29 Aug
2015
29 Aug
'15
6:29 p.m.
I was surprised to see the average cart price to be over $120!
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/08/29/sales-unearthed-atari-games-total-more…
Lyle
--
Lyle Bickley
Bickley Consulting West Inc.
http://bickleywest.com
"Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
29 Aug
29 Aug
6:48 p.m.
Have the prices for 2600 E.T. carts climbed over the years, or is these
buyers paying a premium to own a "Genuine landfill ATARI E.T. game,
complete with certificate of authenticity" etc.?
Thing is, the article mentions only a few hundred carts. Rumor had it that
many thousands of carts were dumped, and realistically, such an operation
would never have been worth the while to dispose of only a few hundred, or
maybe a couple thousand carts.
Volumes like that could easily be crushed & ground-up. No need to drag
equipment out to the middle of the desert, just to dump a few hundred
pounds of junk.
On Sat, Aug 29, 2015 at 8:29 PM, Lyle Bickley <lbickley at bickleywest.com>
wrote:
I was surprised to see the average cart price to be
over $120!
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/08/29/sales-unearthed-atari-games-total-more…
Lyle
--
Lyle Bickley
Bickley Consulting West Inc.
http://bickleywest.com
"Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
9:37 p.m.
Have the prices for 2600 E.T. carts climbed over the
years, or is these
buyers paying a premium to own a "Genuine landfill ATARI E.T. game,
complete with certificate of authenticity" etc.?
General ET carts are cheap AFAIK. The landfill ones are special.
Thing is, the article mentions only a few hundred
carts. Rumor had it that
many thousands of carts were dumped, and realistically, such an operation
would never have been worth the while to dispose of only a few hundred, or
maybe a couple thousand carts.
There were rumors of tons of them, but what they found was warehouse
excess and I don't think it was that much of it.
There are a few documentaries made on it. One was a full movie from the
Angry Video Game Nerd (people have been bugging him to review ET for a
long time.) Then there were a few others, should be on youtube.
If you're interested in Atari 2600 history, I also recommend the
documentaries "Stella At 20" and the Stella at 20 part two. It was a 20th
birthday party for the 2600 held at Noland Bushnells house (the first
part, 2nd was additional people off site.) Lots of interesting insight
into the a machine that changed the world.
10:28 p.m.
Not to drag this out, but..
How might a collector discern a "landfill" E.T. cart from any other E.T.
cat that some snarky guy buried in the clay of his back forty?
Is it down to the "Cert of Auth"? Or is there some other tell-tale, like a
serial series, board runs, or molding marks?
Pardon my nag, but the value aspect seems so vague.
On Sat, Aug 29, 2015 at 11:37 PM, <ethan at 757.org> wrote:
Have the prices for 2600 E.T. carts climbed over the
years, or is these
buyers paying a premium to own a "Genuine
landfill ATARI E.T. game,
complete with certificate of authenticity" etc.?
General ET carts are cheap AFAIK. The landfill ones are special.
Thing is, the article mentions only a few hundred carts. Rumor had it that
many thousands of carts were dumped, and
realistically, such an operation
would never have been worth the while to dispose of only a few hundred, or
maybe a couple thousand carts.
There were rumors of tons of them, but what they found was warehouse
excess and I don't think it was that much of it.
There are a few documentaries made on it. One was a full movie from the
Angry Video Game Nerd (people have been bugging him to review ET for a long
time.) Then there were a few others, should be on youtube.
If you're interested in Atari 2600 history, I also recommend the
documentaries "Stella At 20" and the Stella at 20 part two. It was a 20th
birthday party for the 2600 held at Noland Bushnells house (the first part,
2nd was additional people off site.) Lots of interesting insight into the a
machine that changed the world.
30 Aug
30 Aug
11:41 a.m.
How might a collector discern a "landfill" E.T. cart from any other
E.T.
cat that some snarky guy buried in the clay of his back forty?
Not that I am expert or anything but my understanding is that the ET cart is extremely
rare to begin with. In fact the landfill collection is the largest supply of the cart to
be injected into the market.
With that in mind it would seem it would be more valuable to have a cart that was
originally bought in the store and not found in the landfill as it would be even more
rare.
Just my worthless two cents ;)
-Ali
12:21 p.m.
Ali,
On Sun, Aug 30, 2015 at 1:41 PM, Ali <cctalk at fahimi.net> wrote:
A quick search of eBay would correct your 'understanding'. There are dozens
of copies for sale, many with boxes and manuals. They start at about $5.00.
The game is very common, and generally considered worthless. It's a joke,
possibly the "worst video game ever made" - up there with Superman 64 for
N64.
How might a collector discern a "landfill" E.T. cart from any other
E.T.
cat that some snarky guy buried in the clay of his back forty?
Not that I am expert or anything but my understanding is that the ET cart
is extremely rare to begin with. In fact the landfill collection is the
largest supply of the cart to be injected into the market.
1:19 p.m.
A quick search of eBay would correct your
'understanding'. There are
dozens of copies for sale, many with boxes and manuals. They start at
about $5.00.
I stand corrected.
The game is very common, and generally considered worthless. It's a
joke, possibly the "worst video game ever made" - up there with
Superman 64 for N64.
I could have sworn that prior to the "dig" I read a number of articles
indicating that this was one of the reasons for the dig i.e. The game was so horrible
Atari tried to destroy any and all evidence of it by burying it so only a few copies
remained.
However, as the game is apparently readily available I would say both editions are
worthless or to be more precise of low monetary value. But as the old saying goes
"one man's junk..." :)
-Ali
1:29 p.m.
On 2015-08-30 22:19, Ali wrote:
:-)
Yes. This was a reason for the dig.
A quick search
of eBay would correct your 'understanding'. There are
dozens of copies for sale, many with boxes and manuals. They start at
about $5.00.
I stand corrected. The game is
very common, and generally considered worthless. It's a
joke, possibly the "worst video game ever made" - up there with
Superman 64 for N64.
I could have sworn that prior to the "dig" I read a number of articles
indicating that this was one of the reasons for the dig i.e. The game was so horrible
Atari tried to destroy any and all evidence of it by burying it so only a few copies
remained. However, as the game is apparently readily available I
would say both editions are worthless or to be more precise of low monetary value. But as
the old saying goes "one man's junk..." :)
Records state that Atari manufactured 5 million copies, but "only" sold
1.5 million... So it was a big loss for the company, but that do not
mean that it is uncommon.
Even more spectacular was Pac-Mac, of which they manufactures 12 million
copies (they had only sold 10 millions consoles).
7 million sold meant another 5 million unsold copies...
Lots of fun.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_video_game_burial for more.
Johnny
--
Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus
|| on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se || Reading murder books
pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol
2:45 p.m.
Even the unsold copies ended up getting purchased at the Atari liquidation
firesale and there are people still selling them NIB cheap. The ET cart can
be had for $2 (one of the cheapest)
http://www.atari2600.com/ccp7/ecom-prodshow/ET-The-Extra-Terrestrial-PROD37…
-----Original Message-----
From: Johnny Billquist
Sent: Sunday, August 30, 2015 4:29 PM
To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: Sales of unearthed Atari games total more than $100,000
On 2015-08-30 22:19, Ali wrote:
:-)
Yes. This was a reason for the dig.
A quick search
of eBay would correct your 'understanding'. There are
dozens of copies for sale, many with boxes and manuals. They start at
about $5.00.
I stand corrected. The game is
very common, and generally considered worthless. It's a
joke, possibly the "worst video game ever made" - up there with
Superman 64 for N64.
I could have sworn that prior to the "dig" I read a number of articles
indicating that this was one of the reasons for the dig i.e. The game was
so horrible Atari tried to destroy any and all evidence of it by burying
it so only a few copies remained. However, as the game is apparently readily available I
would say both
editions are worthless or to be more precise of low monetary value. But as
the old saying goes "one man's junk..." :)
Records state that Atari manufactured 5 million copies, but "only" sold
1.5 million... So it was a big loss for the company, but that do not
mean that it is uncommon.
Even more spectacular was Pac-Mac, of which they manufactures 12 million
copies (they had only sold 10 millions consoles).
7 million sold meant another 5 million unsold copies...
Lots of fun.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_video_game_burial for more.
Johnny
--
Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus
|| on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se || Reading murder books
pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol
---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
6:09 p.m.
And speaking as one who played the game "back in the day", it +is+ as awful
as claimed. The gameplay draws essentially nothing from the film's story,
save a few obvious must-have elemetns such as a telephone and Reese's
Pieces (which look like single-pixel glitches). The player, playing as
E.T., is tasked with assembling parts of a "space-phone" - and the primary
obstacle in his path is...
THE TERRAIN
Yes, the terrain. The gameworld is full of pitfall, some visible, some not
quite so. When E.T. falls into a pit, which he does about every five
seconds, he must escape by performing this ridiculous "levitation boogie"
that consists of nothing more than a series of rapidfire L-R-L-R joystick
moves. Then it's onto the next pit.. and the next.. and the next.. again,
reminiscent of Superman 64 with it's endless "ride stages" of flying
rings.
Some amusement potential for kids under eight. Otherwise, frustrating,
boring and downright depressing piece of work.
On Sun, Aug 30, 2015 at 4:45 PM, TeoZ <teoz at neo.rr.com> wrote:
Even the unsold copies ended up getting purchased at
the Atari liquidation
firesale and there are people still selling them NIB cheap. The ET cart can
be had for $2 (one of the cheapest)
http://www.atari2600.com/ccp7/ecom-prodshow/ET-The-Extra-Terrestrial-PROD37…
-----Original Message----- From: Johnny Billquist
Sent: Sunday, August 30, 2015 4:29 PM
To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: Sales of unearthed Atari games total more than $100,000
On 2015-08-30 22:19, Ali wrote:
Yes. This was a reason for the dig.
However, as the game is apparently readily available I would say both
A quick search of eBay would correct your
'understanding'. There are
:-)
The game is very common, and generally considered worthless. It's a
dozens of copies for sale, many with boxes and
manuals. They start at
about $5.00.
I stand corrected.
joke,
possibly the "worst video game ever made" - up there with
Superman 64 for N64.
I could have sworn that prior to the "dig" I read a number of articles
indicating that this was one of the reasons for the dig i.e. The game was
so horrible Atari tried to destroy any and all evidence of it by burying it
so only a few copies remained.
editions are worthless or to be more precise of
low monetary value. But as
the old saying goes "one man's junk..." :)
Records state that Atari manufactured 5 million copies, but "only" sold
1.5 million... So it was a big loss for the company, but that do not
mean that it is uncommon.
Even more spectacular was Pac-Mac, of which they manufactures 12 million
copies (they had only sold 10 millions consoles).
7 million sold meant another 5 million unsold copies...
Lots of fun.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_video_game_burial for more.
Johnny
--
Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus
|| on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se || Reading murder books
pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol
---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
31 Aug
31 Aug
7:40 a.m.
As a kid that grew up with the Atari 2600 as my first system, I played ET
a fair bit. I know it gets all the hate, but yea, when I first saw Donkey
Kong on the 2600 I literally had a tear or two roll down, it was that bad.
Christmas morning and the excitement and yea, maybe this one is defective
I thought. Maybe it's stuck in black and white. Yes. I know Coleco was
pimping their own system (Which was my 2nd console system) and I realize
that people went back and remade Donkey Kong on the 2600 so it wasn't
quite as bad.
On the flip side, there are some games on the 2600 that are just so good
with the limited hardware. Frogs and Flies, a very very good game. Of
course Pitfall II is the one that pushes it to the limits, but I never had
that one.
ET was not the best but not that worst. I'll never forget when I finally
got picked up by the spaceship or whatever. I was really young so really
didn't know what I was doing.
--
Ethan O'Toole
8:17 a.m.
On Aug 31, 2015, at 10:40 AM, ethan at 757.org wrote:
As a kid that grew up with the Atari 2600 as my first system, I played ET a fair bit. I
know it gets all the hate, but yea, when I first saw Donkey Kong on the 2600 I literally
had a tear or two roll down, it was that bad. Christmas morning and the excitement and
yea, maybe this one is defective I thought. Maybe it's stuck in black and white. Yes.
I know Coleco was pimping their own system (Which was my 2nd console system) and I realize
that people went back and remade Donkey Kong on the 2600 so it wasn't quite as bad.
I had the same sad experience when they released Pac Man for the 2600. IIRC, the Pac Man
did not even change orientation when he moved in different directions! And the ghosts
lost their individuality. I think I had moved on to ColecoVision by the time Donkey Kong
was released on the 2600 and I felt so sorry for my friend who was still stuck on the 2600
when I saw it for the first time. Donkey Kong on Coleco was killer.
9:09 a.m.
On August 31, 2015 at 10:17:25 AM, Peter Cetinski (pete at pski.net) wrote:
I had the same sad experience when they released Pac Man for the 2600.
I do remember feeling disappointment when I got Pac Man. It was a hot game. My mother
picked it up as a surprise. We got it home and? what?
I enjoyed E.T. at the time. It wasn't until I got on the Internet years later that I
read it was the worst video game ever and had caused the collapse of a billion dollar
industry.
Cheers,
m
9:14 a.m.
On Mon, Aug 31, 2015 at 10:09 AM, Mike Whalen <mikew at thecomputervalet.com>
wrote:
On August 31, 2015 at 10:17:25 AM, Peter Cetinski
(pete at pski.net) wrote:
I had the same sad experience when they released Pac Man for the 2600.
I do remember feeling disappointment when I got Pac Man. It was a hot
game. My mother picked it up as a surprise. We got it home and? what?
I enjoyed E.T. at the time. It wasn't until I got on the Internet years
later that I read it was the worst video game ever and had caused the
collapse of a billion dollar industry.
I don't think E.T. caused the collapse of the industry. Pac Man was the
worst game ever on the 2600. At least the worst that I ever played. ET had
primitive graphics, but was playable (though frustrating if you hit one of
the pit loops which, despite doom-sayer videos on the net, you can get out
of with a little patience). Pac Man, in contrast, was so bad as to be
almost unplayable. The translation from the arcade experience was horrible.
Especially since the Activision carts at the time were so much better....
Atari hit a classic problem of failing to transition from a wide-open
market to a saturated market and massively over-spent thinking the growth
would last forever. When it hit the inevitable knee in the curve, they
weren't prepare and had so many huge bets on the table they hadn't hedged
that they imploded from bad management, not some silly game that
disappointed.
Warner
9:44 a.m.
New subject: Worst Video Game Ever was Re: Sales of unearthed Atari games total more than $100,000
Whenever I see someone say that ET was the "Worst Video Game Ever"
I channel my inner Inigo Montoya, and say. I don't think it means what you think it
means.
I think they mean it was the Worst Commercial Failure, which is not the same thing.
If I believe Wikipedia it is stated
"3.5 million of the 4 million produced were sent back to the company as unsold
inventory or customer returns. Despite sales figures, the quantity of unsold merchandise,
coupled with the expensive movie license and the large amount of returns, made E.T. a
major financial failure for Atari"
Thats not good for Atari, but that doesn't make it the worst game ever.
I agree with those who say Pac Man... I mean it looked nothing like the Arcade and it
sounded like they sampled a rubber band.
Not a good game at all.
10:56 a.m.
New subject: Worst Video Game Ever was Re: Sales of unearthed Atari games total more than $100,000
"3.5 million of the 4 million produced were sent
back to the company as unsold inventory or customer returns. Despite sales figures, the
quantity of unsold merchandise, coupled with the expensive movie license and the large
amount of returns, made E.T. a major financial failure for Atari"
Thats not good for Atari, but that doesn't make it the worst game ever.
I agree with those who say Pac Man... I mean it looked nothing like the Arcade and it
sounded like they sampled a rubber band.
Not a good game at all.
But it was the Atari 2600, at that day and age I don't think there was an
expectation that the game on the home system would look like the arcade?
It was from the era of tennis tv games and such? It had a mouth, and a
pass thru, and ghosts and dots.
Colecovision and others started to change expectations. I guess it wasn't
too long after ColecoVision that Atari 8 bit computers and that brought
with it pretty good ports of Arcade titles -- I was probably late to the
8bit atari (800XL here) I guess the people with the 400/800 were first to
have arcade-ish gameplay. The 8bit computers still isn't as same as
playing the real arcade PCB though. Just closer.
That day I got the NES..... I think I hit reset 100 times over and over
just to hear the intro music from the Gyromite cart. It had clear
drumbeats! And multiple part music. It was so good. The reset button felt
nice and quality even.
--
Ethan O'Toole
11 a.m.
New subject: Worst Video Game Ever was Re: Sales of unearthed Atari games total more than $100,000
On 8/31/2015 12:56 PM, ethan at 757.org wrote:
You're right re the expectations of that
time. It's very difficult to put
oneself back in that naive mindset, to
remember how things *first* struck us.
That said, however, I'm still quite
happy playing with my Bally Arcade... ;-)
- J.
"3.5
million of the 4 million
produced were sent back to the
company as unsold inventory or
customer returns. Despite sales
figures, the quantity of unsold
merchandise, coupled with the
expensive movie license and the large
amount of returns, made E.T. a major
financial failure for Atari"
Thats not good for Atari, but that
doesn't make it the worst game ever.
I agree with those who say Pac Man...
I mean it looked nothing like the
Arcade and it sounded like they
sampled a rubber band.
Not a good game at all.
But it was the Atari 2600, at that day
and age I don't think there was an
expectation that the game on the home
system would look like the arcade? It
was from the era of tennis tv games
and such? It had a mouth, and a pass
thru, and ghosts and dots.
Colecovision and others started to
change expectations. I guess it wasn't
too long after ColecoVision that Atari
8 bit computers and that brought with
it pretty good ports of Arcade titles
-- I was probably late to the 8bit
atari (800XL here) I guess the people
with the 400/800 were first to have
arcade-ish gameplay. The 8bit
computers still isn't as same as
playing the real arcade PCB though.
Just closer.
That day I got the NES..... I think I
hit reset 100 times over and over just
to hear the intro music from the
Gyromite cart. It had clear drumbeats!
And multiple part music. It was so
good. The reset button felt nice and
quality even.
--
Ethan O'Toole 
1:24 p.m.
New subject: Worst Video Game Ever was Re: Sales of unearthed Atari games total more than $100, 000
It was thus said that the Great js at cimmeri.com once stated:
That said, however, I'm still quite
happy playing with my Bally Arcade... ;-)
I remember that system! My uncle had one. What I remember most about it
is the controller, a combination joystick and paddle in one. It was quite a
nice controller.
-spc
1:29 p.m.
New subject: Worst Video Game Ever was Re: Sales of unearthed Atari games total more than $100, 000
I remember that system! My uncle had one. What I
remember most about it
is the controller, a combination joystick and paddle in one. It was quite a
nice controller.
-spc
I think a friend is looking to buy a set of controllers for a Bally
Astrocade if anyone has a set they're interested in selling. He is located
in Chesapeake VA but shipping is not a big deal.
I was just poking around inside a few arcade games yesterday including
Battlezone, Tron, Tempest and a few others.
--
Ethan O'Toole
30 Aug
30 Aug
2:54 p.m.
New subject: E.T. is not the worse game for the Atari 2600 (was Re: Sales of unearthed Atari games total more than $100, 000)
It was thus said that the Great drlegendre . once stated:
The game [E.T.] is very common, and generally considered worthless. It's a joke,
possibly the "worst video game ever made" - up there with Superman 64 for
N64.
I would think it depends upon your criteria for "worst video game ever."
I mean, "Chase the Chuck Wagon" [1] or "Custer's Revenge" [2]
could easily
take the "worst video game ever" slot. E.T. actually had a plot (as E.T.,
collect parts to "phone home").
Also, given the story behind E.T., it's an incredible accomplishment in
Atari 2600 programming---only five weeks to come up with an idea and get it
programmed on a machine where you had to program the screen nearly
pixel-by-pixel in about 4K of ROM (and 128 bytes of RAM).
I think the main problem with the game is the pixel-perfect collision
detection that makes it all too easy to fall into the pits. It can be fixed
[3] but not with some addtional issues.
-spc (It's certainly more complex than Adventure ... )
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chase_the_Chuck_Wagon
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custer%27s_Revenge
[3] http://www.neocomputer.org/projects/et/
3:10 p.m.
New subject: E.T. is not the worse game for the Atari 2600 (was Re: Sales of unearthed Atari games total more than $100, 000)
Someone went through E.T. and fixed a lot of the bugs and oversights,
releasing an improved version. It's playable here:
https://archive.org/details/ET_Fixed_Final
On Sun, Aug 30, 2015 at 5:54 PM, Sean Conner <spc at conman.org> wrote:
It was thus said that the Great drlegendre . once
stated:
The game [E.T.] is very common, and generally considered worthless. It's
a
joke,
possibly the "worst video game ever
made" - up there with Superman 64 for
N64.
I would think it depends upon your criteria for "worst video game ever."
I mean, "Chase the Chuck Wagon" [1] or "Custer's Revenge" [2]
could easily
take the "worst video game ever" slot. E.T. actually had a plot (as E.T.,
collect parts to "phone home").
Also, given the story behind E.T., it's an incredible accomplishment in
Atari 2600 programming---only five weeks to come up with an idea and get it
programmed on a machine where you had to program the screen nearly
pixel-by-pixel in about 4K of ROM (and 128 bytes of RAM).
I think the main problem with the game is the pixel-perfect collision
detection that makes it all too easy to fall into the pits. It can be
fixed
[3] but not with some addtional issues.
-spc (It's certainly more complex than Adventure ... )
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chase_the_Chuck_Wagon
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custer%27s_Revenge
[3] http://www.neocomputer.org/projects/et/
8:58 p.m.
New subject: E.T. is not the worse game for the Atari 2600 (was Re: Sales of unearthed Atari games total more than $100, 000)
I never said E.T. for Atari 2600 was the Worst Game Ever.. I put that in
"quotes" because so many games have been granted that title, and logic
dictates that there's no one, true "Worst Game Ever".
Since you mentioned 'Chase the Chuckwagon' - have you ever played through
Legend of Zelda - Twilight Princess? There's a hilarious
chase-the-chuckwagon mini-game in there, that's frustrating as all hell -
and I swear, it's gotta be an homage to the Atari game..
On Sun, Aug 30, 2015 at 5:10 PM, Jason Scott <jason at textfiles.com> wrote:
Someone went through E.T. and fixed a lot of the bugs
and oversights,
releasing an improved version. It's playable here:
https://archive.org/details/ET_Fixed_Final
On Sun, Aug 30, 2015 at 5:54 PM, Sean Conner <spc at conman.org> wrote:
ever."
It was thus said that the Great drlegendre . once
stated:
>
> The game [E.T.] is very common, and generally considered worthless.
It's
a joke,
> possibly the "worst video game ever made" - up there with Superman 64
for
N64.
I would think it depends upon your criteria for "worst video game I mean, "Chase the Chuck Wagon" [1] or
"Custer's Revenge" [2] could
easily
take the "worst video game ever" slot.
E.T. actually had a plot (as
E.T.,
collect parts to "phone home").
Also, given the story behind E.T., it's an incredible accomplishment in
Atari 2600 programming---only five weeks to come up with an idea and get
it
programmed on a machine where you had to program
the screen nearly
pixel-by-pixel in about 4K of ROM (and 128 bytes of RAM).
I think the main problem with the game is the pixel-perfect collision
detection that makes it all too easy to fall into the pits. It can be
fixed
[3] but not with some addtional issues.
-spc (It's certainly more complex than Adventure ... )
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chase_the_Chuck_Wagon
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custer%27s_Revenge
[3] http://www.neocomputer.org/projects/et/
6:09 p.m.
On Sun, 30 Aug 2015, drlegendre . wrote:
On Sun, Aug 30, 2015 at 1:41 PM, Ali <cctalk at
fahimi.net> wrote:
A quick search of eBay would correct your 'understanding'. There are
dozens of copies for sale, many with boxes and manuals. They start at
about $5.00.
The game is very common, and generally considered worthless. It's a
joke, possibly the "worst video game ever made" - up there with Superman
64 for N64.
When I used to buy Atari stuff at resale shops to build my own collection
(back in the early to mid 1990s when people were practically giving away
2600 stuff), ET seemed to be pretty common. It wasn't nearly as common as
Pac-Man or Pitfall! or a pack-in game like Combat, but I saw them
frequently. I gave/traded away quite a few copies of ET but kept at least
one.
How might
a collector discern a "landfill" E.T. cart from any other
E.T. cat that some snarky guy buried in the clay of his back forty?
Not that I am expert or anything but my understanding is that the ET
cart is extremely rare to begin with. In fact the landfill collection
is the largest supply of the cart to be injected into the market.
31 Aug
31 Aug
10:41 a.m.
Funny you should mention Pitfall! Because it wasn't really until the 3rd
party 'blockbusters' from outfits like Activision appeared, that the gaming
public came to realize just how seriously lazy and unimaginative Atari's
in-house development team was.
On Sun, Aug 30, 2015 at 8:09 PM, Tothwolf <tothwolf at concentric.net> wrote:
On Sun, 30 Aug 2015, drlegendre . wrote:
On Sun, Aug 30, 2015 at 1:41 PM, Ali <cctalk
at fahimi.net> wrote:
How might a collector discern a "landfill" E.T. cart from any other E.T.
A quick search of eBay would correct your 'understanding'. There are
dozens of copies for sale, many with boxes and manuals. They start at about
$5.00.
The game is very common, and generally considered worthless. It's a joke,
possibly the "worst video game ever made" - up there with Superman 64 for
N64.
When I used to buy Atari stuff at resale shops to build my own collection
(back in the early to mid 1990s when people were practically giving away
2600 stuff), ET seemed to be pretty common. It wasn't nearly as common as
Pac-Man or Pitfall! or a pack-in game like Combat, but I saw them
frequently. I gave/traded away quite a few copies of ET but kept at least
one.
cat that
some snarky guy buried in the clay of his back forty?
Not that I am expert or anything but my understanding is that the ET
cart is extremely rare to begin with. In fact the landfill collection is
the largest supply of the cart to be injected into the market.
10:43 a.m.
Worst game - Journey Escape or whatever it was called.
On Mon, Aug 31, 2015 at 1:41 PM, drlegendre . <drlegendre at gmail.com> wrote:
Funny you should mention Pitfall! Because it
wasn't really until the 3rd
party 'blockbusters' from outfits like Activision appeared, that the gaming
public came to realize just how seriously lazy and unimaginative Atari's
in-house development team was.
On Sun, Aug 30, 2015 at 8:09 PM, Tothwolf <tothwolf at concentric.net> wrote:
--
Bill
vintagecomputer.net
On Sun, 30 Aug 2015, drlegendre . wrote:
> On Sun, Aug 30, 2015 at 1:41 PM, Ali <cctalk at fahimi.net> wrote:
>
> How might a collector discern a "landfill" E.T. cart from any other E.T.
>>> cat that some snarky guy buried in the clay of his back forty?
>>>
>>
>> Not that I am expert or anything but my understanding is that the ET
>> cart is extremely rare to begin with. In fact the landfill collection
is
>> the largest supply of the cart to be
injected into the market.
>>
>
> A quick search of eBay would correct your 'understanding'. There are
> dozens of copies for sale, many with boxes and manuals. They start at
about
> $5.00.
>
> The game is very common, and generally considered worthless. It's a
joke,
> possibly the "worst video game ever
made" - up there with Superman 64
for
N64.
When I used to buy Atari stuff at resale shops to build my own collection
(back in the early to mid 1990s when people were practically giving away
2600 stuff), ET seemed to be pretty common. It wasn't nearly as common as
Pac-Man or Pitfall! or a pack-in game like Combat, but I saw them
frequently. I gave/traded away quite a few copies of ET but kept at least
one.
10:43 a.m.
Low, uninformed blow. By the time Pitfall comes out, the Atari 2600 has
been extant for five full years, and David Crane
On Mon, Aug 31, 2015 at 1:41 PM, drlegendre . <drlegendre at gmail.com> wrote:
Funny you should mention Pitfall! Because it
wasn't really until the 3rd
party 'blockbusters' from outfits like Activision appeared, that the gaming
public came to realize just how seriously lazy and unimaginative Atari's
in-house development team was.
On Sun, Aug 30, 2015 at 8:09 PM, Tothwolf <tothwolf at concentric.net> wrote:
On Sun, 30 Aug 2015, drlegendre . wrote:
> On Sun, Aug 30, 2015 at 1:41 PM, Ali <cctalk at fahimi.net> wrote:
>
> How might a collector discern a "landfill" E.T. cart from any other E.T.
>>> cat that some snarky guy buried in the clay of his back forty?
>>>
>>
>> Not that I am expert or anything but my understanding is that the ET
>> cart is extremely rare to begin with. In fact the landfill collection
is
>> the largest supply of the cart to be
injected into the market.
>>
>
> A quick search of eBay would correct your 'understanding'. There are
> dozens of copies for sale, many with boxes and manuals. They start at
about
> $5.00.
>
> The game is very common, and generally considered worthless. It's a
joke,
> possibly the "worst video game ever
made" - up there with Superman 64
for
N64.
When I used to buy Atari stuff at resale shops to build my own collection
(back in the early to mid 1990s when people were practically giving away
2600 stuff), ET seemed to be pretty common. It wasn't nearly as common as
Pac-Man or Pitfall! or a pack-in game like Combat, but I saw them
frequently. I gave/traded away quite a few copies of ET but kept at least
one.
30 Aug
30 Aug
2:13 a.m.
On 2015-08-30 03:48, drlegendre . wrote:
Have the prices for 2600 E.T. carts climbed over the
years, or is these
buyers paying a premium to own a "Genuine landfill ATARI E.T. game,
complete with certificate of authenticity" etc.?
Thing is, the article mentions only a few hundred carts. Rumor had it that
many thousands of carts were dumped, and realistically, such an operation
would never have been worth the while to dispose of only a few hundred, or
maybe a couple thousand carts.
Volumes like that could easily be crushed & ground-up. No need to drag
equipment out to the middle of the desert, just to dump a few hundred
pounds of junk.
They (Atari) dumped/crushed approximately 700.000 games in the landfill.
They (interested people) recently excavated a small part, and recovered
a few hundred games. This is not related to how many were in there. Much
was rubble, and most was not excavated.
It was decided to auction off some of the games recovered to benefit the
local town in Mexico, if I remember right.
Johnny
On Sat, Aug 29, 2015 at 8:29 PM, Lyle Bickley <lbickley at bickleywest.com>
wrote:
> I was surprised to see the average cart price to be over $120!
>
>
>
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/08/29/sales-unearthed-atari-games-total-more…
>
> Lyle
> --
> Lyle Bickley
> Bickley Consulting West Inc.
> http://bickleywest.com
> "Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
>
--
Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus
|| on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se || Reading murder books
pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol
10:42 a.m.
There are some really, really, really pedantic Atari people who may correct
you on some of the details. Regardless, this is an extraordinarily silly
situation, akin to selling cut up squares of blankets from hotel rooms The
Beatles stayed in. I don't think it's wise to derive any conclusion or
insight into the whole situation.
As for authenticity, assume every single one is fake unless you
particularly dug it out of the earth.
On Aug 30, 2015 5:13 AM, "Johnny Billquist" <bqt at update.uu.se> wrote:
On 2015-08-30 03:48, drlegendre . wrote:
Have the prices for 2600 E.T. carts climbed over
the years, or is these
buyers paying a premium to own a "Genuine landfill ATARI E.T. game,
complete with certificate of authenticity" etc.?
Thing is, the article mentions only a few hundred carts. Rumor had it that
many thousands of carts were dumped, and realistically, such an operation
would never have been worth the while to dispose of only a few hundred, or
maybe a couple thousand carts.
Volumes like that could easily be crushed & ground-up. No need to drag
equipment out to the middle of the desert, just to dump a few hundred
pounds of junk.
They (Atari) dumped/crushed approximately 700.000 games in the landfill.
They (interested people) recently excavated a small part, and recovered a
few hundred games. This is not related to how many were in there. Much was
rubble, and most was not excavated.
It was decided to auction off some of the games recovered to benefit the
local town in Mexico, if I remember right.
Johnny
On Sat, Aug 29, 2015 at 8:29 PM, Lyle Bickley
<lbickley at bickleywest.com>
wrote:
I was surprised to see the average cart price to be over $120!
>
>
>
>
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/08/29/sales-unearthed-atari-games-total-more…
>
> Lyle
> --
> Lyle Bickley
> Bickley Consulting West Inc.
> http://bickleywest.com
> "Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
>
>
--
Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus
|| on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se || Reading murder books
pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol
10:50 a.m.
what do you think the JOLT that the original Atari 2600 prototype was made
from would sell for?
On Sun, Aug 30, 2015 at 1:42 PM, Jason Scott <jason at textfiles.com> wrote:
There are some really, really, really pedantic Atari
people who may correct
you on some of the details. Regardless, this is an extraordinarily silly
situation, akin to selling cut up squares of blankets from hotel rooms The
Beatles stayed in. I don't think it's wise to derive any conclusion or
insight into the whole situation.
As for authenticity, assume every single one is fake unless you
particularly dug it out of the earth.
On Aug 30, 2015 5:13 AM, "Johnny Billquist" <bqt at update.uu.se> wrote:
was
--
Bill
vintagecomputer.net
On 2015-08-30 03:48, drlegendre . wrote:
> Have the prices for 2600 E.T. carts climbed over the years, or is these
> buyers paying a premium to own a "Genuine landfill ATARI E.T. game,
> complete with certificate of authenticity" etc.?
>
> Thing is, the article mentions only a few hundred carts. Rumor had it
that
> many thousands of carts were dumped, and
realistically, such an
operation
> would never have been worth the while to
dispose of only a few hundred,
or
maybe a
couple thousand carts.
Volumes like that could easily be crushed & ground-up. No need to drag
equipment out to the middle of the desert, just to dump a few hundred
pounds of junk.
They (Atari) dumped/crushed approximately 700.000 games in the landfill.
They (interested people) recently excavated a small part, and recovered a
few hundred games. This is not related to how many were in there. Much rubble, and most was not excavated.
It was decided to auction off some of the games recovered to benefit the
local town in Mexico, if I remember right.
Johnny
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/08/29/sales-unearthed-atari-games-total-more…
On Sat, Aug 29, 2015 at 8:29 PM, Lyle Bickley
<lbickley at bickleywest.com
> wrote:
>
> I was surprised to see the average cart price to be over $120!
>>
>>
>>
>> >
> Lyle
> --
> Lyle Bickley
> Bickley Consulting West Inc.
> http://bickleywest.com
> "Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
>
>
--
Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus
|| on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se || Reading murder books
pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol
29 Aug
29 Aug
6:48 p.m.
On Sat, 29 Aug 2015, Lyle Bickley wrote:
I was surprised to see the average cart price to be
over $120!
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/08/29/sales-unearthed-atari-games-total-more…
Is that true?
Where can we bury some stuff?
7:30 p.m.
I managed to get one of the cartridges, but it was not an E.T. cartridge.
I got one of the dirtier ones, I wasn't gonna pay over $300 for it.
When I got mine on eBay, the more pristene cartridges were going for $1000
to $1500. I only saw 6 or 7 items like that though. But from what I recall,
the person doing the selling was only selling around 30 cartridges at a
time, most being sold individually - though there were a few really dirty
carts they tried to sell as a lot (e.g. 3 cartridges in one sale).
So, not only did I get a cartridge (in a plastic bag, with some dirt from
across the pond), but I did get some neat documentation too (which did
include a few pictures).
Regards,
Andrew Burton
aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk
www.aliensrcooluk.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lyle Bickley" <lbickley at bickleywest.com>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 30, 2015 2:29 AM
Subject: Sales of unearthed Atari games total more than $100,000
I was surprised to see the average cart price to be
over $120!
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/08/29/sales-unearthed-atari-games-total-more…
Lyle
--
Lyle Bickley
Bickley Consulting West Inc.
http://bickleywest.com
"Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
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days inactive
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