Founder of Atari Bashes Halo 3

Founder of Atari, Nolan Bushnell recently took some shots at the Halo franchise and the Grand Theft Auto franchise. In this interview he says that Halo 3 is nothing more than Doom 1 in different clothes, and scolds the game industry for a lack of innovation.

"What I have consistently been concerned about is sort of the repetition and lack of innovation...as much as I applaud the beautiful, fantastic production guys of Halo 3, it's really Doom 1 in different clothing. Clothing or not, the clothing is nicer, but the game is the same," Bushnell said.

Of course, he thinks innovation can be found in games like Guitar Hero and all things Nintendo Wii. After discussing a lack of innovation in the industry, Bushnell moves on to the Grand Theft Auto franchise to discuss the issue of making a game focused on so much negative behavior.

"It values antisocial behavior, and God knows we've got a certain amount of problem with that in the United States or in the world today. I just feel like, you know, these things that you can make a buck on should be chastised."

Easy there, Bushnell. If memory serves, you made a fair amount of money off of games like Asteroid and Pong, and these weren't games that necessarily promoted social behavior. Weird criticism from a man who used to be so influential in the video gaming world. Innovation to Bushnell is being able to play games in different ways, like with the Wii and Guitar Hero, but what is not innovative about creating games that try to create a story and an atmosphere?

It's troubling that the man behind Atari is willing to be so publicly critical of these monster franchises. Do people buy games that are not fun to play? Isn't the point of a video game to be fun? These two franchises are a collective symbol of what gamers today think of as fun. Maybe Bushnell is just out of touch.

Read the full interview here.