Over your long career, you have worked at some of the biggest names in the industry, including Atari, Bally Sente, Electronic Arts, Disney, Sega and Namco Bandai. Which one were you happiest at?
Oh gosh, that is a tough one to answer because for me, it’s been multiple decades and every one of those companies had its own qualities, its own pluses and minuses. I did really enjoy Atari because when I first joined, no one really knew what Atari was. It was almost non-existent.
How did you find out about it, then?
I had a college friend, Peter Takaichi, who worked there. I had moved to the Midwest [of America] and really wasn’t enjoying it because the weather was terrible [laughs]. I wanted to come back to California! I grew up in San Jose, pretty close to this strange company Pete worked for called Atari. He said they had made Pong, which was the only videogame I’d ever heard of, and I should come and work for them.
Surely you don’t get a job at Atari just because you know someone who works there?
That was pretty much it [laughs]. It was 1976, the early days, and they couldn’t hire people with videogame experience, because no one had it, right? So they hired people with ‘related experience’. I had a degree in industrial design and learning to draw and render was part [of the course]. Pete ran the design department at Atari, where they designed the coin-op cabinets, because back then, every cabinet was different. I worked there for a year or so and then worked for a guy called George Opperman.
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Denne historien er fra Issue 244-utgaven av Retro Gamer.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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EVERCADE EXPANDS
We go hands-on with Blaze’s upcoming releases
Rock Band Unplugged
WHO NEEDS PLASTIC PERIPHERALS?
Super Woden GP II
In a world where additional extras are often hidden behind microtransactions and downloadable content it’s rather refreshing to find a game that comes loaded with an obscene amount of extras.
THE MAKING OF MICKEY MANIA
THERE WERE SEVERAL GAMES ON THE MEGA DRIVE FEATURING THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS MOUSE, SOME VERY GOOD (CASTLE OF ILLUSION), SOME VERY BAD (FANTASIA). AND THEN THERE WAS MICKEY MANIA, AN IMPRESSIVE TECHNICAL SHOWCASE FROM TRAVELLER'S TALES
PARKER BROS
BY USING ITS CONTACTS IN THE ENTERTAINMENT SECTOR AND FORMIDABLE MARKETING CLOUT, PARKER BROTHERS BROUGHT TITLES LIKE STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, SPIDER-MAN AND FROGGER TO THE ATARI 2600 AND ITS RIVALS. RETRO GAMER HIGHLIGHTS THE FIRM’S BEST RELEASES
SNATCHER
AS HIDEO KOJIMA HAS BECOME A RARE CELEBRITY IN THE GAMING WORLD, SO HIS OLDER WORKS ARE INCREASINGLY REVISITED. BUT HIS 1988 CYBERPUNK ADVENTURE SNATCHER IS ALMOST UNPLAYABLE TODAY, LEGALLY, AND ONLY RECEIVED ONE ENGLISH PORT – WHICH HAS ONLY INCREASED ITS CULT APPEAL, AND COST
ULTIMATE GUIDE TARGET:RENEGADE
THE CITY STREETS ARE NEVER SAFE FOR LONG, ESPECIALLY IN THE DELIGHTFUL-SOUNDING SCUMVILLE, WHERE IT'S KILL OR BE KILLED. JOIN US AS WE REVEAL HOW WITH TARGET: RENEGADE, OCEAN SOFTWARE RETOLD THE STORY OF A VENGEFUL VIGILANTE AND CREATED ONE OF THE BEST EVER 8-BIT BRAWLERS
THE MAKING OF Trivial Pursuit
IN 1986, A SMALL SOFTWARE HOUSE ON THE VERGE OF BANKRUPTCY LICENSED THE WORLD’S BIGGEST BOARD GAME FOR HOME COMPUTERS. IT CHANGED DOMARK – AND THE UK GAMES INDUSTRY – FOREVER
Donkey Kong
ABRIDGED TOO FAR?
THE SPECTRUM
IT’S ONE OF THE MOST ICONIC HOME COMPUTERS EVER MADE, AND IT’S BACK IN PLUG-AND-PLAY FORM. WE SPEAK TO THE PEOPLE BEHIND IT TO FIND OUT WHY IT’S TAKEN SO LONG, AND GET A CHANCE TO GIVE OUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS AHEAD OF LAUNCH