Robert A. Whitehead (born November 1, 1953) is an American video game designer and programmer. While working for Atari, Inc. he wrote two of the nine Atari Video Computer System launch titles: Blackjack and Star Ship. After leaving Atari, he cofounded third party video game developer Activision, then Accolade. He left the video game industry in the mid-1980s.
Career
Whitehead attended San Jose State University and received a BS in Mathematics.[1]
Whitehead worked for Atari, Inc. in the late 1970s developing games for the Video Computer System (later renamed to the Atari 2600). He developed several games, including a VCS implementation of chess, a feat many other programmers considered impossible for the system.[1] He and his co-workers David Crane, Larry Kaplan, and Alan Miller became informally known as the "Gang of Four", a group of developers who felt inadequately compensated for their work despite being collectively responsible for 60 percent of the company's profits from VCS cartridge sales.[2]
Whitehead is sometimes credited as co-author, together with the rest of the Gang of Four, of the operating system for the
Games
External links
References
- Interview with Bob Whitehead from DigitPress.com^
- Jeffrey Flemming. The History Of Activision Gamasutra, July 30, 2007, retrieved September 27, 2019^
- XL Addendum - Atari Home Computer System - Operating System Manual - Supplement to ATARI 400/800 Technical Reference Notes