E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (video game): Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
m Reverted edits by 201.221.233.80 to last revision by RUL3R (HG)
Line 22: Line 22:
== Gameplay ==
== Gameplay ==


The objective of the game is to collect three pieces of an interplanetary telephone. The pieces are found scattered randomly throughout various pits, which are called wells. The player can also collect ''[[Reese's Pieces]]'', which allow him to call Elliot and obtain one of the pieces of the telephone. After the 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 is requested to reach the spaceship under a given time limit. Once the spaceship is reached, the round starts over, with the same difficulty level. The score obtained during the round is rolled over to the next iteration. The game ends when the main character runs out of energy, or the player decides to quit.<ref name="ninja-et">{{cite web | last = BJ Schwinghammer | url = http://loot-ninja.com/2009/02/13/retro-review-et-the-extra-terrestrial/ | title =
The objective of the game is to collect three pieces of an interplanetary telephone. The pieces are found scattered randomly throughout various pits, which are called wells. The player can also collect ''[[Reese's Pieces]]'', which allow him to shit pickle ust 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 is requested to reach the spaceship under a given time limit. Once the spaceship is reached, the round starts over, with the same difficulty level. The score obtained during the ass hole is rolled over to the next iteration. The game ends when the main character runs out of energy, or the player decides to quit.<ref name="ninja-et">{{cite web | last = BJ Schwinghammer | url = http://loot-ninja.com/2009/02/13/retro-review-et-the-extra-terrestrial/ | title =
Retro Review: E.T. – The Extra Terrestrial | publisher = www.loot-ninja.com | accessdate = 2009-09-19}}</ref><ref name="CG">{{cite web | last = Fragmaster | url = http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=GameMuseum.Detail&id=290 | title = Game of the Week: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial | publisher = Classic Gaming | accessdate = 2009-09-19}}</ref>
Retro Review: E.T. – The Extra Terrestrial | publisher = www.loot-ninja.com | accessdate = 2009-09-19}}</ref><ref name="CG">{{cite web | last = Fragmaster | url = http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=GameMuseum.Detail&id=290 | title = Game of the Week: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial | publisher = Classic Gaming | accessdate = 2009-09-19}}</ref>


Revision as of 19:30, 19 September 2009

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
The video game cover of the game
The video game cover of the game
Developer(s)Atari, Inc
Publisher(s)Atari, Inc.
Designer(s)Howard Scott Warshaw
Platform(s)Atari 2600
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single player

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is an adventure video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. for the Atari 2600 video game console. It was based on the film of the same name, and was designed by Howard Scott Warshaw in 1982. In E.T., players must control E.T. through various screens and obtain three pieces of a device that allows him to phone home. They are found scattered randomly through pits.

With few exceptions, critics and gamers alike feel that it was a poorly produced and rushed game that Atari thought would sell purely based on brand loyalty to the names of Atari and E.T.[1] Because of lengthy negotiations to secure the rights to make the game, Warshaw only had six weeks before its scheduled release date to develop it.

E.T. is seen as marking the beginning of Atari's downfall and is often viewed as one of the biggest commercial failures in video gaming history, as well as the worst video game ever made.[1] E.T. was a contributing factor to Atari's massive financial losses during 1983 and 1984, and a glut of unsold copies of the game helped contribute to the video game crash of 1983. As a result of overproduction, hundreds of thousands of unsold cartridges were buried in a New Mexico landfill.

Gameplay

The objective of the game is to collect three pieces of an interplanetary telephone. The pieces are found scattered randomly throughout various pits, which are called wells. The player can also collect Reese's Pieces, which allow him to shit pickle ust 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 is requested to reach the spaceship under a given time limit. Once the spaceship is reached, the round starts over, with the same difficulty level. The score obtained during the ass hole is rolled over to the next iteration. The game ends when the main character runs out of energy, or the player decides to quit.[2][3]

The game uses six environments, each representing a different setting from the movie. The player can cause E.T. to fall into wells, which may contain phone pieces or extra lives; and to escape from a well, the player must cause E.T. to levitate out. An icon at the top of each screen represents the current area, each area enabling the player to perform certain actions. These actions include detecting items, warping to other areas, and sending the enemies back to their initial positions. Some areas can only be accessed when the player has collected certain items (for instance, E.T. must have at least one Reese's Piece to eat candy).

E.T. levitating out of a well in the game.

As the player moves E.T. and performs actions throughout the game, his energy supply steadily drains. The player can restore some of E.T.'s energy by eating Reese's Pieces.

Antagonists in the game are a scientist who takes E.T. to Washington D.C., and an FBI agent who confiscates E.T.'s collected items. The game offers several difficulty settings that affect the number and speed of humans present and/or the conditions needed to accomplish the objective.

Development

Following the box office success of E.T. in June 1982, Steve Ross, 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 E.T. the Extraterrestrial.[4] 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.[5][6] 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."[6]

The task of designing and programming of the game was then offered to Howard Scott Warshaw, whom Spielberg requested due to his previous work on the video game adaptation of the film Raiders of the Lost Ark.[5] Due to the amount of time that had been spent in negotiations for the rights to make the game, less than six weeks remained in order to meet the September 1 deadline necessary to ship in time for Christmas shopping season. By comparison, Warshaw's Yars' Revenge took four to five months to complete, and Raiders of the Lost Ark six to seven months. An arcade game based on the E.T. property had also been planned, but this was deemed to be impossible given the short deadline. Warshaw accepted the assignment, and was reportedly offered US$200,000 and an all-expenses-paid vacation to Hawaii in compensation.[7]

Instead of making E.T. into a Pac-Man-type game, Warshaw favored a design that was more story-based in hopes of creating a game that would capture some of the sentimentality he saw in the original film,[5] but eventually ended up scrapping some of his own ideas due to time limitations. Warshaw designed a game based on what he believed could be developed in time.[5] The basic design was worked out in two days, at the conclusion of which Warshaw presented the idea to Kassar before proceeding to spend the balance of the allotted five weeks writing, debugging, and documenting about 6.5KB of original source code.

E.T. meets Elliot. Note the many wells (darker colored ground), Reese's Pieces (black dot between E.T. and Elliot), and the "JD" Easter egg (object to the right on the upper bar).

E.T. is also notable for being the first video game to credit a graphics artist, with the initials of E.T.'s artist, Jerome Domurat, being hidden as an Easter egg. Howard Scott Warshaw also had his initials hidden as an Easter egg.[8]

Marketing and release

Even with a rushed game in hand, 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.[9] Emanual Gerard, co-chief operating officer of Warner at the time, later suggested that the company had been lulled 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.[10]

In hopes of high sales figures, Atari demanded its retailers place orders in advance for the entire year. At that time, Atari had dominated the software and hardware market, and was routinely unable to fill orders. At first, retailers responded by placing orders for more supplies than they actually expected to sell, but gradually, as new competitors began to enter the market, Atari started receiving an increasing number of order cancellations, for which the company was not prepared.[10][11]

Reception

File:ET2600-TheBestPart.png
E.T. is considered to be so poor that the title screen has been described as being the "best part of the game".[3]

By way of published materials written over a decade after its initial release, the game version of E.T. has been almost universally panned by critics – and is one of the most commonly chosen candidates for worst video game of all time. Seanbaby ranked it #1 in a list of the 20 worst games of all time in Electronic Gaming Monthly's 150th issue.[12] Michael Dolan, deputy editor of FHM magazine, has also ranked it as his pick for the #1 worst video game of all time.[13] PC World also placed E.T. at the top of its list of worst video games of all time, with writer Emru Townsend 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."[14] GameTrailers ranked the game #2 worst on their "Top Ten Best and Worst Games of All Time", only losing to Superman 64.[15]

Townsend discussed the game with a group, and found that they all criticized "the pits that the player, as E.T., fell into and would then have to slowly levitate out of," which "led to horrendously monotonous game play."[14] Seanbaby also criticized the pits, claiming that they are time-consuming and difficult to leave without falling back in.[12] "Fragmaster" of Classic Gaming called the gameplay "convoluted and inane," also criticizing its story for departing from the serious tone of the film.[3] The game's graphics were considered sub-par compared to other games of the time.[12] Among communities that have played a wide variety of Atari 2600 games, other titles are chosen more often as being the worst game for the Atari 2600, sometimes with E.T. not even making such lists. However, there is a minority of people who still genuinely enjoy playing the game to this date.[16] Howard Scott Warshaw does not show any regrets for E.T., and feels he created a good game given the time available to him.[17]

But the fact is E.T. was a tough technical challenge that I feel I met reasonably well. I made that game start-to-finish in five weeks. No one has ever come close to matching that kind of output on the VCS. It could definitely be a better game, but it's not too bad for five weeks.

That said, I also realize that consumers don't (and shouldn't) care about development time. All they should care about is the playing experience. I feel E.T. is a complete and OK game. Some people like it. It certainly isn't the worst game or even the least polished, but I actually like having the distinction of it being the worst game. Between that and Yar's, I have the greatest range of anyone ever on the machine.

— Howard Scott Warshaw

Sales

While the game achieved reasonable sales figures, ranking as the eighth-best selling Atari cartridge, only 1.5 million of the 4 million cartridges produced were sold. Rumors were heard that more copies of E.T. were produced than Atari 2600 consoles owned. This was later confirmed to be false.[18] 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, caused E.T. to be a financial failure for Atari.

Effect on the video game industry

Main article: North American video game crash of 1983

Poor critical reception, and lack of a profitable maketing 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.[19] It is also considered to be one of the causes of the video game industry crisis of 1983.

In September 1983, the Alamogordo Daily News of Alamogordo, New Mexico, reported in a series of articles that between ten and twenty[20] 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,[21][22][23][24] but it has been speculated that most unsold copies of E.T. are buried in this landfill, crushed and encased in cement.[25]

The story of the buried cartridges has become a popular urban legend, with skeptics disregarding the official accounts. In October 2004, Warshaw expressed doubts that the destruction of millions of copies of E.T. took place, citing his belief that Atari would have recycled the parts instead in order to save money.[17]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Parish, Jeremy. "The Most Important Games Ever Made: #13: E.T." 1UP.com. Retrieved 2006-07-01.
  2. ^ BJ Schwinghammer. "Retro Review: E.T. – The Extra Terrestrial". www.loot-ninja.com. Retrieved 2009-09-19.
  3. ^ a b c Fragmaster. "Game of the Week: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial". Classic Gaming. Retrieved 2009-09-19.
  4. ^ "Atari Gets 'E.T.' Rights"
  5. ^ a b c d Keith, Phipps (2005-02-02). "Interview: video-game creators - Howard Scott Warshaw". A.V. Club. Retrieved 2006-07-01.
  6. ^ a b Kent, The Ultimate History of Video Games, p. 237.
  7. ^ "Many Video Games Designers Travel Rags-to-Riches-to-Rags Journey"
  8. ^ le geek [et easter egg]
  9. ^ Cummings, "How I Got Here"
  10. ^ a b Pollack, "The Game Turns Serious at Atari"
  11. ^ Cohen, Zap! The Rise and Fall of Atari
  12. ^ a b c Reiley, Sean. "Seanbaby's EGM's Crapstravaganza: The 20 Worst Video Games of All Time. - #1: ET, The Extra Terrestrial (2600)". EGM. Retrieved 2006-08-12.
  13. ^ "History of Gaming: The Best and Worst Video Games of All Time". PBS. Retrieved 2006-06-29.
  14. ^ a b Townsend, Emru (2006-10-23). "The 10 Worst Games of All Time". PC World. Retrieved 2007-01-24.
  15. ^ Top Ten Best and Worst Games of All Time.gametrailers.com.Retrieved on 2006-11-17.
  16. ^ Bean, Bryan. "In Defense Of... E.T." Classic Gaming. Retrieved 2006-07-01.
  17. ^ a b Gray, Charles F. (2004-10-25). "Howard Scott Warshaw Interview". BeepBopBoop. Archived from the original on 2005-04-06. Retrieved 2006-06-29.
  18. ^ Kent, The Ultimate History of Video Games, p. 236.
  19. ^ "Five Million E.T. Pieces". Snopes. Retrieved 2006-07-01.
  20. ^ 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."
  21. ^ McQuiddy, "Dump here utilized."
  22. ^ McQuiddy, "City cementing ban on dumping."
  23. ^ McQuiddy, "City to Atari."
  24. ^ "Atari Parts Are Dumped"
  25. ^ Smith, "Raising Alamogordo's legendary Atari 'Titanic'"

References

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=E.T._the_Extra-Terrestrial_(video_game)&oldid=314962600"