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I loved E.T. when I was a kid and actually managed to finish it. I never got the hate. My guess is that I only saw the movie much later and so had absolutely no

I loved E.T. when I was a kid and actually managed to finish it. I never got the hate. My guess is that I only saw the movie much later and so had absolutely no expectation whatsoever. To me, it was just another Atari 2600 game. In fact, after racking my brain for hours on games like Swordquest[1], and almost injuring myself and destroying my controllers playing Decathlon[2], E.T. was nothing. Recognizable characters! A quest that made sense! Challenging controls, not inhuman controls! After seeing Atari: Game Over [3] I now think this game is significant, not for its reputation but for the story behind it. It is a great case study. All my admiration to Howard Scott Warshaw[4] for his career as a game developer, what he went through after the E.T. debacle, and finding his way out in the aftermath. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swordquest http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swordquest [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Activision_Decathlon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Activision_Decathlon [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MT_msVoRAg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MT_msVoRAg [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Scott_Warshaw http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Scott_Warshaw

wslh 11y ago
I loved E.T. but just because it was a mysterious game, and as a kid this increased my interest. Also, in E.T. you could spend a lot of time playing the game while in any other game you loose after certain level of difficulty. Only after I got access to Internet I discovered why the game was so mysterious. Indeed it was boring.
bostonpete 11y ago
Here here! My brothers and I played this quite a bit and I never understood the hate. I don't recall all the details about the game play other than that you had to go around finding little dots that corresponded to Reese's Pieces and that it wasn't too hard to beat the game (which is a good thing for a kid who's not a serious gamer).
- wyclif 11y ago
  I think it's hard for people who came late to the Atari 2600 to understand the hate, but for those whose introduction to the 2600 was games like Adventure and Missle Command, it was very much a letdown. I remember it very clearly. My friends and I gave it a chance but after about a day or so began ridiculing it mercilessly.
Grazester 11y ago
I actually thought the game was terrible as a kid. You were constantly falling into pit. I had so many better games for my 2600 that I couldn't justify spending time playing a game I thought was sub par in comparison to the others I owned.

wslh 11y ago

I loved E.T. but just because it was a mysterious game, and as a kid this increased my interest. Also, in E.T. you could spend a lot of time playing the game while in any other game you loose after certain level of difficulty. Only after I got access to Internet I discovered why the game was so mysterious. Indeed it was boring.

bostonpete 11y ago

Here here! My brothers and I played this quite a bit and I never understood the hate. I don't recall all the details about the game play other than that you had to go around finding little dots that corresponded to Reese's Pieces and that it wasn't too hard to beat the game (which is a good thing for a kid who's not a serious gamer).

wyclif 11y ago
I think it's hard for people who came late to the Atari 2600 to understand the hate, but for those whose introduction to the 2600 was games like Adventure and Missle Command, it was very much a letdown. I remember it very clearly. My friends and I gave it a chance but after about a day or so began ridiculing it mercilessly.

Grazester 11y ago

I actually thought the game was terrible as a kid. You were constantly falling into pit. I had so many better games for my 2600 that I couldn't justify spending time playing a game I thought was sub par in comparison to the others I owned.