Gaming piracy is a serious problem that seems impossible to eradicate. But is there hope for game developers? According to Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, there is, thanks to the TPM encryption chips that are being built into some of the latest motherboards. More in the full article.

It's not uncommon for game industry icons to express their preferences for or against something. This time around, it's American electrical engineer and entrepreneur Nolan Bushnell. Simply put, Bushnell believes that typical in-game advertising doesn't work. More on his opinion in the full article after the jump.

A gathering of the top gaming industry executives was the grand finale to the MI6 conference. This panel included big wigs such as Peter Moore, Laurent Detoc, and Alex St. John, among others. During the panel, they discussed the future of the gaming market. According to the panel though, it seems the word "gaming" will disappear by 2020. You can read more on this in the full article.

Nolan Bushnell, the man who created the video game, started a media frenzy when he let slip many a jagged word about our today's games. Bluntly put, he said games today are nothing but "pure, unadulterated trash". That, however, wasn't true for every game, and Bushnell knew that.

Clarifying "pure, unadulterated trash," the founder of Atari pointed out that he was describing those games that were repetitive and mundane.

"There’s a lot of people think that bigger, faster, better is an innovation. It’s not. It’s just bigger, faster, better," said Bushnell in an interview.

The creator of Pong enumerated several games that upon first look, could easily be considered different from the rest. Games such as Will Wright's Spore, Konami's Dance Dance Revolution, Alexey Pajitnov's Tetris, and Harmonix' Guitar Hero were all named in particular.

"When you pick up the controller of the Wii, you know that you haven’t done that before. Even though the bowling is the same, doing it on the videogame, using the Wii controller, that’s an innovation," he added. Obvious differences aside, there were many other unsung heroes in the gaming industry. These many games continue to lie buried in the outpour of mainstream games.

More developments on this as they drop by.

Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari, has been called the father of video games and is credited with the creation of the coin-operated video game Pong. This iconic figure in the history of gaming was recently quoted by Electronic Design as saying, "Video games today are a race to the bottom. They are pure, unadulterated trash, and I'm sad for that." 

Of course, he didn't say that without justifying it. He pointed out that people could use more social games and that a lot of video games today are very isolated. What Bushnell wants to see is more group-oriented games where families can sit down together and play.

He notes that this is very important since it represents good mentoring time for families, something that doesn't happen anymore. It's no surprise that in one of our older articles he said that he is actually intrigued by the Wii and believes it might expand the market beyond hardcore gamers. This might also be the market that he wishes more game developers to pay attention to.

In fairness to the video game developers, they have been making moves to create more family-oriented games, in addition to the genres that have gained acceptance over the years. While Bushnell probably knows this, it might be that he feels there should be more support towards family-oriented gaming than what we currently have on the market today.

With Atari watching its back, French developer zSlide has been cautiously optimistic about the mini-game genre and how it's slowly becoming a growing attraction among handheld gamers. In the face of the new gamer - the non-gamer - game developers and publishers have begun to assess the possible profits of a fledging market.

 

zSlide's Jordane Thiboust, the lead designer for Hot PXL that should arrive to the PSP on June 22 in Europe, spoke much about the mini-game genre and how Hot PXL was designed to deliver as much as 200 mini-games in one revamped title for the mobile hipsters.

Despite the apparent negativity against mini-games by certain brackets of the core gaming market, the mini-game is actually a realm of game creativity practice for the developers, especially zSlide after having to design 200 games with different concepts. Thiboust explains:

It was a lot of fun to come up with all the different mini-games. What is funny is that finding 200+ game ideas becomes harder and harder with time. And this is where the craziest and weirdest concepts come to mind… from abducting cows in space to memorising how steaks are grilled on a BBQ. Our game concepts come from everywhere - from everyday life (catching cereal in a bowl) to 'not the average day' (zombies hunting brains in a supermarket).

What's more, they had help from then-great games giant Atari, which was brought to success with games billionaire Nolan Bushnell and his rag tag collection of arcade games for the Atari consoles and arcade machines. Atari's collection of retro-games - the inspiration for Hot PXL - spurred much of the zSlide's inspiration for the few hundred games. Thiboust added:

Mini-games are great for handheld consoles, no doubt about it and ... WarioWare has proved it. Game design is as much a science as an art and looking at what your predecessor did is mandatory if you wish to progress, then you take it from there, enhance, create and evolve the concept.

From our standpoint, we consider that this idea of sampling games, thought up by the masters at Nintendo, actually gave birth to a new genre of games, on the same level as an RTS or FPS. Of course, we could work on that concept with a different set of characters, a new graphic style and a different platform. But we also wondered about what we could do to take the genre further, technically.

 

In a press release today, Atari president and CEO David Pierce stated that Atari was undergoing another structural reorganization to reduce the company's general and administrative costs. The company is now eyeing an approximately 20% decrease in staff, which includes a 26% reduction in administrative employees.

Approved by the company's Board of Directors back in April 10, 2007, the plan is expected to be completed by the end of July. The company's entire staff have already been notified at the end of April, although there are no announcements of how many have already left Atari following the announcement.

"These actions, though difficult, are a significant first step in reorganizing Atari and demonstrate our commitment to restoring shareholder value," said Pierce. The restructuring is expected to charge an estimated US$ 0.8 to US$ 1.1 million during fiscal year of 2008.

What this means for their "PlayStation Home beater" project, we cannot tell. Things just aren't looking up for ol' Atari without the legendary Nolan Bushnell.

Mark your calendars! July 28 and 29 would be the days that Space Invaders and friends would take over Las Vegas. The 2007 Classic Gaming Expo will be held at the Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas promising to offer more classic gaming fun for fans who love the old stuff. Organizers love the vibe of Las Vegas, hence they're bringing back the love and the spirit of old games by giving it one grand party at the Riviera's expo area.

According to Joe Santulli, co-organizer of the Classic Gaming Expo, a lot of organizers and celebrity guests felt it was best to bring he convention back to Las Vegas. The event had started as the "World of Atari" expo in 1998. Who knew that one Atari event could bring the love back for the old consoles and arcade games?

The organizers have said that the Classic Gaming Expo is not only for those who love classic games but also for those who love modern games as well. The expo will have guests from the video game industry who would love to share their experience of the old games and how these inspired them to make new ones. Former guests of CGE include Steve Wozniac, David Crane, and Nolan Bushnell.

So remember boys, July 28 and 29, 2007! Bring lots of quarters and let's beat those Space Invaders.

Regardless of whether you're a gamer or not, as long as you're American and weren't deprived of a happy childhood (hahaha), we're guessing you've probably heard of Mr. Nolan Bushnell.

No? Oh c'mon! Mr. Chuck E. Cheese? Still doesn't ring a bell? Oh alright then, Nolan Bushnell is not only the founder of gaming icon Atari, he's also responsible for the wonder that is Chuck E. Cheese, the restaurant chain that first brought together kids, food, pizza, and video games.

Red Herring was able to score an interview with this video game and consumer electronics association hall of famer (he's a founder of more than twenty companies), where Bushnell talks about his new business venture that once again brings food and gaming together, the uWink.

In that particular interview, Bushnell was asked about his thoughts on current gaming systems, he IS (or WAS) a major player in the gaming industry after all.

Red Herring asked Bushnell which areas of the game industry he's following now, and we quote:"I’m very curious and interested in the Nintendo Wii. I think it may expand the market beyond the hardcore [18- to 24-year old]. Xbox Live is interesting because it potentially becomes the platform for the living room."

Safe answer right? But wait, it gets better. When asked what he thought of Sony's PS3 strategy, Bushnell says:

I think Sony shot themselves in the foot… there is a high probability [they] will fail. The price point is probably unsustainable. For years and years Sony has been a very difficult company to deal with from a developer standpoint. They could get away with their arrogance and capriciousness because they had an installed base. They have also historically had horrible software tools. You compare that to the Xbox360 with really great authoring tools and additional revenue streams from Xbox Live... a first party developer would be an idiot to develop for Sony first and not the 360. People don’t buy hardware, they buy software.

So, Red Herring then tried to rebutt his argument by saying, "But what about Sony’s success with the PlayStation and PS2? They sold more than 100 million of each system." And Bushnell's answer? Sony's success with PS and PS2 was nothing brilliant and that they were merely able to hit the market right on spot because of perfect timing. Bushnell even calls Sony as "almost the accidental winner." Ouch very much for Sony!

As for his predictions about Sony's next-gen console? "It would not surprise me if a year from now they’ll be struggling to sell 1 million units. [Factoring in the PS3’s price], I think in the U.S. the number of early adopters you have is actually around 300,000."

Just another rich man who can afford an opinion? You decide. But it wouldn't be a surprise though if Sony luvvvers all over suddenly decide to boycott Chuck E.Cheese (and be deprived of a happy cheesy childhood. Awww...).