Media Molecule VS Ralph Baer – the Q&A

Tired of seeing Q&As spun out in advance of conferences to drive up attendance figures? Us too – we’re a bit sick of writing them, as well.

So for next week’s Paris GDC, which runs on June 23rd and 24th, we took a different approach, and got one of the key session hosts, Media Molecule’s Alex Evans and Mark Healey, to question another fellow speaker, Magnavox Odyssey creator Ralph Baer.

The two represent the different ends of the games development spectrum, and also share a lot in common as innovators.

Baer is the man who kickstarted the console market via his invention of the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home games machine, while Healey and Evans are the co-founders of the up and coming studio developing PS3 big hope LittleBigPlanet, which looks to revolutionise the way players engage with games in a manner akin to the way the Odyssey changed the way people engaged with their televisions.

In the Q&A, Evans and Healey quiz Baer on a variety of issues, revealing his thoughts on things such as the progression of the industry – and how games companies have ignored ‘old-timers’ like himself (Baer is 86) – plus his thoughts on the upcoming movie that will dramatise Atari founder Nolan Bushnell’s hand in the genesis of the games industry.

Hit this link to read the full interview.