Atari ET
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Atari ET is the pixelated version of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial; exclusive to the 2600.
Bio[edit | edit source]
In as story somewhat iconic for the eventual video game crash of 1985, a group of corporate business chimps saw the record sales of Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and decided they could rake in even more cash by having a fitting video game just in time for the upcoming Christmas season. Upon Spielberg's personal request, they commissioned Howard Scott Warshaw (well-respected for his work on Yars Revenge and Raiders of the Lost Ark) to get the whole cake done.
Problem One: The actual movie came out in June 1982. Problem Two: Business negotiations took until late July 1982. Problem Three: In order to have the game shipped and advertised for Christmas season, the actual game had to be finished by September 1982. This gave Warshaw a whole five weeks to build the game from scratch. This mild lack of development time sort of showed in the later product.
Long story short, the project became one of the most spectacular failures in gaming history. Not just in the sense that is sold poorly (with millions of copies having gone over the counter), but in the sense that most of said copies went straight back to the retailer. The game was such as blunder that it spawned a rumor about Atari having to bury the mass influx of returned copies in a landfill, but while later investigations revealed said rumors to be (slightly) exaggerated, Atari ET remains as a proud example of corporate greed (and business chimps) ruining everything they can get their well-manicured hands on.
In 8chanmania[edit | edit source]
Atari ET fought in the "Bad Games Mania" of 8chanmania XXXVIII. His neon-green appearance (or possibly just his actual appearance) caused great dismay in the audience, and there was much rejoicing when he was removed from the tournament by Mr. Hyde.
