Bushnell slams modern games News
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Tom Bramwell
Atari founder Nolan Bushnell thinks modern games are rubbish. If he's talking about the ones with dropships in, we're with him.
"Video games today are a race to the bottom. They are pure, unadulterated trash and I'm sad for that," he told Electronic Design. Oh wait, that's it. Sound-bite, then.
The article itself is about Bushnell's current venture - the uWink family restaurants where you can play tabletop games, talk to hated family members and eat. There's one in Woodland Hills, California, and he seems pretty chuffed with it. And himself.
"I am the luckiest guy to be able to continue to innovate and create games and toys. Throughout the years, I added a technical twist to everything I did. I interpreted technology for the masses and it feels good," he explained. To be fair he was a bit of a wizard.
Sadly he doesn't add anything to his description of modern games, but he does tell us all about his personal favourite game, Breakout. "It is one of the games that everyone loved," he says. "It was very satisfying to play.
"It was like breaking down walls. And it was a metaphor. The world is better when you break down walls. Walls separate people. The more inclusive we can be, the better we can be as a species."
Yes, except the walls were at the top, and you generally got impatient with it and ended up bouncing the ball through gaps to smash the walls from the other side. Other than that, correct.
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Comments: 1-47 of 47 in total
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KingOfIceland
23/10/07 @ 08:39
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That dude still exists? well, I'd like to see some examples of those games he's talking about
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DanWhitehead
23/10/07 @ 08:46
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If you lived next door to a prison for axe murderers, or a safari park where all the lions are really angry and hungry, I think you'd probably disagree quite strongly with the whole "breaking down walls is always a good thing" ethos.
Personally, I'm quite fond of my bathroom wall, since it stops people watching me while I do a toilet. |
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afghan_jones
23/10/07 @ 09:15
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What a plum. games are better than ever. I just completed Portal last night which was joyous, novel experience and geniunely fresh and innovative. Last Friday I had a great time partying up in Halo3 with a couple of mates and pulling an all nighter, then sending them mocking screen shots of their deaths the next day. On saturday, the missus had a few friends over for some singstar and then on sunday her little cousin came over and played viva pinata.
This morning I played tekken on PSP whilst taking a dump. Games are actually lots of fun and just getting funner all the time. There were just as many shitty games way back when as there are now. |
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TonyCocaCola
23/10/07 @ 09:43
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That reminds me, i have an atari jaguar for sale if anyone is interested.
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DeathLord666
23/10/07 @ 10:07
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"What exactly does Tom mean by "If he's talking about the ones with dropships in, we're with him." What game does that refer to? The only one i can think of is halo, you know the 10/10 game?"
Tom is a well-known Halophobe. |
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Kirly_Wombat
23/10/07 @ 10:10
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Im tired of these (all beit talented/pioneering) hasbeens crawling from the wood work, bashing anything that they havnt made, and plugging thier own new venture. Its so transparent.
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PearOfAnguish
23/10/07 @ 10:12
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Oh cock off, you old fart.
What is it with all these crusty developers crawling out the woodwork to bitch about how new games are rubbish and boast about their innovations? Sounds like jealousy to me. What have you done recently, Bushnell, aside from stick board games to the tables in a restaurant? Yeah, you're going to set the world alight with that brainwave. |
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Madafunkola
23/10/07 @ 10:15
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@andromeda
And the walls in Portal are integral to the game mechanics! WALLS ARE GOOD! Suck on that Bushnell! |
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TonyCocaCola
23/10/07 @ 11:26
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@Dr.Mott. I thought all the ET games were collected up and blasted into the sun?
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BlankOBlank!
23/10/07 @ 11:54
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Urgh.
It seems to be the in thing at the moment for the old luminaries to start shouting about how bad games are these days. The Orange Box in its entirety contains more gaming goodness than the 70s and 80s combined. At least we're not blatantly cloning games wholesale like they were in those days. Utter utter nonsense. |
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Most home computers available at the time were also better games systems than the 2600. To be fair I do remember having hours of fun playing two-player Combat on my mate's 2600 but that was the exception rather than the rule - the vast majority of games for the 2600 were pants even by the standards of the day
[edit: arrgh... typos...]
Edited 2 times,
most recently on 23/10/07 @ 15:17
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JavaJawaUK
23/10/07 @ 14:19
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This bloke obviously has had his eyes shut for the past few years
KotOR? Bioshock? [call it what you want - first run through is amazing] Half-Life 2 & Episodes? Portal!!!? Oblivion? [brilliant, if repetitive to a degree] Rome & Medieval II: TW? And those are just my personal favourites - his comments are far too sweeping and general Seriously - he's too busy counting his monehs to actually get to play any games. Get out more Nolan . . . [prick] |
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Pretty much every knob up aove, respect the past, you might not agree with Bushnell (and I reckon that comment has been reported out of context), but this guy was a seriously clever and shrewd individual who effectively kick started the entire industry!
I doubt you would be playing the games you have all listed if it was not for him! And before some muppet goes on about ET and 1984 crashes, Atari was with Warner at that point, he had long gone by then. |
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Freekmeister
24/10/07 @ 12:07
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Journalists nowadays must be too "Pure, unadulterated trash", if they cant ask for examples to this thesis
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Comments: 1-47 of 47 in total
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