While going through my storage facility I recently came across a 1984 copy of ENTER Magazine that featured an article about me and my brothers, Garry and Steve.
Garry and I had received a call from the editor, Ira Wolfman, about doing an interview for the magazine. At the time Garry and I were working out of Activision's Eastern Design Center in Glen Rock, New Jersey and Steve was working at his own engineering firm, Woodside Design Associates, located in Redwood Shores, California.
Ira wanted the article to focus on the three of us, the "Kitchen Brothers" as we were known by in the industry. After mentioning that our dad, George Kitchen, was the inspiration behind our career choice, it was decided that the photo shoot of me and Garry would take place in the basement where we all started.
A few corrections to the original interview that were added by the editor:
- I never implemented a voice recognition system into M.A.N.I.A.C. If I had I'd be living next to Bill Gates today!
- Garry actually invented, designed and patented the handheld electronic billiard game BANKSHOT™.
- Steve was never an employee of Activision. He approached Activision with the concept of a Space Shuttle game and the rest as they say, is history.
I'm dedicating this post to our late father, George Kitchen, who inspired us to follow our dreams and reach for the stars. Love you, Dad.
Thanks to Bill Lange, you can find the entire issue online here. The magazine even has a few listings of basic programs you can type into your computer (who remembers those?)
Oh, and by the way, I still have the top section of Steve's M.A.N.I.A.C. computer somewhere in storage. Anyone volunteering to plug it in and see what happens?
Someone sent me a copy of an old TV show that I watched last night. A good chunk of it was an interview with your brother Steve about "Space Shuttle", showing a significant portion of its gameplay. They made it seem as if he was an Activision employee. Steve was sitting next to Chris Crawford throughout the interview.
Man, I love all these finds! Thanks for sharing the article!
I used to subscribe to that magazine and I may still have that issue! :)