FARK.com: (7682189) The disastrously buggy game that failed at launch and caused a huge public relations fiasco for the entire industry has finally been patched

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(Some Hacker)		The disastrously buggy game that failed at launch and caused a huge public relations fiasco for the entire industry has finally been patched (neocomputer.org)		38
		More: Followup, ready-made, RTS, original position, enhanced oil recovery, air launch

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7516 clicks; posted to Geek » on 04 Apr 2013 at 9:24 AM | Favorite | share:

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38 Comments (+0 »)

View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest

Sybarite		2013-04-04 08:44:54 AM

I remember it only taking a few minutes of playing E.T. on a demo machine in a department store to convince me I wanted nothing to do with it.

yves0010		2013-04-04 09:33:49 AM

I am wondering how many will think it was talking about Sim City... Cause I completely forgot about ET for a moment.

Grither		2013-04-04 09:34:41 AM

Blcoked at work. Is this about SimCity?

AntonChigger		2013-04-04 09:35:03 AM

yves0010: I am wondering how many will think it was talking about Sim City... Cause I completely forgot about ET for a moment.

Its a fark headline, so it HAD to be something other than ET

Thats_Not_My_Baby		2013-04-04 09:36:49 AM

yves0010: I am wondering how many will think it was talking about Sim City... Cause I completely forgot about ET for a moment.

3 and counting.

whitman00		2013-04-04 09:37:22 AM

That is a whole lotta effort for a 3 decade old game.

I am impressed. Would love to have a chat with the parents of the neocomputer.org blogger who is certain to be still living in their basement.

Doc Daneeka		2013-04-04 09:37:36 AM

yves0010: I am wondering how many will think it was talking about Sim City...

25.media.tumblr.com

/not subby, but seems obvious that was what they were going for

yves0010		2013-04-04 09:39:40 AM

Doc Daneeka: yves0010: I am wondering how many will think it was talking about Sim City...

[25.media.tumblr.com image 452x339]

/not subby, but seems obvious that was what they were going for

And that was what I was implying

Cybernetic		2013-04-04 09:40:20 AM

Well, that's a relief.

scottydoesntknow		2013-04-04 09:45:08 AM

Hell I thought it was Alien: Colonial Marines. It was buggy as hell, had a horrible launch (reviewers tore it apart from the get go) and was even forced to slap "This demo video does NOT reflect actual in-game graphics" on all of their commercials/Youtube videos.

Since I was thinking about a kind of alien, I win.

Entertherat		2013-04-04 09:47:46 AM

Way to get my hopes up, Subby.

/EA can EABOD

skozlaw		2013-04-04 09:53:53 AM

By the way, Yahtzee's review of SimCity went up about a week ago for anybody who missed it.

born_yesterday		2013-04-04 09:58:49 AM

Man, I sure hope they fix Raiders of the Lost Ark, too!

MayoSlather		2013-04-04 10:05:31 AM

1982 Video Game Graphics Designer Wanted

- Must be able to make blocky objects loosely resemble stuff
- Prior experience working with filling in color into blocky objects desired
- Be able to create animations of blocky objects where blocks occasionally appear to move
- BA in drawing large squares preferred; may substitute with experience of drawing squares

TheSelphie		2013-04-04 10:12:28 AM

What the fark?

ModernLuddite		2013-04-04 10:13:33 AM

When I was a kid I was obsessed with this game. I thought I was doing something wrong, or just bad at it. ET had to be an awesome game!

But then it turned out it just sucked. All that sleep I lost trying to win.....

Ender912		2013-04-04 10:14:04 AM

Got me Subby. Was thinking it was for $im shiatty, as well.

/slow clap

Russ1642		2013-04-04 10:18:46 AM

Subby got me too. +1, would play again

cefm		2013-04-04 10:20:14 AM

When you do it for ET it's a community service. When you do it for SimCity it's a federal crime.

GameSprocket		2013-04-04 10:24:55 AM

This one? I would still like a playable version of this.

DoBeDoBeDo		2013-04-04 10:27:30 AM

My first thought was "EA is finally patching games?"

might actually grab this and insert the changes

Fano		2013-04-04 11:20:32 AM

born_yesterday: Man, I sure hope they fix Raiders of the Lost Ark, too!

Nothing wrong with that game. First one I ever beat.

Fano		2013-04-04 11:29:23 AM

Sybarite: I remember it only taking a few minutes of playing E.T. on a demo machine in a department store to convince me I wanted nothing to do with it.

For me that game was superman at a sears. I'm still baffled as to what you were supposed to do.

Luse		2013-04-04 11:32:18 AM

All i k ow is Origin will never see my harddrive. If it means i have to miss out on Crysis 3 and the rumored Mirrors Edge 2 then so be it.

yet_another_wumpus		2013-04-04 11:50:20 AM

MayoSlather: 1982 Video Game Graphics Designer Wanted

- Must be able to make blocky objects loosely resemble stuff
- Prior experience working with filling in color into blocky objects desired
- Be able to create animations of blocky objects where blocks occasionally appear to move
- BA in drawing large squares preferred; may substitute with experience of drawing squares

Be able to do all the above while chasing the beam (i.e. bit bang the video signal instead of being a wimp and just drawing to a frame buffer like today's programmers).
Program all of the above in assembler. You have 2k of ROM, 256 bytes of RAM. Have fun.
No interrupts . No, that doesn't make anything easier. You get to do all the timing by counting cycles by hand and firing off instructions when needed.

Atari also made a failure of an E.T. game for the 400/800 8-bit computers. Only thing I remember hearing about it was that they used half the ROM memory to store digital audio so E.T. could say "E.T. phone home" at the beginning. Universally panned in reviews, it was saved from infamy by just how bad the 2600 cartridge was. Anybody play that one?

doczoidberg		2013-04-04 11:56:25 AM

The Angry Video Game Nerd Movie, set to be released this summer, is about the E.T. Atari game.

ForgotMyTowel		2013-04-04 12:13:47 PM

GameSprocket: [cf.geekdo-images.com image 427x500]

This one? I would still like a playable version of this.

That one has got to be the buggiest I ever bought. IIRC it was completely unplayable, something about the aircraft disappearing after you loaded from a save? Shame too because it looked like it had potential to be a great game.

Kuroshin		2013-04-04 12:40:17 PM

ModernLuddite: When I was a kid I was obsessed with this game. I thought I was doing something wrong, or just bad at it. ET had to be an awesome game!

But then it turned out it just sucked. All that sleep I lost trying to win.....

Same here. Couldn't stop thinking, "I MUST be doing something wrong!"

No, it was just poor design, even for a 2600 game. It's the only game my dad actually got upset over having bought. TRU wouldn't take it on return for some reason (THEY KNEW!!!), so it was another month before we could get something else to play.

bingethinker		2013-04-04 12:46:31 PM

I thought this was another Windows 8 thread.

Dimensio		2013-04-04 12:46:45 PM

cefm: When you do it for ET it's a community service. When you do it for SimCity it's a federal crime.

Do not be concerned. Lobbyists are working with Congress to change the law so that doing it for E.T. is also a federal crime.

schpanky		2013-04-04 12:47:55 PM

I was an expert at ET. I knew how to avoid the wells and how to get out of the ones I needed to go into (to retrieve the parts) without falling back in. I also knew how to best minimize the walking/hovering/running to use as little energy as possible. I have no idea why, I just got obsessed with getting it right. And it was my younger sister's game to boot.

/still not as nerdy as THIS guy

GameSprocket		2013-04-04 01:05:11 PM

ForgotMyTowel: GameSprocket: [cf.geekdo-images.com image 427x500]

This one? I would still like a playable version of this.

That one has got to be the buggiest I ever bought. IIRC it was completely unplayable, something about the aircraft disappearing after you loaded from a save? Shame too because it looked like it had potential to be a great game.

I think I got partway through the first scenario before it crashed and I was never able to get past that part. It looked like it was going to be Harpoon set in WWII. I bought the book that the guy wrote from doing all his research. It is a great book. Also, I used ResEdit to grap all the resource files.

dprathbun		2013-04-04 01:36:16 PM

GameSprocket: [cf.geekdo-images.com image 427x500]

This one? I would still like a playable version of this.

WitP:AE

veive		2013-04-04 05:01:22 PM

Heh, I can think of several games like that in the last year or two.
SimCity
War Z
Star Wars Online
Little Big Planet 2
Fifa 13
/I could keep going but you get the idea.
//Get it together game devs!

theorellior		2013-04-04 05:19:10 PM

Wow. That was... obsessed. Impressive coding hacks in order to fix a game no one wanted to play. Props for sticking to your guns, man.

Somaticasual		2013-04-04 06:07:34 PM

Damnit, Dave!

//it was clearly influenced by "wrath of bong"

FuManchu7		2013-04-05 03:04:12 AM

Here I thought I was the only one that liked the game as a kid. It didn't take me too long to figure out how to beat the game, and I got pretty good and finding everything with the minimum amount of energy possible.