If you play video games you probably have an easy answer to worst game of all time: ET. But it turns out there are no easy answers, especially when you’re talking about a game so terrible it’s blamed for bringing the entire video game industry with it.
AI Summary
# Stuff You Should Know - E.T. the Atari Game Episode Summary
Josh and Chuck dive into the fascinating true story behind the infamous E.T. Atari video game, revealing that it's actually not the worst video game of all time despite decades of popular belief. The episode explores how brilliant designer Howard Scott Warshaw was given the impossible task of creating a game in just five weeks (when it normally took five to six months), resulting in a merely mediocre game that arrived at the absolute worst time for Atari—just as the video game industry was beginning to crash. You'll learn about the legendary urban legend of buried cartridges in a New Mexico landfill, how kids across the country killed the game through word-of-mouth, and the surprisingly uplifting conclusion when the cartridges were actually excavated decades later, giving Warshaw unexpected closure and redemption.
Back to the Future
1985
1h 56m
★ 8.3
"Ernest Klein, who wrote the book Ready Player One, he showed up in his Back to the Future Delorean — Ernest Cline showed up to the E.T. cartridge excavation event in a DeLorean car from Back to the Future."
— Chuck
Game Over
2004
TV-14
★ 5.5
"if you've seen the movie Game Over, you have probably come to really like and admire — Josh mentions the documentary about the E.T. video game and Howard Scott Warshaw that he had seen previously."
— Josh
"Hey Dude, the 90s called David Lasher and Christine Taylor, stars of the cult classic show, Hey Dude — Referenced in multiple podcast advertisements throughout the transcript."
Poltergeist
1982
1h 54m
★ 7.2
"Do you remember AOL instant messenger and the dial-up sound like poltergeist? — Mentioned in the Hey Dude podcast advertisement as a nostalgic reference to 90s culture."
Raiders of the Lost Ark
1981
1h 55m
★ 7.9
"the Spielberg was like, well, can't you just have him like running around eating Reese's pieces like Pac-Man? — Josh discusses Spielberg's suggestion for the E.T. game, comparing it to Pac-Man and referencing the movie that inspired the game."
— Josh
Ready Player One
2018
PG-13
2h 20m
★ 7.6
"Zac Penn, great, great writer, ironically wrote the movie Ready Player One — Josh mentions that the documentary director Zac Penn also wrote Ready Player One, which deals with similar themes of games and Easter eggs."
— Josh
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