E.T. "Worst Video Game Ever" Discovery

[OverlandMan]

Read this article tonight. Being an Atari 2600 owner back in the day I enjoyed the read. Had to post it here when I saw someone apparently had a DeLorean Time Machine out there. Haven't looked for the photos. Curious if the owner is a member here.

http://http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2014/04/27/atari-et-game-cartridges-unearthed-in-new-mexico-desert/?intcmp=features

[Dangermouse]

Haha. Just finished reading that too and was going to post in the morning when I got to a computer. Was in my local Sunday paper.

[ALEXAKOS]

Interesting story. But why bury all those games?
Was there a bug or something in the game hat would create an issue?

Can't imagine a product being that bad to wanting to hide it from the market....

There is always that Delorean out there that will make it in the story

[LordFly]

Haha, I had this game back in the 80s. Still have it. I don't know if I'd call it "the worst game ever", but it was pretty bad. You really couldn't play if for much more than 15-20 minutes without getting pissed off and switching to another game.

[ALEXAKOS]

Really? Was it too hard or too lame?

[EdR5150]

Had to post it here when I saw someone apparently had a DeLorean Time Machine out there. Haven't looked for the photos. Curious if the owner is a member here.

Author Ernie Cline was out there in his Delorean time machine, and tweeting:
BmBuHLfCMAA0uac.jpg

http://twitter.com/@erniecline

[DMCVegas]

Interesting story. But why bury all those games?
Was there a bug or something in the game hat would create an issue?

That's a really good question. I know that the game was awful. Horrible programming that led to it being an absolutely frustrating experience for gamers. Lots and lots of people who bought the games returned them and they were in turn sent back to Atari. As some of the stories have reported, the average development time for an Atari title back then was 6 months to include writing, programming, testing, etc. ET was rushed in 6 weeks. It's an absolutely awful game for a more experienced gamer, so you can imagine the living hell a younger child (ET's target audience) must have went through playing it.

Given ET's popularity and the video game industry's increasing problems at the time, Atari was really banking on this title among others. But yeah, the question that I always had too, was why the secret burial? Atari did all of this at night, and their higher-up employees always denied that it ever happened. Which is why of course it was always listed only as an urban legend instead of fact, until now. But why hide it? Maybe Atari was just that embarrassed by the whole thing. 14 trucks full of these games that wouldn't sell, production, manufacturing, & distribution rushed so that they could turn a profit doesn't look good on a board member's resume.

[Flicky]

They did it because of the nasty move to what came next. A generation of Captain Planet loving, granola crunch'n, hippy-licking weasel twerps that felt that Sega had it right with their little disk things instead of the gloriousness that carts are. All I recall of this game was that you hit the button and ET's neck would grow longer like a perverted alien Pinokio, coupled with some weird moaning noise.

Looking back, best game ever!

[OverlandMan]

I guess I would have to argue that this is the worst game I've ever played:

Journey Escape for the Atari 2600.

[ALEXAKOS]

I bet you a copy of that now has some serious value after all that publicity!!!! Hehe