WEBVTT - Nostalgic Dive Into the Advent of Gaming

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<v Speaker 1>You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. I want

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<v Speaker 1>to end the program on a pretty cool note. I've

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<v Speaker 1>gotten my hand right now. It's it's a graphic I

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<v Speaker 1>don't want to call it a graphic novel. It's not

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<v Speaker 1>necessarily a book. It's not a novella. It's it's hard

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<v Speaker 1>to describe, but it's like a really thick comic book.

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<v Speaker 1>It's written by David Kushner. He's a journalist and author.

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<v Speaker 1>It's called Easy to Learn, Difficult to Master, Palm Atari

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<v Speaker 1>and The Dawn of the Video Game. He joined us

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<v Speaker 1>right now on the phone from New York. Check about

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<v Speaker 1>on Twitter at David Kushner. David, I'm trying to figure

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<v Speaker 1>out the right way to describe this because, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>initially I would say graphic novel, but it's a true story,

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<v Speaker 1>so it's not a novel. How do you describe it

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<v Speaker 1>that's true? You know, it's uh, there's not a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of long form journalism in the form of graphic novels.

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<v Speaker 1>And you are hitting on something that actually sort of

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<v Speaker 1>compelled me to do this, and this is the one

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<v Speaker 1>that I've done with an illustrator name corn shot Me

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<v Speaker 1>and uh yeah, it's been. It's actually been kind of

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<v Speaker 1>fun and an interesting challenge to try to do that. So,

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know, you can call it nonfiction graphic novel

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<v Speaker 1>something like that. Well, David, I like it because it's

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<v Speaker 1>about Pong, Atari and the dawn of the video game.

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<v Speaker 1>I gotta say those are the last video games I

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<v Speaker 1>was any good at Pong and Atari day Little Dig

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<v Speaker 1>Dug Defender. So walk us through the story there, what

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<v Speaker 1>you know, what's what's the the sort of origin story

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<v Speaker 1>of Pong and Atari? Yeah, well it was really and

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<v Speaker 1>the story is is kind of about a rivalry between

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<v Speaker 1>these two guys. And on one side you have no

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<v Speaker 1>Ling Bush Now, who was the creator of a Tori

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<v Speaker 1>and also created Pong, went on to later create Chuck

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<v Speaker 1>E Cheese, so very enormously influential. You know, American tonologists

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<v Speaker 1>entrepreneur still around. Um. Ralph Bear is not as well known.

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<v Speaker 1>And Ralph Bare was an engineer. He fled Nazi Germany

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<v Speaker 1>um when he was a kid um during the war

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<v Speaker 1>and ended up basically coming to the US working military

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<v Speaker 1>intelligence and as working for a defense contractor. As an engineer.

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<v Speaker 1>He got this idea to use what was new at

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<v Speaker 1>the time, television sets to actually play games, and no

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<v Speaker 1>one had thought about that, no one had done it,

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<v Speaker 1>and um, he created a table tennis game for television,

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<v Speaker 1>which Nolan Bushnell ended up seeing at a convention, and

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<v Speaker 1>then he ended up creating Pong and kind of starting

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<v Speaker 1>this bit of a lifelong rivalry between these two guys.

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<v Speaker 1>There's a real element of nostalgia here, Like you said, Mike,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, thinking about the nineteen eighties and and really

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<v Speaker 1>what was happening at the time at the same time,

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<v Speaker 1>if we fast forward to where we are today, we

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<v Speaker 1>look across the landscape of the video game industry, it

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<v Speaker 1>is just massive. It is huge. David draw the line

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<v Speaker 1>from Pong Atari and the dawn of the video game

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<v Speaker 1>to what we see today. M hmm, yeah, I mean

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<v Speaker 1>that's what I you know, I love origin stories. I've

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<v Speaker 1>written other books about the game industry, a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>articles about it. This is sort of the big origin story,

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<v Speaker 1>and and it's important for a few reasons, and it

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<v Speaker 1>connects it today for a few reasons. And first would

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<v Speaker 1>be I think the title, you know, the book, which

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<v Speaker 1>comes from Nolan Bushnell. It's this idea of design easy

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<v Speaker 1>to learn, difficult to master. You know. That's the essence

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<v Speaker 1>of any of any great video game, whether you're talking

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<v Speaker 1>about Pong or Grand Theft Auto, or you know Flappy

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<v Speaker 1>Bird or you know Dig Doug, you name it. Um

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<v Speaker 1>and it's a kind of a design approach which really um,

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<v Speaker 1>I think was epitomized in these early games. So um

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<v Speaker 1>you know, and and and and still you're seeing the

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<v Speaker 1>influence of ATRII, particularly on on the whole generation who

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<v Speaker 1>grew up with that and kind of had those you know,

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<v Speaker 1>design ideals branded into their in their minds, you know, Davia,

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<v Speaker 1>if I if I remember my history of about all

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<v Speaker 1>this yet, forgive me. I haven't had a chance to

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<v Speaker 1>read the book yet. I'm definitely gonna dig into this tonight.

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<v Speaker 1>But it wasn't an easy sell, right was it? Either?

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<v Speaker 1>I think it was Pong. They originally took two was

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<v Speaker 1>it Sears or something like that, and and had trouble

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<v Speaker 1>with it. Yeah, well, Pong um actually very early on,

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<v Speaker 1>and it was It's a story that is in the book,

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<v Speaker 1>which is about Nolan Bushnell when he first was creating Pong.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, the his idea was that this is this

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<v Speaker 1>just needs to be a gain that you can put

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<v Speaker 1>into a bog. You need to have a drunk guy

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<v Speaker 1>be able to stumble over and and get it. And

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<v Speaker 1>he really meant that. I mean it needed to be

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<v Speaker 1>and that kind of a lot of that design aesthetic

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<v Speaker 1>that I talked about started with that it had to

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<v Speaker 1>be something you just get right into. But yeah, I

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<v Speaker 1>mean people didn't know what it was at first. Sears

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<v Speaker 1>actually did UM end up, you know, distributing UM some

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<v Speaker 1>of the games early on. That was super important. But

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<v Speaker 1>you know, at the time it was really in an

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<v Speaker 1>ethemo no. But the idea that you would use a

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<v Speaker 1>television for anything but watching shows just didn't make sense

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<v Speaker 1>to a lot of people, and you know, Ralph bare

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<v Speaker 1>kind of kept bumping up against that. So, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>I think it's the kind of the saga of innovation

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<v Speaker 1>that people are still faced with today when you know

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<v Speaker 1>they're trying something new. Why are we not talking about

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<v Speaker 1>Atari in the context of a current GameMaker, a current

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<v Speaker 1>platform major, and instead we're talking about Sony and Xbox.

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<v Speaker 1>Well that's a great question because it's um. You know

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<v Speaker 1>that one of the most recognizable brands ever gaming and

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<v Speaker 1>after Nolan Bushnell Um ended up selling the company in

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<v Speaker 1>the mid seventies to to Warner, it never really regained

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<v Speaker 1>that footing. Um, and it's uh yeah, it was just

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<v Speaker 1>kind of left the wayside. But the game's um, you

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<v Speaker 1>know that it's are made. And I think that just

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<v Speaker 1>the culture that had fostered, you know, I mean myself

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<v Speaker 1>among the players. You know that that was our that

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<v Speaker 1>was everything you come home player. So um, yeah, they

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<v Speaker 1>didn't really bring the brand into the modern day as

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<v Speaker 1>much as they would like to, but you know, the

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<v Speaker 1>influences super strong. I love that motivation aimed at trunk guys.

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<v Speaker 1>Certainly a lot of a lot of good business innovation.

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<v Speaker 1>But what's the deal these two guys, now, David, are

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<v Speaker 1>they still alive or how are they doing? No? Well,

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<v Speaker 1>Ralph bare passed away and Ralph Bair you know, um,

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<v Speaker 1>he a story, like I said, is a story of

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<v Speaker 1>a rivalry. He ends up later on creating Simon, which

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<v Speaker 1>you may remember, Simon is actually still out there. Um

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<v Speaker 1>you know where you have to sort of memorize sequence

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<v Speaker 1>of um of colors on this handheld device and sounds

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<v Speaker 1>and hit the buttons. So Ralph had a great kind

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<v Speaker 1>of second act, and um, he he passed away a

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<v Speaker 1>few years back, and no one is still around, you know.

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<v Speaker 1>Like I said, he went on to create Chuck E Cheese,

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<v Speaker 1>which is obviously ubiquitous. And Nolan is very much of

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<v Speaker 1>a kind of a forward thinker with regarded technology and

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<v Speaker 1>education and education and aging. You know, our games to

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<v Speaker 1>keep kind of the brain active and things like that.

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<v Speaker 1>So he's still around. David Kushner, he's a journalist and author.

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<v Speaker 1>He is the author of Easy to Learn, Difficult to Master,

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<v Speaker 1>Pong Atari, Any Dawn of the video Game. It's a

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<v Speaker 1>nonfiction and graphic novel. Really cool stuff. Thanks for joining us, David,