Ed Rotberg Interview - Atari Legend - Made Battlezone - First FPS in the World

[Adriano Arcade]

Any Battlezone fans in the house?

 

Ed Rotberg is a true Atari legend and created the world's first FPS with his masterpiece Battlezone! Ed shares all about the development of the game and how it led to him being approached by the US army to work on a 'game' for military purposes. Ed also reflects on the Polybius rumours and lots more.

 

https://link.chtbl.com/ed_rotberg_atari

[+sramirez2008]

11 minutes ago, Adriano Arcade said:

Any Battlezone fans in the house?

Hell yeah!

[+wongojack]

36 minutes ago, Adriano Arcade said:

Any Battlezone fans in the house?

 

Ed Rotberg is a true Atari legend and created the world's first FPS with his masterpiece Battlezone! Ed shares all about the development of the game and how it led to him being approached by the US army to work on a 'game' for military purposes. Ed also reflects on the Polybius rumours and lots more.

 

https://link.chtbl.com/ed_rotberg_atari

Kind of nice to see something that doesn't link to YouTube

[youxia]

Lovely, you've been scoring some cracking names recently...first Ken Levine and now this legend. Battlezone was one of my first AAA games, I remember being 7 years old and going on an hour-long train trips to another city just to play it :)

 

Any chance for these interviews appearing as transcripts on your site at some point, since I don't really do podcasts?

[4ever2600]

First commercial FPS...

[Keatah]

10 hours ago, Adriano Arcade said:

Any Battlezone fans in the house?

1up!

 

9 hours ago, wongojack said:

Kind of nice to see something that doesn't link to YouTube

And all the ensuing circus noise.

Like, Subscribe, Click on the Notification icon, and Share.. Post your comments below.

[Adriano Arcade]

22 hours ago, wongojack said:

Kind of nice to see something that doesn't link to YouTube

Thank you! I hope you enjoy!

[Adriano Arcade]

13 hours ago, 4ever2600 said:

First commercial FPS...

Very valid point!

[Adriano Arcade]

21 hours ago, youxia said:

Lovely, you've been scoring some cracking names recently...first Ken Levine and now this legend. Battlezone was one of my first AAA games, I remember being 7 years old and going on an hour-long train trips to another city just to play it :)

 

Any chance for these interviews appearing as transcripts on your site at some point, since I don't really do podcasts?

Thank you! I will look into transcripts for sure. Thank you.

[Keatah]

I never got into Battlezone at the arcade much, I was too short. And when I grew up, the remaining machines were not properly maintained. But I loved Robot Tank and Battlezone on the VCS.

 

I also dug Stellar 7 on the Apple II - which was ported to many systems and gained a sequel - Nova 9. I was thrilled to see BZ Arcade come home in Microsoft Arcade. And soon thereafter, MAME.

 

Now I hear there's an enhanced BZ, modded from the original code, where your tank jumps, and the horizon tilts and rocks. Among other cool features.

[Chris+++]

How awesome! Is there any way to download your podcast? I might be overlooking something. I didn't even know the show existed before, so I get to have fun newly listening to all of them!

 

[Chris+++]

Never mind; I found it on Podbean. I'm really looking forward to listening, especially to the interviews!

[Chris+++]

I just realized that the above post makes it seem as if I'm not looking forward to the other episodes. Not so. I meant it as a compliment, honestly!

(I should probably stop posting at the point in the day when my brain starts to feel a bit fried from my desk job.)

[DarthDuke]

Very cool! I haven't listened to an audio podcast in quite a while.  I also haven't posted on this board, or other boards, in a while.  In a way, these message boards are kinda better than social media because they aren't bogged down by all the 'features' that most social media sites are burdened with now.  I'm glad AtariAge is still around.  I'd like to post more often, but there's so many competitors for my time and attention now.  

I remember Battlezone. It's very difficult for me, but I still love it! When I do manage to destroy even one tank, it feels like a major achievement since the game is so hard. In most games, you are mowing down enemies left and right with relative ease compared to this. But that's how it is on a real battlefield, I'll bet.  My cousin was a tank gunner in Desert Storm and he said that it was much more difficult to actually hit your enemy than you might think it would be.  Battlezone is probably the most realistic tank sim that I've ever played. Maybe a few have fancier graphics, but this one still really gets you into it.  The Atari 2600 version is great compared with the arcade version because it has color graphics rather than just green raster graphics.  I get lost in the maze of lines with the raster graphics sometimes, especially when there are objects close to my character's location in the game. 

Great interview! It's great to hear the stories of these guys as they and their stories are just as important as the games they made.