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just walked in the door and here was an eighteen-year-old kind-of a hippy kid, and he wanted a job, and I said ‘Oh, where did you go to school?’ and he says ‘Reed,’ ‘Reed, is that an engineering school?’ ‘No, it’s a literary school,’ and he'd dropped out. But then he started in with this enthusiasm for technology, and he had a spark. He was eighteen years old so he had to be cheap. And so I hired him!"
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456:- an outer-space dogfight in which two small ships battled. The game took place in empty space with no obstructions, but the holographic overlay created an extremely elaborate backdrop with whirling 3D asteroids. The overlay did not affect the game. The ships could not interact with the backdrop, but the visual effects were spectacular.
491:
By this time, Atari controlled 75 percent of the lucrative home video-game market and VCS sales were nearing $ 2 billion per year. The percent of a bonus pool that
Bushnell and Keenan received represented a substantial income. The case went to court. Warner settled and Alcorn, Atari's first full-time
381:
Al Alcorn, then chief engineer at Atari, was called and told, "We’ve got a hippie kid in the lobby. He says he’s not going to leave until we hire him. Should we call the cops or let him in?" Alcorn said to send him in. Despite Jobs's startling appearance, Alcorn hired him. As Alcorn described it, "He
483:
Alcorn and Hector long claimed that Kassar refused to manufacture the Cosmos because it represented competition for the VCS, but some of the people who tried the game console disagree. There were questions about the play value of its games. Kassar's decision to mothball Cosmos infuriated Alcorn, and
471:
A few months later, Alcorn, Hector, and
Jenkins manned a similar display at the Toy Fair in New York City. Having learned from his failure to sell Home Pong on the floor of the show, Alcorn also set up a suite for private meetings. Among the visitors to the booth was Al Nilsen, the new toy buyer for
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Alcorn, Jenkins, and Hector had invested too much time in Cosmos to abandon it. Other engineers advised them to simply walk away from the project, but Alcorn decided to market the unit himself. He asked for space to show Cosmos at Atari's booth during the 1980 Winter
Consumer Electronics Show in the
572:
Alcorn for a period of time in the 90s and early 2000s, was erroneously called a "co-founder" of Atari in video game media. Ted Dabney, one of the Atari co-founders, corrected this, saying Alcorn was very important to the early development of Atari and was one of their first employees, but wasn't a
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Before beginning the project, Alcorn asked Ray Kassar for permission to create a new stand-alone game system. According to Alcorn, Kassar seemed uninterested but did not object. By the middle of 1980, Alcorn and his team had completed a working prototype. When they showed it to marketing, they were
385:
Atari co-founder Nolan
Bushnell noted that Jobs was "brilliant, curious, and aggressive," but soon it was apparent that Jobs could also be very difficult to work with, openly mocking other employees and making several enemies in the process. To make matters worse, he had significant body odor. Jobs
451:
McGrew developed a process for creating holograms on mylar. In later years, Haynes expanded the technology for other uses, such as placing 3D pictures on credit cards. Alcorn used their mylar technology to create an impressive array of 3D holographic overlays for the Cosmos. One of the first games
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became a marketing company. The old leadership took risks and pioneered new technologies. Instead of developing new technologies, Kassar preferred to push existing ideas to their fullest. Alcorn wanted to begin work on the next generation of home video-game hardware, but Kassar didn't even want to
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Although the response to Cosmos was not even remotely close to the VCS, several buyers decided to gamble on the system. Alcorn returned to
California from the Toy Fair with orders for 250,000 units. When he told Kassar that he wanted to begin manufacturings, Kassar derailed his plans. Despite the
447:
Atari negotiated a deal with a bank for access to patents belonging to
Holosonics, a bankrupt corporation that controlled most of the world's patents for holograms- a technology for creating three-dimensional images using lasers. Alcorn brought in two specialists, Steve McGrew and Ken Haynes, to
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By this time, Mattel and Bally had entered the market with newer, more powerful consoles, but no one seemed to care. The VCS had more games and a much larger installed base. A constant stream of buyers from toy stores and department stores flowed through the Atari booth. While they were there,
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Alcorn's plans, however, nearly did not come to pass. According to Warner
Communications, Alcorn was not entitled to the same retirement package as Bushnell and Keenan. Warner attorneys claimed that Alcorn had negotiated his severance separated from the other board members and that he was not
484:
he left the company. He hoped to receive the same retirement benefits that
Bushnell, Williams, and Keenan were enjoying. According to Alcorn, being put "on the beach" by Manny Gerard meant receiving an expense account, a monthly check, and a company car.
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newspaper for Atari that said "Have fun, make money." He showed up in the lobby of the video game manufacturer wearing sandals and disheveled hair, and told the personnel director that he wouldn't leave until he was given a job.
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diet, and believed (incorrectly) that it prevented body odor, so he did not shower regularly or use deodorant. Unfazed by the complaints, Alcorn resolved the problem by having Jobs work only at night.
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Borrowing a page from
Odyssey, the Cosmos used overlays to improve the look of its games. Cosmos's overlays, however, were among the most impressive technologies ever created by Atari engineers.
55:
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several buyers stopped by the Cosmos table, where Alcorn, Hector, and
Jenkins demonstrated the console themselves. The holographic overlays attracted a lot of attention.
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After Atari sold to Warner Communications in 1976, Alcorn was being paid not to show up for work. Alcorn left Atari in 1981, he consulted to many fledgling companies in
441:, and Roger Hector, a project designer who had done some impressive work in the coin-op division. Both were assigned to work directly under Alcorn on the Project.
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Schilling, MA. 2018. Quirky: The remarkable story of the traits, foibles, and genius of breakthrough innovators who changed the world. New York, Public Affairs.
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Alcorn was involved in several of the startups directly, including Cumma, a re-programmable video game cartridge/kiosk system (and precursor to the similar
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impressive number of orders, Kassar did not want to manufacture a game system that would compete with the VCS. Cosmos was never manufactured.
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Alcorn was the person who hired Steve Jobs when he applied for a job at Atari in 1974. Jobs had seen a help-wanted ad in the
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San Jose State University, The Department of Computer Science and The Department of Computer Engineering
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Toward the end of 1978, Alcorn assembled a team of engineers and began designing a game console called
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Alcorn later became an Apple Fellow, led and consulted to a variety of startups during the tech boom.
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transparency that cost so little to manufacture that the entire cartridges could retail for $ 10.
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Alcorn's team included two new engineers. Harry Jenkins, who had just graduated from
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In addition to direct involvement with all the breakout Atari products, such as the
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told that the department had no interest in selling anything other than the VCS.
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develop a process for mass-producing holograms that could be used with his game.
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to respond to the child's play. In 2000, Zowie Entertainment was acquired by
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Las Vegas Convention Center. Amazingly, the marketing department said yes.
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Isaacson, W. 2011. Steve Jobs. New York, Simon & Schuster, pg. 118.
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and several other people that would end up being constants through the
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Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Pioneer Award recipients
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743:"Allan Alcorn: Video Games as a Driver of Computing Technology"
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from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially
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developed for the system was similar to Steve Russell's
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719:"Al Alcorn - Atari employee number 3 - Atari at 50"
782:"Tales of the Creation of the Video Game Industry"
366:(at that time an Atari employee) presenting their
279:consoles and clones were common in the mid-1970s.
250:as one of the top 100 game creators of all time.
232:(born January 1, 1948) is an American pioneering
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488:entitled to the same bonus-pool compensation.
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330:(now known as Chuck E. Cheese's) companies.
301:electrical engineering and computer sciences
728:. The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC).
306:He worked for the pioneering video company
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58:about living persons that is unsourced or
1008:UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni
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218:Creating one of the first video games:
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343:, creating it under the direction of
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690:The Ultimate History of Video Games
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759:from the original on June 28, 2023
492:engineer, retired "to the beach."
293:University of California, Berkeley
200:University of California, Berkeley
14:
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792:from the original on July 2, 2023
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268:, the video game Alcorn designed
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1003:American video game programmers
580:in the 2013 biographical drama
557:. There he developed a child's
415:consider an alternative to the
333:Alcorn was the designer of the
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549:. In 1998, Alcorn co-founded
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1018:American electrical engineers
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573:co-founder of the company.
428:light-emitting diode display
36:biography of a living person
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541:In 1993, Alcorn co-founded
527:system), and an advisor to
63:must be removed immediately
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898:Atari Anniversary Edition
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604:"IGN - 95. Allan Alcorn"
576:Alcorn was portrayed by
351:was a hit in the 1970s.
240:best known for creating
962:Atari Flashback series
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50:Please help by adding
717:(December 10, 2022).
634:"Al Alcorn Interview"
518:Catalyst Technologies
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912:Retro Atari Classics
873:Pong: The Next Level
295:, graduating with a
56:Contentious material
919:Atari Greatest Hits
752:. October 5, 2011.
551:Zowie Intertainment
439:Stanford University
297:Bachelor of Science
291:, and attended the
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504:Allan Alcorn with
328:Pizza Time Theater
283:Alcorn grew up in
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238:computer scientist
202:(B.S., EECS, 1971)
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614:on April 20, 2014
555:Interval Research
553:, a spinoff from
533:in-car navigation
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616:. Retrieved
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866:Doctor Pong
726:youtube.com
644:November 9,
508:at GDC 2008
496:After Atari
370:prototype.
316:Atari, Inc.
188:Nationality
977:Categories
715:Alcorn, Al
590:References
506:Ralph Baer
404:Ray Kassar
388:fruitarian
364:Steve Jobs
356:Atari 2600
312:Ted Dabney
299:degree in
289:California
254:Atari and
207:Occupation
169:1948-01-01
89:newspapers
535:systems.
417:Atari VCS
406:replaced
303:in 1971.
119:June 2008
41:citations
933:Atari 50
790:Archived
763:June 28,
754:Archived
687:(2010).
454:Spacewar
408:Bushnell
234:engineer
210:Engineer
191:American
67:libelous
943:Related
796:July 2,
722:(video)
559:playset
525:Neo Geo
368:Apple I
103:scholar
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424:Cosmos
396:Cosmos
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851:Games
757:(PDF)
746:(PDF)
432:mylar
412:Atari
402:When
337:game
320:Apple
308:Ampex
110:JSTOR
96:books
34:This
859:Pong
844:Pong
798:2023
765:2023
695:ISBN
669:ISBN
646:2015
620:2023
583:Jobs
567:Lego
529:Etak
362:and
349:Pong
340:Pong
326:and
277:Pong
266:Pong
256:Pong
243:Pong
236:and
221:Pong
163:Born
82:news
43:for
638:IGN
608:IGN
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