Nolan Bushnell
Nolan Bushnell, the creator of Pong and founder of Atari, has said that many moons ago the games industry narrowed its own demographic and headed in the wrong direction, suggesting the Wii might hold the key to the future of gaming.
“I like to talk about [how] 1983 was sort of the break point where games went from casual to hardcore”, Bushnell said in an interview. “They got violent. They went long form. The violence lost the women and the long form lost the casual gamer. I actually sort of stuck to my roots, and the console game market moved away.”
All is not lost, however! “I actually think the future of gaming is going to be much more emphasis on games that are casual”, he went on. “The Wii was as much about a return to fun games — what I call universally accessible games — as much as it was about the controller. There’s clearly been a demand for games for everybody else, and that’s why I think this is getting so much attention.”
When it was suggested to Bushnell that gaming began life as a hardcore medium he rejected the notion, saying, “The way that games started, they were virtually all casual. If you really think about Breakout, Tank and some of those things, games were very, very simple.”
This is from the man who, back around launch of the PlayStation 3, said the price point of Sony's next-gen console could cause it to fail.
Source: MTV Multiplayer
“I like to talk about [how] 1983 was sort of the break point where games went from casual to hardcore”, Bushnell said in an interview. “They got violent. They went long form. The violence lost the women and the long form lost the casual gamer. I actually sort of stuck to my roots, and the console game market moved away.”
All is not lost, however! “I actually think the future of gaming is going to be much more emphasis on games that are casual”, he went on. “The Wii was as much about a return to fun games — what I call universally accessible games — as much as it was about the controller. There’s clearly been a demand for games for everybody else, and that’s why I think this is getting so much attention.”
When it was suggested to Bushnell that gaming began life as a hardcore medium he rejected the notion, saying, “The way that games started, they were virtually all casual. If you really think about Breakout, Tank and some of those things, games were very, very simple.”
This is from the man who, back around launch of the PlayStation 3, said the price point of Sony's next-gen console could cause it to fail.
Source: MTV Multiplayer
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Nolan Bushnell
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Comments
SuperSaiyan4 28 Apr 2008 11:28
1/4
If we look at this gen many gamers are multi format gamers, I think that with Nintendos innovation, Sony's hardware in relation to blu-ray and Xbox 360's combination of hardware, games and Live there are different things with all 3 consoles and many may either own a combination of both or all 3.
Next gen who knows anything could happen hardware wise with innovation and gaming.
For now the Wii appeals to a very large number of folk many of which were not interesting in gaming until the Wii came alone.
For the hardcore gamers the 360 and PS3 is more appealing.
Next gen who knows anything could happen hardware wise with innovation and gaming.
For now the Wii appeals to a very large number of folk many of which were not interesting in gaming until the Wii came alone.
For the hardcore gamers the 360 and PS3 is more appealing.
Joji 28 Apr 2008 13:44
2/4
I understand where Nolan is coming from, but without hardcore gamers, to sink much monies into games, the industry wouldn't have even got to where it is now.
In short, hausfraus can enjoy Wii Fit, because we helped bring it into reality. The idea of mass appealing games is a noble ideal, but in reality, when you are creating a game, for it to sell enough and make money, you have to aim it at certain people, the same as certain films or music etc.
Nintendo's efforts a re good and positive, but those gamers that helped grown the industry to where it is, still need traditional games. Unfortunately, Nintendo can't deliver these experiences, to those who require them. Someone has to, and there's no reason why both can't co exist on Wii etc. However, so long as other developers opt out of Wii, things won't get better.
Perhaps we then need the 360 and PS3 more then, maybe that's the idea devs are trying to drive home.
In short, hausfraus can enjoy Wii Fit, because we helped bring it into reality. The idea of mass appealing games is a noble ideal, but in reality, when you are creating a game, for it to sell enough and make money, you have to aim it at certain people, the same as certain films or music etc.
Nintendo's efforts a re good and positive, but those gamers that helped grown the industry to where it is, still need traditional games. Unfortunately, Nintendo can't deliver these experiences, to those who require them. Someone has to, and there's no reason why both can't co exist on Wii etc. However, so long as other developers opt out of Wii, things won't get better.
Perhaps we then need the 360 and PS3 more then, maybe that's the idea devs are trying to drive home.
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Way 28 Apr 2008 15:56
3/4
A history of gaming
Unlike many around here, I was back in those days too. My brother was a technician and brought home a pong electronics kit, and I got many sub-Atari performance preprogrammed units and the like, then a 2600, then VIC, 64, Vectrex, Amiga, Amstrad PCW (that was the most charming) and others.
The industry was better, more casual and fun, games had charm, and some were just cute. A hard core gamer was more a person that would not stop playing arcade like games, or a player of adventure games (no woman playing solitaire fro hours would not quite qualify) . Maybe I was a bit that way with "adventure" and some other Atari classics. Things were a bit intellectual, reflecting early users from the 70's and early 80's (some titles getting a bit whacked out in the early to mid 80's as people pursued new strange puzzle action genres).
Then, then, the game industry took a nose dive, called Street Fighter, "oohh.. the graphics are so good" (sarcasm added) the game so mindless, stark, intense action, but not really fun, a game for hormones and brainless action). Compare Doom, Quake, unreal etc to Street fighter and the mindless games that followed it, and you see the difference between real intense fun and street fighter. It is like bashing your head against a beer can, standing up the longest against a world champion stander upperer ;) and other mindless activities, years latter your not interested anymore, and it seems a bit pointless. Let's see, street-fighter or Atari 2600 Tank against an intelligent opponent, hmm, tank.
The sweet point of the industry came with the Commodore Amiga/Atari ST games rush, new innovation until the PC took over. You wonder where this sort of thing went to. Some went to consoles, some one way or another, but you can pick up some Mobile Java games, or refined Pocket PC game, and get the distinct feeling that a old Amiga programmer programmed it.
Nolan is not looking back far enough, the first known CRT game is in the 50's some form of basket ball or base ball by memory, programmed by a group with one of the people involved with the creation on the atomic bomb. In the 60's was Space War, that was violent. But I appreciate what he means, in the 80's they became more pre-occupied with violence. The games from the previouse generations focused on many different things, even though having a intellectual/alternative leaning (in the computer industry) they had a wider appeal.
Having a go at his comments on the PS3 price, is not really fair, he was right. The price of the PS3 is a serious hindrance, and look at how much struggle they have had.
The Wii is good, but as I have said for years, and others now say, it lacks the horse power. If you are going to feature 3D for your new control mechanism, then give it enough horsepower to do ti properly, and enough to at least run the latest games. Let's hope the rumours of the Wii2 are true (and something within the performance league of the Xbox360). PS3 was lucky that the Wii was not significantly more powerful, lucky there has been Wii shortages, lucky it was priced so high etc, lucky that they won the HD disk war.
Unlike many around here, I was back in those days too. My brother was a technician and brought home a pong electronics kit, and I got many sub-Atari performance preprogrammed units and the like, then a 2600, then VIC, 64, Vectrex, Amiga, Amstrad PCW (that was the most charming) and others.
The industry was better, more casual and fun, games had charm, and some were just cute. A hard core gamer was more a person that would not stop playing arcade like games, or a player of adventure games (no woman playing solitaire fro hours would not quite qualify) . Maybe I was a bit that way with "adventure" and some other Atari classics. Things were a bit intellectual, reflecting early users from the 70's and early 80's (some titles getting a bit whacked out in the early to mid 80's as people pursued new strange puzzle action genres).
Then, then, the game industry took a nose dive, called Street Fighter, "oohh.. the graphics are so good" (sarcasm added) the game so mindless, stark, intense action, but not really fun, a game for hormones and brainless action). Compare Doom, Quake, unreal etc to Street fighter and the mindless games that followed it, and you see the difference between real intense fun and street fighter. It is like bashing your head against a beer can, standing up the longest against a world champion stander upperer ;) and other mindless activities, years latter your not interested anymore, and it seems a bit pointless. Let's see, street-fighter or Atari 2600 Tank against an intelligent opponent, hmm, tank.
The sweet point of the industry came with the Commodore Amiga/Atari ST games rush, new innovation until the PC took over. You wonder where this sort of thing went to. Some went to consoles, some one way or another, but you can pick up some Mobile Java games, or refined Pocket PC game, and get the distinct feeling that a old Amiga programmer programmed it.
Nolan is not looking back far enough, the first known CRT game is in the 50's some form of basket ball or base ball by memory, programmed by a group with one of the people involved with the creation on the atomic bomb. In the 60's was Space War, that was violent. But I appreciate what he means, in the 80's they became more pre-occupied with violence. The games from the previouse generations focused on many different things, even though having a intellectual/alternative leaning (in the computer industry) they had a wider appeal.
Having a go at his comments on the PS3 price, is not really fair, he was right. The price of the PS3 is a serious hindrance, and look at how much struggle they have had.
The Wii is good, but as I have said for years, and others now say, it lacks the horse power. If you are going to feature 3D for your new control mechanism, then give it enough horsepower to do ti properly, and enough to at least run the latest games. Let's hope the rumours of the Wii2 are true (and something within the performance league of the Xbox360). PS3 was lucky that the Wii was not significantly more powerful, lucky there has been Wii shortages, lucky it was priced so high etc, lucky that they won the HD disk war.
way 28 Apr 2008 16:41
4/4
Way wrote:
A history of gaming
The sweet point of the industry came with the Commodore Amiga/Atari ST games rush, new innovation until the PC took over. You wonder where this sort of thing went to. Some went to consoles, some one way or another, but you can pick up some Mobile Java games, or refined Pocket PC game, and get the distinct feeling that a old Amiga programmer programmed it.
The sweet point of the industry came with the Commodore Amiga/Atari ST games rush, new innovation until the PC took over. You wonder where this sort of thing went to. Some went to consoles, some one way or another, but you can pick up some Mobile Java games, or refined Pocket PC game, and get the distinct feeling that a old Amiga programmer programmed it.
I should point out, before I get flamed, that the industry sweet spot I was talking about, was the old casual fun game industry Nolan is referring to, featuring computer games, before the PC, Nintendo and Sega took over. I should also point out, that it is hard to believe that they botched Java mobile gaming up so much. I mean I have a control pad on my Samsung that has a whooping great OK button in the middle of the directional pad, and the pad has all the responsiveness of interpreted Java. :(.
I have been planning on creating a fun gaming console platform to be licensed and made by Asian contract manufacturers under their local brand names (meaning very low investment). Simple design but fun. But my health has not been up to it, or to pay others to develop it instead.
There still is major potential out there for people to get into the market. Asia has been adapt at sustaining it's own separate gaming and computer hardware and markets for local CD disk based video formats. There has been DVD players with HD video for years (even divx), adding a modem and USB ports, Linux (not the full versions we are used to, would require a more expensive processor, but the sort of stripped down versions they use to make cheap mobile phones over there), Java games, emulators, you instantly have a third world cheap gaming platform. It is the sort of thing that you buy for 40 pounds and stick on the television for video and fun. You can do all sorts of twists and turns, like using it as a Internet link to download games to your mobile. The sort of thing that would appeal to someone like Nolan.