E.T. to leave the Earth

[Veho]

they made about 20x as many copies of the game as people who owned an Atari.

Why would they do that?

 

[Another World]

WTF is wrong w/ you? Who would want to find a working copy?!? That game was horrible... And causes cancer.

thank you for that completely unfounded and ridiculous statement. perhaps you should actually try playing it.

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. The game eventually sold 1.5 million units, becoming one of the best-selling Atari 2600 titles. However, between 2.5 and 3.5 million cartridges went unsold. Excess inventory prompted retailers to steadily discount the price.

do you blame the game or should you blame the huge production run?

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.

this game is hated because history tells you to hate it. it actually is a surprisingly fun game. it featured one of the first home game title screens. it featured an ending cut scene that may have been a first. it featured multiple goals that could be obtained in multiple ways, in a open-ended world. it packed all of the major aspects of the movie, non-violently, into a tiny 16kb rom.

the only things to complain about is the difficulty it takes to escape some of the pit falls and the collision detection. and if those are your hang-ups then i suggest you give this a read: http://www.neocomputer.org/projects/et/

-another world

 

[mechagouki]

WOW, culturally chauvinistic (and condescending...but I repeat myself) much??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Marcos

Read .Learn.

I'm sure that these FILM PRODUCERS FROM CANADA are really concerned about the distribution of wealth among THE POOR OF THE UNITED SATES OF AMERICA.

Better yet, let's have them give all of their money to the poor, go into bankruptcy, shut down their production company/studio, and join the ranks of the poor. Then not make a documentary about it because suddenly they can't afford to.

That's the kind of naive, self-centered comment I would expect from someone who spends a large part of their waking hours creating pixelated fantasy lands. Of course people in Canada care about people in the United States, it's not a question of nationality, but one of humanity.

 

[bowser]

It was never released for the Intellivison... Serious bonus points to Mattel for not allowing that piece of filth to sully their system, though.

Hey you're right!

I just googled it and it turns out I actually had the Mattel Intellivision 2 with the System Changer add-on. The System Changer was designed by Mattel to be a Atari 2600 clone and that's how I played Atari games. I was only around 10 years old at the time and didn't know all this stuff. I just wanted to play some games

 

[Xuphor]

Why would they do that?

Because back then video games/consoles weren't the biggest/best of the businesses you could get into, and as a result, they kept very poor record of how many sold vs how many made/shipped.

That combined with Gahars's thing below of meeting "imagined demand"

 

[Gahars]

Why would they do that?

I remember reading that Atari expected this game to be a massive system seller. They also rushed production to get it out as fast as possible (I believe the designer was only given 6 or so weeks to develop the thing) in the hopes of meeting the imagined demand.

 

[Foxi4]

This is actually a pretty interesting development - I do wonder what they'll find (if anything) down there...

 

[Veho]

I remember reading that Atari expected this game to be a massive system seller.

But still. The 2600 was 5 years old at the time. You'd think most of the people that might have had an interest in it would have bought it by then, and that the increase in sales wouldn't be that drastic.

I've done some research, and by 1982 Atari had sold 10 million units. The ET game "sold 1.5 million at launch," and Atari was "left with between 2.5 and 3.5 million unsold", so they made 4-5 million cartridges. Pac-Man on the Atari had sold 7 million copies, and ET was insanely hyped up and sought after, so 5 million copies wasn't a far-fetched estimate.

 

[Nathan Drake]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Marcos
That's the kind of naive, self-centered comment I would expect from someone who spends a large part of their waking hours creating pixelated fantasy lands. Of course people in Canada care about people in the United States, it's not a question of nationality, but one of humanity.

I think you're having issues understanding that characterizing an entire nation is still not right. Linking to Wikipedia just to say "see how right I am?!" is definitely not okay. You might as well say I'm American, so I must be obese. Then, when people call you out on it, point to the high obesity rate on wikipedia and somehow say that's justification for your narrow minded point of view. No, you just proved nothing except that it's a possibility. That could be an accurate way to assume I am based on my nation, but it's absolutely inconsiderate to the personal situation of the individual you're trying to file away into a neat cabinet of general descriptions. Just quit while you're perilously far behind.

Oh, by the way, I grew up as a lower class American. I was on the brink of homelessness all the time. You know what I always liked though? Movies. Games. Music. Entertainment. It is far, far more important than you're giving it credit for, and this idealist notion that all companies with money should donate to the poor is absolutely ridiculous. This is not an idealist world. We do not live in a utopia. Anybody who is at any point poor knows that you can't depend on the world to carry your ass. You have to do it yourself. I'd rather companies just keep making their products, whatever they may be, so that I can continue to enjoy them whenever possible.

 

[dragonblood9999]

Why would they do that?

they did that thinking that because this was a game of a famous movie it would be a system seller

 

[RowanDDR]

I can't believe you've all fallen for this. What is today's date. Thats right, 1st April... oh wait a minute, 1st June????

 

[tbgtbg]

it featured one of the first home game title screens

No it didn't. Most Intellivision games, many of which predate ET (the movie let alone the 2600 game) had a title screen.

 

[mechadylan]

I heard the documentary will be called, "Shovelware."

 

[kehkou]

Heard this on the news a few days ago. That dump is not too far from where I live, I should go snag a piece of a cart shell as a souvi. "Canada-based"? Why not let ABQ Studios produce the documentary?

 

[GameWinner]

I can't wait to see what comes of this!

 

[mechadylan]

Interesting fact many people don't know: E.T. for Atari actually sold VERY VERY well.
The problem was that they made about 20x as many copies of the game as people who owned an Atari.

The more you know.

Are you including those of us that owned the Sears Brand Tele-Games and/or Colecovision with the 2600 adapter?

 

[ThatDudeWithTheFood]

THEY DUMPED ALL THE REAL VERSIONS OF THE GAME IN SOME HOLE AND SOLD EVERYONE ELSE A TERRIBLE FAKE VERSION SO THAT DECADES LATER WE WOULD DIG THEM UP AND FIND OUT THAT THIS GAME IS ACTUALLY GOOD!!!!!!
Duh.

 

[mechadylan]

This is actually a pretty interesting development - I do wonder what they'll find (if anything) down there...

I can't wait to see what comes of this!

I'm predicting an event that will rival the hype and hoopla of the Geraldo special where he unearthed Al Capone's tomb, but end much like the 2007 Tulsa, OK "Time Capsule Opening" that left people completely disappointed. <...and that's me being optimistic.

 

[UltraHurricane]

now I'm remembering this...

 

[KingdomBlade]

Yup, a documentary about digging up a landfill full of crap that nobody wanted then and nobody wants now is going to be gripping stuff. Or they could make a useful documentary about the uneven distribution of wealth in the United States and how some people can't afford to go to the Doctor whilst rich spoiled kids fret about the specs of the new Xbox. Coming from the Philippines I would expect you to understand the divide between haves and have-nots.

I'd love to watch a documentary about it considering that it would likely be a way of describing the E.T. cartridges to the crash of the video game industry, which, as a gamer, I find to be a very interesting. Sure, I'd also find a documentary about economic classes in the United States very interesting, but if I wanted to watch one, I'd get one since there are hundreds of documentaries about the economic status of the US. For chrissake, I just watched one on HBO last night.

You are blatantly ignoring the fact that the best thing about the media is its diversity. You can make a movie, a book, a tv show, a video game, an essay, a painting, or whatever about anything, and their being art ensures that you can go wild with them. You can make anything about anything, and I don't think we should limit these to things that are related to economics or politics or whatever. And normally, something like this, which would likely describe a crash of an industry, would always contain a hint of economic or cultural implication. Most films use their subject matter to imply something deeper than what the story suggests.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Marcos

Read .Learn.

That's the kind of naive, self-centered comment I would expect from someone who spends a large part of their waking hours creating pixelated fantasy lands. Of course people in Canada care about people in the United States, it's not a question of nationality, but one of humanity.

And there are approximately 500 fucking movies and documentaries on poverty here in the Philippines. For chrissake, we even have a sub-genre of film called Poverty Porn. I am already on a sensory overload from them. I have watched way too many of them for a 16 year old boy. I KNOW. And obviously, as a Filipino, I care. But really, I was talking about a Canadian company making a documentary about a topic that I, as an individual, would find interesting. And I don't think the fact that my society has poverty or a division of class should have any influence on that matter.

I mean, the highest grossing Filipino film in our history? A comedy. The second is also a comedy. The two films were watched by everyone, rich and poor. The people already know about their problems; we see it on the news, we see it in our movies, we even hear it in our songs, but every trip to the movies doesn't have to be devoted to reminding them of that.