On a roller coaster through various websites, I’m seeing many comments, postings, digg’ed articles and more regarding comments about today’s gaming industry from the eyes of Nolan Bushnell, inventor of Pong, and founder of both Atari and Check E. Cheese Pizza Time Restaurants.

The line that’s caught most people’s attention is a reporting which is being mass-linked with its origins starting at electronicdesign.com

…In fact, he is forging a different direction from today’s shoot ‘em up, beat ‘em down, tear ‘em apart electronic diversions. He sees a generation of video games that foster fun, social interaction, and education.

“Video games today are a race to the bottom. They are pure, unadulterated trash and I’m sad for that,” says Bushnell…

What people are missing in their multiple-post freak-fest is the heart of the article itself. He first delves into a very brief description of how he’s created a new type of restaurant. Jack Thompson wouldn’t be too keen on his twists here primarily because he’s tying the knot between quality family time and the gaming industry. Bushnell not only set gaming into motion, he also still to this day (over 20 years later) identifies that the way gaming technology currently is happens to be nice, but it’s taking away from the family time. However, technology-based gaming isn’t going to be going anywhere, its an incredible beast that is only going to get larger. Back in the day when he had invented Pong(early 19702), families would get together on a weekly basis to play board games. Sure, that face-to-face contact is still present within some families, but it’s not anywhere nearly as popular any longer as technology based gaming.

Bushnell states, “Social games represent something that has been missing. We used to have families sit down and play a game together,” He continues by saying, “A lot of video games today are very isolated. You don’t see mom and dad, sister and brother, sitting down like they used to play, say, Monopoly. That represented good mentoring time for families that just isn’t happening now.”

In Fall of 2006, Bushnell opened the first uWink restaurant; a place which combines the face-to-face encounter of humanity coupled with great food which gets placed on an interactive gaming table which brings technology and social interaction full circle, front and center.

The rest of the article includes more personal background information which speaks volumes about how much he truly believes in family and its incorporation with modern technology.