- Over at sister site Gamasutra, Benj Edwards (himself a former GSW columnist) has written up 'The Right to Baer Games - An Interview with Ralph Baer, the Father of Video Games', one of the more deliciously cranky interviews we've collectively run in a while.

Talking about developing the first game hardware in the '60s (ahead of the Magnavox Odyssey, which debuted in 1972), Baer explained: ""Quit screwing around with that." That was the question that was asked by my boss, who was the executive VP for quite a few years. I was asked that question many times: "Are you still screwing around with that stuff, Baer?" And I'd smile and say nothing, right?"

Considering Baer's patents are probably a key part of his lasting fame/success, he's quite dismissive of the whole patent process, too: "...You look at the patents, and three out of four are garbage. Especially since it's so easy to do patent searches on the web; it's very easy. You look at that stuff: one piece of crap after another. How the hell did that ever get in there and clog up the system to where stuff that should have really been handled in an expeditious manner didn't make it through the damn office for three years or even longer? That's problem number one."