Bushnell Hates You
It seems to be a universal constant that when a person grows old and out of touch with the thing they once loved their reaction to that thing becomes one of anger or fear. Change is difficult to deal with, and watching something you helped to grow and survive turn into a vast hydra can be an unsettling experience.
Such is the case with Pong creator Nolan Bushnell. Revered as "the father of electronic games" Bushnell has gone from godlike proponent of an industry he helped to build to detractor and defamer, recently quoted as saying, “Videogames today are a race to the bottom. They are pure, unadulterated trash and I'm sad for that,". Interestingly, my grandparents had nearly the exact same opinion years ago.
What Bushnell seems to mean with his vituperative uttering is that gaming has seemingly lost focus on getting the whole family involved and moved toward a more isolated target audience. Granted, I'm not spending a whole lot of time with my friends or family when playing Portal over and over again or spending upwards of 16 hours a day playing the newest RPG but I'm definitely not an isolated zombie. Something most gamers can (hopefully) attest to.
What Bushnell seems to ignore is the growing trend of the "casual gamer", people buying up Wiis specifically in order to play with their families and friends. Ultimately it boils down to Bushnell simply not understanding the evolution of his creation. He's staring at his child and doesn't recognize the monster it has become. Thankfully, those of us carrying the torch are more than happy to whisper reassuringly into grandpa's ear whenever the new tech scares him.
