Bushnell: Baer an "annoyance"

[Gamereviewgod]

Anyone see this weeks episode of GameHead on Spike? Bushnell was interviewed, and when speaking of Ralph Baer, said he was nothing more than an annoyance. Further, he said he was simply good at getting patents, not producing anything people wanted.

I know these two have a history and it's hardly a pretty one, but this seemed way out of line. I'm stunned none of the gaming sites have picked up on this. They've reported on Reggie and stuff when he was on the show. This seems like a fun story.

Can view the episode here:

http://www.spiketv.com/#/shows/gamehead/index.jhtml

First segment has the quotes I'm referring to.

[Mianrtcv]

I can imagine even with all the success Bushnell has had it gets old hearing "hey, what out Ralph Baer?" That's not to say Baer doesn't deserve his due, but I imagine Bushnell would rather do interviews solo (as in strictly about himself and his projects).

Slight correction... I think it was nuisance not annoyance, when Bushnell referred to Baer

[j_factor]

Wait... uWink isn't new. I remember it being mentioned on the Bushnell episode of Icons, which was the very first episode... back in early 2002.

[swlovinist]

I kind of laughed when I saw this episode. I have always been a fan of Ralph Baer. I expected Bushnell to say the crap that he did.

[Snapple]

I like Baer, and I like Bushnell, but with all the legal trouble and financial issues that've been going on for decades between these two, you can't really blame Bushnell for not wanting to say nice things about the guy.

[rolenta]

Ralph has an email that he showed me from Nolan Bushnell, sent last year, where Bushnell accused Ralph of stealling the video ping-pong idea from him. Ralph replied to it but Bushnell never answered.

I also have an email from Ted Dabney which tells a different story of the creation of Computer Space and Atari from what Bushnell has told all these years. Parts of it will be included in the next edition of Phoenix which will be available later this year.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

This whole thing is like an ongoing feud between two family members that everybody likes equally, who are never, ever going to bury the hatchet. I don't think Nolan has played straight with the facts at any point, but we tend to give him a free pass for the other things he's done for the industry.

I think Mr. Baer just wants acknowledgement - he's not expecting a parade in his honor or anything like that. He's had his credibility assailed by everyone from Atari to Nintendo, usually because they didn't want to have to pay up on a patent infringement suit. So while Nolan may view him as an "annoyance"...I can see where one could, through being annoyed by someone else constantly claiming credit for something, become "annoying" to some.

Baer is indisputably the creator of home video games. Even if you drag Steve Russell and Willy Higginbotham into the fray, they did not create games that were specifically designed for play in a home setting, using existing TV sets already installed for a display. Neither did Nolan Bushnell.

And I think that is what Nolan, as highly as I think of him for other reasons, considers an annoyance.

He might ought to get used to being "annoyed" - or stake his claim to part of the industry's history in a way that doesn't try to yank it out from under another man's feet.

Just my opinion there, of course.

[Lady Jaye]

Well said, Earl.

It's interesting how Computer Space never comes up as a controversy in the history of videogames, but then again, it's a whole different ballgame -- what with Computer Space being a port of an open-source game instead of a stealthy clone of a game that did exist... and most importantly, because of the fact that Computer Space was a commercial failure (well, at least till Atari simplified the gameplay and released Asteroids -- yes, I do consider Asteroids as a spinoff of sorts of Space War/Computer Space...) while Pong was a smash hit in its heyday.

And even though most of Mr. Baer's patents may not seem spectacular to Joe Everybody, his are the kind of patents that ended up as the backbone of important technological advances.

I find it unfortunate that to this day, Nolan still has the arrogance to deny Mr. Baer's achievements. Like it or not, he owes him big -- had he not seen the Odyssee in action, what would have he released instead? It's not even the game itself that's crucial here but the subsequent realization of the whole "easy to learn, hard to master" principle that guided the pre-crash gaming industry...

BTW (and that's just because I'm far away from my videogame history books right now), did Magnavox realized the copy infrigement at all when Pong was still an arcade game, or was it not a big deal until it was ported for home?

[rbudrick]

I like Bushnell, I really do...he's quite a character for sure, but I also believe he will lie cheat or steal to get a buck, and has. He's famous for tricking venture capitalists into giving him money, and for misleading his employees to do work. And, as court records show, his company deliberately stole ideas from Sanders/Magnavox, under his direction. He does all these things very slyly and often creatively, and has no problem taking credit when it favors him, and washing his hands of responsibility when it doesn't.

He's a slimy dude, but I love the guy.

-Rob

[rolenta]

I used to admire Bushnell but he lost my respect at CGE 2003.

For years Bushnell claimed that he never saw the Odyssey, even after it was proven that he did. Then when he finally admits that he did see it, he puts the Odyssey down. At CGE 2003, at his keynote where I introduced him to the crowd, he finally admitted that he did indeed see the Odyssey 'but it was already failure' when he saw it. A failure? The damn thing hadn't even been released yet when he saw it! And Magnavox sold just about as many Odysseys as Atari did Home Pong!

The email from Bushnell which I mentioned earlier was sent after an IEEE journal did an article about Baer. And that was shortly after Ralph received the award from President Bush. To my knowledge Bushnell never received such an award.

[digitalpress]

I want to see these two play Pong against each other at CGE this year. I REALLY do.

[Vinnysdad]

I want to see these two play Pong against each other at CGE this year. I REALLY do.

That would be a crazy showdown right there. Gentleman choose your paddle!

[rolenta]

I want to see these two play Pong against each other at CGE this year. I REALLY do.

It's not going to happen

[MegaDrive20XX]

I want to see these two play Pong against each other at CGE this year. I REALLY do.

I agree, it's time to put this war to sleep. 1 game of PONG will slove this.

[Berserker]

I want to see these two play Pong against each other at CGE this year. I REALLY do.

I think maybe you'd end up having to pull them off of each other! If ever there were two people to which Pong was Serious Business, it'd be these guys for sure.

[rbudrick]

I want to see these two play Pong against each other at CGE this year. I REALLY do.

Can someone photoshop a mockup of this? That would rule.

-Rob

[Melf]

Parts of it will be included in the next edition of Phoenix which will be available later this year.

Yes! I've been quite eager to get a copy of this. Thanks for the news!

[Ed Oscuro]

I know these two have a history and it's hardly a pretty one, but this seemed way out of line.

Right, like Baer's never said anything prickly. I think it's quite warranted given that Baer is pretty ruthless about other people (even given the quite understandable frustration).