Bushnell: "I was stupid" to sell Atari


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During the 2010 [a]list summit last week, Atari co-founder and Pong creator Nolan Bushnell admitted that he regretted selling the company.

?I was stupid,? he told the audience. ?I sold completely because I didn?t understand Wall Street. In retrospect, I really wish I hadn?t sold it.? He did, however, rejoin Atari?s Board of Directors earlier this year.

He began his presentation by asking himself if he wanted to be a ?retro-focused historical fossil?, and joked that his kids called him ?lame?. He then went into a brief history of Atari, and emphasized how askew the market share for Atari was because when they produced 15,000 Pong machines, other companies would make direct knockoffs and ship 160,000. In his mind, the answer was to ?out innovate everyone else?.

Bushnell was excited for whats ahead in gaming technology. He cited that tablet and GPS games held great promise. He said that enhanced contact lenses, bio-implants, and robots are where the gaming industry is headed. Reality software, he said, was the way of the future.

He also noted that this was the first time he had done a presentation in PowerPoint for Atari, as PowerPoint did not exist when he did presentations for Atari.

Bushnell also gave this theory on how Pong became so successful. ?People at leisure are incredibly stupid,? he said. He noted that they actually lost 10-25 IQ points. He also said that Pong was a game of motor skills, citing that women?s ?fine motorskills? made it very exciting for women to challenge men at the game and actually beat them. ?It was the perfect date game,? he concluded.

http://www.iwinux.net/gaming/bushnell-stupid-sell-atari/

He seems like a pretty interesting guy. The story behind Atari is pretty damn cool.

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I think it was smart to sell it before the market crash.

Yeah, I think that was probably a good idea as well. But who knows. He would have made a lot more money in the long run.

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Does every post you post have to be from your personal site? It'd be easier if you posted the actual source because then it's readable.

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