Christmas reading

[gridrunner]

Hi all,

Well besides a calendar and some socks, Santa brought me Atari Inc. Business is fun by Curt Vendel. If you are an Atari buff I'd recommend this paperback. At 600 odd pages you can also use it to fend off burglars. It's full of memos, in house photos and the like. The formatting and layout is a little rough round the edges and the photos are in black and white, but it's full of Atari detail.

Also if you are an Amiga fan, be sure to check out The Future was here by Jimmy Maher. A nicely bound and well written hardback that is written from a European point of view and has a good chapter on the Amiga demo scene.

stu

 

[P-Man]

I got my copy of the Atari book yesterday, its very biased, looks like there is beef between Dabney and Bushnell, and Curt and Marty chose to pretty much attack Bushnell. The claims in the book are pretty far-reaching, looks like Bushnell was liberal with the truth at the least.

But you know, as i always say, you have to stomp on some peoples necks to reach the top, looks like thats what Bushnell did.

Still, its interesting reading - even if the language, grammar, and spelling is less than up to normal standards

 

[gridrunner]

I was interested to read about Bushnell's very early interest in Chuck E Cheese and the whole Pizza Time Theatre thing and how this drove developments at Atari as something of a means to an end. It reminded me of Sir Clive's pursuit of the electric car and his disdain for and then grudging acceptance of the computer line at Sinclair.
I've no doubt Nolan was an operator, but he doesn't strike me as being a bastard to work for. Some of the Atari ancedotes from when Ray Kassar arrived on the scene always amuse me; the pot smoking, the meetings in hot tubs, the Atari chicks, wholesale theft from some of the career criminals and bums hired during the boom years on the assembly line.

The establishment of Kee games to garner more game routes tells me he was an operator, but not a bastard. I can't imagine Steve Jobs setting up a chain of pizza restaurants with robotic stuffed bears and rats for entertainment. Careerist pyschopaths wouldn't do that kind of thing

gridrunner2012-12-28 21:59:29

 

[atarimuseum]

If its one that everyone who worked at Atari had said, Nolan treated everyone quite well and this is probably because he and Ted had just been working themselves for AMPEX, so they understood the employee perspective and that wanting to treat others as they themselves would want to be treated was certainly something instilled into Atari very early on and it well documented in numerous occasions in the book.

Curt
www.ataribook.com

 

[atarimuseum]

I'm not quite sure how to come to that conclusion, given that nothing was biased towards anyone, the facts were stated, mis-truths corrected and there is nothing far reaching since its all based on facts and cross checked facts. There was never a beef between Ted and Nolan, simply put Nolan saw the bigger picture and saw he could be the Henry Ford of a whole new industry, Nolan specifically stated to me when I asked him this exact question "When you forced Ted out of the company was it personal or business?" Nolan's response "It was purely a business decision" So there was neither a denial of it, but an explanation of it. Any "liberal truths" were merely visited and either confirmed or corrected, nothing biased, no attacks, nothing.

Where Nolan did truly amazing things - like Kee Games, Durastress, and especially Chuck E Cheese, he gets not only credit, but a full explanation and further expansion of just how he is a unique Visionary - seeing and filling a void in a market, or creating a new market, you don't do that by happenstance, that is seeing outside of the box and that is clearly shown in the book along with other instances such as listening to a pinball tech who wanted to design a pinball and not only giving him a chance, but all of the needed resources despite the pinball tech's boss saying he could never design a pinball.... that pinball tech would go on to become legendary in pinball circles today, again Nolan could look into a person, and see their talent, and give them a chance... again well noted and documented in the book...

Spend some more time reading the book, you'll find that the book where Nolan is mentioned gives him an even coverage of his successes and failures... To do anything any other way would've been viewed as yet another parroting fanboy slobberfest of the same old stories that were never accurately told. Give it a good read, and I hope you enjoy it.

Curt
www.ataribook.com

I got my copy of the Atari book yesterday, its very biased, looks like there is beef between Dabney and Bushnell, and Curt and Marty chose to pretty much attack Bushnell. The claims in the book are pretty far-reaching, looks like Bushnell was liberal with the truth at the least.

But you know, as i always say, you have to stomp on some peoples necks to reach the top, looks like thats what Bushnell did.

Still, its interesting reading - even if the language, grammar, and spelling is less than up to normal standards

 

[Level42]

Hey Curt, great to have you here !

I want the book. Badly.

But I decided to wait for the version with color pictures.

 

[P-Man]

But I decided to wait for the version with color pictures.

see, you're not hardcore enough, i'm getting both, full support!

 

[P-Man]

Curt..

I'm only 20% of the way in, so i do indeed have lots more to read. The writing style is certainly not neutral, and i described it as biased... the writing style is - but the facts are not - as you have explained. The first 20% that i have read, (because of the writing style) made me think there was more Nolan bashing to come

At the end of the day, you got off your arse, did the research, and got your sh*t together in a book, and i highly commend that. My book research stalled a few years ago, i know exactly how hard it is to do. (totally different subject BTW)

I'm used to reading dry, academic papers, the writing style in this book is definitely a break from the norm. Looking at it with a critical eye, the writing style leans one way when presenting the facts and it may lead the reader to form an unintended opinion (as i did . As you have defended, the facts are there, fair enough, in my humble opinion they are not neutrally presented. In some parts its actually pretty scathing i think I'm only 20% of the way in, so it may change!

But, for everyone reading this post, go buy this book and read it for yourself, you wont find the recounted first hand stories anywhere else, there's far more in this than in any other book. It is far, far more interesting than the other flashy-looking (but lacking substance) coffee table books!

Thats a big thumbs up from me Curt!

 

[gridrunner]

Hi Curt,

It's cool to have you on here. This book is a must have for any Atari fan. It's easy to forget just how huge and inluential Atari was in its pomp and this book certainly helps remind you of that. I used to do some part time teaching at a local university and one of the modules was the history of video games. Steven Kent's First Quarter was a set text, and I found Leonard Herman's Phoenix Fall and Rise of video games to be a useful book as well. I'd certainly be adding Business is Fun to the reading list and library stock if I was still involved in the course.

I liked the chapter on Cosmos as well, very interesting. From my point of view Atari's demise was the result of a failure to innovate enough and a lack of good business management with an engineering background that recognised the value of innovation and was able to support the core values that made Atari a success. A tech company that ends up being sales and marketing led is basically doomed. Look at what's happening to HP now with a CEO bought in from.. ebay..

stu

 

[DanP]

They bought a CEO from eBay?????

 

[Bods]

There aren't many books I buy or read

I will certainly be looking at buying this though

Got the Haynes Driving Games Manual which is cool