Atari: Game Over documentary about the E.T game

I just came from a shop where a picked up an Atari 7800 system and a few games which included Circus Atari (favorite of mine). I also saw a crapload of ET games that looked like they could have been in a land fill. LOL.

 

Yep, the non-E.T. version of Circus Atari is a keeper.

 

Just a heads-up, the "Atari: Game Over" documentary on the E.T. landfill is now up on Netflix. Glad they got it up on there so soon after previously making it an Xbox exclusive.

It was quite interesting. A bit lighter and less detailed than I expected. It clocks in at 66 minutes including credits. It delves a bit into the industry around the time of the 1983 crash, but unfortunately doesn't get into a lot of specifics. The documentary also weirdly kind of implies that Atari literally disappeared by the end of 1983 (the company and its video games and video game system), when of course it continued on with the 2600 (and a bunch of other systems) into the 90's.

The bits with the E.T. game's actual programmer were pretty interesting, and one of the few slightly emotional moments in the documentary. The guy apparently got a lot of s**t for something that really isn't all his fault.

And the guy that wrote that "Ready Player One" book is in it, and he's kind of annoying.

 

given the state of preservation in that landfill (amazing - absolute time capsule) - there are a lot more early-8os things I would have been looking for as opposed to ET games - I wish I was there.....they had it opened up - they should have poked around a little more..

 

I'll definitely be watching this tonight.

I hooked up my 2600 a few days ago and it's still a lot of fun. I do have a copy of E.T.

 

Balzac, that is a great write-up. I certainly enjoyed the movie but also wish it was a bit heavier on details. Still, for fans of Atari and retro gaming it is certainly worth a watch.

 

Try 5 weeks... which is freakin' insane.

I just watched the Atari: Game Over doc on Netflix. Unexpectedly moving in the end, mainly for Howard Scott Warshaw's story and his reaction to the excavation. Glad he's finally found a career that makes him happy again, though it took him decades to find it.

 

I had PacMan and Donkey Kong on the TI 99/4A ... great version

 

Thanks so much for the heads up on this being on Netflix. I really enjoyed the doc as brought back quite a few memories of being a young kid in the early 80s who was a big Atari fan.

 

I thought it was quite good, though they could have included a little more information about the video game crash and what happened to Atari afterwards.

 

I had the TI 99/4A as well and many cartridge games. I use to spend hours manually typing in games from the magazines of the era and saving them on cassette tape.

Unfortunately, somebody stole everything from my storage unit back around 1995 and I never tried to rebuild the collection.

 

Slightly off-topic but maybe some of the experts can help with with a nagging question. In the 1984 movie "The Brother From Another Planet", one of the settings is a video game arcade. Several shots of a outer-space themed game are shown. I swear that when I saw this in a theater when it first came out, the game being played was an "E. T." themed game. When I watched the movie again on DVD, the shots of the game are now some other outer-space game. Was there even an arcade version of "E. T."? Or maybe they used a shot of the Atari game because it fit in with the theme of the movie?? Or maybe I'm crazy and it was never an "E. T." game at all???

 

There was never an arcade version of the ET game. As a matter of fact, the documentary mentions that was one issue with the 2600 version - it had to be done totally from scratch in just a few weeks, without something that had been tested to base it on.

 

Watched it via Netflix; those where the days! In the last few weeks I thought about getting a PS4; but now I realized, that there a just zero new games I´m really interested in besides Fifa. But I would totally buy a Nintendo Retro Console, which would just feature the old games in higher resolution. Also I´m thinking of getting my old SNES console back again; sadly I had to sell it back in the days, to bring up the money for my first Playstation. Now I kind of regret it; but I´m not sure, that such old devices would look good on my new 4k Sony TV...

 

Speaking of Retro consoles, does anybody know if they have updated them like the Sega Genesis console it so that you can actually play a saved game. I have a retro Genesis console and I have some complex games like Centurion: Defender of Rome and sometimes you don't want to spend 2-4 hours to finish it.

 

There are the Retron devices, but these are basically Chinese Nintendo clones that use the cartridges and have the same picture quality as the original decks.

 

I read about the Retron 5 and that you can connect it via HDMI to your TV, which would lead to a far superior picture. But the critics are really mixed and I don´t know if I´m willing to spend that much money on it. Also I had to buy me at least two old controllers and a couple of games, too...

 

Technically speaking, the Retron 5 is better but in reality, it all applies to the game and other factors but the HDMI output is useful for flat panel TVs, but still it is really an upconversion of SD video games, not really any different than plugging the original consoles to an upconverting DVD Recorder but it does allow you to play multiple vintage Nintendo systems using one deck. Using original or decent Chinese clone controllers are always better than using the controllers that come with the Retron. www.hyperkin.com has all the info, etc. you need to know.

 

I don´t expect those old games to look any better, than they did back then. But I would hope, that they just don´t look any worse. On amazon germany several guys stated, they would look great. But I´m not so sure...

 

They actually do look decent for the vintage of the games on these Retrons.

 

What would you prefer: To buy an old SNES and try to hook it up to a new Sony 4K TV (I´m not even sure, that´s really possible; I´ve read different things about that topic. At least in a picture decent sense), or to try one of these Retron 5s ?

Did Nintendo ever consider to do kind of their own retro console thing ?

 

Retron 5 is a better deal than hooking the old consoles up on a Sony 4K TV for most people. To use the original SNES, you need a composite video input on a TV or plug the SNES in an upconverting device of some kind such as a DVD Recorder, HT receiver, a standalone video scaler, etc. and output it to HDMI.

 

I'm still hooking up my 2600 and Intellivision using the RF input. They're a bit fuzzy, but the graphics aren't detailed enough that it's a problem. It's possible to modify the systems to add a composite out, but I don't want to risk damaging them due to my poor soldering skills.

Once you start getting up into the 8-bit systems, they can look pretty good on a modern set, even more so when you start moving into the 16-bit Genesis and SNES. The newest system I have is a Dreamcast, which actually looks a little worse due to the poor detail on the polygons.

 

The other way to use RF based game systems is to hook the systems up using the RF input on an all analog VCR, and then go composite video out of the VCR (the tape mechanism doesn't need to work) and then use the composite A/V cables into an an upconverting device to output to HDMI. Since these RF gaming systems do not have stereo sound, a stereo HiFi VCR isn't required, but helpful to improve sound quality.

 

Nintendo has not done retro consoles but Wii's do allow you to download the old games onto the system.