Atari co-founder has vision of casual games business model

Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell pushing ads in casual games

SAN FRANCISCO--If you're at all interested in the history of the video games industry and you're at the Game Developers Conference here, then having the chance to talk to Nolan Bushnell is something you can't pass up.

Bushnell is, among other things, the co-founder of Atari, so his video games pedigree is just about as royal as anyone's.

And that's why you'd have to take NeoEdge, the ads-in-games start-up he's now the chairman of, seriously.

I met with Bushnell and NeoEdge CEO Alex Terry Thursday, and the two talked to me at length about their vision for a casual games business model that's different than the one that's been the industry standard for years.