tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8167179463808604240.post8385358141873073199..comments2024-03-24T17:41:28.172-05:00Comments on The Golden Age Arcade Historian: Video Game Mythbusters?? - The Malfunctioning PongKeith Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08421308095592306594noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8167179463808604240.post-72225261290934686072016-02-20T19:52:36.036-06:002016-02-20T19:52:36.036-06:00Where and when did the coin box story originate?Where and when did the coin box story originate?Allen Huffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06785680934278190478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8167179463808604240.post-66394771254906035512013-06-11T10:25:47.141-05:002013-06-11T10:25:47.141-05:00Keith, regarding the material attributed to Loni i...Keith, regarding the material attributed to Loni in All Your Bases. Loni was never interviewed for that book. The author, Harold Goldberg, stole some personal emails off Ralph Baer's computer during a visit, some of which included personal off the cuff emails between Loni and Ralph (we double checked with Ralph to see if he gave Harold those emails and he emphatically stated no). When we confronted Harold regarding not having Loni or Ralph's permission to use personal emails, he responded with a threat to publish the emails in full publicly and blocked us from his facebook group for the book. Classy guy. <br /><br />We of course were aware of the claim, but as you correctly surmised, we could not find any corroborating evidence to support it. Basically, Loni had been told it by someone else in management in the company, and we could go no further than that. Nobody else could verify it, and none of the principles involved at Syzygy at the time admitted to it. In fact, it seemed an odd claim given the fact that Ted emphatically talked about needing to cut down the earnings numbers reported to Bally so that would believe them and wouldn't think he and Nolan were making the earnings up.<br /><br />There were lots of stories like this in the book, that while cool stories, were so unverifiable we thought it better not to include them. Such is the case with Ray Kassar's claim he was in negotiations with Steve Jobs in 1979 to have Atari buy Apple (with support from Warner's cash) and that Warner chair Steve Ross nixed it. Manny Gerard, who was the actual person overseeing Atari from the Warner side and reported directly to Steve Ross, had never heard of any of that, nor could we find anyone else that had.<br /><br />wgungfuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04490261097163056115noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8167179463808604240.post-4866747633780911042013-06-01T22:49:31.284-05:002013-06-01T22:49:31.284-05:00So is Dino Ferrari Monaco GP or Turbo?So is Dino Ferrari Monaco GP or Turbo?HFKnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8167179463808604240.post-48937391704471500162013-05-31T13:36:03.578-05:002013-05-31T13:36:03.578-05:00Yeah, those were two separate service calls. I th...Yeah, those were two separate service calls. I think this story is probably true. As you know, they never planned to actually produce Pong originally, and I think they wanted an accurate gauge of whether the game could be successful. The time to stuff the box would be when they did the more formal location test with 10 machines after the original prototype at Andy Capps proved successful. Even then they were probably not stuffing the box since they felt the need to reduce their earnings reports by two-thirds when talking to Bally. If they felt their numbers were already that unbelievably high, I doubt they would be trying to force them even higher.Alex Smithnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8167179463808604240.post-87360589135123347412013-05-31T12:07:03.244-05:002013-05-31T12:07:03.244-05:00Stuffing the box by sending people in to play the ...Stuffing the box by sending people in to play the game does make a lot more sense (Since Atari was so small at the time, I was thinking that one person went in and filled the box but I'm sure they could have scrounged up enough fake players to make it look like the game was really popular).<br /><br />From what I remember, replaincg the potentiometers was a separate service call that occured about a week or so after the stuffed box incident, but I'd have to check my sources.Keith Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08421308095592306594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8167179463808604240.post-45534890408862952902013-05-31T02:29:59.044-05:002013-05-31T02:29:59.044-05:00Stuffing the coinbox would be easy. You just send ...Stuffing the coinbox would be easy. You just send someone in to the establishment and "play" the game a lot. I remember reading about businessmen being spotted dumping quarters into their machines on test. In the Atari Inc book though Bushnell and Dabney actually talked about having to lie about how much Pong made... because it made too much for Midway to believe them. So maybe Bushnell had it stuffed before he knew how popular it would prove, I wouldn't put it past him.<br /><br />I also seem to recall Alcorn mentioned in a Retro Gamer Magazine article that when he was called in to fix Pong, he went in thinking he needed to replace the potentiometers they were using as spinners. They were indeed bad since they were used way more times than they were rated for. Since he was in there he figured he might as well empty out the quarters too. Upon doing that they spilled out all over the floor. So I think the legend is based on a half-truth. Adam Coatenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8167179463808604240.post-73665529313192270812013-05-30T13:06:55.101-05:002013-05-30T13:06:55.101-05:00I suppose it's one of those wish fulfillment t...I suppose it's one of those wish fulfillment type deals to persuade potential buyers to consider buying Pong for their establishments. At least it somewhat worked.Chris Sobieniakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09838106041175506925noreply@blogger.com