Talk:Nolan Bushnell/Archives/2015

Parody Site

Is the link to the parody site really the only link that could be found for this guy? 70.106.238.123 19:35, 18 December 2005

Errors and mistatements

I would like to talk with marty Goldberg about editing my changes to Nolan's bio. Since I am Nolan's daughter, and have Nolan's permission to edit his bio, I think the edits I make which are accurate, as well as footnoted, should be the default edits. Marty, I am more than willing to discuss this with you. Please feel free to email me - my contact info is on the uWink Website www.uwink.com. Thanks!

Alissa

How wikipedia works is anyone can edit an entry, no permission required. Likewise, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a press release. There are very specific guidelines on POV statements ("some people", "original" or "first" with out providing evidence to support it, etc.), and what entry content is to include and not include. It strives to be neutral, reporting both critical (which you keep editing out,and is documented as well) and non-critical information. Lastly, the section you keep editing is not directly in relation to Nolan's background but rather the company you are currently a part of with him. Wikipedia has clear rules on this, and there is a conflict of interest on your end As Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations. Your very position puts you even more at odds with this rule as its your job to put spin on the company image. If you want to add figures and such about the products (which belong in the uWink article and not here), that's wonderful and you're certainly a great source for that. But Wikipedia is not a site for self promotion, and that includes using an SEC filing (which itself containts press release style text) as documentation for anything other than figures,d ates, etc. You have your own web site and press releases for the PR you're looking for. --Marty Goldberg 20:25, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

RE: Home Pong and the correction to the decades long incorrect telling of events (most likely sourced from the rife with errors ZAP! book) of Home Pong and that it was was laid out and designed by Harold Lee as per Al Alcorn's direction. Bob Brown's involved came 6-7 months later for chip testing. The idea of "Color Consumer Pong" came from a 1973 Engineering memo written by Bushnell. The Engineering Memo, copies of the circuits for Home Pong's IC and along interviews in 2012 with Al Alcorn and Harold Lee completely correct with supporting evidence the true accounting of events for the creation of Home Pong. --Curt Vendel 27 January 2013 —Preceding undated comment added 17:04, 27 January 2013 (UTC)

• Thanks for taking this to talk. I appreciate the book you have written quite a bit and am aware of your knowledge of these issues, but you do have a little to learn about both Wikipedia sourcing and academic discourse. You assume that I am some random editor just going off a few old mistruths without looking into the issues more completely and therefore just ignore me, which is not helpful. Yes, I have read Zap, but that is hardly a source I would use to confirm anything about Home Pong, so lets not mention that book again. I have researched video game history quite thoroughly in hundreds of sources and have training as a historian, so I have some idea of what I am talking about. I am also aware that you have collected many Atari sources that I have never seen and should be considered one of the premiere authorities on the company in the world. On a personal level, that gives me a great deal of respect for both you and your work, which is groundbreaking and invaluable. From an academic scholarship perspective, however, your book, like any other work, is only as useful as its explicitly stated sources when it is evaluated vis-a-vis other sources for inclusion of specific facts on Wikipedia. While wikipedia may not be the most scholarly place on the planet it is still a community, and one individual does not get to state by fiat that his is the only one true and correct telling of events and then expect everyone to just take his word for it. You must present your sources like anyone else.

Now to get one major issue out of the way, I think there is a high degree of probability that you are right. With your inside knowledge of some of these events, I would never take your words lightly. Unfortunately, however, your book fails to do two things that are critical to the scholarship (as opposed to the facts) of the issue. First, there is no direct quote in the book regarding the contention that Lee approached Alcorn first about Home Pong. I assume it comes from Lee since he is quoted in that section, but not on that one point. There is also no documentary evidence presented on this point: I know all about the 1973 memo, but it is not pertinent to the source problem being discussed here. Al Alcorn has previously stated on numerous occasions, including a retrospective he penned for the IEEE, that Lee came to him with the idea, not the other way around. I know his memory has been faulty on the history before, and I would love to know if he changed his story in more recent interviews with you, but your book does not address this contradiction. Bob Brown has also spoken out about Home Pong on two separate occasions and taken credit for providing some of the initial idea to Lee. I know he was not an Atari employee at that point, but he was friends with Lee, so that in no way disqualifies him from having a role in the gestation of the idea. I have no idea how reliable Brown is as a source, or whether you talked with him, but his version of events would not contradict Alcorn's previous recollections (though Alcorn does not corroborate the story either). Basically, there are three versions of the story (Alcorn goes to Lee, Lee goes to Alcorn, Brown and Lee brainstorm together and then Lee goes to Alcorn) from the three main people involved, and no presented documentary evidence that can settle the issue. Wikipedia is concerned with reporting facts from reliable sources. Your book certainly counts as one; so do the sources that contradict your work on this point. Policy would therefore dictate that all versions of the event must be presented and sourced. I would love to know more about the sourcing you used, however, as I personally want as much accuracy as possible on this matter. Indrian (talk) 17:34, 27 January 2013 (UTC)

No photo

Can we add a pic of Mr. Bushnell? I mean, he's an important person. --TKGB 00:56, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

A photo was added some time ago 156.34.219.162 20:31, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

New External Link...

It's a video about the history of videogames starting with an interview with Bushnell himself. Well, if anyone objects to me adding this external link, I'm not gonna take it off without a good reason. Abby724 00:52, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Minor Edit

I made a correction about the name "Atari." In chess, "check-mate" implies an end-of-game condition, while "check" implies a temporary condition. "Atari" in the game of "Go" is more like "check" in chess.

Fair use rationale for Image:Nolan Bushnell.jpg

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BetacommandBot (talk) 14:58, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Not a Mormon

"During my first quarter of college at the University of Utah, I was at a thing called the institute of religion and I got into it with one of the professors. I told him what I believed Mormonism stood for. I was always willing to say that there were a lot of interpretations, but the professors were people studied in Mormonism and I didn't believe, nor do I believe, that you should interpret the Bible literally. I'm willing to take things with a grain of salt and Mormonism creates good people, but I'm not going to endorse dogma that I think is hoo-hah." Games People Play --Zerothis (talk) 17:16, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

WP:FOOD Tagging

This article talk page was automatically added with {{WikiProject Food and drink}} banner as it falls under Category:Restaurants or one of its subcategories. If you find this addition an error, Kindly undo the changes and update the inappropriate categories if needed. You can find the related request for tagging here -- TinucherianBot (talk) 10:34, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

"Counter slip" state machine

The article says

The “counter slip” state machine technology which drove Computer Space was later patented and served as the core technology for all arcade video games until 1975 when microprocessors appeared on the scene and soon became the technology of choice.

I can find no mention of "counter slip" state machines other than this article in Wikipedia and copies of this article. I could find no patents that mention this technology. The change was made by IP address 70.33.69.155 on 03:31, 12 June 2006, so following up with the original poster would be difficult. I've marked the patent portion as "citation needed". The technology behind Computer Space is very interesting as it does not use a microprocessor, a citation about this technology would be of note. US 3793483 , "VIDEO IMAGE POSITIONING CONTROL SYSTEM" is close, but does not mention "counter slipt state machine. Cxbrx (talk) 07:15, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

Meaning of Atari

The article gives a glimpse of the meaning of the word 'Atari'. Quite rightly, the description used - 'check-like move' - was kept very brief. This useful phrase was changed to 'a type of move'. I have reinstated the earlier phrase, as I feel the original was more useful. There are differences between atari and check of course but, more importantly, there are also similarities. Each alerts the opponent to a situation of danger, in which (s)he stands to lose some material. I feel the brief use of the original term is a useful very brief analogy to a reader who may have only partial knowledge of chess. Trafford09 (talk) 09:19, 7 April 2011 (UTC)

The main difference is a check is a move you must respond to or you lose. An atari you don't have to respond to, it's usually urgent, but not always so. I guess it's alright for that description. Fafas (talk) 01:15, 15 April 2011 (UTC)