Nolan Bushnell Dismisses Modern Games as ‘Trash’

October 23rd, 2007 by Will Prusik in Articles, News

In an interview with technology magazine Electronic Design Nolan Bushnell, best known for being the founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese dismissed all modern video games as ‘unadulterated trash’. He blamed it on the fact that most of today’s video games are ‘isolating’ and that lack of activities like families playing board games cuts in on the time parents have to spend mentoring their children. Given the fact that Chuck E. Cheese restaurants are usually filled with packs of excited children stuffed full of D-grade pizza amusing themselves with arcade games while their parents sit and chat at the tables, thanking the heavens for a break, this seems a bit hypocritical.

Sure, a lot of video games are solo experiences, but how is that any different from reading a book? It’ll take you longer to read War and Peace than it’ll take for you to complete most video games, and you’ll probably enjoy it more. I don’t particularly remember my parents teaching me too many life lessons through board games, which are almost exclusively a ‘winner-takes-all’ enterprise. Many video games are cooperative and teach the values of teamwork and social communication. Given the fact that Mr. Bushnell fails to supply the names of any particular systems, games or companies as the culprits, he is either pathetically fearful of lawsuits or completely out of touch with the modern state of video games.

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