Al Alcorn - Atari employee number 3 | Atari at 50

Join Atari’s legendary R&D chief as he discusses creating great games and a technology legend.
Allan “Al” Alcorn is the computer scientist and games designer who made Nolan Bushnell’s Atari dream a reality.
Alcorn - Atari employee number three - was challenged by boss Bushnell to design a computer version of Ping-Pong. Alcorn response was Pong - a game so addictive it lit the blue touchpaper on Atari’s commercial success and began to establish Atari’s status as a games legend
Al drops into The National Museum of Computing from California to talk about the rise of Atari and his journey from employee number three to leading R&D of - briefly - the world’s largest computer games company.
Al discusses:
His inspiration, influences - and designing games in a world before focus group-driven mega franchises when market research was three parts experience and one part gut feel.
The technology challenges building games for maxum realism and playability without the advantages of today’s sophisticated hardware - and the inspired engineering decisions he took to deliver.
Bushnell’s energetic management style and the company’s somewhat creative relationship to truth that landed vital business deals and kick-started an industry.
Recorded 20th October at TNMOC.

[@BooXdk]

What an amazing talk 👍🙏 Even with x100 the numbers of views this one currently has I would think it's a shame that not more people experience this. HUGE thanks for uploading 🙏

[@stephenpaek9175]

What a great talk. You’re an amazing engineer Mr. Alcorn

[@williamhyde7310]

Very interesting talk and should be seen by thousands

[@christopherdavis5544]

Thank you Al - a fascinating talk. I remember playing PONG in a pub in Surrey in my youth. I've owned Ataris for over 40 years, starting with a 400, and still use an 800XL to control my model railway. I love hearing about the humble beginnings of the company, and it's such a shame that it was so mismanaged by future owners.

[@MotownBatman]

So Awesome! Well Done Video!!

[@Mallaien]

I just bumped into a old Atari programmer, didn't get his name, but he said he followed Bushnell when he started Chucky e cheese. He was wearing wearing a Diablo 4 letterman jacket that caught my eye.

[@MrThousandkg]

Great talk. Thank you

[@hanselman07]

Thank you for sharing those stories. So great to hear from the one who created Pong! I could listen for hours… 👍

[@DiegoCrescenti70]

È da qualche mese che cerco di contattare Allan per una call conference ma purtroppo non riesco a trovarlo. Ho provato su FB, MSN, ed altri social sui quali ha un account!!! Mi date una mano?

[@meh3247]

Interesting, but I would have liked to have heard something (anything!) about the development of the Atari 400 and 800XL machines that I used to lust over whilst swearing at my Sinclair ZX81 for constantly crashing...

[@mmille10]

I think the reason he skipped over it is he had nothing to do with those models. If you want to hear about the 400 and 800, listen to Joe Decuir's talk. He helped develop the 2600, the 400/800, and later the Amiga (started as its own company, which was bought by Commodore). kzbin.info/www/bejne/mp25oaiVhrh7r9k It's weird Alcorn said that Atari didn't introduce any new products after it was purchased by Warner in 1976. They certainly did. They just didn't introduce anything really new after 1979. Everything Warner did after that was minor modifications to the Atari 400/800 platforms.

[@rabidbigdog]

𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 "Have you played Atari today!?" 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 𝅘𝅥𝅯 Why, yes. Yes I have.