Atari founder slams online gaming
Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari and creator of Pong, has slammed online gaming as "not cool."
Talking about multiplayer gaming in a Q&A in London, Bushnell described the very idea of social gaming over the internet as being "stilted and flat", arguing that it was always better to play with people in person.
"Social is buying someone a drink," he said. "Sitting in a dark room in your underpants talking to thousands of people might seem social, but it's not cool. The public space is always going to be here."
Bushnell said that he thought his new project, uWink, was a much better alternative. Describing the idea as an entertainment dining experience, uWink is a system where people can play games via interactive terminals built into dining tables. Bushnell claims that the idea may seem ludicrous now, but has been put together with future technology in mind. 20 years from now interactive coffee tables will be the norm, says Bushnell.
The original founder of Atari also said that he plans to look at how games can be used as an educational tool in the future, saying that he believes edu-games could revolutionise the otherwise horrible US school system.
"I think the next big wave of value is in education - games are good for you. I want to leave a legacy of more than just fun."
Would you buy an interactive coffee table? Let us know in the forums.
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Discuss in the forums ReplyAnd while it might be "better to play with people in person" it certainly isn't as practical. I game with friends from across the globe on a regular basis - getting everyone together in person just cannot happen.
"Haha! You beat me there, dude! My turn to fetch beer!" vs. "ZOMG NOWAI HAX!!1"
I've played Day of Defeat (not the sucky Source version) both online and on LAN. During online competitions it was full of rivalry, people argueing and rude messages flying back and forth. In Lan events, it's one huge party, everybody's friends with everybody and the people who exchanged those rude messages sort things out (peacefully).
Even though I can get awesomer games on my PC, I can't get the same type of fun I would get from a puny Wii and a couple buddies even if I had the best rig on the planet.
That's his point, if I understood correctly.
you can say that again, the biggest portion of gamers like it or not are MMORPG's
calling their past time a little bit sad isnt going to change their minds and try out his uWink
a) a little one would scratch it or colour over the screen while painting/colouring/playing - my coffee table has been scratched to pieces thanks to the kids;
b) someone would scratch/mark it with a coffee cup instead of using a coaster (it is a coffee table after all) ;
c) power cables to the coffee table will be a safety hazzard.
still, I can see what he's saying about social gaming
But I spend instead a lot of time on IRC, playing other FPS online games and generally sitting with my computer. How is that any better use of time really? Time to quit being such a hypocrite. If something makes you believe what you are doing is fun then it is fun, no matter how sad other people believe it to be.
Sure I could say that MMORPG players should do something more useful with their lifes, like getting out now and then. Maybe work a bit harder so they could afford traveling around the globe. Every second you don't spend traveling is a second wasted. There is so much to explore beyond just what you get through the computer screen.
Most of you guys live in Europe so travel is much easier. I can't jump on a train and head to multiple countries.
a)sort of special protective coating over the top or maybe its sort of hidden until you want to use it, like a flip up display.
b) same as a)
c) route the power cables safely around the room and on table legs, or even under the floorboards and straight up thro the table.
think the main problem with this would be peoples attitudes towards it. People would see it as a kiddy thing and not use it, after all majority of people in lan centres are teens-early 20's
You need to factor the distance. With people from all over the world playing the same game at once it's not very likely that you'll be able to get these people under the same roof. Now, let's assume you somehow manage to get 16 people from all over the world into your house for a match of your favorite FPS. I don't know what the average house size in Europe would be, but down here in the Caribbean you couldn't fit that amount of people with their PCs/360s/PS3s comfortably in an average person's house.
Seriously! I live in the bay area and the closest country to me is Mexico, even though I am well traveled and this summer with mark my second trip on Europe(Who doesn't love summer mega-massives, thank god for the failing global economy plane tickets are so cheap right now!) Its just not as easy for people in the US to travel. The coasts are fun but in my opinion the middle of this country sucks. There really is nothing do, just endless fields and racist-homophobic-nascar-loving-hicks. =)
Actually I think Nintendo proved you could sell more following this guys idea basically.
I'm amazed at the offensive an negative tone of that comment. Would you hear someone saying 'Conversation is talking to someone in the street... Sitting in a dark room in your underpants talking to people on the phone might seem social but it's not cool' to describe the millions mobile phone users?
How may of the millions of online gamers (mmo, fps, poker, etc) sit in dark rooms in their underwear... ok maybe a couple of you ;)
How about watching movies at home alone? Surely you should go to the cinema or always have friends over if you want to be cool?
We all know that there a lot of omghaxxor muppets online playing games but surely we're above such offensive and childish stereotyping. You play an MMO? You must be a pantless weirdo! You're a programmer? You must wear glasses and have no girlfriend! You're gay? You must love cocktails and musicals! Black? Basketball and Rap dogg!
*sigh*
Sorry Nolan but I think you're way off.
Once you get out of school and go to work the people around you usually have other interests than gaming and as times progress you will meet less and less people that play games (and much less that would dare to admit it in public as gaming is still not accepted in our society) so online gaming is the only choice for most.
Not true, just because you somehow haven't heard of all the diff types of MMOs out there doesn't mean they don't exist. Plus high fantasy has been big ever since the Tolkien era, ain't gonna stop now.
me too ;-)
i love how he thinks everyone who plays any mmorpg is some nocturnal anti-social vampire
I remember playing defender on a coffee table when I was a wee nipper :D
maybe it's the mentality of people with alot of time to kill, grinding against predictable ai brings in the money, so mmo makers don't care (the formula time>skill pretty much sums it up).. I'll admit there is challenge involved in some mmos and that's attractive- the underlying theme of taking all your time I don't like, it's not healthy
like you didn't see beggars or anything like that lol they wouldn't make it out of town alive.. more like real life- people were generally nice and carebears were around still- me I was a total wackjob in that game.. played phantom ranger and had all my points into evade, strength, and confuse.. used to pk roid rage- like I'd aggro huge bosses and run around looking for a victim healing.. remember one guy in my alliance had full blue wolf armor so I confused a bunch of trees on him.. in lineage it's not pandering to the weak at all- if you die to ai there's a chance you'll drop a piece in your inventory.. well his helmet dropped XD
basically I'd farm people instead of mobs =] wasn't even high level just used these bosses and trained mobs to do my people farm.. that's the kind of mmo thats awesome imo- just it tends to exclude the 8 year olds.. and they have money- so it degenerates into what we have today.. heck even that obscure mmo kalonline went from pk heaven to whiners rule in order to draw in new players- that's why mmos aren't cool today.. whats the point of building up your character really? I thought games were supposed to be fun!
He probably thinks the internet is also evil and anti social.