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The man who made 'the worst video game in history'

bbc.com

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Re: The man who made 'the worst video game in history'

#11

Post by brandonmenc »

freditup wrote: post #2

A couple of comments based off of the first ET poster/ad in the article: * Atari games like this cost $40? That seems expensive! * Why did Pennsylvania residents have to call a different number? * Funny that a point of advertising was getting the game before everyone else. It reminds you that these were real games people wanted and not just nostalgic blasts, how I view them now. (Link to poster: http://ichef.bbci.co.…

> Why did Pennsylvania residents have to call a different number?

I remember seeing this sort of thing a lot back then. Probably a sales tax thing - maybe the fulfillment center was in PA.

Re: The man who made 'the worst video game in history'

#12

Post by krapp »

kintamanimatt wrote: post #9

> "It's awesome to be credited with single-handedly bringing down a billion-dollar industry with eight kilobytes of code. But the truth is a little more complex." Eight kilobytes?! How do you build anything meaningful, especially a game, with just eight kilobytes?

Assembly?

Re: The man who made 'the worst video game in history'

#13

Post by theandrewbailey »

kintamanimatt wrote: post #9

> "It's awesome to be credited with single-handedly bringing down a billion-dollar industry with eight kilobytes of code. But the truth is a little more complex." Eight kilobytes?! How do you build anything meaningful, especially a game, with just eight kilobytes?

Quite a lot, turns out. The demoscene does miracles in 4k. http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=52938

Re: The man who made 'the worst video game in history'

#14

Post by gyardley »

ctdonath wrote: post #7

My wife remembers that game quite fondly. May be hip to dis it now, but a lot of people did enjoy it.

I also remember really enjoying it as a six or seven year old. I remember how excited I was when I figured out how the forest and the government linked to the various screens with the wells, and which directions would guarantee you fell into a well and which didn't. Bouncing in my chair excited.

Then again, I had weird taste in video games when I was a kid.

Re: The man who made 'the worst video game in history'

#16

Post by knieveltech »

mrspeaker wrote: post #3

Anyone who is in to Atari 2600 knows that ET is verrrrrry far from the worst game available on that system! And it's so sad making it a great game would have take so few tweaks! http://www.neocomputer.org/projects/et/

This. I played the hell out of that game when it came out. I mean, who in their right mind would rank "Skiing" or "Combat" higher that this game?

Re: The man who made 'the worst video game in history'

#17

Post by gauthr »

kintamanimatt wrote: post #9

> "It's awesome to be credited with single-handedly bringing down a billion-dollar industry with eight kilobytes of code. But the truth is a little more complex." Eight kilobytes?! How do you build anything meaningful, especially a game, with just eight kilobytes?

Get a copy of Racing the Beam to get some insight into how programmers were able to wring out every bit[1] of potential from the Atari 2600: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/racing-beam

[1] Yes, I see what I did there.

Re: The man who made 'the worst video game in history'

#18

Post by quicklyfrozen »

kintamanimatt wrote: post #9

> "It's awesome to be credited with single-handedly bringing down a billion-dollar industry with eight kilobytes of code. But the truth is a little more complex." Eight kilobytes?! How do you build anything meaningful, especially a game, with just eight kilobytes?

Well you also have 128 bytes of RAM to work with...

Re: The man who made 'the worst video game in history'

#19

Post by sehugg »

freditup wrote: post #2

A couple of comments based off of the first ET poster/ad in the article: * Atari games like this cost $40? That seems expensive! * Why did Pennsylvania residents have to call a different number? * Funny that a point of advertising was getting the game before everyone else. It reminds you that these were real games people wanted and not just nostalgic blasts, how I view them now. (Link to poster: http://ichef.bbci.co.…

It sometimes blows my mind that this would be $100 in today's dollars, or $12.50 per kilobyte.

Re: The man who made 'the worst video game in history'

#20

Post by theandrewbailey »

Animats wrote: post #15

What, not "Desert Bus"?[1][2] (Now available for IoS and Android.) [1] http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/desert-bus-the-very-w... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBr7EhL6Jpg

It was never released for sale, and it certainly could not be blamed for destroying an industry.
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