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Classic Gaming Expo '99 Keynote Speakers The list of keynote speakers and discussion panel members was truly impressive. There were hardware and software veterans for both classic home systems and arcade machines, the founders of the first video game magazine, Electronic Games Magazine, and the "Father of Video Games" Ralph Baer.   There were group speeches and panel discussions for such home systems as Atari, Vectrex, Intellivision, and Apple, as well as for classic coin-op games and the future of the videogame industry. It would have been very difficult to attend all of the discussions, so with the exceptions of Ralph Baer and the Blue Sky Rangers, I stuck to Atari specific discussions and speeches.   Among the Atari-specific group speeches were: The Atari 2600 Programmers. Rob Fulop, Tod Frye, Bob Polaro, Bob Smith, Howard Scott Warshaw, and Steve Woita. Together, this group was responsible for many 2600 titles such as Night Driver, Missile Command, Pac-Man, Defender, RealSports Vollyball, Desert Falcon, Video Pinball, Star Wars, Yars' Revenge, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., Quadrun, Taz, and several others, as well as a long list of Atari 8-bit titles.   The Activision Guys. Steve Cartwright, David Crane, Garry Kitchen, and David Rolfe. When a group of talented Atari programmers got tired of watching their games put millions of dollars into Atari's pockets, without a proper share for themselves or even credit for having programmed the games, they left to form Activision and the first 3rd-party game company was born. Among this groups credits include Pitfall, Dragster, Freeway, Megamania, Barnstorming, Seaquest, Keystone Kapers, Beamrider, and many others.   The Imagic Guys. Rob Fulop, Bob Smith, and Dennis Koble. After the success of Activision, another group of Atari programmers decided to jump ship and form Imagic. Among the Imagic titles this group designed were Demon Attack, Cosmic Ark, Fathom, Riddle of the Sphinx, Star Voyager, Dragonfire, Moonsweeper, Atlantis, Trick Shot, Solar Storm, and Shooting Gallery, among others.   It was very interesting to hear stories from the early days of video games, and the industry changed. Most interesting were the different perspectives given by the Atari, Activision, and Imagic guys, especially since most of them got their start at Atari. I highly recommend purchasing the CGE'99 Video, which will include most of these speeches and discussions. For a complete list of the Celebrities, check out the CGE'99 Distinguished Guests & Speakers page.   Back to the CGE'99 Recap Page


  Atari Products | A Bit of History | Memo Pad | 1st Word | Links