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The making of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the “worst” video game

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Re: The making of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the “worst” video game

#31

Post by philpem »

epx wrote: post #16
hliyan wrote: post #8

The Icarus effect here is both sad and eye-opening: After Atari crumbled, his outsized role in the video game crisis earned him a scarlet letter in the industry. He found work as a real estate broker and spent nearly 2 decades soul searching before discovering his true passion: psychotherapy. A man of that talent should never have had to work as a real estate broker. It's almost as if the business put him in a positi…

How important is to learn to say “no”.

"Okay, we'll get Billy the intern to code it. By the way, clean out your desk."

Re: The making of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the “worst” video game

#33

Post by nogabebop23 »

hoseja wrote: post #30
swimfar wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think many people don't realize how expensive games and consoles were 20-40 years ago. I remember paying $70 for a few different SNES games back in the 90's ($110 now based on a quick inflation check). Are there any computer or console games now that cost anywhere close to $100?

If you include DLC's? Easily. One of the train simulators goes into thousands if you want all the choo-choos.

or the various "gold" and "diamond" or similar editions.

Re: The making of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the “worst” video game

#34

Post by raverbashing »

philpem wrote: post #31
epx wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How important is to learn to say “no”.

"Okay, we'll get Billy the intern to code it. By the way, clean out your desk."

I don't think the interns would be able to code an Atari game by themselves at the time

Still, sometimes getting the pink slip is better than getting a black mark on your cv

Re: The making of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the “worst” video game

#35

Post by jablan »

philpem wrote: post #31
epx wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How important is to learn to say “no”.

"Okay, we'll get Billy the intern to code it. By the way, clean out your desk."

So? He would be remembered as the author of two huge hits, and would be able to immediately land another stellar gaming job.

Re: The making of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the “worst” video game

#37

Post by danmaz74 »

seibelj wrote: post #19
hliyan wrote: post #8

The Icarus effect here is both sad and eye-opening: After Atari crumbled, his outsized role in the video game crisis earned him a scarlet letter in the industry. He found work as a real estate broker and spent nearly 2 decades soul searching before discovering his true passion: psychotherapy. A man of that talent should never have had to work as a real estate broker. It's almost as if the business put him in a positi…

I know some extremely intelligent and hard working real estate brokers, and they earn salaries above the techies. Every industry has winners!

The point is that if you're good at something, you shouldn't be forced to do something else you're not as good at.

Re: The making of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the “worst” video game

#38

Post by zaarn »

raverbashing wrote: post #34
philpem wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Okay, we'll get Billy the intern to code it. By the way, clean out your desk."

I don't think the interns would be able to code an Atari game by themselves at the time Still, sometimes getting the pink slip is better than getting a black mark on your cv

Back then the video game companies didn't think developers were important. Hence games from this era didn't include them in the credits ("for what? should the blinds and the printer get credit too? FURNITURE!"). If he said no, he would have been given the slip without second thought.

Re: The making of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the “worst” video game

#39

Post by skocznymroczny »

protomyth wrote: post #11

E.T. might be considered the worst, but Pac-Man for the 2600 was surely the most disappointing. The plumber wrench Pac-Man had to be one of the worst adaptations ever. The 8-bit Atari computer version was such a amazing leap.

It's not the worst by any means. For example, any game on the infamous Action 52 cartridge is easily worse than E.T. Most of the "worst" consideration happens because of notable game reviewers such as AVGN perpetuating the meme of it being the worst game ever.

Kind of similar to how EA Games is often the #1 hated company, even though it has many successful franchises and beloved games.

Re: The making of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the “worst” video game

#40

Post by sornaensis »

divbyzer0 wrote: post #29
swimfar wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think many people don't realize how expensive games and consoles were 20-40 years ago. I remember paying $70 for a few different SNES games back in the 90's ($110 now based on a quick inflation check). Are there any computer or console games now that cost anywhere close to $100?

I'm not aware of any games with an up-front cost of $100, but the model is moving towards in-game purchases. 70% of Fortnite players have made in-game purchases, spending $85 each on average. source: https://www.businessofapps.com/data/fortnite-statistics/

"Serious Games" -- usually niche simulation type games -- can easily retail for $80+ for the base game, and then you pay for DLC expansions at around $20-40 a pop.

Examples: Gary Grigsby, Command: Modern Operations, Steel Beasts, etc...

Of course you're basically paying for an interactive encyclopedia in many cases and they don't typically have the repetitive addictive nature of f2p games that include in game purchases.

Then you have stuff like the paradox games with dlcs spanning years and totalling in the hundreds of dollars to buy the 'entire' game up front...

However I would much much rather pay $100 up front for a big, generally complete game than get a game that either centers around pointless cosmetic additions or requires me to spend money (loot boxes containing required items, paywalled features, pay-to-skip progression) and get me addicted to the gameplay.

I guess that's not a novel sentiment though...

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