Save it. Don't feed the troll.

[Dr. Dib]

Megas, I've got to say that Atariage topic was an interesting read. I look forward to when their book finally does get released as most of my knowledge comes from Zap!:The Rise and Fall of Atari and the short bits in Game Over, which is still a great book.

Anyway, it does seem like this may just be the best PR move Atari will ever make. In this age where nostalgia is king they may be able to use it to their advantage, even if the stuff they make sucks.

One thing I'm curious about though is if that Atari Porn video they mentioned is real or just a joke. Google just points me to the AVGN's Atari Porn.

[digitpress Jim]

Fantastic news! Welcome back Nolan!

Digitpress Jim

Jim Combs
Video Game Saga
Founder
www.videogamesaga.com

[Emperor Megas]

Fantastic news!

I'm pretty neutral in this, but I'd like to ask, why is this "fantastic news"? Seriously, what do you who are pro-Bushnell feel that he's going to bring to the table exactly? Moreover, do any of you actually care about the Atari brand anymore? Again, I'm just trying to understand what all of the excitement and fanfare is about.

[Ed Oscuro]

Having read through some of that AA thread...lol @ Bushnell, just lol.

[tom]

Look, I don't know you or how long you have been in the collecting community, but Curt Vendel who is one of the two has maintained the most extensive historical site for Atari on the web for almost a decade now. His site is atarimuseum.com. While I haven't always agreed with Curt, there is no disputing that he owns the single largest collecting of internal Atari documents and items anywhere in the world. He also has access to and has interviewed just about everyone who had anything to do with Atari. He also worked with Nolan Bushnell for a while. As if that's not enough, he was also the project manager for the Atari Flashback consoles which where sold by Atari in the last few years. So, yes, I think he knows what he's talking about.

Well, since someone accused me of trolling (Usually I say it takes one to know one):

So, since you are easily impressed by people who have been in the collecting community for a long time.......I started a successful Atari ST/8bit/VCS fanzine in 1987 (running for 6 years), I contributed to the DP fanzine in the early 90s, I also contributed to The 2600 Connection (and many, many more fanzines) and I have in the past written for numerous gaming magazines. And wow, I had my first Atari website in mid-90s.

Further, you stated...Curt interviewed just about everyone...he does NOT know they were telling the truth, and you (especially you) cannot know this either.

But, if someone runs a website, and designed a P&P, makes him god in your eyes....so be it.

.

[Ed Oscuro]

So what? Writing a book requires being a journalist, not a whore to memory; running a fanzine does not make you an investigative reporter with unerring judgments. I know it might be hard to accept Mr. Bushnell could have done some wrongs, but the case here sounds pretty solid.

Tom, I suggest you take a look through that thread, or even read the book before you start going through your usual motions against something you haven't even read and thus can't comment intelligently on.

The guy has done his homework. He has talked not just to the detractors (whose accounts all jive) but also to Mr. Bushnell, who had confirmed key pieces of their new research, such as having pushed out his cofounder.

Either you didn't read the parts of that thread where Curt talks about his interviews with the other founder and the ten other early employees all agreeing, about Bushnell not being able to keep his story straight, and you hadn't heard about Bushnell driving most everything he's done into the ground (I didn't realize about Chuck E. Cheese, lol @ that), or you're just unwilling to accept new ideas when they butt up against your prejudices.

So which is it - are you sloppy, are you lying, or are you just being stupid as we have come to expect from you? It's got to be one or the other; you have this pattern of being close-minded about facts.

[PingvinBlueJeans]

Well, since someone accused me of trolling (Usually I say it takes one to know one):

Funny shit coming from you, Holzer.

Why don't you come over to AtariAge and discuss it with Curt then? Oh yeah, that's right...you were banned for being a trolling dipshit!

Tom, I suggest you take a look through that thread, or even read the book before you start going through your usual motions against something you haven't even read and thus can't comment intelligently on.

He's a troll...he isn't interested in commenting intelligently. Being an asshole in general was probably enough to get him banned from AA, but not satisfied with that, he decided to start creating sock puppet accounts to back up his idiotic opinions and start more trouble. Naturally he was caught and banned.

Remember that tom?

What a loser.

[PingvinBlueJeans]

By the way, here's that recent interview people have referred to where Bushnell talks of his 'involvement' with the Missile Command coin-op:

http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/m...ommand/1390303

Bushnell was long gone by the time MC was in development, but he remembers playing it in his office. Right.

[Emperor Megas]

Funny shit coming from you, Holzer.

Why don't you come over to AtariAge and discuss it with Curt then? Oh yeah, that's right...you were banned for being a trolling dipshit!


He's a troll...he isn't interested in commenting intelligently. Being an asshole in general was probably enough to get him banned from AA, but not satisfied with that, he decided to start creating sock puppet accounts to back up his idiotic opinions and start more trouble. Naturally he was caught and banned.

Remember that tom?

What a loser.

Wow, damn.

BTW - I'm still genuinely interested in why people who are excited or pleased with his appointment feel that way.

[PingvinBlueJeans]

BTW - I'm still genuinely interested in why people who are excited or pleased with his appointment feel that way.

Simply misdirected nostalgia, I suspect. If I didn't know anything about Bushnell or the things he's done, I'd probably feel the same way.

People just don't know any better. Read that interview I posted above. The clown who interviewed Bushnell obviously doesn't even know enough to call him out on blatant lies and stories that are totally fabricated.

[Jorpho]

BTW - I'm still genuinely interested in why people who are excited or pleased with his appointment feel that way.

It's understandable. The time during which this man became involved in the video game industry via a company named Atari is associated with new, sweeping, transformational developments. Now he is becoming involved in the video game industry again via a different company named Atari.

Apparently it is easy to lose sight of the fact that these are very different times and that there may not have been a causal relationship between this man and those developments.

[tom]

Funny shit coming from you, Holzer.

Why don't you come over to AtariAge and discuss it with Curt then? Oh yeah, that's right...you were banned for being a trolling dipshit!


He's a troll...he isn't interested in commenting intelligently. Being an asshole in general was probably enough to get him banned from AA, but not satisfied with that, he decided to start creating sock puppet accounts to back up his idiotic opinions and start more trouble. Naturally he was caught and banned.

Remember that tom?

What a loser.

First, thanks for remembering my last name and my antics on AA, I must be very important to you!

Was he banned...or wasn't he? Anyway, second, I'd have to agree with you there....that was some FUNNY shit.

BTW, resorting to abuse is the first (and last) sign of defeat....(that's the best you can do? Who's the intelligent one here, obviously me, and not you)

[tom]

So what? Writing a book requires being a journalist, .

Does it? Please tell this to David Beckham, Victoria Beckham, Katie Price (aka Jordan) and such ilk.

Ed, I'd suggest you research properly and find out how many people on this planet are writing books without any knowledge of journalism, before trying to post something of small intelligence.

[tom]

Read it on AA, Curt is nothing more than a trolling Nolan basher, yawn.

and the other guy is like, totally in love with Curt, always agreeing...