Atari's hilarity on the timeline - ET

[S1500]

I don't have the URL on me right now, but Atari's Facebook page has a good sense of uninentional humor.

 

They added "Released ET" to their Facebook timeline. The comments were hilarious. The best one was something like "Not something to be proud of."

 

I can only imagine the 22 year old "media director" who's in charge of Atari's Facebook thought it would be a great idea to put that on the timeline, not really knowing what the consequences would be. There was even a bit of bragging on how it was made in a couple of weeks.

[bloodreptile]

I saw that and did not reply...I just thought here we go again... more ET bashing.. it was a great game back in the day... now you are gonna get a load of people saying that it was a pile of S not knowing anything about it...

probably the same people who think that pitfall is an atari game...

[Blacklight]

For an Atari game, E.T. wasn't quite as bad as people say it is. There are a LOT worse games out there that no one even notices.

 

99% of the people who say that it's the worst game ever and unplayable have pretty much never read the manual. This game is pretty much unplayable unless you read the manual. You have to know what those symbols that appear on the top of the screen do and why they appear. You have to know what the Flower does. You have to know what your goal is and how to accomplish it. You have to know why the candy is important to collect. How to run and why not to do it and when to do it. You have to know the "Phone Home" symbol and remember where you saw it after you find it so you can use the "Intergalactic Communication Phone Thingy". You have to remember the landing site symbol when you find it so you can be there when the space ship lands. Etc...

 

There's no way that anyone would know to do this stuff without the manual.

Edited September 14, 2012 by Blacklight

[soonersfan60]

It was a bad game because of the pits. Everyone I knew as a kid (and everyone I know now ) got frustrated and quit playing the game because of that.

[Brian O]

I played the hell out of ET as a kid and really enjoyed it. And, considering how quickly the game was conceptualized, produced, and manufactured, I'd say they did a pretty decent job with it. I really never understood all of the ET hate. Pac-Man is another story, however...

 

-B

[+Random Terrain]

Related link:

 

To What Degree Do You Love E.T.?

[Blacklight]

I think, for Atari hate, there are FAR MORE DESERVING titles than E.T.

E.T. seriously was NOT that bad if you actually ready the manual.

[Rom Hunter]

It was a bad game because of the pits. Everyone I knew as a kid (and everyone I know now ) got frustrated and quit playing the game because of that.

Not me.

 

I can't recall mastering the pits was too much trouble for me back then.

 

Man, it's even explained in the basic manual that came with the game:

 

LEVITATING OUT OF WELLS

 

Even experienced extraterrestrials sometimes have difficulty levitating out of

wells. Start to levitate E.T. by first pressing the controller button and then

pushing your Joystick forward. E.T.'s neck will stretch as he rises to the top

of the well (see E.T. levitating in Figure 1). Just when he reaches the top of

the well and the scene changes to the planet surface (see Figure 2), STOP! Do

not try to keep moving up. Instead, move your Joystick right, left, or to the

bottom. Do not try to move up, or E.T. might fall back into the well.

 

 

I remember I had more difficulties in staying clear of the agent and the doc while waiting for the spaceship to land in the last phase of the game.

 

 

E.T. is far from the worst game ever made for the VCS.

 

HSW wants it to be, because of his self-proclaimed "Programmer of the worst VCS title (E.T.) and best VCS title (Yars' Revenge)" title.

 

BTW: Yars' Revenge isn't one of the best VCS titles either. It's a shooter with original mechanics, but gets quite boring after a few games.

 

In fact: when I bought it back in the eighties, it came bundled with E.T. and FireWorld as a cheap carbage bin three-pack.

 

Edited September 22, 2012 by Rom Hunter

[+Random Terrain]

I remember I had more difficulties in staying clear of the agent and the doc while waiting for the spaceship to land in the last phase of the game.

 

Yeah, waiting for the ship is easier when wide awake:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcAoIThBDyA

 

 

Harder to do when extremely sleepy:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAH-gVo1kIg

[onlysublime]

did you guys see this??? E.T. finished in 25 seconds. I think they slowed down part of the video so that it was easier to see what was happening.

 

http://tasvideos.org/3723S.html

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Vn9LJb5boog

[Schizophretard]

did you guys see this??? E.T. finished in 25 seconds. I think they slowed down part of the video so that it was easier to see what was happening.

 

http://tasvideos.org/3723S.html

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Vn9LJb5boog

 

From their explanation, they held down the fire button while starting the game to get the best set up and to know where everything is. That seems like using a cheat code. I wouldn't count that as beating E.T. in 25 seconds because not knowing where all the phone pieces are and finding them is part of the game.

[+Gemintronic]

..it's called a Tool Assisted Speedrun. They use knowledge of pre-existing flaws in games and many features of emulation EXCEPT direct memory hacking.

 

Cheat? No.

 

Possible? Just barely.

 

Assisted? Defnitely!

[Schizophretard]

..it's called a Tool Assisted Speedrun. They use knowledge of pre-existing flaws in games and many features of emulation EXCEPT direct memory hacking.

 

Cheat? No.

 

Possible? Just barely.

 

Assisted? Defnitely!

 

I get that but it isn't as impressive as finding the phone pieces, phone home zone, landing zone, and then beating it in 25 seconds.

[+Random Terrain]

Yeah, if you cheat and fix it so you know where everything is, it doesn't count. Makes it like most other games where everything is in the same place. If you keep it random and finish it in 25 seconds, that would be amazing.