Annoyed by E.T. haters online!

[Christophero Sly]

As reigning President and CEO at the time, Mr. Kassar is the individual ultimately responsible for E.T.'s "failure".

 

Actually, no. Atari had a dual management at the time with Warner (it's something that's itself with so much over that timer period as Curt and I have found). Warner were the ones in fact that put together the deal, which including capitulating to Spielberg's demand that it be ready in time for Christmas, and insane licensing and royalty fees. Atari had already approached Universal and declined the conditions when told. Manny then did it over the weekend directly with Spielberg at a house party in New York, setting Atari up with the ridiculous fees, royalties, and schedule and dumping it on to their lap that Monday.

 

By endeavoring to cultivate the perception that Warner had unrealistic expectations for the game and that he, himself, had a low opinion of the E.T. project from it's inception, Mr. Kassar, in his later remarks on the subject, has distanced himself from the decisions made at Atari during that time, suggesting that the responsibility for them lay not with himself, but instead with Warner management, the consumer, and of course, the game itself (and by extension HSW).

 

Actually, it did lie with Warner. That's also documented in the source, and is one of the few times Ray was not at fault (and believe me, he has plenty of fault in the situation at Atari and it's collapse). The dual management actually got worse once Ray was forced out and Morgan was brought on board.

 

 

Is the 3.5 million figure even a direct quote from him?

Yes, that's why the statement by the author, immediately following direct quotes from him from being interviewed, begins "According to Kassar".

 

 

The quote I've read has it as "... nearly all of them came back"--that in reference to 5 million produced.

 

The quote you read where, not in this book?

 

In DP's interview with HSW, there are references to internal Atari documents that state that of the 4 million produced, 2.5 million copies of the game were sold in '82, with another million sold over the next 2 years.

 

If the documents can be produced, that's great. However, that would be Scott Stilphen's statement, not Howard's, and there's no context on sales vs. liquidation. Howard's statement in that interview is "It sold around a million and a half copies, but Atari had over-produced the game, making something like 4 million and then ended up dumping all these carts." Since Howard was not directly involved in management, manufacturing, distribution, and sales, any figures he's stating are through the grapevine as well as even shown by the lack of context as to why 4 million had to be produced (which is given elsewhere). Even combining the two and coming up with a million, that would still put it in the claimed 1/3 sales figure.

 

 

Whatever the actual numbers, I do know that there were a great deal more than 500,000 copies of E.T. bought and kept. One only needs to look at the current used market to know that E.T. is among the most ubiquitous 2600 games.

 

That's hardly accurate, and in no way is a statement of actual sales at the time. If fails to account for liquidation, including after market dumping. A significant portion was not buried in Alamogordo, that's of course BS. So much of the stock of course eventually would have found it's way on to the market over the years through normal liquidation and discount channels. That's where you get so many NOS products still appearing through liquidators to this day.

 

Regarding Alamogordo, it was a bunch of games and equipment that included E.T., I have news clippings from the time with statements from people mentioning some of the specific games (including E.T.) they were digging up and proudly claiming that the games actually worked. This was what caused Atari to do the steamroller and concrete.

 

 

It goes without saying, but there's too much myth and exaggeration; too much hearsay and speculation; and too many poorly sourced and contradictory numbers surrounding this game to ever say with any degree of certainty what the truth is.

 

We'll certainly agree there, I'm continuing to see a lot of that here.

 

It's not important who bears the blame; what's important is the overall context in which Mr. Kassar made his remarks, and his remarks have clearly been fashioned to absolve himself of any responsibility (legitimately or not; it doesn't matter) for E.T.'s failure. What I'm saying it that in that context it's not beyond imagination to suggest that his comments may be exaggerated for effect. "According to Kassar" is all well and fine, but no matter how close he was to the situation, without any hard documentation to support what he says on the subject, his recollections must be weighed in their proper context, not simply taken at face value.

 

Yes, in the absence of hard documentation, I don't know that the numbers batted about in the DP interview are correct either. I'm not necessarily suggesting that they are. I'm simply suggesting that they are as equally believable as the numbers presented in your scenario.

 

The "... nearly all of them came back" quote was seen somewhere on the internet; it's another example of the sort of hearsay and soft sourcing that I referred to in the last paragraph of my previous post.

 

I'm sorry, but I can't accept that a million E.T. carts entered the "wild" through after market dumping. One or two hundred thousand copies at the absolute extreme, but a million or more... .

Edited December 27, 2009 by Christophero Sly

[+RevEng]

RT, I doubt they're in danger of disappearing, or someone *really* needs to update the R1 rating in the AA db. ("The most common of all games. These are the titles that you almost always find when you buy a stack of games at a flea market or thrift store. Any longtime collector probably has stacks of these.")

 

But even if they are common, it is a selfish and cretinous act to destroy something that someone else might enjoy, or even just salvage parts from.

[tz101]

RT, I doubt they're in danger of disappearing, or someone *really* needs to update the R1 rating in the AA db. ("The most common of all games. These are the titles that you almost always find when you buy a stack of games at a flea market or thrift store. Any longtime collector probably has stacks of these.")

 

But even if they are common, it is a selfish and cretinous act to destroy something that someone else might enjoy, or even just salvage parts from.

 

They are exceedingly common, to the point of disproving wgungfu's claim of 500,000 actually sold. E.T. carts can be found everywhere and anywhere. The "facts" presented on this thread are highly questionable at best.

[2600Lives]

But even if they are common, it is a selfish and cretinous act to destroy something that someone else might enjoy, or even just salvage parts from.

 

With the homebrew community so strong in the 2600 community, I say round 'em all up and use 'em for cases. Is a better use for them than stabilizing tables or simply smashing with a hammer. If an E.T. cart can go to help someone making a kick ass homebrew, then it wasn't a total loss. I'd bet HSW would agree.

 

I still love how sanctimonious and butthurt everyone is in this thread over their beloved game getting badmouthed. Like someone dumped on their religion or something.

 

Oh, and to that shave2600 guy (shave 2600? Is your console hairy??), you mean you're gonna ignore me? Wow-wee! If you love your E.T. and dislike Metalocalypse, possibly one of the best new shows in the entire decade, well, it pretty much goes to show how much taste you have. You go fall into your little pits and I'll be watching Toki and the boys brutalize music and everyone that gets in their way, all for fun and profit.

[+RevEng]

I agree 2600lives. Homebrew is infinitely preferable to smashing any common cart or letting it languish. At the very least let it go to the thrift store where it has a chance of having continued usefulness, in one form or another.

 

No butthurt here, but unreasoning badmouthing and bandwagonism is what I object to. I fully accept and even agree with some of critical points made about the game in this thread. Also, it's a good thing nobody did anything approaching dumping on religion in this thread!

 

I just stumbled across this hack...

 

http://www.atariage.com/hack_page.html?SystemID=&SoftwareHackID=290

 

This is pretty much the game that Steven Spielberg initially requested, a version of pacman featuring E.T.

 

It would be cool to hear opinions on this from those that don't like E.T., as well as those that do like it...

1. would Spielberg's vision have been preferable?
   
2. would it have been better if HSW just removed some of the rough edges from the existing design, like some have suggested, by removing the wells and finding some other way of hiding the phone pieces?
   
3. if nether 1 or 2, what game design would you have suggested to HSW?
   

Edited December 27, 2009 by RevEng

[+Random Terrain]

I still love how sanctimonious and butthurt everyone is in this thread over their beloved game getting badmouthed. Like someone dumped on their religion or something.

It goes both ways. It seems like your adult brain isn't strong enough yet to overpower your inner child, so you still feel butthurt by E.T. and proclaim that E.T. sucks in your own sanctimoniously way as if hating E.T. is your religion.

 

You probably already know that Randomness and Replayability is one of my 'religions' or causes, so it makes sense that E.T. would be a part of that religion thanks to the random placement of phone pieces, power zones, and the wilted flower.

 

We can agree to disagree. People who like E.T. will continue to spread 'the good word' and people who dislike E.T. can continue to spread hate-filled misinformation about the game.

[+Random Terrain]

This is pretty much the game that Steven Spielberg initially requested, a version of pacman featuring E.T.

Pac-Man style game:

 

• The walls would probably be green to simulate a maze of trees.
  _
  
• The FBI agent and Scientist enter the maze from off screen instead of the middle box and roam the maze, looking for E.T.
  _
  
• E.T. must collect candy pieces to keep his life force up.
  _
  
• Elliott's house would be in the middle and E.T. could hide inside for a certain amount of time and his life force would not drain while in Elliott's house (if we're talking about a little kiddie game, there would be no time limit. It would be like a pause feature for when a kid needs a break or things get too tough).
  _
  
• If the FBI agent or Scientist touch E.T., he loses some life force and Elliott comes running to rescue him and escorts E.T. back to his house. (While safe in Elliott's house, E.T.'s life force does not drain.)
  _
  
• The power pellets would be replaced with orange pumpkins and when E.T. touches one, he'll get a ghost costume (like in the movie at Halloween) for the usual amount of time you'd expect in a Pac-Man game when the monsters turn blue. Unlike in Pac-Man, nobody turns blue, but if E.T. touches the FBI agent or Scientist while in his ghost costume, the bad guy will get scared and go running off the screen for a short time.
  _
  
• Instead of fruit, phone pieces would appear after a certain amount of time or after a certain number of candy pieces have been eaten. There would probably be more than 3 phone pieces to collect. After all phone pieces have been collected, the ship would come for E.T. (if you want an ending to the game).
  

[BDW]

This is pretty much the game that Steven Spielberg initially requested, a version of pacman featuring E.T.

Pac-Man style game:

 

• The walls would probably be green to simulate a maze of trees.
  _
  
• The FBI agent and Scientist enter the maze from off screen instead of the middle box and roam the maze, looking for E.T.
  _
  
• E.T. must collect candy pieces to keep his life force up.
  _
  
• Elliott's house would be in the middle and E.T. could hide inside for a certain amount of time and his life force would not drain while in Elliott's house (if we're talking about a little kiddie game, there would be no time limit. It would be like a pause feature for when a kid needs a break or things get too tough).
  _
  
• If the FBI agent or Scientist touch E.T., he loses some life force and Elliott comes running to rescue him and escorts E.T. back to his house. (While safe in Elliott's house, E.T.'s life force does not drain.)
  _
  
• The power pellets would be replaced with orange pumpkins and when E.T. touches one, he'll get a ghost costume (like in the movie at Halloween) for the usual amount of time you'd expect in a Pac-Man game when the monsters turn blue. Unlike in Pac-Man, nobody turns blue, but if E.T. touches the FBI agent or Scientist while in his ghost costume, the bad guy will get scared and go running off the screen for a short time.
  _
  
• Instead of fruit, phone pieces would appear after a certain amount of time or after a certain number of candy pieces have been eaten. There would probably be more than 3 phone pieces to collect. After all phone pieces have been collected, the ship would come for E.T. (if you want an ending to the game).
  

Do you mean something like this ? XD

 

 

Run away ET!.bin

 

 

You star as E.T.! ET is collecting Pieces of his Phone. But its not going to be easy, the FBI is after you! Get caught, and you will surely be dead! But you can turn the tables on them, grab the Super Candy and you can send those FBI agents running!

 

 

 

 

Not bad, eh?

[BDW]

I agree 2600lives. Homebrew is infinitely preferable to smashing any common cart or letting it languish. At the very least let it go to the thrift store where it has a chance of having continued usefulness, in one form or another.

 

No butthurt here, but unreasoning badmouthing and bandwagonism is what I object to. I fully accept and even agree with some of critical points made about the game in this thread. Also, it's a good thing nobody did anything approaching dumping on religion in this thread!

 

I just stumbled across this hack...

 

http://www.atariage.com/hack_page.html?SystemID=&SoftwareHackID=290

 

This is pretty much the game that Steven Spielberg initially requested, a version of pacman featuring E.T.

 

It would be cool to hear opinions on this from those that don't like E.T., as well as those that do like it...

1. would Spielberg's vision have been preferable?
   
2. would it have been better if HSW just removed some of the rough edges from the existing design, like some have suggested, by removing the wells and finding some other way of hiding the phone pieces?
   
3. if nether 1 or 2, what game design would you have suggested to HSW?
   

DAMN IT ALL! I should have read this post before I spent 10 minutes making my own hack...... Oh well.... Back to bed....

[Retro Rogue]

[quote name='tz101' date='Sat Dec 26, 2009 10:28 PM' timestamp='1261884492' post='1906084'

They are exceedingly common, to the point of disproving wgungfu's claim of 500,000 actually sold.

 

LOL, you've done nothing of the sort. Christophero at least is trying to approach it from a logical counterpoint on documentation. All you've stated is "Well there's E.T. carts out there now, so sales must have been high then". One has no direct proof of the other as shown. Oh - and it's Ray Kassar's claim, not mine.

 

E.T. carts can be found everywhere and anywhere.

 

I rest my case.

 

The "facts" presented on this thread are highly questionable at best.

 

ROFL, yes, you've done such a wonderful job disproving them as facts.

[Retro Rogue]

I'm sorry, but I can't accept that a million E.T. carts entered the "wild" through after market dumping. One or two hundred thousand copies at the absolute extreme, but a million or more... .

 

Easily, it was a common occurrence at the time, especially with the distribution network Atari had. A ton of liquidated and discounted stock found it's way to the market in the immediate time after (the time of the crash). One or two hundred thousand would be an extremely small liquidation of product when you take in to account the amount of other games that were also liquidated from the plethora of distribution centers, let alone what still sat in the warehouses to try and be resold by Tramiel. Hell, they still had pallets of cartridges in the old main warehouse by the old corporate location as recent as a few years ago when Curt went out there.

[2600Lives]

Wasn't it also pretty commonplace for current and exiting Atari employees to grab armfulls of cartridges themselves? I imagine those found their way into the public collective at some point.

 

I remember a Radio Shack near me had them for sale in...1986 maybe? For 50 cents a cart. It was likely some old backstock, but I clearly remember it, and they had a buttload of them, too. So, yeah, I'd imagine that there a TONNE of E.T. carts out there, easily as many as Pac-Man. Maybe not as many as Combat, but still a shitload. Of course, every so often some douche shows up on craigslist offering an E.T. or something similar as "Rare vintage collectibles!" and wanting 50 bucks for it.

 

Pallets as recent as a few years ago? Damn. You'd figure that whoever owned that warehouse and what was in it would realize that maybe they'd be worth something to collectors.

[Retro Rogue]

 

Pallets as recent as a few years ago? Damn. You'd figure that whoever owned that warehouse and what was in it would realize that maybe they'd be worth something to collectors.

 

Atari Interactive owns/owned it. Before that Hasbro, before that Atari Corp. Just a hand me down location that I don't think anyone really knew what was there.

[toiletunes]

If there were only two or three "pits" per screen instead of four or six, they might be easier to avoid. If there were ten screens instead of six, the humans would have more space to roam and wouldn't show up as much. Make ET move just a wee bit faster in walking mode, and I'd be more likely to play.

 

Have ET appear in the middle of the screen after leitating out of a "pit" so he doesn't automatically fall back in

 

Ooh, ooh! here's an idea- no FBI or Scientist the first time through, then add one or the other after you win the first round- make the game progressively harder, that would increase the replay value.

 

A nip here, a tuck there, it shouldn't take much to implement a few of these ideas...

[Christophero Sly]

I'm sorry, but I can't accept that a million E.T. carts entered the "wild" through after market dumping. One or two hundred thousand copies at the absolute extreme, but a million or more... .

 

Easily, it was a common occurrence at the time, especially with the distribution network Atari had. A ton of liquidated and discounted stock found it's way to the market in the immediate time after (the time of the crash). One or two hundred thousand would be an extremely small liquidation of product when you take in to account the amount of other games that were also liquidated from the plethora of distribution centers, let alone what still sat in the warehouses to try and be resold by Tramiel. Hell, they still had pallets of cartridges in the old main warehouse by the old corporate location as recent as a few years ago when Curt went out there.

If you're referring to games sold through Atari's normal retailers at discounted prices, then, yes, of course, large numbers of 2600 games (not just E.T.) were moved that way. I'm not arguing that. I thought you were talking about dumping the games into secondary markets and to wholesalers, like O'Sheas, etc. Could you please clarify?

 

Also, could you please clarify the proposed time frame for the 500,000 sold, 3.5 million returned? Are those numbers strictly for the Christmas season of '82, or are you talking about the total number sold, say, prior to fiscal '84 (the crash) and Atari's subsequent sale to Tramiel? E.T.'s premium price for Christmas '82 had more to do with the negative reception it received than anything, and I would still consider games sold at a discount price through normal retailers during the rest of the fiscal year ('83) as legitimate sales.

 

And it's worth noting that Tramiel's Atari produced brand new copies of E.T. in the mid-80's, selling (maybe I should stick with "distributing") enough of that particular variant that it isn't even rare.

Edited December 27, 2009 by Christophero Sly

[tz101]

Because wgungfu cannot find any E.T. carts in the wild in Milwaukee, there are only 500,000 ever released into circulation? Right. Just means that nobody in Milwaukee is donating them to charity thrift stores. Never mind that 6 Goodwill stores, 4 Salvation stores, and 2 St. Vincent De Paul stores within 40 minutes of my house, not to mention three separate used game/music stores have E.T. 2600 carts on a continual and rotating basis. Milwaukee must be the stick against all game cart sales are measured. Right...

[Retro Rogue]

Because wgungfu cannot find any E.T. carts in the wild in Milwaukee, there are only 500,000 ever released into circulation?

 

Wow, your ability to not read basic English is astounding. Nowhere has it been said there's only 500,000 E.T. carts out there. Chris and I have been having entire conversations here on liquidation and discounting to get rid of stock.

 

Right. Just means that nobody in Milwaukee is donating them to charity thrift stores.

 

Or it simply means, as has been constantly stated and you constantly keep proving, your reasoning is completely unscientific and unsound. But here, let's let you speak for your self -

 

 

Because tz101 can find any E.T. carts in the wild in his town, there are millions released into circulation? Right. Just means that people in his town donating them to charity thrift stores. His town must be the stick against all game cart sales are measured. Right...

 

I just love when newbies without any sort of actual research ability or background come on here and throw this kind of stuff out there. Just keep repeating the same childish attitude, grade school reasoning, and sticking their head in the sand with "I know you are but what am I" posts.

Edited December 27, 2009 by wgungfu

[Christophero Sly]

Whoops, inadvertant post.

Edited December 27, 2009 by Christophero Sly

[Retro Rogue]

Chris -

 

If you're referring to games sold through Atari's normal retailers at discounted prices, then, yes, of course, large numbers of 2600 games (not just E.T.) were moved that way. I'm not arguing that. I thought you were talking about dumping the games into secondary markets and to wholesalers, like O'Sheas, etc. Could you please clarify?

 

Actually, both. Liquidators and discount sources (wholesalers) were very common to dump materials on to at the time as well, I actually purchased a full vectrex setup (including 3D glasses) during that time period from one.

 

Also, could you please clarify the proposed time frame for the 500,000 sold, 3.5 million returned? Are those numbers strictly for the Christmas season of '82, or are you talking about the total number sold, say, prior to fiscal '84 (the crash) and Atari's subsequent sale to Tramiel?

 

Yes, we'd be in agreement there. Ray left in August of '83, so he could only talk about the '82 through summer '83 sales with any sort of authority.

 

E.T.'s premium price for Christmas '82 had more to do with the negative reception it received than anything, and I would still consider games sold at a discount price through normal retailers during the rest of the fiscal year ('83) as legitimate sales.

 

You might, but the business itself could not and would not. Overly discounted and liquidated merchandise is not counted towards normal sales count on any internal counting, or stock holder or SEC report. They're reported separately, because they're considered a loss financially and stated as such.

 

And it's worth noting that Tramiel's Atari produced brand new copies of E.T. in the mid-80's, selling (maybe I should stick with "distributing") enough of that particular variant that it isn't even rare.

 

Yes, but most of Tramiel's merchandise of that nature was repackaged Atari Inc. stock. Even the ones with new labels and boxes will have Atari Inc. pcb's and roms in them.

 

BTW, I'm enjoying the conversation. Always good to reason through these things because points get brought up I may not have thought about and need to dig in to further.

Edited December 27, 2009 by wgungfu

[Rik]

Let people hate E.T.,and say its the worst game ever,so what,can't expect everyone to agree its not.I let things like overdue bills and whether or not i have grocery money worry me more.

[carmel_andrews]

I guess the majority of ET Lovers are not on the internet or have actually figured out how to play the game (whilst avoiding the numberous holes)

[Christophero Sly]

@wgungfu

 

You're saying, then, that 500,000 is the total number sold through Summer of '83 at full retail price, and that this figure does not include any games sold at a discount through normal retailers because discounting didn't occur until at least fiscal '84 began. Correct?

 

I might be willing to accept that Atari shipped 4 million copies to retailers and that only 500,000 of those were sold during the Christmas of '82 time frame, with the 3.5 million unsold coming back to Atari to be immediately redistributed to certain retailers for discount sale. But only 500,000 distributed from release until the crash is hard to accept. Either that figure is too low, and Kassar's remarks were indeed exaggerated, or discounting occurred well before fiscal '84 began, leading to increased sales. Probably both.

 

Regardless, my point of view throughout this discussion has been focused on the total number of E.T. carts distributed via normal retailers, whether at full retail price or some level of discount, for as long as that was actively occurring--probably until mid-'84 when Atari was sold to Tramiel. I believe that number is significantly greater than 500,000.

 

As far as the Atari, Corp. re-releases go--for many titles, I'm sure that Atari, Inc. PCB stocks were put into new Atari, Corp. cases and packaging. However, in the case of E.T., that doesn't make immediate sense, unless Atari, Inc. produced a significant overstock of E.T. boards, beyond what was needed for the 4 million copies of the game prepared for Christmas '82. Otherwise, the PCBs for the Atari, Corp. E.T.'s would have to have come from dismantling Atari, Inc. copies and reusing their PCB's, and that doesn't make much sense.

 

I'm also happy to be having this discussion. It's the most civil conversation I've ever had about the game.

[Buyatari]

It was and IS a matter of taste... personal preference. Such a subjective subject should never be defined by such absolute statements.

 

Unless you don't like the game and then you must be an idiot who didn't bother to read the instructions and lack basic hand eye cordination. The posts I put up are in response to posts like this.

 

We can agree to disagree. People who like E.T. will continue to spread 'the good word' and people who dislike E.T. can continue to spread hate-filled misinformation about the game.

 

So you either like the game and somehow that is "good" or you spread lies and hate because no one could honestly not like it?

 

I don't hate ET. I like it for what it is. A horrible game that was part of my childhood. It is fun to talk about the bad things you dealt with growing up too. The teacher no one liked at school or the food your parents made you eat that you couldn't stand are all as much a part of looking back as the things you loved.

 

ET always being listed NUMBER ONE on these lists of bad games brings a lot of attention to the Atari community more than any good game ever has. Much more so than an average game or even a great one. I would go so far as to say that this "advertising" brings in more people who are not classic gamers to take a second look at the Atari system than any other single game out there. Ohh hey I remember that ET game <click> <click> <click> Ohh I remember that game too <click> <click> Wow people still play and talk about these games <click> <click> Where do they buy these at? <click> <click> Paypal sent.

 

The behind the scenes Atari urban legends or truth of the hidden ET graveyard and the cause of the videogame crash makes for great stories. These stories and onlines debates help make the hobby more colorful. ET is so much more colorful as crappy game that caused the crash of all videogames and had to be buried in the desert by the millions than as a mis-understood game that is actually ok if you give it a try.

 

Is ET the worst ever...NO but the talk of it being so is fun.

Did ET cause the crash...NO but it didn't help things.

Is this really a great game that was misunderstood...NO it is still a pretty crappy game.

[Buyatari]

I agree 2600lives. Homebrew is infinitely preferable to smashing any common cart or letting it languish. At the very least let it go to the thrift store where it has a chance of having continued usefulness, in one form or another.

 

No butthurt here, but unreasoning badmouthing and bandwagonism is what I object to. I fully accept and even agree with some of critical points made about the game in this thread. Also, it's a good thing nobody did anything approaching dumping on religion in this thread!

 

I just stumbled across this hack...

 

http://www.atariage.com/hack_page.html?SystemID=&SoftwareHackID=290

 

This is pretty much the game that Steven Spielberg initially requested, a version of pacman featuring E.T.

 

It would be cool to hear opinions on this from those that don't like E.T., as well as those that do like it...

1. would Spielberg's vision have been preferable?
   
2. would it have been better if HSW just removed some of the rough edges from the existing design, like some have suggested, by removing the wells and finding some other way of hiding the phone pieces?
   
3. if nether 1 or 2, what game design would you have suggested to HSW?
   

 

Overall this would have still been disapointing given all the hype and it would be just another pacman clone but it wouldn't have been called the worst game of all time by anyone. It might have even been an upgrade over the existing pacman. It would most likely be given an "ok" nod by most who owned it but wouldn't come highly recomended.

 

In the end this would have been better and is a safe bet. You take a movie license and make an ok game that anyone can play. Nothing great, nothing awful , nothing complicated or confusing but a safe bet on a product that will be bought up by fans of the movie not die hard gamers. Today we see this often with high dollar licenses converted to videogames. Sometimes someeone will try something different and take the risk but it isn't a rush project.

[Herbarius]

I don't think it would have needed removal of the wells or other big redesigns to ensure no one would have called it "the worst game of all time"...

 

Minor modifications that would properly have helped:

 

• reverse order of game variations from easiest to hardest (i.e. switch variation 1 and 3)
  
• after levitating out of wells, when you are to place E.T. on solid ground, you should be allowed to push "up" as well
  
• proof-reading of the manual (correcting false statements like about the number of candy pieces)
  
• including a "reference card" alongside the manual which provides a handy overview of all the "power zone" icons.
  

 

I could think of other improvement but those would propably stretch what's possible on the 2600, especially in the short developement time.

 

 

About that E.T. Pac-Man, it reminds me of the obscure game "Go go Home Monster!", released under several different titles as well, including "E.T. Go Home", which, if you look at the gameplay, is kind of a crossover/mixture of E.T. and Pac-Man.

All in all, the sheer existance of a title like that is proof (twicefold!) that E.T. is not "the worst 2600 game"... (Once because it's in itself of much lower quality than E.T., and second because it obviously rips off E.T., and why rip it off if it's that bad?)

Edited December 27, 2009 by Herbarius