媒体学留学生作业：诺兰-布什内尔革命性的娱乐工业

在1968年，布什内尔在犹他大学电气工程项目中得到了认可。20世纪60年代期间，布什内尔是众多计算机科学研究的青少年之一，在DEC大型计算机上研究当时最流行的太空战争游戏。在1971年，布什内尔和伙伴特德·达布尼在一个独立情况下创建了栾生太空战“电脑时空”。通过纳丁联营制作和分布。电脑时空被证明是超越时代的产物，是商业欠缺之物。

 

尽管如此，布什内尔向人们保证制作一个能够让每一个人都能够玩到的视频游戏。在1972年，他和达布尼发明了雅达利，同时体验了在加利福尼亚的伯林盖姆电子展上的主显节，在那他首次看到了奥德赛和一款电子版本的乒乓球。他了解该游戏能够进行一些改进并降低其复杂性。在雅达利的工程师阿尔奥尔康掌握了更简单的乒乓视频游戏方法后，布什内尔便将其成立在加州桑尼维尔市的一家叫Andy Capp's 的酒店。（目前，“金鸡羽毛”，一个喜剧俱乐部-然而在其墙上有提及到“pong”首次生产安置在此）。pong被证明是受欢迎的，但是仿造者们使得雅达利在主导刚起步的投币式电子游戏市场方面受阻。

 

Bushnell certified from the University of Utah electrical engineering program in 1968. During his time there in the 1960s, Bushnell was one of many computer science juniors that played the now famous Space war game on DEC mainframe computers. In 1971, Bushnell and coworker Ted Dabney created the Space war twin "Computer Space" in a self-contained case; it was produced and distributed by Nutting Associates. Computer Space proved to be too far ahead of its time and was a commercial failure.

 

Nonetheless, Bushnell guaranteed to make a video game that could be played by everyone. In 1972, he and Dabney invented Atari and experienced an epiphany that spread out at a computer electronics show in Burlingame, California, where he saw the Magnavox Odyssey for the first time and played its version of Ping-Pong. He knew that the game could use some improvements and a reduction in complexity. After Atari engineer Al Alcorn mastered the easier to play Pong videogame, Bushnell had it established at a tavern in Sunnyvale, California called Andy Capp's (currently, it is "Rooster T. Feathers," a comedy club - but there is a mention on the wall of the production of the very first "Pong" being installed there). Pong proved to be popular but imitators helped keep Atari from dominating the fledging coin-operated videogame market.

 

Bushnell later bought out Dabney. In 1974, Bushnell and Atari decided to develop an at home version of Pong. By 1975, Pong became one of the best Christmas gifts, largely due to a distribution agreement with Sears. In 1977, the Atari 2600 was introduced which helped to revolutionize home video gaming and the modern video game console industry was born. Demand for the unit was so great that Atari executives manned the production lines to help with the assembly and packaging during that first Christmas after its release. In 1976, Warner Communications (now Time Warner) bought Atari, and Bushnell was kicked out of the company in 1978.

 

While still at Atari in 1977, he purchased Pizza Time cinemas back from Warner Communications (as Pizza Time was at first developed at Atari), a place where kids could go and eat pizza and play video games. The Pizza Time / Chuck E. Cheese cinemas also had electronic animals that played music as entertainment (Bushnell had always wanted to work for Walt Disney, but was continually declined for employment when he was first starting out after graduation - Chuck E. Cheese was his honor to Disney and the technology developed there). In 1984, Bushnell resigned from Chuck E. Cheese Pizza Time cinemas (now named after its famous mouse mascot) as it entered bankruptcy. Chuck E. Cheese and it survives today as a successful entertainment and restaurant chain.

 

Bushnell has started over 20 companies (his most recent being u Wink , which he invented in 1999). He has been inducted into the "Video Game Hall of Fame" and the Consumer Electronics Association "Hall of Fame."

 

Pong乒乓球

Nolan Bushnell, inventor of Pong and founder of Atari, Growing up in Utah in the 1940s, and Bushnell had a childhood typical of a growing inventor: his early inspirations included a third-grade science affair on electricity; his early step backs included nearly burning down his family's garage with a homemade liquid-fuel rocket mounted on a roller skate. Over time, Bushnell began to show his talent for business as well: at age 15, when his father died, he took over his concrete business.

 

Bushnell's career plans broke while he was appearing in the University of Utah. At that time, he was learning the basics of computer graphics, while managing an amusement park and playing tournament chess on the side.

 

After some time he invented Pong, a video version of Ping-Pong, whose "ball" was a blip that goes back and forth on the screen between two "paddles" that were moved up and down by control triggers in the hands of the players. Pong made its debut at a bar in Sunnyvale, California, The game was literally overplayed: the machine broke down after being stuffed too full with quarters.

 

Knowing he had a winning product, Bushnell founded Atari in 1972, with the help of his coworker Ted Dabney and only $500. The games produced by Bushnell's company in the next few years, including Asteroids, gave rise to not only the video arcade, but an entire industry that is still progressing today. In 1975, Bushnell made an agreement with Sears to sell a home version of Pong: this was an even greater milestone, for here for the first time home television sets became interactive.

 

In 1976, Bushnell sold Atari to Time Warner for $28 million; by 1982, their Atari division was making $2 billion in annual sales. Meanwhile, Bushnell had already founded another company, Chuck E. Cheese pizza restaurants (1977), To date, Bushnell has founded 18 companies. He has worked in many fields, including personal computers and robotics; but he continues to develop computer games. For example, Bushnell now envisions "cyber sports," internet-based games that could accommodate thousands of persons per team.

 

Bushnell has always been convinced that computer games are an excellent way to foster curiosity and creativity in a social context. In other words, Bushnell has always seen computer games as a means of education; and certainly his own games paved the way for the myriad of explicitly educational video games available today. At the very least, Nolan Bushnell has revolutionized entertainment, in public and at home.

 

Personal Life个人生活
 

Nolan Bushnell was born in Ogden, Utah in 1943. His father was a cement contractor he died when Bushnell was 15 years old. Bushnell went to complete his father’s remaining contracts, gaining his first exposure to the business world. In his middle age, Bushnell worked part-time in an amusement park, eventually becoming a manager.

 

Bushnell had gotten his creative start several years earlier. As he told interviewer Tenaya Scheinman with The Tech Museum of Innovation, “The spark was ignited in Mrs. Cook’s 3rd grade class when I was assigned to do the unit on electricity and got to play with the science box. I went home and started tinkering and never stopped.” At times Bushnell’s experiments ignited more than a few sparks. In the same interview, he told of the time that he nearly set his family home on fire with a liquid fuel rocket mounted on a roller skate.

 

Bushnell attended college at the University of Utah, where he earned an engineering degree in 1968. In college, he played tournament chess and tournament Go, a Japanese strategy game. Go would later play a key role in his professional life. He spent his rare free time playing with computers and was introduced to computer graphics by one of his professors. While he says he was a good high school student, he did not do as well in college. Between his budding business ventures, his job at the amusement park, and his fraternity, Bushnell’s grades suffered.

 

Bushnell married twice and has eight children. He enjoys spending time with his children and he plans to spend time alone with each of them in Europe. Bushnell has given each of his children their own computer because he firmly believes in promoting computer literacy.

 

Career in Details工作细节
 

Bushnell originally wanted to work for the Disney Company, because he considered it, in his words, “A cool place to work.” Disney was not interested. Instead, he became the games manager with Lagoon Corporation in Salt Lake City. After two years, he moved to California and became an engineer in the Advanced Technologies section of Ampex Corporation. His keen interest in games grew when he learned of a game developed at MIT called Space war. The game was popular among engineering students, but Bushnell saw larger, commercial possibilities.

 

In 1971 he created his first game, Computer Space. It failed largely because it was too complex. Bushnell told New York Times Magazine, “All my friends loved it. But all my friends were engineers. The beer drinkers in the bars were baffled by it. I decided what was needed was a simpler game.” That “simpler game” would be Pong.

 

He financed his research by leasing pinball machines and through consulting work. But he was unable to sell his idea to a single amusement company. Undaunted, Bushnell decided to form his own company to manufacture the game. With his partners, Ted Dabney and Larry Bryan, and an initial investment of $500, the company was launched under the name Syzygy. That name, however, was already taken and they eventually turned to one of Bushnell’s favorite games, Go, for inspiration. The name they chose, Atari, means “prepare to be attacked” in Japanese—a smart choice considering the astounding success their Pong game would have.#p#分页标题#e#

 

Within two years, over 100,000 copies of Pong—an electronic version of table tennis—were sold, primarily for bars and nightclubs. The video game phenomenon was born. But Atari was unable to keep up Pong’s popularity. Demand was so great that competitors quickly produced their own versions of the game, and counterfeit versions dotted the market. Other problems soon surfaced. The company was frequently short of cash, harming its ability to meet demand and to create other games. By 1974, Pong sales began to slide. Atari’s follow up, a race car game called Gran Trak 10, was slow in development and took a long time to gain popular acceptance. In the meantime, the financial woes of the company continued to mount. Bushnell told Time magazine that “The machine was selling for $995 and costing $1,100 to build. We were shipping a $100 bill out the door with every unit.”

 

Bushnell knew that Atari could survive only if it continued to build more and different products. He looked to arcade games and home video games. The company soon plunged into the home game market largely because, as Bushnell told Business Week, “(they) turned out to be ready first.”

 

Once again, demand outstripped Atari’s ability to supply, and Bushnell decided that his only option was to merge Atari with a larger company. In 1976 he sold Atari to Warner Communications for $28 million dollars. Bushnell agreed to stay with the company, but not for long. As he told Tenaya Scheinman, “I was exhausted. Atari was an all-consuming entity. And part of it was this chase for capital, this quest for payroll. So to sell the company was in some ways a relief. Literally I felt like I had lost it all almost every other month. It seemed like one crisis after another.” He left the company after a bitter argument over the marketing of Atari’s innovative, new computer system, a “programmable” video set-up that allowed users to change games by inserting different cartridges into the system.

 

Bushnell’s next venture was Pizza Time Theaters. He developed the concept while still at Atari. At an industry show in 1974, he purchased an animal costume for $800. He brought it back to his engineers and asked them to make it sing and talk—his first move into robotics. When development on the new robotic entertainer—named Chuck E. Cheese—was completed, Atari was a part of Warner, who showed little enthusiasm for the project. Only one Pizza Time Theater was allowed to open. Bushnell believed that the idea had tremendous potential, so in 1978, he purchased the rights to the project from Warner and set out on his own.

 

Chronology: Nolan Bushnell

1943: Born.

 

1971: Debuted “Computer Space” video game.

 

1972: Founded Atari.

 

1972: “Pong” released.

 

1976: Sold Atari to Warner Communications.

 

1978: Opened Pizza Time Theaters (Chuck E. Cheese).

 

1981: Founded Catalyst Technologies.

 

1984: Resigned from Pizza Time.

 

1996: Joined Aristo International (now Play Net Technologies).

 

Bushnell wanted his new company to rival McDonald’s and Disneyland and he began to rapidly expand. The restaurants allowed customers to play video games, watch movies, or view a show put on by such robotic entertainers as Madame Oink, Harmony Howlette, or the proto-type Chuck E. Cheese while waiting for their food. In its first year of operation, Pizza Time earned $347,000. By 1982, revenues amounted to more than $99 million. But the good times were about to end. As the video game market collapsed, interest in Bushnell’s restaurants faded. On top of that, the chain earned a reputation for poor food, bad service, and high prices. To stem the tide of financial losses, the robots were reprogrammed to appeal to a more adult crowd, but it was too late. Bushnell resigned in 1984 and soon afterwards Pizza Time Theaters filed for bankruptcy.

 

But Bushnell was not out of business. In 1981 he formed Catalyst Technologies, a company that gave financial and other support to start-up companies. It financed a number of ventures, including one called Androbot. Androbot attempted to develop robots for home use, and Bushnell predicted every home would have at least one by the year 2000. For a time, it seemed like Bushnell had gone on to the next “big thing.” As John C. Dvorak wrote in Computer Shopper magazine, “Bushnell was a master of the media, and all the trade magazines were talking about Androbot, particular its TOPO and B.O.B products. The TOPO robot was essentially a remote-control robot that functioned on commands delivered by an Apple II computer. B.O.B. (Brains on Board) was supposed to function as an independent device and bop around the house all by itself.” The enterprise failed. The robots often broke down and were too expensive for home use. Bushnell put the company up for sale in 1985.

 

Social and Economic Impact 社会与经济影响

Nolan Bushnell revolutionized the entertainment industry. With Pong, he brought arcade-style games into the home and paved the way for a number of other companies to design, build, and market video games for personal use. With Pizza Time Theaters, he took the video game concept a step further, combining it with his passion for robotics and food to create an entertainment experience for the entire family. While his early successes launched the video game revolution, Bushnell developed a reputation for losing interest in the companies he founded. As Bushnell told Tenaya Scheinman, “I’ve always got to force myself into completion. I really like being the guy with the machete hacking his way through the jungle never to go that way again. And it’s nice to put the team together, get it running, get the structure in place, get finances working, then leave it and sort of pet it every once in a while.”

 

Companies he founded, like Atari and Pizza Time Theaters, both went through hard times after he left them, but they survived under new management. Bushnell even took his children to Pizza Time after he left. As he told Joyce Gemperlein, “They say, you owned this and you sold it? That was really lame!”

 

Bushnell never lost his interest in children or in learning. Early in life, he wanted to be a teacher but his grades and other interests had always prevented that. Instead, he took on a project to reform the education system. His idea was to reinvent the schools, much as he reinvented home entertainment. He told Joyce Gemperlein, “I think that if properly structured, kids can learn at 200 to 300 times the current speed. So that they can go to school for a couple of hours in the morning and the rest of the time they can be working on projects, having fun.”.