Robert J. "RJ" Mical (born 26 January 1956) is an American computer programmer and hardware designer who has primarily worked in video games. He is best known for creating the user interface, Intuition, for Commodore's Amiga personal computer (1985), contributing to the design of the Amiga hardware, and co-designing, with Dave Needle, the Atari Lynx color handheld (1989) and the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer (1993).
Robert J. "RJ" Mical
Signing an Amiga 1200 for the 25th anniversary of the Amiga (2011)
He also worked on arcade games at Williams Electronics,[1] was the chief architect of the Fathammer mobile game engine, and was at Sony Computer Entertainment from 2005 to 2011 as a senior manager on the PlayStation product line. In 2012 he was hired by Google.[2]
A 1995 article in Next Generation commented "It's true that of the machines that Mical and Needle have created, only the Amiga has been a true global mass market hit ... But it's only fair to put forward the argument that this is down to the marketing of the machines rather than the quality of the product."[3]
Biography
Robert J. Mical graduated in 1979 from the University of Illinois with dual degrees in Computer Science and English and a minor in Philosophy.[4]
From 1983 to 1984, Mical was software engineer at arcade video game and pinball creator Williams Electronics. He worked on special effects for Sinistar (1983) and coordinated the Star RiderLaserDisc racing project.[5]
From 1984 to 1986, Mical worked for Amiga Corporation and then Commodore International on the development of the Amiga 1000 and later models. He created various development tools and the animation system software. He developed Intuition, the Amiga user interface system software.[5]
From 1987 to 1989 he was vice-president of game technology at Epyx, reuniting with two ex-Amiga employees: Dave Needle and Dave Morse. He co-developed the first color handheld console, internally named "Handy." He was the co-designer of the hardware and put together run-time libraries, a debugger, art and audio tools, and an emulator. The system was acquired by Atari Corporation and brought to market as the Atari Lynx in 1989. He did some design for the launch titles Blue Lightning and Electrocop.
In 1990, Mical co-founded New Technologies Group (NTG), a company established to create a new game system, working again with Needle and Morse. Mical co-designed the hardware and headed the creation of the system's multitasking operating system, Portfolio. The company later merged with The 3DO Company and their technology became the base of the 32-bit console 3DO Interactive Multiplayer.
From 1996 to 2005, Mical worked on mobile and online projects. In 1996 and 1997, Mical was part of the creation of a joint company effort, joining Prolific and founding Glassworks,[clarification needed] which developed online games. In 1998 and 1999, he was as consultant for Rjave. In 2000 and 2001, he was vice president of software at Red Jade which was developing a handheld console.[6] In 2001 and 2002, he was chief architect of Fathammer, a company which provided software development and runtime technology for the creation of 3D games on mobile phones. In 2003 and 2004, Mical was the vice president of software at Global VR, a company that created arcade versions of home games.
From 2005 to 2011, he was employed by Sony Computer Entertainment working on developer tools for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. Since 2011 he has worked on software games and inventions with his own company, Arjinx.[2] He was hired to be Director of Games at Google[7] in 2012.[2]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robert J. Mical.
Personal website
Robert J. Mical at MobyGames
Making of the Amiga talk
Interviews at and
January 10, 2023
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This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification Please help by adding reliable sources Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately especially if potentially libelous or harmful Find sources Robert J Mical news newspapers books scholar JSTOR January 2014 Learn how and when to remove this template message Robert J RJ Mical born 26 January 1956 is an American computer programmer and hardware designer who has primarily worked in video games He is best known for creating the user interface Intuition for Commodore s Amiga personal computer 1985 contributing to the design of the Amiga hardware and co designing with Dave Needle the Atari Lynx color handheld 1989 and the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer 1993 Robert J RJ MicalSigning an Amiga 1200 for the 25th anniversary of the Amiga 2011 Born 1956 01 26 26 January 1956 age 66 NationalityAmericanOccupation s Computer programmerHardware designerProduct managerWebsitemical wbr orgPlaying the Lynx that he co designed at Alternative Party 2002 He also worked on arcade games at Williams Electronics 1 was the chief architect of the Fathammer mobile game engine and was at Sony Computer Entertainment from 2005 to 2011 as a senior manager on the PlayStation product line In 2012 he was hired by Google 2 A 1995 article in Next Generation commented It s true that of the machines that Mical and Needle have created only the Amiga has been a true global mass market hit But it s only fair to put forward the argument that this is down to the marketing of the machines rather than the quality of the product 3 Biography EditRobert J Mical graduated in 1979 from the University of Illinois with dual degrees in Computer Science and English and a minor in Philosophy 4 From 1983 to 1984 Mical was software engineer at arcade video game and pinball creator Williams Electronics He worked on special effects for Sinistar 1983 and coordinated the Star Rider LaserDisc racing project 5 From 1984 to 1986 Mical worked for Amiga Corporation and then Commodore International on the development of the Amiga 1000 and later models He created various development tools and the animation system software He developed Intuition the Amiga user interface system software 5 From 1987 to 1989 he was vice president of game technology at Epyx reuniting with two ex Amiga employees Dave Needle and Dave Morse He co developed the first color handheld console internally named Handy He was the co designer of the hardware and put together run time libraries a debugger art and audio tools and an emulator The system was acquired by Atari Corporation and brought to market as the Atari Lynx in 1989 He did some design for the launch titles Blue Lightning and Electrocop In 1990 Mical co founded New Technologies Group NTG a company established to create a new game system working again with Needle and Morse Mical co designed the hardware and headed the creation of the system s multitasking operating system Portfolio The company later merged with The 3DO Company and their technology became the base of the 32 bit console 3DO Interactive Multiplayer From 1996 to 2005 Mical worked on mobile and online projects In 1996 and 1997 Mical was part of the creation of a joint company effort joining Prolific and founding Glassworks clarification needed which developed online games In 1998 and 1999 he was as consultant for Rjave In 2000 and 2001 he was vice president of software at Red Jade which was developing a handheld console 6 In 2001 and 2002 he was chief architect of Fathammer a company which provided software development and runtime technology for the creation of 3D games on mobile phones In 2003 and 2004 Mical was the vice president of software at Global VR a company that created arcade versions of home games From 2005 to 2011 he was employed by Sony Computer Entertainment working on developer tools for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita Since 2011 he has worked on software games and inventions with his own company Arjinx 2 He was hired to be Director of Games at Google 7 in 2012 2 References Edit Kohler 2005 p 215 a b c Mical Robert J Work History of RJ Mical Retrieved 3 February 2013 75 Power Players Back at the Lab Next Generation 11 73 November 1995 Mical resume on his web site Retrieved 20 May 2008 a b R J Mical Retro Gamer Retrieved 17 August 2017 Red Jade adds Experience GameSpot Retrieved 5 February 2021 Sile Aza Wee 27 January 2016 Next gen games will have machine intelligence says Google s Robert J Mical CNBC Retrieved 28 October 2021 Burnham Van 2003 Supercade A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1971 1984 ISBN 0 262 52420 1 DeMaria and Wilson 2003 High Score The Illustrated History of Electronic Games ISBN 0 07 223172 6 Kohler Chris 2005 Retro Gaming Hacks ISBN 0 596 00917 8 Interviewed in 2005 Documentary Amiga Forever imdb Ars Technica article on the history of the amigaExternal links Edit Biography portal Amiga portal Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robert J Mical Personal website Robert J Mical at MobyGames Making of the Amiga talk Interviews at 1up and Digital Game Developer Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Robert J Mical amp oldid 1127484743, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
