Matt Chat 82: Interview with Rebecca "Burger" Heineman Pt. 1

This is the first part of a multi-segment interview with Rebecca "Burger" Heineman, one of the most influential women in the history of the videogames industry. In this first segment, Becky and I chat about her background--and how a knack for Space Invaders on the Atari 2600 led to her amazing career as a games programmer and designer.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• rebecca heineman
• burger
• atari
• space invaders
• designer
• history
• interview
• matt chat
• videogames

[someonefromsomewere1]

Isn't it amazing how all these programmers/developers have photographic memory.

[blacklily8]

@someonefromsomewere1 A great memory helps with so many things, but programming it seems vital. If you can't remember another part of your program, it will be a lot harder to get it done.

[NostalgiaKing]

Great interview, can't wait for part 2!

[blacklily8]

@NostalgiaKing It's here! :)

[andlinux]

I loved that story, she is also a good storyteller.

I had a lot of fun in the past with the games of Interplay, like MDK, Earthworm Jim, Descent, etc.

So she copied also videogames when she was younger, I did that to because we had no money ;)

[blacklily8]

@andlinux I didn't even realize it was possible to do what she did back then. Wish I had!

[urizen123]

@AngryMrBubbles

"In November 2003, she was diagnosed with gender identity disorder and began transitioning to a woman."

- Wikipedia

[eepberries]

sweet flat eric doll!

[MetalJesusRocks]

Man, looking at that Wall O Games behind you, sure takes me back! It's great that you kept all of the boxes

[SeanJTharpe]

Nice shirt, I'm wearing the same one right now! LOL! Great interviews! Keep them coming! If you could get one with John Carmack somehow, that would be amazing!

[Cha4k]

Should change the name of the cake to "Death by Diabetes"

[NinjaRunningWild]

Nice Maiden shirt.

[NinjaRunningWild]

@blacklily8 That's actually inaccurate. Programs grow too large to realistically be able to do that. What's better practice is to use meaningful naming conventions and organization. That with a good search feature is all you need. The reason programmers usually remember specificities of coding is due to the intensity of thought during solving of a tough problem and the unbridled satisfaction of solving it. I can still remember vividly problems I've solved well over a decade ago from this.

[internationalfarmer]

I had envisioned her as a young lady during her stories.

[boson360]

Great interview. Maiden shirt. Thumbs up for that!

[umbalaba]

Matt, I simply cannot believe all the awesome people you do these very interesting interviews with. Thank you very much! Perhaps you should at some point consider releasing this material on DvD. It really is important historical material for gaming historians. Perhaps it could be done via lulu.com or some other self-publishing site, so it will neither cost you anything much nor burden you with shipping off stuff around the world and the like. Just a thought.

[redcat608]

I love Matt Chat!