E.T. (video game)
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E.T. was a video game created in 1983 for the Atari 2600 video game system, based on the 1982 movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial; it is widely considered to be the worst game of all time, and is indisputably one of the biggest commercial failures in computer and video gaming.
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Gameplay
The game player maneuvers E.T. through several screens looking for all the pieces necessary to assemble a device to phone home. A FBI agent and a scientist are both pursuing E.T, with the scientist kidnapping E.T. for study & the FBI agent will take one or more of the pieces of E.T.'s phone. E.T. then has to find the pieces again, which are now in different locations. Elliot arrives to revive E.T if E.T. runs out of energy, but he can do this three times per game. E.T. can also revive a flower for an extra revival from Elliot.
Production
Ray Kassar, the CEO of Atari, talked to Steven Spielberg and came back with the licensing rights for E.T. for the shockingly high price of $20 million. (In comparison, Wing Commander, released in 1990, cost "only" $1 million, was a huge hit by industry standards, and still didn't make back its investment without the help of sequels and expansion packs.)
E.T. was programmed by Howard Scott Warshaw, the same person who wrote Yars' Revenge. Yars' Revenge is considered to be one of the best titles on the 2600. The problem was not the skill of the programmer; the problem was the unreasonably short deadline — a mere eight weeks, when most games needed more than twice that — in order to make the Christmas sales season. Regardless, Warshaw had confidence in his creation, ironically introducing it to Spielberg as "the game that would make the movie famous."
Poor sales
Atari anticipated enormous sales based on the popularity of the movie, but the game ended up selling surprisingly poorly; in fact, nearly all who purchased the game sent them back to the company. Opinions on the actual quality of the game range from "unbelievably bad" to "moderately enjoyable." However, as with almost any game, video game enthusiasts could find people who even thought it was quite good. Atari produced more cartridges than there were 2600 game consoles in existence at the time. Most of them wound up in a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico. [1] (http://www.snopes.com/business/market/atari.asp)
This game was one of many bad decisions that led to the bankruptcy of Atari (which posted a $536 million loss in 1983, and was divided and sold in 1984). It is also seen as one of two major video game releases (along with the Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man) that sparked the video game crash of 1983.
Other E.T. games
The most well-known E.T. computer game is the 2600 version, for the reasons cited above, but there are other versions.
There was an E.T. game available for the Atari 400/800 system.
According to the Killer List of Videogames, a prototype arcade game was produced by Atari Games in 1984.[2] (http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=E&game_id=7683)
To tie in with the 20th anniversary re-release of the film in 2002, NewKidCo released five games:
- E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Game Boy Advance)
- E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and the Cosmic Garden (Game Boy Color)
- E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Digital Companion (Game Boy Advance)
- E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Escape from Planet Earth (Game Boy Color)
- E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Interplanetary Mission (PlayStation)
See Also
External links
- AtariAge info (http://www.atariage.com/software_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=157)
- GameFAQs.com reviews (http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/a2600/review/563239.html)
- ClassicGaming.com review (http://www.classicgaming.com/rotw/et.shtml)
- Snopes.com: "Atari buried millions of unsold "E.T." cartridges in a New Mexico desert landfill" (http://www.snopes.com/business/market/atari.asp)