Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 213 posts

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

#31

Post by cgriswald »

knieveltech wrote: post #16
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?

I would definitely rank Combat higher.

I was quite young when ET came out. I loved ET, but the game was basically impossible for me to play because I couldn't get out of the pits very well; which was exacerbated by falling into them when I shouldn't have.

In contrast, Combat was easy to figure out and play and I could play it with loved ones.

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

#32

Post by krapp »

knieveltech wrote: post #16
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?

One of the reasons ET flopped was because the game was confusing. Combat, meanwhile, is literally just player 1 and player 2 trying to shoot each other. In terms of accessibility, engagement and gameplay Combat is objectively better.

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

#33

Post by cgriswald »

kstenerud wrote: post #6

I still don't get why this game is so maligned. It was one of my favorite 2600 games! The only game I liked better was pitfall.

Pitfall was probably my favorite, along with all the arcade game adaptions (e.g. Space Invaders) but I also really loved Haunted House and Berzerk.

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

#34

Post by tomphoolery »

I remember learning about this game on a G4 special, and seeing Warshaw's spots talking about how it was made. I wasn't alive when this game was released, but it seems to be very frustrating to play. But hey, that's what you get on the first try when you rush things (coughJavaScriptcough). I'm glad to see someone's "fixed" it just to see what it would have been like had Warshaw been able to get the time needed to really complete the project. It looked like a great idea, just a terrible execution.

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

#35

Post by joeax »

If we're going to rate Atari games adjusted by the level of effort and time put into them, I'd say this is one of its better games. This is one developer coding non-stop for five weeks straight, and he had the temerity to push back on Spielberg's ideas. I wouldn't say he caused Atari's demise, but rather he almost saved the company.

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

#36

Post by wyldfire »

pmiller2 wrote: post #30

Let's not forget, the same person also created the best-selling original title for the Atari 2600: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yars'_Revenge

Sure, the article seems to acknowledge as much:

> "I actually prefer it when people do identify it as the worst game of all time because I also did Yars Revenge and that's frequently identified as one of the best of all time. So between the two, I have the greatest range of any designer in history!"

I really liked Yars' Revenge. That constant droning sound -- it was really unlike anything I'd heard at that point.

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

#37

Post by gillianseed »

Of course this game did not lead to the 'videogame crash' of 83, other videogame areas like the arcades was doing just fine, and home computers as well.

The problem was that the console games of the time were incredibly poor in graphics/sound, and typically also in game play.

Consumers wanted better games than what the console hardware at the time could produce, once something came along which was a technical leap compared to the Atari, Coleco etc, it did fantastically well, this was the NES.

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

#38

Post by Hydraulix989 »

brandonmenc wrote: post #11
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.

Long distance calls? Remember those? :) It was probably short distance in PA.
Post reply on HN