Atari: Game Over

I'm exaggerating of course. But it seems like a particular game on Atari is (was?) considered the worst game ever made. I don't like tags like that - and watching the guy responsible for the game, it is even worse seeing this being said. Now I thought that this would be more of a history lesson on Atari - but that is only the side story here.

With an hour running time not much else could be expected. But digging (pun intended) in the past might uncover something ... well at least will bury the rumors. Ok enough puns - probably. Having watched this I almost want to play ET now ... although ... well at least the documentary is short and really enlightening - for anyone who's interested that is.

If you're into retro video games, or in the video gaming community in general, there's little chance you haven't heard of the widespread story of the video game crash of 1983, which lead to Atari, one of the most recognized and popular video game companies of the time, losing millions in revenue and causing the entire industry to almost collapse as a whole. The crash was eventually attributed to numerous different things, such as inflation and, most notably, the oversaturation of the home console market because nearly every technology company tried to create its own video game console, yet one myth still stands tall amongst the truth. That myth is that the video game crash was because of Atari's video game adaptation of E.T., a video game that is widely considered to be the worst video game ever made.

Such a compelling and unorthodox story owes itself to be covered in a documentary, and thankfully, there's Zak Penn's Atari: Game Over, a sixty-six minute documentary available for free on Microsoft's Xbox 360 video application. The documentary works to establish the story of Atari's rise to fame before it all came crashing down in the early-to-mid eighties, as well as articulate the real reason for the company's financial troubles instead of reiterating the common myth. In addition, Penn covers the fabled story of the cartridge burial in the Alamogordo landfill in New Mexico.

For years, rumor has had it that hundreds of unsold E.T. cartridges were buried deep in the Alamogordo landfill before being smothered by a thick layer of concrete. Spliced in between interviews with people close to Atari, and those who worked for the company during its heyday, Penn covers the excavation of the landfill, as he works with the landfill's employee Joe Lewandowski. Lewandowski is almost certain that beneath the surface of the dump lies the cartridges so much so that he has created an intricate map that reveals the location of where they'd be.

One of the souls interviewed during the film is Howard Scott Warshaw, who was a video game programmer and creator for Atari during its rise, creating the console's classic games like Yars Revenge and the video game adaptation of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Warshaw was also tasked with creating the aforementioned E.T., a task he was only given five weeks to complete because Atari wanted a presumably hot title for the forthcoming holiday season. Warshaw tirelessly worked to try and complete the game, but the end result was a game that was widely panned for its cryptic, often frustrating structure and layout among other serious problems. Following E.T.'s release, Atari experienced enormous profit declines, a fact later attributed to not only the oversaturation of the video gaming market but because Atari kept funneling advertising money in their flagship console, the Atari 2600, in a time where it commanded the market share and the next generation consoles were already on their way. Warshaw, among over 7,000 other employees, were eventually let go in the mid-eighties, following continuously abysmal performances and small profits.

Atari: Game Over chronicles all this in a delightfully compelling manner, giving us history and the contemporary excavation in a way that will not only please fans of video games but anyone looking for a quirky, offbeat story. Penn is also careful to note why Atari and the video gaming industry are so significant in the world, affirming the idea that the early video gaming consoles turned the Television, a once exclusively passive medium, into an active medium, where one could control their actions and enter alternate worlds with untold possibilities, only limited by one's imagination. In addition, it's also nice to see some affirmation of E.T.'s legacy and quality rather than harping on mindlessly-uttered derogatory statements concerning the game's quality. Humbly emotional scenes come when Warshaw, who now works as a psychotherapist, discusses the imprint E.T. has had on him during his presence at the landfill's excavation and we see the effect one's panned art has had on him over the years. It's a tender scene in a very well done documentary.

Directed by: Zak Penn.

I don't want to spoil the ending of "Atari: Game Over", but it's one of the major reasons this was a disappointment. The filmmakers go to great lengths to play up the urban legend of the long-buried "E.T." cartridges that supposedly killed the video game industry in 1983, but the end result is an underwhelming payoff to say the least.

But the movie itself is all over the road, covering everything from the history of Atari, the guy who actually made "E.T.", the key players in the company, the guy who oversaw the actual burial, a legion of tourists who dropped by to see the excavation, the dispelling of the myth that "E.T." killed the industry . . . to Ernest Cline and his DeLorean thrown in for good measure, apparently. There's just so much going on.

As such, the best parts of the movie are the interviews with Atari personnel. These are the most worthwhile of the talking heads, and I would love to have seen more. To the movie's credit, it does have some nice production values. But the ending feels like a cheat on the part of the filmmakers, especially with so much editorializing.

5/10

This overlong documentary is full of hyperbole as it goes on a search in an Alamagordo trash dump to see if they can discover the final resting place for tons of unwanted "E.T." video games. In addition, the film follows the history of Atari up to 1982 (and oddly, completely abandons this after 1982). In the course of the film you are presented with a few interesting interviews as well as many uninteresting ones--either filled with folks who seem to have no reason to be there or who come off as egotistical jerks.

"Atari: Game Over" is a film that drives the history teacher in me mad. While the show is interesting to watch for nostalgic reasons (after all, I had an Atari 2600) it's history is poor to say the least. According to so much of "Atari: Game Over" the company was destroyed by the game "E.T." or at least that it died soon after the game died on the shelves--but this is NOT the case at all. The Atari 2600 was soon replaced by the Atari 5200 and Atari 7800 and the company limped on through the 1980s and did NOT fold after the failure of "E.T."--so pretty much everything about the film is wrong when it comes to the real history. Saying the popularity of the Atari games peaked with "E.T." and it was all decline from then on, that WOULD be accurate. But the company dying was not just because of "E.T." but the lousy controllers for the 5200 (they were cheap plastic and overly complicated--and broke VERY quickly) and the system wasn't fixed...it was abandoned. As for the 7800, its titles never generated much excitement--especially since folks were afraid the system would also soon be abandoned. A variety of other financial missteps also hastened the decline, so the whole notion that the company disappeared after "E.T." debuted it a hoax. There must be better films about Atari out there...this one is full of sentiment but short on facts.

Atari: Game Over (2014)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Entertaining documentary from director Zac Penn about the fall of Atari and how many people blamed the disaster sales of the video game E.T.. The documentary talks about the rise of Atari and of course it's fall from grace as well as goes into details about the making of the video game based on the Steven Spielberg movie. We also get current footage of them digging up a landfill where legend has it contains millions of copies of the game that didn't sell.

The term video game nerd is used several times throughout this documentary but you certainly don't have to be one in order to enjoy this film, which is without question a fun little gem that makes you realize how the truth is often very far from the legend. We're told about the history of this video and we get interviews with video game experts as well as the man who designed the game. They discuss what kind of pressure was on for it to be released by Christmas and why something just went wrong along the way.

If you're a fan of video games or familiar with the legend of the E.T. game then you're really going to love what's offered here but I think those unfamiliar with the legend will probably enjoy it even more because it's just fascinating to think that one video game brought down a billion dollar industry. Of course, the truth is eventually revealed. Video nerd or not, this is a very entertaining documentary that's worth watching.