E.T.: Atari 2600 (Photo credit: nickstone333)
With the news that Microsoft allegedly dug up the famous landfill of ET cartridges (which for some reason also included Centipede and Joust but oddly no Pac-Man) it’s introducing new people to a game that some gamers believe killed the Atari 2600. I never owned the 2600 since my dad went for the 800 computer and I have no complaints. I have, however, played ET on my cousin’s 2600 back in the day and while it was a bit frustrating and it certainly didn’t live up to what we expected (soon to be the future of most licensed games) I never saw it as being as horrible as everyone says it was and I wonder how many people even played it. It’s not good but is it so bad that it nearly killed video games?
I also thought this would be a good time to point to a review that also questions that narrative. My Reviewers Unknown colleague Doug “Text Zero” Hancox used to do a show called Video Game Bunker, a review show set after the console wars went nuclear–literally. He’s since decided to go a new direction with a new show called Test Chamber, but before Zero hung up his mask he took a critical look at the much maligned game cartridge to see if it really was the nightmare everyone says it is or if it’s as misunderstood as Scrappy-Doo.
Just a heads up, the following video contains some cursing and a scene from the porn game Custer’s Revenge. Because of course as soon as a new medium takes hold there will be porn on it.
http://blip.tv/TestZero/video-game-bunker-e-t-5845776
You can see more of Test Zero over at Reviewers Unknown or his personal site. But I want to hear from some of you guys. Did you plat ET as a kid and did you think it and/or Pac-Man killed the 2600?
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