Epic Thread on Atari Age: Ted Dabney posts

[kool kitty89]

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic...o-atari-board/

Thread on Nolan Bushnell Joining the current Atari board of Directors got pretty hairy and pretty interesting, then someone claiming to Bushnell responded to some criticism (based on research going into an upcoming book being researched by Curt Vendel and Mary Goldberg), but then the real Ted Dabney posted a response (verified) followed by some other interesting events. (including additional contact with the actual Bushnell -including a video conference with Curt- and other good stuff)

Here's where "NolanB" came in: http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic.../page__st__400
http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic...st__p__1997930

Here's where Ted came in: http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic...3#entry1998183

[chrisbid]

it just shows you that personality matters more than real work or knowledge. that is how nolan got ahead and ted got screwed. thats how it works in this country.

[zetastrike]

Now THAT'S interesting

[kool kitty89]

A couple more things:

A thread welcoming Ted
http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic...es-ted-dabney/

And here's the part of that original topic where things mostly got sorted out:
http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic...6#entry1998716

Further explanation here: http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic...8#entry1998808

And this hilarious post is also worth noting:
http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic...2#entry1998792

Oh, they also changed the title of the thread from "Nolan worms his way onto Atari Board" to Nolan Appointed to Atari Board.

[Dave Sierra]

Most of Curt Vendel's posts got edited as well, such as the part where he challeged Nolan to prove himself by demanding he name the woman he was cheating on his wife with. This Curt Vendel is nothing but a fat, big-mouthed rat. He deserves nobody's respect.

[tomaitheous]

Yeah, the Atari nerds take retro-gaming-nerdism to a whole new level. As old as some of those members are, I'm surprised at the way they act. Just goes to show, you really are ageless on the internet (and free to be as immature and/or disrespectful/insulting as you want). Though... the Amiga guys (and C64), from the forums I've seen, are just as obsessed and immature. Watching them clash is sometimes amusing, but often times painful to witness.

[ApolloBoy]

Yeah, the Atari nerds take retro-gaming-nerdism to a whole new level.

Erm, I happen to be one of those Atari nerds...

[tomaitheous]

Erm, I happen to be one of those Atari nerds...

Yeah, but do you take it to a whole new level? (I'm on that forum too)

[Melf]

This Curt Vendel is nothing but a fat, big-mouthed rat. He deserves nobody's respect.

I've interviewed Curt, and he seems like a stand up guy. I think he has every right to be skeptical in that thread, and I don't blame him for taking "NolanB" to task, if that is even the real Bushnell.

As for his initial post attacking Bushnell, that's between the two of them, and I don't have enough information on the subject to praise or condemn.

[kool kitty89]

I think it was established that the initial posts weren't Nolan himself, but probably one of his children (or more than 1). At some point it was the real Bushnel though, and a lot got cleared up, particularly with Dabney involved. (some things they had to agree to disagree on, like who came up with the idea for the counter system used in computer space, but it was most definitely Dabney who designed all the hardware itsself and his daughter's bedroom that was turned into a workshop)

Pretty understandable from Curt's POV... Some interestign developments fromt hat, as well as a lot of stuff I'd already been aware of from previous encounters with Curt and Marty.
Those guys are some serious video game/technology historians. (too bad there aren't people that dedicated working on Sega history... digging up old, long lost documents, compiling old information and confirming or proving it false, etc, etc). Way more detailed and fact-oriented than pretty much anything else I've seen on game history. (some other electronics/computer history perhaps, but a lot of video game related stuff is more skewed)
I'm planning on buying their books, but those are a good way off.

The stuff on Atari Corp and the Tramiels is particularly interesting, squashing a lot of old myths with that... (then there's a lot of other common myths and confused facts that weren't corrected so recently -like the context of the Atari/Amiga deal, Famicom/Atari, 7800, etc)

Then there's all the info on hardware development and prototypes (Sylvia/3200, various 68000 based computer projects at Atari Inc, etc). That's one big area of contention on the Sega stuff too. (namely all the early/mid-90s developments -Gigadrive/Saturn/Mars and such -plus some other developments between saturn and DC; or if the Sega CD really had initially been considered for a color upgrade)

[ChaseTheChuckwagon]

We have just released the first ever audio interview with Ted Dabney, co-creator of Atari and Computerspace and his recollection of the birth of Atari and CS differ on many accounts than what Nolan Bushness has been telling all these years. It's a great listen !!

http://www.retrogamingroundup.com/sh...24_2010.10.htm

[roundwars]

We have just released the first ever audio interview with Ted Dabney, co-creator of Atari and Computerspace and his recollection of the birth of Atari and CS differ on many accounts than what Nolan Bushness has been telling all these years. It's a great listen !!

http://www.retrogamingroundup.com/sh...24_2010.10.htm

Definitely gonna listen to this. Should be interesting.

[NeoVamp]

I love my dad's Atari ST, i love my Lynx, i love my Mega ST4, and i kinda like my Jaguar, but whats with all the boners when someone from the old days comes in?

And its not like here, where we'd be all like "so how did Michael Jackson like that Moonwalker game mr Developer?"
or "so how's Spielberg Mr Jurassic Park game developer!"

this is all like "so how bout them changing markets eh!