They came, they saw, they conquered. Then Atari made the E.T. videogame.

Seizing on a market ready for picking, Atari dominated the videogame industry with releases such as Pong and Yar’s Revenge in arcades and on the Atari 2600 from the 1970s to 1984. The company was a part of the golden age of arcade video gaming and the launch of home gaming consoles, defining a generation’s gaming experience. Such was its success that it was at one point the United States’ fastest growing company in its history, peaking at a market share of 80%.

In 1984, however, the great gaming giant’s dominance ended and two companies, Atari Corporation and Atari Games, would emerge in its place. A common understanding, as noted in the Atari: Game Over documentary, is that the release of E.T. the videogame proved fatal for the company. Ray Kassar, Atari’s Presidents and CEO at the time, is alleged to have said that three and a half million copies of the game were returned out of five million; a 70% return rate. The quality of the game was lauded as the reasoning and its poor quality has echoed to this day, coming in at second place in Games Radar’s 100 worst games of all time, number 1 in PC World’s and appearing as the second suggested item when you google “worst game of all time”.

Its reputation as the worst game has reached mythic levels but is it justified? E.T. was a huge box office success and subsequently attracted interest for a complementing gaming release to exploit its commercial potential. Nevertheless, movie-based videogames do not always succeed and whilst that was certainly the case with Atari’s E.T. videogame it is unfair to call it the worst game of all time.

Howard Scott Warshaw was the guy charged with producing the game, the man that designed the successful Yar’s Revenge, but for a process that typically took 5 to 6 months, he was given 5 weeks, to hit the Christmas deadline and reap the financial gains. Whilst Warshaw was confident of his ability to hit the deadline, and received approval from Steven Speilberg of its quality, the odds were forever going to be against him.

All the same it has seemingly become fashionable to discredit and downplay the credentials of the E.T. videogame. As noted in the documentary Atari: Game Over, a lot of people who say that E.T. was one of the worst game releases of all time, have never played it. There is no doubting that the game has an extra degree of difficulty to it but that by no means makes it the worst. At its core it is an action-adventure with characters and environments from the movie, requiring the player to collect pieces to bring about an endgame scenario, the quicker it is done so, the higher the score.

There is no doubting, however, that the game received a negative public reaction. One cannot easily overlook a 70% return rate. But its long-term reputation was not helped by the myth that Atari dumped those millions of returned copies of E.T. in the Alamogordo landfill site, a myth that the documentary in question annuls when it reveals that whilst there was a dump it was alongside other games. The strength of this myth and the contrast of a great movie and a bad game has led many to the conclusion that the game led to Atari’s demise when it was in fact down to other reasons, further adding to that fact it is the worst game of all time.

Does difficulty make the E.T. videogame the worst ever? I don’t think so. It may have not been the most enthralling release of Atari’s but it does not deserve the attention it garners as the worst of all time. It is certainly the case that circumstances: the landfill myth and that the game caused Atari’s demise, have created the circumstances for people to believe it so and if enough say it, it becomes the truth.

To learn more, watch the documentary Atari: Game Over, available on Netflix.

January Film Releases 2013

Last year was a fantastic year for film. I know someone says it every year but it truly was in my eyes. Big blockbusters such as The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises and Skyfall were all great successes but it was also a year that I found myself engaging with films on a whole new level. Kick starting this year we have an incredible January line-up, so many films which hold a certain degree of promise, yet so little time to exploit the Orange two for one deal. Anyway, let us begin.

Gangster Squad

Release Date: 10th January

Now, I’m a big fan of gangster films, be it based on the mafia  or set in the ghetto, I’ve always found them easy to enjoy. However when directors try to shift the attention from the wrong to the right side of the law I’ve found them uncomfortable watches. Gangster films from a criminals perspective are brilliant because the antagonist is crooked, reckless, immoral, they’re generally exciting to watch, but when a director tries to put law enforces in the same position it’s usually entirely the opposite. Although this film uses that perspective, it looks like a quality piece that could change my crude judgment. Firstly it has a sterling cast, John Brolin and Sean Penn are the standouts and from what I’ve seen of them so far, look like they’re going to carry the film. Secondly the cinematography looks plain fantastic and the actions scenes look rather intense which, from the trailer, promise to be regular features. There is a feel of the Untouchables to Gangster Squad which, although I wasn’t a massive fan of, doesn’t discourage me from seeing it in the cinema.

Django Unchained

Release Date: 18th January

If you’ve been to the cinema over the past couple of months you can’t help but to have noticed Django Unchained, it’s pre-release presence has been massive. One of the most significant aspects to note is the director, one Quentin Tarantino. Directors often find it hard to become household names but Tarantino has firmly established himself as one of the best directors around. His films never seem to follow the conventional lines of movie making, with obscure plots and a strange sense of humour which, entwined with scenes of intense action and gore, always seems to gain critical acclaim. Django Unchained follows that pattern. At the heart of the film there’s a serious story set in the pre-Civil War period about a freed slave (Jamie Foxx) who assists mentor (Christopher Waltz) in accomplishing bounties, eventually leading the freed slave to  free his wife from a plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio) but the film still promises to live up to the catalogue of Tarantino films. Like most big blockbusters, Django Unchained has already been released in the USA where it has been met with positive reviews. There has been a slight dispute over the excess racism and the positive view of slavery the film promotes but they don’t seem to be massive issues. With Tarantino, a quality ensemble of actors and even a cheeky cameo from Jonah Hill, what more could you ask for?

The Last Stand

Release Date: 25th January

I can be certain this won’t be my favourite film of the year, never mind the month. It won’t win any Oscars or any praises for being a innovatory film but there’s one thing I can be certain of, it’s going to be an Arnie classic. I’m a massive fan of the Schwarzenegger, he might not be the best actor around but he’s my favourite worst actor of all time. The film promises to be a classic standoff of epic proportions, involving the sheriff of a town near the Mexican border facing off against a mob of gangsters looking to escape persecution by passing through the sleepy town into Mexico. What makes this film even more exciting is that it’s Arnie’s first leading role since leaving the Terminator series in 2003.

Lincoln

Release Date: 25th January

No, somebody’s not decided to make a film about the most disgusting place on the planet to live, instead it’s the latest film by award-winning director Steven Spielberg. Lincoln is set in nineteenth century America as the Civil War rages on American president Abraham Lincoln battles in Congress to forever ban slavery from within American borders, one of the most important events in American history that promises to produce an epic film. It features some class acting talent from Lee Pace (or King Thranduil as I will forever know him), Tommy Lee Jones with a rather peculiar hair piece, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and star man Daniel Day-Lewis. Spielberg has been playing with the idea of this film for many years, even stating that he’d scrap the entire project if he couldn’t get his man Daniel Day-Lewis to play the lead role. Being a history buff with the film covering such a significant event, possessing a sterling cast and director, Lincoln promises to be a quality drama, an epic, it’s definitely my most sought after film this January.

Zero Dark Thirty

Release Date: 25th January

From the director of Hurt Locker, we have one of the most controversial and intriguing film releases of the year. Zero Dark Thirty follows the events that led to Osama Bin Laden’s death, seen through the eyes of CIA operative Maya (Jessica Chastain). Jessica appears to take the lead role as a strong, dominant female character in her stride, promising to steal the show. The concept of the film is one that’s attracted a fair bit of attention due to its importance over the  past couple of years. This could work against the film, as the focal point is obviously the eventual operation that led to Osama Bin Laden’s death so it beckons the question whether the film can carry the pace for the entire 150 minutes. Although there’s the fear there’s going to be far too much drama and not enough action I do look forward to seeing how director Kathryn Bigelow interprets the build up to this important event.