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Bushnell: "I was stupid" to sell Atari

Pong creator also admits to being "tired" and prone to losing interest in his own ventures

Atari co-founder and Pong creator Nolan Bushnell has admitted he regrets selling the company.

"I was stupid," he claimed at the [a]list summit this week. "I sold completely because I didn't understand Wall Street. In retrospect, I really wish I hadn't sold it."

Back on the beleaguered publisher's board of directors as of earlier this year, he also revealed he had a short attention span for his own ventures - referring to it as a "5-year ADD."

Bushnell also admitted to being "tired," and earlier joked that his children called him "lame." He began his talk on the future of the games industry by wryly asking, "Do I want to be this retro-focused historical fossil?"

However, he was excited about what the years ahead had in store for gaming, claiming tablet and GPS games held great promise - especially in terms of brands taking advantage of augmented reality software.

He also claimed that robots, "bioimplants" and enhanced contact lenses were a likely course for the industry to take in years to come.

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Alec Meer

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A 10-year veteran of scribbling about video games, Alec primarily writes for Rock, Paper, Shotgun, but given any opportunity he will escape his keyboard and mouse ghetto to write about any and all formats.

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