Spring+2009+Lecture+3+Notes

= __Spring 200____9 Lecture 3 Notes__ =


 

 
 * Al Alcorn – second Atari employee – involved work-study program, working at Ampex while finishing up degree at Cal-Berkley – met Atari owner Ted Dabney at Ampex
 * Alcorn hired by Ampex after finishing his degree
 * Ampex having tough times, laying off employees – Atari offered Alcorn a job, he took it
 * 1st job at Atari – Bushnell told him to create a ping-pong game for General Electric (GE)
 * Bushnell lied – no such contract existed with GE – he was familiarizing Alcorn w/games
 * Bushnell worked on race-car game for Bally, using Computer Space physics engine
 * Alcorn didn't realize the game he was making wasn't meant to be sold
 * Bushnell told him to keep it simple – he improved it
 * Instead of single-spot paddles, he made paddles with 8 hot-spots – ball went at different angles depending on here it was hit on the paddle
 * Also allowed ball to hit walls and bounce back – became a strategic game of angles
 * Hooked it up to $75 BW TV he bought, put it in a 4' wooden cabinet, showed it to bosses
 * Bushnell and Dabney shocked at final result – game fun and addictive, simple and engaging
 * Bushnell dubbed the game Pong
 * After various improvements, Bushnell decided he should try and pitch the game to Bally – see if it would fulfill the contract that the race game was supposed to fulfill
 * Meanwhile put the prototype in a bar on their route – Andy Capp's
 * Bushnell pitched Pong to both Bally and Midway – another large pinball company – both were interested in the game
 * At Andy Capp's, something unexpected happened
 * Alcorn got a call from Andy Capp's owner – Pong machine broken – suggested he fix it, since it had gained a following, including customers who only came in to play game
 * Alcorn went to fix it, opened it, coins poured out – broken because it was overflowing
 * Alcorn shoved coins in his pocket, gave manager his card, and told him to call if it ever happened again
 * When Bushnell returned from his trip to see Bally and Midway, Alcorn told him about the incident
 * Bushnell saw potential - Atari should manufacture Pong machines themselves
 * Had to convince Bally and Midway not to buy game, while still keeping door open
 * Played them off each other – Told Bally that Midway wasn't interested, and vice-versa
 * Magnavox sued Atari for copyright infringement – Pong too close to Odyssey game-mechanics
 * Magnavox claimed Bushnell played Odyssey at a trade show – he denied it – years later was proven that he did
 * Atari had no chance – Baer meticulously recorded every step of invention process, kept documents (Bushnell was more free spirit, didn't care about process); Magnavox could prove they showed Odyssey prior to Atari being formed
 * Bushnell realized Atari couldn't afford to fight – settled w/ proposal
 * $700,000 for paid-up license to Magnavox, plus Magnavox would charge royalties to anyone else making similar product, or sue – very favorable to Atari
 * If anyone knew how well Pong would do, Atari would have never gotten that deal

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