E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (video game)

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E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
The video game cover of the game
Developer(s) Atari, Inc
Publisher(s) Atari, Inc.
Distributor(s) Atari, Inc.
Designer(s) Howard Scott Warshaw
Platform(s) Atari 2600
Release date(s) NA Christmas 1982
Genre(s) Adventure
Mode(s) Single player
Media 16Kb ROM cartridge
Input methods Atari joystick

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (also referred to simply as E.T.) is an adventure video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. for the Atari 2600 video game console in 1982. It is based on the film of the same name, and was designed by Howard Scott Warshaw. The goal of the game is to guide the titular protagonist through various screens to collect three pieces of an interplanetary telephone that allows him to call his home planet.

With few exceptions, critics and video game enthusiasts feel that it was a poorly produced and rushed game that Atari thought would achieve high sales figures based on brand loyalty to the names of Atari and E.T.. Warshaw designed the game to be an innovative adaptation of the film. Negotiations to secure the rights to make the game ended in later July 1982, giving Warshaw only five weeks to develop the game in time for the 1982 Christmas holiday season.

E.T. is often viewed as one of the biggest commercial failures in video gaming history, as well as one of the worst video games released. The game is frequently cited as a contributing factor to Atari's massive financial losses during 1983 and 1984, and a glut of unsold copies of the game contributed to the video game industry crisis of 1983. As a result of overproduction and returns, unsold cartridges were buried in a New Mexico landfill.

Contents

[edit] Gameplay

E.T. meets Elliot in a field of wells. Reese's Pieces are scattered throughout the world and are represented by dark dots.

E.T. is an adventure game in which players control an alien (E.T.) from a top-down perspective. The objective of the game is to collect three pieces of an interplanetary telephone. The pieces are found scattered randomly throughout various pits (also referred to as wells). The player is provided with an on-screen energy bar, which decreases as time passes. To prevent this, the player can collect Reese's Pieces, which are used to restore the energy of the character; when enough are collected, the player can call Elliot to obtain a piece of the telephone. After the phone pieces have been collected, the player must guide the character to a "call-ship" area, which allows him to call his home planet. When the call is made, an interplanetary spaceship appears on-screen, and the player must reach the spaceship in a given time limit. Once the spaceship is reached, the game starts over, with the same difficulty level, while changing the location of the telephone pieces. The score obtained during the round is carried over to the next iteration. The game ends when the energy bar depletes, or the player decides to quit.[1]

The game is divided into six environments, each representing a different setting from the film. To accomplish the objective of the game, the player must guide E.T into the wells. Once all items found in a well are collected, the player must levitate E.T. out.[2] An icon at the top of each screen represents the current area, each area enabling the player to perform different actions. Antagonists include a scientist who takes E.T. for observation and an FBI agent that chases the alien to confiscate one of the collected telephone pieces.[1] The game offers diverse difficulty settings that affect the number and speed of humans present, and the conditions needed to accomplish the objective.

By simply reading the manual, a person can learn how to play the game and make use of various "power zones" scattered throughout each screen. Using the "locate phone piece" power zone, players need not randomly fall into holes to find the pieces of the phone to find them. If no zone is indicated at the top of the screen pressing the action button will cause E.T. to run and thus be able to escape from humans who are pursuing him. Other power zones exist and are detailed in the manual.

[edit] Development

E.T. is a video game adaptation of Steven Spielberg's 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Development was handled by Atari employee Howard Scott Warshaw.[3][4] The process began in July 1982 and was completed before the end of the year. Total production costs were estimated to be US$125 million.[4] Following the commercial success of the film in June 1982, Steve Ross, chief executive officer (CEO) of Atari's parent company Warner Communications, entered talks with Steven Spielberg and Universal Pictures to purchase rights to produce a video game based on the film. In late July, Warner announced that it had acquired the exclusive worldwide rights to market coin-operated and console games based on the movie.[5] Although the exact details of the transaction were not disclosed in the announcement, it was widely reported that Atari had paid US$20–25 million for the rights, a high figure for video game licensing at the time.[4][6][7][8] When asked by Ross what he thought about making an E.T.-based video game, Atari CEO Ray Kassar replied, "I think it's a dumb idea. We've never really made an action game out of a movie."[7] An arcade game based on the E.T. property had also been planned, but this was deemed to be impossible given the short deadline.[9]

After negotiations were completed, Kassar called Warshaw on July 27, 1982 to offer him development duties for the video game.[10] Kassar informed him that Spielberg asked for Warshaw specifically and that development needed to be completed by September 1 to meet a production schedule for the Christmas holiday. Though Warshaw had spent over a year working on consecutive development schedules for games (seven months working on Yars' Revenge and then six months on Raiders of the Lost Ark), he accepted the offer based on the challenge of completing a game in such a short time and Spielberg's request.[9][10] Warshaw considered it an opportunity to develop an innovative Atari 2600 game based on a movie he enjoyed.[10] Kassar reportedly offered Warshaw US$200,000 and an all-expenses-paid vacation to Hawaii in compensation.[9] Kassar then told him to arrive at the San Jose Airport a few days later to have a meeting with Spielberg.[10]

Warshaw used those days to design the structure of the game and segmented the concept into four ideas: world, goal, path to achieve the goal, and obstacles. He envisioned a three dimensional cube world as the setting and adapted part of the film's plot, E.T. phoning home, as the goal. Warshaw then conceived that E.T. would need to assemble a special phone to call his ship and arrive at a special landing site to achieve this goal. He considered obstacles as an element that would determine the success of a game, and experienced difficulties when taking into account the time constraints and technical limitations of the console. Inspired by the movie, adults were implemented as antagonists that would chase the alien. Feeling more adversity was needed, Warshaw included a time limit for players to accomplish the goal. Pits were devised as an element to hide the pieces of the phone as well as expand the game's world.[10]

The game was based on director Steven Spielberg's 1982 film by the same name. Rather than E.T. be an adventure game, Spielberg opted for a maze chase game similar to Pac-Man.

Warshaw and other Atari executives presented the design to Spielberg, who did not express enthusiasm.[3] Spielberg instead asked him to create a game similar to Namco's Pac-Man.[10] Believing the concept too derivative of a common game design, Warshaw proceeded with his concept, believing it would capture some of the sentimentality he saw in the original film.[3][6] In retrospect, however, Warshaw stated that Spielberg's idea might have had merit.[3][10] He spent the remaining time of the five weeks programming the game. Atari anticipated enormous sales based on the popularity of the film, as well as the stability the video game industry was experiencing in 1982. Due to time limitations, Atari decided to skip audience testing for the product.[11] Emanual Gerard, co-chief operating officer of Warner at the time, later suggested that the company had fallen into a false sense of security by the success of its previous releases, particularly its console version of Pac-Man, which sold extremely well despite poor critical reaction.[12][13]

[edit] Reception

Anticipation for E.T. was high in 1982 and it was a sought-after Christmas gift.[10] Prior to the game's release, Newsweek called Atari's procurement of the intellectual property their "biggest coup".[4] In early December 1982, the New York Times reported that video games based on successful movies, specifically E.T., would become "an increasingly profitable source" for video game development.[14] At first, retailers ordered more supplies than what was expected to be sold, but Atari received an increasing number of order cancellations as new competitors entered the market, an event the company had not anticipated.[12][15][16] John Hubner and William Kistner of InfoWorld attribute the cancellations to changes Atari initiated between its relationship between distributors. On November 1, 1982, Atari informed them that their contracts were canceled and that exclusive deals would be established with select distributors. Hubner and Kistner believed the action prompted retailers to cancel orders, which Atari had not properly tracked.[17]

E.T. met with initial commercial success. It was among the top four on Billboard magazine's "Top 15 Video Games" sales list in December 1982 and January 1983.[18] The game eventually sold 1.5 million units, becoming one of the best-selling Atari 2600 titles.[13][19] However, between 2.5 and 3.5 million cartridges went unsold.[2][19][20] Hubner and Kistner commented that the large amount of produced cartridges would have resulted in excess inventory regardless of E.T.'s success.[17] Though the game was a best seller during the holiday season, retailers stated that its sales figures did not meet expectations despite an increase in consumer interest in video games. Warner Communications also expressed disappointment at the number of sales.[8] The poor sales and excess inventory prompted retailers to steadily discount the price. Former J. C. Penney employee Al Nielsen mentioned that his copy of the game was discounted five times from US$49.95 to less than a dollar.[4] Many copies were reportedly sent back to the company, though the exact number is unknown. Despite sales figures, the quantity of unsold merchandise, coupled with the expensive movie license and the large amount of returns, made E.T. a financial failure for Atari.[20] The game Next Generation Magazine reported that Atari earned US$25 million in sales, but netted a loss of US$100 million.[4] By 2004, the cartridges were still very common and priced at very low amounts.[21]

[edit] Critical response

E.T. was negatively received by critics, with common complaints focused on the plot, gameplay, and visuals. New York magazine's Nicholas Pileggi described it as a loser when compared to other games Atari could have released like Donkey Kong and Frogger.[16] "Fragmaster" of GameSpy's Classic Gaming called the gameplay "convoluted and inane", also criticizing its story for departing from the serious tone of the film.[1] Author Steven Kent described the game as "infamous" within the industry, citing "primitive" graphics, "dull" gameplay, and a "disappointing story".[7] A The Miami Herald editor described it as a difficult game to learn to play, but felt it was worth dedicating the time.[22]

The player must navigate E.T. into wells to search for pieces of the interplanetary telephone. This aspect of the game was negatively received by players and critics.

Critics bemoaned the repetitive gameplay involved with falling down holes.[7][23] Emru Townsend of PC World discussed the game with a group, and found that they all criticized the pits that E.T. falls into, calling it "monotonous".[23] Writer Sean Reiley also criticized the pits, claiming that they are time-consuming and difficult to leave without falling back in.[24] Trent Ward, a former Next Generation Magazine reviewer, commented that the element prompted him to immediately return the game for a refund after purchasing it in his youth.[4] Classic Gaming commented that despite the negative reception, the game can be enjoyable after the player has learned to navigate the pits.[25]

By way of published materials written over a decade after its initial release, E.T. has been universally panned by critics and is frequently listed as one of the worst video games of all time.[10] Reiley ranked it number one in a list of the 20 worst games of all time in Electronic Gaming Monthly's 150th issue.[24] Michael Dolan, deputy editor of FHM magazine, has also listed the game as his pick for the worst video game of all time.[26] Townsend placed E.T. at the top of his list of worst video games, noting that, "about a third of the people I quizzed came up with this title almost instantly, and it's not hard to see why."[23] GameTrailers ranked the game the second worst on their "Top Ten Best and Worst Games of All Time" list.[27]

People worry I might be sensitive about the ET debacle, but the fact is I’m always happy to discuss it. After all, it was the fastest game ever done, it was a million seller, and of the thousands of 2600 games, how many others are still a topic? Another thing I like to think about is having done ET (consistently rated among the worst games of all time) and Yar's Revenge (consistently rated as one of the best) I figure I have the unique distinction of having the greatest range of any game designer in history.
—Howard Scott Warshaw on E.T.'s reception[10]

Critics often attribute the poor quality to the short development time.[28][29] Townsend commented that the rushed development was very apparent after playing the game.[23] Warshaw's contributions to the game have been met with mixed responses. Classic Gaming called the game poorly designed, while IGN's Levi Buchanan stated the "impossibly tight schedule" given to Warshaw absolves him of blame.[13] Warshaw does not show any regrets for E.T. and feels he created a good game given the time available to him.[6][10]

[edit] Impact and legacy

Further information: North American video game crash of 1983

The game is often cited as one of the most important titles in the industry.[30][31][32] Billboard magazine's Earl Paige reported that the large number of unsold E.T. games along with an increase in competition prompted retailers to demand official return programs from video game manufacturers.[33] E.T. is the second video game based on a movie.[34] GamePro, GameTrailers, and Fragmaster cite the game as the first poor quality film-video game tie-in.[1][27][35] Patrick O'Luanaigh of SCi Games called it the most famous disaster story among film-inspired games as well as within the industry.[36] In describing it as the one of the "games that changed the world", GamePro stated that E.T. established a standard of subpar quality video games based on movies. They further commented that other publishers adopted similar marketing and production practices with licensed movie properties.[37] The publication listed the game as the second "worst movie game ever", citing it as an example of how poor gameplay can bring negative reception to strong licenses.[35]

It is also considered to be one of the causes of the video game industry crisis of 1983. By the end of 1982, Atari had begun to lose dominance as more competitors entered the market.[8] Poor critical reception and lack of a profitable marketing strategy made this game one of many decisions that led to Atari to report a $536 million loss in 1983 and led to the company being divided and sold in 1984.[20] GameSpy's Classic Gaming called E.T. Atari's biggest mistake, as well as the largest financial failure in the industry.[25][38] Reiley commented that the game's poor quality was responsible for ending the product life of the Atari 2600.[24] Occurring soon after Pac-Man's negative critical response on the Atari 2600, Kent attributes the game's poor reception to severely damaging Atari's reputation and profitability.[7] Authors Nick Montfort and Ian Bogost echoed similar comments about Pac-Man and E.T.'s combined affect on the company's reputation and the industry's reaction.[39] Buchanan also cited the game as a factor to Atari and the industry's downfall. He stated that the large amount of unsold merchandise was a financial burden to Atari, which pushed the company into debt.[13]

On December 7, 1982, Kassar announced that Atari's revenue forecasts for 1982 were cut from a 50 percent increase over 1981 to a 15 percent increase.[4][40] Immediately following the announcement, Warner Communications' stock value dropped by around 35 percent—from US$54 to US$35—resulting in the company losing US$1.3 billion in market valuation.[4][41] Expecting the drop, Kassar sold five thousand of his Warner shares a half hour before the announcement.[4][40] The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission later investigated him for insider trading.[40] Atari attempted to regain their market share by licensing popular arcade games for the Atari consoles. The games, however, did not reverse Atari's decline and they went further into debt. In 1983, the company had decreased its workforce by 30 percent and lost US$356 million. Other companies—Activision, Bally Technologies, and Mattel—experienced similar results as the industry declined.[7]

In September 1983, the Alamogordo Daily News of Alamogordo, New Mexico, reported in a series of articles that between ten and twenty[42] semi-trailer truckloads of Atari boxes, cartridges, and systems from an Atari storehouse in El Paso, Texas were crushed and buried at the landfill within the city. It was Atari's first dealings with the landfill, which was chosen because no scavenging was allowed and its garbage was crushed and buried nightly. Atari officials and others gave differing reports of what was buried,[43][44][45][46] but it has been speculated that most unsold copies of E.T. are buried in this landfill, crushed and encased in cement.[47] The story of the buried cartridges became a popular urban legend, with skeptics disregarding the official accounts.[28][29][36] In 2005, Warshaw expressed doubts that the destruction of millions of copies of E.T. took place, citing different policies Atari practiced at the time.[6] Director Keith Schofield directed a 2006 music video about the burial. The video features the song "When I Wake Up" by Wintergreen, and depicts the band traveling to the site to dig up cartridges.[48]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d Fragmaster. "Game of the Week: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial". Classic Gaming. http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=GameMuseum.Detail&id=290. Retrieved 2009-09-19. 
  2. ^ a b "Good Game Stories - Game Review: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial". ABC Television (AU). http://www.abc.net.au/tv/goodgame/stories/s2380512.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  3. ^ a b c d Fragmaster. "ClassicGaming Expo 2000: Atari 2600 Keynote". GameSpy. http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Articles.Detail&id=376. Retrieved 2009-09-28. 
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Next Generation Staff, "What the hell happened?"
  5. ^ New York Times Staff, "Atari Gets 'E.T.' Rights"
  6. ^ a b c d Keith, Phipps (2005-02-02). "Howard Scott Warshaw". A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/articles/howard-scott-warshaw,13912/. Retrieved 2009-09-24. 
  7. ^ a b c d e f Kent, The Ultimate History of Video Games, pp. 237–239.
  8. ^ a b c New York Times Staff, "E.T. Starring in Sales of Toys"
  9. ^ a b c Los Angeles Times Staff, "Many Video Games Designers Travel Rags-to-Riches-to-Rags Journey"
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Warshaw, "Core Memory"
  11. ^ Cummings, "How I Got Here"
  12. ^ a b Pollack, "The Game Turns Serious at Atari"
  13. ^ a b c d Buchanan, Levi (2008-08-26). "IGN: Top 10 Best-Selling Atari 2600 Games". IGN. http://retro.ign.com/articles/903/903024p1.html. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  14. ^ New York Times Staff, "A Squeeze in Video Games"
  15. ^ Cohen, Zap! The Rise and Fall of Atari
  16. ^ a b Pileggi, "The Warner Case: Curiouser and Curioser"
  17. ^ a b Hubner and Kistner, "What went wrong at Atari"
  18. ^ Billboard Staff, "Top 15 Video Games", Billboard Volume 95 Issue 1, p. 36
  19. ^ a b Glenday, Guinness World Records 2009 Gamer's Edition, "History of Gaming: 1980–1993", p. 20
  20. ^ a b c "Five Million E.T. Pieces". Snopes. http://www.snopes.com/business/market/atari.asp. Retrieved 2006-07-01. 
  21. ^ Ellis, Official Price Guide to Classic Video Games, "The Atari VCS (2000)" p. 85.
  22. ^ The Miami Herald Staff, "E.T. Game is Extra-Tough But Worth The Effort"
  23. ^ a b c d Townsend, Emru (2006-10-23). "The 10 Worst Games of All Time". PC World. http://www.pcworld.com/article/127579-2/the_10_worst_games_of_all_time.html. Retrieved 2007-01-24. 
  24. ^ a b c Reiley, Sean. "Seanbaby's EGM's Crapstravaganza: The 20 Worst Video Games of All Time. - #1: ET, The Extra Terrestrial (2600)". Electronic Gaming Monthly. http://www.seanbaby.com/nes/egm01.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-25. 
  25. ^ a b Classic Gaming Staff. "ClassicGaming.com's Museum: Five Must-See 2600 Games". GameSpy. http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=ConsoleMuseum.Detail&id=10&game=4. Retrieved 2009-09-25. 
  26. ^ "History of Gaming: The Best and Worst Video Games of All Time". Public Broadcasting Service. http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/history/best-n-worst.html. Retrieved 2009-09-25. 
  27. ^ a b "GT Countdown: Top Ten Best and Worst Games of All Time". GameTrailers. 2006-11-17. http://www.gametrailers.com/video/top-ten-gt-countdown/15147. Retrieved 2009-09-25. 
  28. ^ a b Elektro, Dan (2003-08-08). "Secrets & Lies". GamePro. http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/30666/secrets-lies/. Retrieved 2009-09-29. 
  29. ^ a b Montfort and Bogost, Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System, p. 127
  30. ^ Montfort and Bogost, Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System, p. 94
  31. ^ GamePro Staff (2007-04-25). "The 52 Most Important Video Games of All Time". GamePro. http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/110028/the-52-most-important-video-games-of-all-time/. Retrieved 2009-09-27. 
  32. ^ Parish, Jeremy. "The Most Important Games Ever Made: #13: E.T.". 1UP.com. http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3124081&did=1. Retrieved 2006-07-01. 
  33. ^ Earl Paige, "Video Game Firms Ready Formal Returns Policies", Billboard Volume 95 Issue 1, pp. 1 & 21
  34. ^ Glenday, Guinness World Records 2009 Gamer's Edition, "Movies & Games Round-Up", p. 184
  35. ^ a b Smithee, Alan (2004-07-01). "10 to 1: The Worst Movie Games Ever". GamePro. http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/36530/10-to-1-the-worst-movie-games-ever/. Retrieved 2009-09-28. 
  36. ^ a b Morris, The Art of Game Worlds, p. 126
  37. ^ GamePro Staff (2006-04-04). "20 Games that Changed the World". GamePro. http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/53104/20-games-that-changed-the-world/. Retrieved 2009-09-28. 
  38. ^ Classic Gaming Staff. "ClassicGaming.com's Museum: Atari 2600 - 1977-1984". GameSpy. http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=ConsoleMuseum.Detail&id=8. Retrieved 2009-09-25. 
  39. ^ Montfort and Bogost, Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System, p. 76
  40. ^ a b c Game Informer Staff, "This Month in Gaming History"
  41. ^ Taylor, Thompson and Washburn, "Pac-Man Finally Meets His Match"
  42. ^ Quote:"The number of actual trucks which have dumped locally was not known. Local BFI officials put it at 10. However, corporate spokesmen in Houston say it was closer to 20; and city officials say it is actually 14."
    McQuiddy, "City cementing ban on dumping."
  43. ^ McQuiddy, "Dump here utilized."
  44. ^ McQuiddy, "City cementing ban on dumping."
  45. ^ McQuiddy, "City to Atari."
  46. ^ New York Times Staff, "Atari Parts Are Dumped"
  47. ^ Smith, "Raising Alamogordo's legendary Atari 'Titanic'"
  48. ^ "Keith Schofield / Wintergreen". Keith Schofield. http://keithschofield.com/et/. Retrieved 2009-10-01. 

[edit] References

Books
Periodicals
  • Cummings, Betsy (December 2003). "How I got here". Sales and Marketing Management. 
  • Warshaw, Howard Scott (November 2007). "Core Memory". GamesTM (63): 140–141. http://www.onceuponatari.com/archives/gamestm/070912.html. Retrieved 2009-09-26. 
  • Next Generation Staff (April 1998). "What the hell happened?". Next Generation Magazine (Imagine Media): 47. 
  • McQuiddy, Marian (1983-09-25). "Dump here utilized". Alamogordo Daily News. 
  • McQuiddy, Marian (1983-09-27). "City to Atari: 'E.T.' trash go home". Alamogordo Daily News. 
  • McQuiddy, Marian (1983-09-28). "City cementing ban on dumping: Landfill won't house anymore 'Atari rejects'". Alamogordo Daily News. 
  • Smith, Shelley (2005-04-12). "Raising Alamogordo's legendary Atari "Titanic"". Alamogordo Daily News. 
  • Pollack, Andrew (1982-12-19). "The Game Turns Serious at Atari". New York Times. 
  • New York Times Staff (1982-08-19). "Atari Gets 'E.T.' Rights". New York Times. 
  • New York Times Staff (1983-09-28). "Atari Parts Are Dumped". New York Times. 
  • New York Times Staff (1982-12-07). "A Squeeze in Video Games". New York Times. 
  • New York Times Staff (1982-12-13). "E.T. Starring in Sales of Toys". New York Times. 
  • Los Angeles Times Staff (1986-01-14). "Many Video Games Designers Travel Rags-to-Riches-to-Rags Journey". Los Angeles Times. 
  • The Miami Herald Staff (1983-03-05). "E.T. Game is Extra-Tough But Worth The Effort". The Miami Herald. 
  • Taylor, Alexander L.; Dick Thompson and Susanne Washburn (1982-12-20). "Pac-Man Finally Meets His Match". Time (Time Inc.). http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,923197,00.html?promoid=googlep. Retrieved 2009-09-30. 
  • Pileggi, Nicholas (1983-01-24). "The Warner Case: Curiouser and Curioser". New York (New York Media, LLC) 16 (4): 26–32. ISSN 0028-7369. 
  • Hubner, John; William F. Kistner Jr. (1983-12-05). "What went wrong at Atari". InfoWorld (InfoWorld Media Group, Inc.) 5 (49): 145–155. ISSN 0199-6649. 
  • Various Billboard Staff (1983-01-08). Billboard (Nielsen Business Media, Inc.) 95 (1). ISSN 0006-2510. 
  • Game Informer Staff (December 2004). "This Month in Gaming History". Game Informer (GameStop) (140): 202. 

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.T._the_Extra-Terrestrial_(video_game)"