At face value this is a movie about the Atari ET game cartridges buried out in a landfill in New Mexico. But it is really a history of early video games and pop culture from the 1970s and early 80s. It's got some awesome cameos and is hilarious also. I'm in the middle of it right now on Showtime on demand. Go watch it immediately!!
Saw it listed on Netflix right now, too. Gonna have to check it out.
I enjoyed it. Watched it with my younger daughter who freaked when she saw ET for the first time.
I enjoyed it too. Lots of great documentary stuff on Netflix.
E.T. was an awful, awful game. So many of those early movie based games were garbage.
Quote from: mirth on April 29, 2015, 09:24:52 AM
E.T. was an awful, awful game. So many of those early movie based games were garbage.
Yeah. A cousin had it and I only played it once, for about 4 minutes. Least fun that I have ever had, whilst playing a video game.
I just watched this a couple of weeks ago...my son watched over my shoulder at times. An excellent documentary and insight into a time period where people were creating a new addiction for future generations.
Though I must admit I played the Indiana Jones 2600 cartridge many, many hours...I actually liked it. Never played ET, though, thank goodness.
As if the doc didn't give you a good sense of the game play, it goes something like this (as I recall): playing as ET you walk along, fall into a pit and you can't get out. The end.
And that game was what, $60 when it came out?
Quote from: Centurion40 on April 29, 2015, 10:12:18 AM
As if the doc didn't give you a good sense of the game play, it goes something like this (as I recall): playing as ET you walk along, fall into a pit and you can't get out. The end.
Yep. That was the game. Pure hell.
Quote from: Banzai_Cat on April 29, 2015, 10:08:57 AM
Though I must admit I played the Indiana Jones 2600 cartridge many, many hours...I actually liked it. Never played ET, though, thank goodness.
The Indy game was a decent game. I didn't own it, but I played a few times at a friend's.
I was a big fan of Joust, Defender, Asteroids, Dig Dug and Missile Command. O0
40Cent, you should go read a book called Ready Player One if you have not, yet:
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448
I've also heard they're making a movie out of it. Steven Spielburg is going to direct.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1677720/
Kewl.
I just finished reading it last week. The number of 80s references WILL blow your mind. And Joust figures prominently into the end of the book. I think most of the others make an appearance.
Oh, I forgot...the guy that wrote Ready Player One is in this Atari documentary. He's the guy that drives the DeLorean with the "ANORAK" plates. O0
Wasn't that George R.R. Martin's DeLorean?
Quote from: Centurion40 on April 29, 2015, 01:12:05 PM
I was a big fan of Joust, Defender, Asteroids, Dig Dug and Missile Command. O0
Those were the classics. I loved Yar's Revenge too.
Quote from: Centurion40 on April 29, 2015, 02:22:08 PM
Wasn't that George R.R. Martin's DeLorean?
Yeah, I think it was. Though I was a bit confused when I saw the plate; I thought 'waitasec, is that HIS car or Martin's? Oh well, fuq it.'
https://www.google.com/shopping/product/17596325241247485532?client=safari&rls=en&q=atari+flashback&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=X&ei=tlVBVY_yG8W0ggTngIGIBw&ved=0CJABELkk
Quote from: bayonetbrant on April 29, 2015, 05:06:00 PM
https://www.google.com/shopping/product/17596325241247485532?client=safari&rls=en&q=atari+flashback&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=X&ei=tlVBVY_yG8W0ggTngIGIBw&ved=0CJABELkk
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fneobokrug.the-wastelands.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F03%2FRainbow-Puke.jpg&hash=913cb696ffa18bedffabd1db6c9632066cb97046)
Though I'd seriously consider the Groupon offer. There, they're offering the 2600 or a Genesis. I think the Genesis would offer better gaming in general compared to the 2600...the 2600 games don't look all that great.
http://tinyurl.com/mw83ezd
I had a 2600 and a Genesis. Take the Genesis.
@mirth: Yar's Revenge FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@everyone: Wasn't ANORAK the secret word to get the dot in the Dungeon game for 2600? I forget what the dot got you, but, I remember thinking it was cool at the time.
^The guy who created Yar's Revenge is also the guy who created the E.T. game and is at the center of the doc. A tragic story.
Yeah but he had like a couple weeks to do ET. Atari paid something like $20 million for the rights to ET and then set an impossible deadline. It's the most epic fail in video game history.
I look forward to watching the documentary ;)
There's some VERY interesting revelations in there regarding the ET game.
I won't blow it for you, mirth.*
(*words usually not heard on one of mirth's dates)
*Your mom never said that.
Yay mom jokes.
ET video game dude had exactly 5 weeks to do the game and got Spielberg's blessing. There's some great footage of them meeting and shaking hands and such.
Not having seen the documentary, my understanding is that the dev cycle for a game back then was at least 6 months. So the whole thing was a recipe for disaster.
Yeah, Spielburg's blessing was one of those revelations to not be blown (unlike my mother unfortunately). In any case, there's footage of the man himself saying he played the game and loved it. Which is, to anyone with two functional brain cells, a total lie.
Quote from: Banzai_Cat on April 30, 2015, 05:41:48 AM
Yeah, Spielburg's blessing was one of those revelations to not be blown (unlike my mother unfortunately). In any case, there's footage of the man himself saying he played the game and loved it. Which is, to anyone with two functional brain cells, a total lie.
O0
Quote from: Centurion40 on April 29, 2015, 02:22:08 PM
Wasn't that George R.R. Martin's DeLorean?
No.
The writer (owner) specifically stated in the Doc that he loaned it to Martin for a brief time.