Getting From Pong to Wii

The Boston Globe's Geoff Edgers talked to Racing the Beam coauthor, Nick Montfort about the history and influence of the Atari VCS on the future of video game design.  Here's a taste, but be sure to check out the whole interview.  Not only do they discuss Atari's technological and cultural legacy, but they wax a little nostalgic. Nick even reveals his favorite game.... 

IDEAS: It might be hard for kids raised on Playstation 3 to realize how revolutionary Pong and Combat were. Those games are also connected to what we play today, aren't they?

MONTFORT: Take the Wii, for example. There are things about that system that are quite connected to the experience of Pong. Wii Sports, for instance, is a game like Pong in that it sort of shows off the basic things the system is capable of doing. How the controllers work. How people can play together. There are some differences. You can play Wii Sports with one player. But that game is a type in that it's bundled with the system and [offers the] idea that people are going to play together.

IDEAS: We live now in a world where people often are sitting alone in a room playing something. Very different from the Atari philosophy, which, to me, was about games as a social experience. The games were always better with two players.

MONTFORT: I wouldn't want to argue that the Atari way was better. But it has a different concept of how people will play together. Maybe we forgot some things that were good about play experience. Maybe we want the computer to be a device that is more like a hearth that members of the family come around and use to interact with each other.

And coauthor Ian Bogost was interviewed in last month's MIT Press Podcasts.  Be sure to give that a listen. 

Comments

[snes roms]

The first system I ever played was Atari and it was definitely a family experience. I think video games have really come around again and the wii definitely brings back a more social element to gaming. Interesting tho, hadn't thought of the Atari comparison until I read this article.

[Luke]

Cooooooool.

[cheap wii]

This is very interesting article. I've never played the Atari before but after reading this I know about little bit more about the gaming experience it created back then. More importantly the Wii pick up the concepts and brought back family gaming activities together once again. Good reading!