Howard Scott Warshaw facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Howard Scott Warshaw
Warshaw in 2020
Born	(1957-07-30) July 30, 1957 (age 67) Colorado, U.S.
Pen name	HSW, The Silicon Valley Therapist
Occupation	Psychotherapist
Language	English
Nationality	American
Education	Master of Engineering Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology
Alma mater	Tulane University John F. Kennedy University
Notable works	E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial Raiders of the Lost Ark Yars' Revenge
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Howard Scott Warshaw (born July 30, 1957) is an American therapist and a former video game designer. He is also known as HSW. In the early 1980s, he worked at Atari, Inc.. There, he designed and programmed popular Atari 2600 games. These games include Yars' Revenge, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

Warshaw has also written several books. He has produced and directed three documentary films.

Early Life and Education

Howard Scott Warshaw was born in Colorado. He grew up in New Jersey. He went to college in New Orleans. He attended Tulane University. There, he earned two bachelor's degrees. He studied Math and Economics.

He was a very good student. He received a scholarship for his advanced studies in Computer Science. One year later, he earned his master's degree in Computer Engineering.

A Career in Video Games

After finishing college, Warshaw first worked at Hewlett-Packard. He was a systems engineer. But he felt like something was missing from his job. So, he started looking for a new career. In 1981, he found a job at Atari, Inc..

Joining Atari

Warshaw's first big success at Atari was the game Yars' Revenge. This game was first planned to be like another arcade game called Star Castle. But there were some limits with the Atari 2600 system. So, Warshaw changed the idea. He created a new game about mutated houseflies. They had to defend their world from an alien attacker.

The game was first called Time Freeze. When people tested the game, it was very popular. Many women especially liked it. Yars' Revenge became a huge hit. It is still considered one of the best games ever made for the Atari 2600.

Creating Classic Games

Because Yars' Revenge was so successful, Warshaw was chosen for another big project. He designed the video game version of the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. This game was also very popular and received good reviews.

His success with Raiders led him to design and program the game for the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. This game later became famous for different reasons.

The E.T. Game and Atari's Challenges

Problems started early with the E.T. game. Warshaw was only given five weeks to create the entire game. This included everything from the first idea to the finished product. Jerome Domurat, a graphics designer at Atari, helped him.

Even though the game was finished on time, many players did not like it. They found it confusing and frustrating. Atari lost a lot of money because of this game. This, along with other business problems and a big drop in video game sales in 1983, caused Atari to be broken up and sold.

During this time, Warshaw was working on another game called Saboteur. He almost finished it. But he left Atari before it was completed. The game was later changed to be based on the TV show The A-Team. However, this version also remained unfinished.

In a 2014 movie called Atari: Game Over, Warshaw said that each of his games sold more than 1 million copies.

Life After Atari

After Atari faced big changes, Warshaw wrote two books. One book, Conquering College, shares his tips for doing well in school. He called his method RASABIC. This stands for "Read Ahead, Stay Ahead, Be In Class." He said this method helped him finish college early.

Writing Books and Making Documentaries

Later, Warshaw studied how to make videos. He released a documentary called From There to Here: Scenes of Passage. This film tells the story of two Russian women from the same family. One came to America in 1920, and the other in 1980.

He then produced a longer documentary series called Once Upon Atari. This series features interviews and stories from people who worked at Atari in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

In 2004, fans of classic video games made new game cartridges of Saboteur. They sold them at game shows. Warshaw appeared at one event to sign the cartridges. That same year, Atari released the Atari Flashback system. This system included many classic Atari games, including Saboteur.

Hidden Secrets in Games (Easter Eggs)

Howard Scott Warshaw often hid his initials in his video games. These hidden secrets are called "Easter eggs."

• In Raiders of the Lost Ark, players can find a "Yar." This is a nod to his game Yars' Revenge.
• In E.T., players can find both a "Yar" and an "Indy." "Indy" refers to Indiana Jones from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
• In Yars' Revenge, there's a special trick. If you shoot an enemy at the right moment, a black streak appears. If you stay on this streak until the explosion finishes, his initials HSWWSH (forward and backward) appear. This also ends the game.

In 2008, Warshaw appeared as himself in an episode of the animated TV show Code Monkeys on G4TV.

Becoming a Therapist

In 2011, Warshaw earned another master's degree. This time, it was in Counseling Psychology from John F. Kennedy University. He started working as a therapist. He helped people with their relationships and the unique challenges of working in the technology industry.

On November 14, 2012, Warshaw became a licensed therapist in California. He has his own practice. He also gives talks and training in the Silicon Valley area.

He also had a small role in the independent film Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie. This movie is about finding the famous E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial game cartridges. Millions of these cartridges were believed to be buried in a landfill in New Mexico. Warshaw played himself in the movie.

Games in a Museum

In June 2013, Warshaw's game Yars' Revenge became part of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It was added to the museum's new video game collection. This shows how important and artistic video games have become.

In 2020, Warshaw published a book called Inspired Therapist: My inner journey from wannabe to healer. This book shares his thoughts about being a therapist and living an honest life. Also in 2020, he published Once Upon Atari: How I made history by killing an industry, which goes along with his documentary.

See also

In Spanish: Howard Scott Warshaw para niños