I never knew that this documentary that I viewed recently was on Netflix. I first watched the trailer over a year ago on gamespot, and I thought that this documentary was very significant in the History of the Video Game industry. The documentary was about the infamous collapse of the gaming industry in America in 1983 and that millions of ET Video Game cartridges were buried in a dump site in Alamogordo, New Mexico because it was widely believed that the game was the worst game in the world. My first game console was the Atari 2600 (originally it was my older brother and sister’s console before it was passed down to me). I never recalled having and playing the ET video game before. So I really have no say whether if the game was bad.
Burying millions of cartridges in a New Mexico dump site was the stuff of Urban Legend. Although many people at that time may have overreacted and mainly targeted on the one movie licenced game and the designer Howard Warshaw for the crash of the Video Game industry. I felt that was unfair. They were many factors here, one thing was that Warshaw was pressured to make the game within a month and one week (5 weeks) to make the game, so it was a rushed product. Another thing was that Atari and its other competitors, Mattel and Coleco were making and releasing video games too quickly, and the majority of people were saying that the games were too hard and confusing. Therefore, consumers were lacking which made Atari dump millions of their copies of video games which contribute to the market being saturated.
Here is the link to Atari games burial site:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_video_game_burial
Not only were there ET cartridges being buried in the New Mexican landfill site, there were other Atari 2600 games and its hardware devices that were found. It was a dark day for the Video game industry in the year of 1983 which lasted for two years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_video_game_crash_of_1983
The message of this documentary is that it is alright to dig up the past in understanding your roots. It is important to learn history because the events of the past would not repeat itself. I feel that it is right for every game critic and game fans to have their own opinions. The only urban legend was that the ET video game is the worst game ever made and that Howard Warshaw is a terrible game designer and he was the reason for the Video Game industry to crash. There are people who liked the ET game and others that disliked the game and other video games they may have liked or disliked at that time. If you are reading video game magazines and view game reviews on the internet such as gamespot, there is one author writing his or her own opinion on the game. It is best to absorb different people’s thoughts and opinions on a particular video game, and then play the game yourself to see if it’s for you or not. When it comes to movie licensed games, I feel that there are some good ones out there that I have played and there are ones that are not for me. On the other hand, the really good movie licensed games can get tiring of playing it.
There are classic games being sold on EBay and Amazon, there may be some at your local Flea Market. Many people may try to deny the sense of nostalgia; simply saying “those days are over” or “that’s all in the past, I’m focused on the now and the future.” However, we go back and reminisce about our childhood favourite actors, artists, TV shows, and movies while growing up. Video games are no exception. There is no denying that there is a big part of me that regretted selling my old game consoles, Atari 2600 was not working, so that was thrown out along with its games, SEGA Master System I owned in the early 90’s was sold along with its games in a garage sale, Super NES I owned in the 90’s up to 2001 was sold away along with its games, my PS1, I traded it in for a PS2. I currently have the PS2 under my bed, and I currently have a PS4. I wished I had built a gallery or shrine for my old video games as a historical replica. I may be called a hoarder, but it is for good reason. If there was a resale of those old games or if there is a collection of classic games, I would buy them back. A new generation of kids will never hear of old game consoles. We need to show our children the history of video games if it is their favourite past-time. If you show a millennial generation kid a game from NES or Atari 2600 they would say, “man those graphics suck.” However, that is the early years of how video games were made, and overtime it evolved.
I felt that Howard Warshaw was so much underappreciated due to the video game crash of 1983. I thought that movie licensed game started in the 8-bit era with Ghostbusters, Rambo, Rocky, etc. but it was Atari that pioneered movie licensed games, so we can live out our favourite movies in a video game. Warshaw created some good games such as Yar’s Revenge, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Warshaw’s philosophy was that a video game has to be created where it can be challenging, not too easy because the player can get tired of playing it quickly, not too difficult for the player because the player can be frustrated and lose interest in playing the game, it has to have the balance to make the game interesting for long term. I felt that Warshaw is a pioneer of that generation and his philosophy and his creativity paved the way for the future of video games. I think he deserves a lifetime achievement award and be inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame.
Here is the link for Howard Warshaw’s biography: