Easy to Learn, Difficult to Master
Pong, Atari, and the Dawn of the Video Game
-
- USD 11.99
-
- USD 11.99
Descripción editorial
The gripping origin story of Pong, Atari, and the digital icons who defined the world of video games.
A deep, nostalgic dive into the advent of gaming, Easy to Learn, Difficult to Master returns us to the emerging culture of Silicon Valley. At the center of this graphic history, dynamically drawn in colors inspired by old computer screens, is the epic feud that raged between Atari founder Nolan Bushnell and inventor Ralph Baer for the title of “father of the video game.”
While Baer, a Jewish immigrant whose family fled Germany for America, developed the first TV video-game console and ping-pong game in the 1960s, Bushnell, a self-taught whiz kid from Utah, put out Atari’s pioneering table-tennis arcade game, Pong, in 1972. Thus, a prolonged battle began over who truly spearheaded the multibillion-dollar gaming industry, and around it a sweeping narrative about invention, inspiration, and the seeds of digital revolution.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kushner and Shadmi (Rise of the Dungeon Master) reunite for this boiled-down explainer of feuding entrepreneurs Ralph Baer and Nolan Bushnell, who both claimed to be "the father of video games." Plot-stopping wrap-arounds portray the pair's duels as if they are game characters, battling over table tennis in an arena. Flashback sequences fill out the context of the industry's history, early arcade and home gaming systems, and the pioneering Pong. Bushnell cofounded Atari in 1972, within the advent of casual, California-style business culture that later characterized companies like Apple and Amazon. Baer, a Jewish immigrant from Nazi-era Germany, focused on efficiency and usability in his inventions (including the prototype that became the Magnavox Odyssey). He was inspired to make the increasingly popular television more than a passive device, wondering "What if you could also play games on it?" The fast-moving narrative hits high points of inspiration and invention vs. marketing—and not a small amount of industrial plagiarism of ideas and devices. Shadmi's cartooning is uncluttered and clean. Those looking for a more serious history or comprehensive study won't find it here, but a playful treatment can be just what comics (and video game) fans like best.
