Howard Scott Warshaw facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Howard Scott Warshaw
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Warshaw in 2020
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| Born | July 30, 1957 Colorado, U.S. |
| Pen name | HSW, The Silicon Valley Therapist |
| Occupation | Psychotherapist |
| Language | English |
| 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 psychotherapist 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 written four books. He also produced and directed three documentaries.
Contents
Howard Warshaw's Early Life and Education
Howard Warshaw was born in Colorado. He grew up in New Jersey. He went to college in New Orleans. He studied at Tulane University. There, he earned a bachelor's degree. He studied both Math and Economics. He then received a master's degree in Computer Engineering.
Howard Warshaw's Career
After college, Warshaw worked at Hewlett-Packard. He was a systems engineer. But he felt like he needed a different kind of job. In 1981, he joined Atari, Inc..
Designing Games at Atari
Warshaw's first big success was Yars' Revenge. This game was first planned as an adaptation of an arcade game. But Warshaw changed the idea. He created a new game about mutated houseflies. These flies defended their world from an alien attacker. The game was very popular. It is still seen as one of the best games for the Atari 2600.
Because of this success, Warshaw was chosen for another big project. He designed the game based on the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. This game was also very popular and well-liked.
His success led him to design and program the game for the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. This project had problems from the start. Warshaw only had five weeks to create the game. A graphics designer named Jerome Domurat helped him. The game was finished on time. However, many players found it confusing and frustrating. Atari lost a lot of money on this game. This, along with other business problems, led to Atari being split up and sold.
During this time, Warshaw worked on another game called Saboteur. He left Atari before it was finished. The game was later planned to be based on the TV show The A-Team. But this version was also never released.
In a 2014 movie called Atari: Game Over, Warshaw said that each of his games sold over 1 million copies.
Howard Warshaw's Later Work
After Atari, Warshaw wrote two books. One book, The Complete Book of PAN, is about a card game. His second 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.
Later, he learned about video production. He released a documentary called From There to Here: Scenes of Passage. This film tells the story of two Russian women. They immigrated to America in different years. He also produced a multi-part documentary called Once Upon Atari. This series features interviews with people who worked at Atari. They share stories from the late 1970s and early 1980s.
In 2004, fans of classic video games made new cartridges of Saboteur. They sold them at game events. Warshaw approved of this and signed some cartridges. That same year, Atari released the Atari Flashback system. This system included many classic Atari games, including Saboteur.
Warshaw often hid his initials as a secret in his games. This is called an Easter egg. In Raiders of the Lost Ark, players could find a "Yar". In E.T., players could find both a "Yar" and an "Indy". In Yars' Revenge, if a player made a special shot, his initials HSWWSH would appear. This would end the game.
In 2008, Warshaw appeared as himself in the animated TV show Code Monkeys.
In 2011, Warshaw earned a Master of Arts degree. He studied Counseling Psychology. He became a psychotherapist. He helped couples and people working in the technology industry.
Warshaw also appeared in the independent film Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie. The movie is about finding E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial game cartridges. These cartridges were believed to be buried in a New Mexico landfill. Warshaw played himself in the movie.
On November 14, 2012, Warshaw became a licensed psychotherapist in California. He has his own practice. He also gives talks and training in the Silicon Valley area.
In June 2013, Yars' Revenge became part of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It was added to the museum's video game collection.
In early 2020, Warshaw published a book called Inspired Therapist: My inner journey from wannabe to healer. This book shares his thoughts on therapy. It also talks about what it means to be a therapist.
Also in 2020, Warshaw published another book. It is called Once Upon Atari: How I made history by killing an industry. This book goes along with his documentary Once Upon Atari.
Images for kids
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Warshaw in 2020
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Warshaw in 2015
See also
In Spanish: Howard Scott Warshaw para niños
