rkindig Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 Unbelievably, for Antic we've been given the opportunity to talk with none other than the Atari founder Mr. Nolan Bushnell! We obviously want to make the best use of this tremendous opportunity and are opening up to the Atari community the chance to offer questions to Mr. Bushnell. Help us make this the best interview we can with the limited amount of time we will have to talk with him. Nolan has been tremendously free with his time and has been interviewed numerous times about his Atari days. So, we're looking for questions that perhaps have not been asked before. Since we are an Atari 8-bit computer podcast, even though Nolan didn't have a lot of involvement with the computer line, we'd like to at least partially focus on what led up to the development of the 8-bit computers. The interview is to take place on July 30, so we have some time for the community to offer questions. Please respond to this post with any questions you might want to offer, or send your questions to antic@ataripodcast.com. Obviously, we will not guarantee that we will use your question(s), but we appreciate any and all that you offer and will consider every one. Thanks much for your help and we look forward to your questions. The Antic Staff 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 (edited) . Was the initial intent/development of the computer chipset aimed towards a next gen console, computer or both? . Do you remember the year/month that development started? . Was the Apple II offered for production/distribution by Atari? At what stage was Atari's computer development at that time? . Did FCC regulations of the time have a great influence over the machine's architecture? As in expandability (or lack of) and the choice of the serial port as it is for peripherals. . Throughout the development of the VCS and later the computer, what was the level of sharing of knowledge/manpower between arcade and home divisions? . Were Antic and CTIA/GTIA kept as seperate chips because of insufficient silicon real-estate - or was Antic a later addition due to GTIA having insufficient ability to serve as sole display generator for a computer? Edited July 15, 2015 by Rybags Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Payne Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 WOW! Well, that's about it then. You snagged the golden ring. The only way you could probably top that is get out the Ouija board, reach into the great beyond for a candid interview with the disembodied voice of Jack Tramiel, and put him in the hot seat. Of couse, I'm sure some already think all of his seats are all pretty hot now. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Dragon Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 It's not A8 related but i'd personally be interested in hearing what became of the Home VR system he planned years ago.If you could squueze that in it'd be great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 If Nolan had stayed in control of Atari, what does he think would have happened differently? What would have been Atari's priorities from the 2600-on? I had read that he was initially against getting into the home computer business. Did his view change any as the 400/800 began to take shape? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 . Were Antic and CTIA/GTIA kept as seperate chips because of insufficient silicon real-estate - or was Antic a later addition due to GTIA having insufficient ability to serve as sole display generator for a computer? Joe Decuir would know the answer to that one. My guess is chip size. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Payne Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 You gotta ask about the parties and hot tub. I'd like to hear more detailed stories about the early days, including his exposure to The Steve's,Warner management, his time after Atari, such as the creation and exit of Chuck E Cheese, and the creation of those robots. Why was he so opposed to sharing the info for others to create software for the Atari. What was his main opposition to not allow devs a little credit for thier creations. What mistakes did he feel he made and what could others learn from that? Sry for the poor sentence structure. I have to do this from my phone since I can't log in to the forum from my work computer for some reason. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Payne Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 Ok, I did a quick lookup and Nolan left Atari in'78 and the Atari computers were released in '79 so maybe that wasn't his intention. It would still be a good question to ask him and if he was for that, is he still? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelmischief Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 (edited) You have been an inventor and an innovator across time spanning several waves of social and technological advancement. Do you ever discover blind spots in your creative vision caused by assumptions or paradigms that, once fundamental, have become obsolete? At the levels of business where you have worked, did you ever look across the industry at a peer and think, "I just don't like the way that person does business"; even if that business was successful? In other words, to what extent are ethics even a factor? How much of a factor have they been for you? Have you ever made an ethical decision knowing it would amount to a diminished business outcome? Are there decisions you look back at now and wish you had made differently; in either direction? Atari loyalists are quick to remind others of how much stronger the Atari ST products were than their early PC compatible counterparts. Likewise, we hold quite the grudge over the emergence of DOS and Windows on Intel as the "defacto" standard for desktop computing. What are your thoughts about why it all turned out the way it did? What, if anything, do you think Atari could have done differently to remain competitive or become dominant in that early marketplace? Do you think they should have? Somewhat related to the previous question, do you look back now and think that if Atari had abandoned their efforts in coin-op and computing, and focused intensely on the home gaming console market, they might have recaptured the kind of dominance they enjoyed in the first generation of that industry? Again, should they have? As a lifelong gamer, what do you think of the shift in focus away from the single-player campaign, toward the multi-player social aspects of triple-A software titles? Is the marginalization of creative storytelling in favor of the user-driven social experience an evolution you appreciate? Science fiction has both enticed and frightened us with a future wherein the barrier between consciousness and simulation simply doesn't exist. The neural sciences and the video gaming market are racing to converge on the realization of that vision. As a pioneer in video gaming, what do you think the future holds in terms of application, implementation, and impact of neural-interactive simulations? Edited July 15, 2015 by pixelmischief 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 (edited) Were Antic and CTIA/GTIA kept as seperate chips because of insufficient silicon real-estate - or was Antic a later addition due to GTIA having insufficient ability to serve as sole display generator for a computer? Well, they later put GTIA+Antic into one chip, named "KERI". Alas this was 1983/1984 and Tramiel stopped all 8Bit development at the moment he took over Atari. There was a topic at AA by Curt Vendel, where he released the numbers, names and descriptions of several -as of then- unknown A8 chips; besides, triple-GTIA or double-Antic was not one of these chips.... found it: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/74377-master-chip-listing/?hl=%2Bkeri http://atariage.com/forums/topic/154479-new-gtia-chips/?hl=%20keri Edited July 15, 2015 by CharlieChaplin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr SQL Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Easy to play, difficult to master - if Atari had stuck to this Mantra with game design, how well could those guidelines have mitigated other factors of company mismanagment and oblivion to market saturation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caterpiggle Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Hello rkindig, Please ask Nolan , what happening to 1450XLD that was last minute to cancel the project ?? What if Nolan was in Atari and will he released Atari 1450XLD instead of another CEO , I forget his name. When was another CEO came to charge the Atari and he cancel all the remaining prototypes stage of 8 bits and re-focus on ST line ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I suspect GTIA was never intended as a sole display generator - take away the playfield and in many ways it actually becomes less capable than TIA. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clint Thompson Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 With all the technology in chip manufacturing being done outside of the U.S., does he ever see a time in the future where a startup company would not only be able to produce custom technologies or chipsets in-house that could compete with giants like Nvidia, Intel, ATi or AMD but also done here completely on U.S. soil? What kind of push would it take for such a thing to acutally happen and is it actually possible or within reason? How does he feel about the current state of Atari and why hasn't he bought back the Atari name completely for himself to re-laucnh properly and completely modernize the brand for cutting edge technologies and innovation again? What's one of the most important things he feels the need to accomplish with the rest of the time he has available? If he could change one thing in history, what would it be and why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Were Atari parts supposed to start with CO (oh) or C0 (zero)? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedBeard Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Does he keep up with "The Atari Scene" at all any more? In particular, has he seen some of the amazing VCS demo-scene stuff? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high voltage Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Does he still have a Petster at home? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snicklin Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 My question is: Does Nolan read AtariAge? If not, then why not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 My question is: Does Nolan read AtariAge? If not, then why not? He actually posted here a few times. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/162342-discuss-atari-history-with-nolan-bushnell/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricortes Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I'd be interested in where he is now with respect to technology. Does he personally use laptop vs. desktop, Mac vs. Windows, iPhone vs. Android, that kind stuff. Personally it would give me a completely honest insight into what he thinks is important or the way things should be. I may think a desktop system that needs to be cooled in liquid nitrogen is interesting yet the computing device I spend most of my time with is a cellphone. [social media, reachable, pictures, ...] make it indispensable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariTexas Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Is he a French's mustard, or a Grey Poupon kinda guy? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+David_P Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 There's still a key outstanding question from the earlier Q&A thread: Nolan - do you wear boxers or briefs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Payne Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 There's still a key outstanding question from the earlier Q&A thread: There are other undergarment choices that were left out of that list...but I'll just leave those to the imagination. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+frankodragon Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Just out of curiosity, what's his high score in Pong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GameGirl420 Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 I interviewed him once on my own radio show over a year ago,and might again actually. Congrats on getting Nolan,he is alot of fun to speak to! My favorite question that I asked was whether Atari programmers were on drugs,and he answered that straight up,and wasn't offended at all. He said he never caught anyone on acid but Atari in Sunnyvale did have their own room to smoke pot in. Ask him some Chuck E.Cheese questions,and what it was like working with Steve Jobs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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