Video Games | Home Invasion | 3
American Innovations
Wondery
4.6 • 4.1K Ratings
🗓️ 13 August 2020
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It's 1975 and Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell is setting his sights on the next frontier in video games: the home.
But convincing people to bring video games into their homes won't be easy. Bushnell’s going to need a lot of cash, a couple perfectly timed technological breakthroughs, and a killer business plan. Oh, and he’ll also have to teach the world what a “game console” is.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, prime members, you can listen to American innovations, add free on Amazon music, download |
| 0:06.0 | the app today. |
| 0:14.8 | January 1975. |
| 0:17.1 | Atari headquarters, Boscato's California. |
| 0:20.8 | Nolan Bushnell sits with his sneakers up on his desk and catches the hacky sack he's |
| 0:25.7 | been throwing in the air, then freezes. |
| 0:28.6 | He can't believe what he's just heard. |
| 0:31.6 | What do you mean you got no orders? |
| 0:33.7 | Atari marketing vice president Jean Lipkin stares at the floor. |
| 0:37.9 | There was interest, but no store placed in actual order. |
| 0:42.9 | Bushnell swings his feet off his desk and sits upright. |
| 0:46.2 | He tightens his grip on his hacky sack. |
| 0:48.7 | OK, tell me what happened. |
| 0:50.9 | Lipkins just got back from the toy fair in New York City, where toy makers vie to convince |
| 0:55.6 | the nation's retailers that they've got the product that will top this year's Christmas |
| 1:00.0 | lists. |
| 1:01.0 | Atari went expecting to take this year's toy fair by storm with its latest creation, |
| 1:06.1 | Home Pong. |
| 1:07.6 | Atari's video games have already conquered the arcades. |
| 1:11.1 | Now the company wants to take over the nation's living rooms too, and with Pong being the company's |
| 1:16.2 | most popular game to date, a home version seemed like a no-brainer, or at least it did |
| 1:22.4 | until Lipkin returned without a single order. |
... |
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