I've not been a supporter of the kinect. You can read about it twice here and here. Anyways, Microsoft released a kinectless xbox one bundle about 4 months ago. I gotta say, I don't think anyone missed it. No games were really developed for kinect. No games were showcased with kinect features. After releasing the kinectless xbox one, there were some commercials that still showcased kinect, but those lasted a couple weeks and then were forgotten. In fact, until I read this article, I essentially forgot kinect 2.0 existed. And you know what, that's a good thing.
First, I want to talk about what this means for the kinect. You're dead. No one wants you. Amazon doesn't think you're worth their warehouse space, and they stock some stupid things. You'll be sitting alone in a corner along with the unsold kinect 1.0, and playstation eyes and move. Accept your fate and die in the ditch.
OK so now that I've rightfully added insult to injury, what does it mean that I, the most obsessive videogame collector and trivia aficionado I know, say I forgot the kinect bundles existed? I, a gamer who said "I will not buy an xbox one so long as I need to buy a kinect," forgot that the kinect is a thing. Well, it means Microsoft is doing something right. They really alienated consumers with the launch debacle; always online DRM, no used games, and mandatory kinect purchase and use. Well, that's blown over. Now instead of being points of distaste and not buying it, it's a memory of "boy you screwed up." Not being required to have gold to do everything except buy things and play offline is good as well, making it more competitive. I know some people are upset that Microsoft didn't stick to their guns, like Adam Sessler, but it was a goose egg, and best to just get rid of it. So...yeah, Microsoft, good job at making us forget about how you screwed up. It'll be a while before you get my money, but only because you haven't given me any system seller games. Sure, fanboys will continue to bring up the launch failure, I'm sure BlackBusterCritic is still bring it up, but fanboys will be fanboys.
I know it was short, but honestly I don't have much else to say, and I'm pretty tired. Well this has been happy gamer signing off, and if you make a goose egg, get rid of it and pretend it didn't happen, because we'll forget.
Monday, October 6, 2014
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Nintendo's history with DLC
Alright, so it's no secret that Nintendo hasn't been to friendly to modern gaming practices, namely online support and DLC. Lots of people complain about online support for good reasons, and it's been mixed with the DLC. Some people applaud Nintendo for not being DLC happy in the 7th gen, others complain about how it drove away 3rd parties. I'm not here to review DLC on Nintendo consoles and handhelds, but rather to give you a history that most people kind of forget, along with a little theory.
OK, so back in the days of the Wii, PS3, and 360, with the advent of internet connected consoles and digital game stores for consoles, there was this thing called Downloadable Content, or DLC for short. This was extra content for a game that was already released, and would extend the life of that game. Things such as new multi-player maps, new characters, new levels, new stories, new other things that weren't included with the original release because it wasn't made at the time, or because the developers wanted more money. Why DLC exists is the topic for another rambling though. Anyways, the PS3 and 360 embraced the concept of DLC. They added sections to their online stores specifically for DLC. However, Nintendo didn't allow DLC on their Wii. With Nintendo games, you couldn't download the extra content, you either had to have it on the game disc or release a second edition. Again, people were mixed about that decision. Well, here's my theory as to why Nintendo didn't do DLC on the Wii.
Many people may think that the first time DLC was really implemented was with the 7th generation of gaming (PS360Wii). While that is when it was really breaking through, Nintendo actually did a form of DLC on the 6th generation, the gamecube and GameBoy Advance. "What? Really? They had DLC on 2 non-internet connected devices?" In a matter of speaking. They did a sort of DLC with the e-reader add-on for the GBA. With certain games, users could connect a GBA with an e-reader to the other game via a link cable, scan special e-reader cards that they bought, and use them to unlock content. Granted, it's not EXACTLY DLC, but the concept of expanding a game through a secondary purchase and downloading the expansion into the game was present in the 6th generation.
"So what does that have to do with Nintendo not having DLC on the Wii?" Well here's the thing, while rather revolutionary, it didn't go over very well. For starters, the e-reader kind of sucked. I have one and I get read error after read error. It's a very finicky device. The next aspect is that it was kind of expensive. I don't remember how expensive the actual e-reader was, but it definitely cost some money. Plus, if you were doing it for GBA e-reader support, you had to have a second GBA, something not everyone had. The other thing is that it wasn't widely adapted. I know I didn't have an e-reader until after the life of the GBA that I found at a garage sale. I didn't know anyone that had an e-reader. It just wasn't well received. There also wasn't a lot of games that supported e-reader. The most notable one is Animal Crossing. Some other games had it, but not many. The somewaht commercial failure of the e-reader and it's "DLC" I think put a bad taste in Nintendo's mouth. But it's only a theory.
Man, I should do a review of the e-reader some day. But not today. Well this has been Happy Gamer signing off, and Nintendo had DLC before the others.
OK, so back in the days of the Wii, PS3, and 360, with the advent of internet connected consoles and digital game stores for consoles, there was this thing called Downloadable Content, or DLC for short. This was extra content for a game that was already released, and would extend the life of that game. Things such as new multi-player maps, new characters, new levels, new stories, new other things that weren't included with the original release because it wasn't made at the time, or because the developers wanted more money. Why DLC exists is the topic for another rambling though. Anyways, the PS3 and 360 embraced the concept of DLC. They added sections to their online stores specifically for DLC. However, Nintendo didn't allow DLC on their Wii. With Nintendo games, you couldn't download the extra content, you either had to have it on the game disc or release a second edition. Again, people were mixed about that decision. Well, here's my theory as to why Nintendo didn't do DLC on the Wii.
Many people may think that the first time DLC was really implemented was with the 7th generation of gaming (PS360Wii). While that is when it was really breaking through, Nintendo actually did a form of DLC on the 6th generation, the gamecube and GameBoy Advance. "What? Really? They had DLC on 2 non-internet connected devices?" In a matter of speaking. They did a sort of DLC with the e-reader add-on for the GBA. With certain games, users could connect a GBA with an e-reader to the other game via a link cable, scan special e-reader cards that they bought, and use them to unlock content. Granted, it's not EXACTLY DLC, but the concept of expanding a game through a secondary purchase and downloading the expansion into the game was present in the 6th generation.
"So what does that have to do with Nintendo not having DLC on the Wii?" Well here's the thing, while rather revolutionary, it didn't go over very well. For starters, the e-reader kind of sucked. I have one and I get read error after read error. It's a very finicky device. The next aspect is that it was kind of expensive. I don't remember how expensive the actual e-reader was, but it definitely cost some money. Plus, if you were doing it for GBA e-reader support, you had to have a second GBA, something not everyone had. The other thing is that it wasn't widely adapted. I know I didn't have an e-reader until after the life of the GBA that I found at a garage sale. I didn't know anyone that had an e-reader. It just wasn't well received. There also wasn't a lot of games that supported e-reader. The most notable one is Animal Crossing. Some other games had it, but not many. The somewaht commercial failure of the e-reader and it's "DLC" I think put a bad taste in Nintendo's mouth. But it's only a theory.
Man, I should do a review of the e-reader some day. But not today. Well this has been Happy Gamer signing off, and Nintendo had DLC before the others.
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Shut-up About Specs/Price and Just Play Games
We all know the old talking points; "PC master race with my 60 fps at 1080p," and "yeah but that's because you dropped $2000 on a gaming rig that will last a year, whereas my $400 console will last me 8 years." "But you got little resolution, mine looks superior." "But yours costs so much more." "Well I have Steam sales." "Well I have used games." Back and forth back and forth. SHUT UP!!!!!!
Really, I am sick and tired of people battling over specs and price when it comes to PC and console gaming. As I said it before and I'll say it again, EVERY PLATFORM HAS IT'S POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES! (except steam machine :P, that sucks and everyone knows it). So yeah, I'm sick and tired of the constant battle between PC master racers and console gamers who argue with them. PC gaming is expensive, get over it. I have a $600 laptop that can't do gaming well, and it's cheaper than the consoles on the market. I could mess with the settings, or I could build a budget rig, but I have better things to do with my time then try to make my games work. If I wanted to get the convenience of a console, I would have to buy some super expensive per-built rig. I don't care if you enjoy building PCs, I don't and many console gamers don't either, that's why they're console gamers. PC gaming is also almost exclusively digital, and I don't care if digital is the future and physical media is a thing of the past, I like my wall of games not my hard drive of games, PC or console.
Console also has it's draw backs as well. We don't have steam sales, which are nice if you like digital games. We don't have as large of an indi scene, except for maybe on the Wii U from what I've heard. We aren't running at the best technology has to offer. We don't have the options of mouse and keyboard or controller. We have our drawbacks and you have yours. But when you compare PC gaming to console gaming, you're comparing apples and oranges. PC gaming and console gaming are inherently different. All this bickering over PC vs console is an apple saying "I'm better than the orange because I'm sweet and you're sour," then the orange saying "I'm better than the apple because I'm sour and you're sweet." They're both fruit but they are inherently different and one should base the comparison of the 2 based on the inherent differences.
So what should we base our bickering on smart guy? Duh, who has the better games. One of the best things about Nintendo is that they have great exclusives. Whenever I see a flame war between PC and console gamers over specs and price, there's always 1 or 2 Nintendo gamers that are like "I have Mario, I have Smash Bros, I have fun games." That's what I like about Nintendo consoles. You don't see anyone going "he he, Wii U underpowered, I'm so much better than you." Well you did at the beginning when Nintendo was dropping the ball on the 3rd party releases, but now with all the exclusives, people can still be "well Wii U is underpowered my PS4/XBOX ONE/PC is so superior," but all the Nintendo gamer has to do is hold up a copy of Smash Bros and say "no, this is why I'm better than you." There are exclusives out there on PS4, XBOX ONE, and PC (well I think there are some on PS4 and XBOX ONE, not sure yet really). But yeah, how about instead of fighting over specs, we fight over who has the best games. I mean, Yoshi Story 2 and Kirby's Canvas Curse 2 are the reason I bought my Wii U, and I'll probably buy Donkey Kong Tropic Freeze, Mario 3D World, and a bunch of the other exclusives on Wii U, because that's why I bought my Wii U, the games. I don't play graphics, I play games. I'll take Conker's Bad Fur Day played on a fuzzy CRT over some uber realistic war shooter at 4K 60FPS at max settings any day. Well this has been Happy Gamer, signing off, and fight over games, not graphics.
Oh and before I go, I'm not a PC gamer, but my brother is. He plays his steam games on his laptop that's about as good as mine when it comes to gaming. He's fidgeted with it to make the games work on his laptop. Like any brother, I like to have a little light hearten fun at his expense, and he the same for me. Nothing serious, just like the story I'm about to share. One day I'm looking over his shoulder as he's playing some real time strategy brawler and the settings are rather crap. I throw the PC master race talking points at him since they aren't being fulfilled. I'm like "Oh so this is what glorious PC gaming looks like, is this 1080p 60fps? My our PS3 looks better than that. Why are you wasting your time if you can't get an experience that's better than a last gen console?" I'm just being a smart ass and trying to get some kind of response. He's just like "Dude shut up, I PC game because I don't have a TV at school, all my friends are on steam, and there's a bunch of games on here I can't get on console (like the one I'm playing at the moment)." Now why can't we all have reasons like that?
Really, I am sick and tired of people battling over specs and price when it comes to PC and console gaming. As I said it before and I'll say it again, EVERY PLATFORM HAS IT'S POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES! (except steam machine :P, that sucks and everyone knows it). So yeah, I'm sick and tired of the constant battle between PC master racers and console gamers who argue with them. PC gaming is expensive, get over it. I have a $600 laptop that can't do gaming well, and it's cheaper than the consoles on the market. I could mess with the settings, or I could build a budget rig, but I have better things to do with my time then try to make my games work. If I wanted to get the convenience of a console, I would have to buy some super expensive per-built rig. I don't care if you enjoy building PCs, I don't and many console gamers don't either, that's why they're console gamers. PC gaming is also almost exclusively digital, and I don't care if digital is the future and physical media is a thing of the past, I like my wall of games not my hard drive of games, PC or console.
Console also has it's draw backs as well. We don't have steam sales, which are nice if you like digital games. We don't have as large of an indi scene, except for maybe on the Wii U from what I've heard. We aren't running at the best technology has to offer. We don't have the options of mouse and keyboard or controller. We have our drawbacks and you have yours. But when you compare PC gaming to console gaming, you're comparing apples and oranges. PC gaming and console gaming are inherently different. All this bickering over PC vs console is an apple saying "I'm better than the orange because I'm sweet and you're sour," then the orange saying "I'm better than the apple because I'm sour and you're sweet." They're both fruit but they are inherently different and one should base the comparison of the 2 based on the inherent differences.
So what should we base our bickering on smart guy? Duh, who has the better games. One of the best things about Nintendo is that they have great exclusives. Whenever I see a flame war between PC and console gamers over specs and price, there's always 1 or 2 Nintendo gamers that are like "I have Mario, I have Smash Bros, I have fun games." That's what I like about Nintendo consoles. You don't see anyone going "he he, Wii U underpowered, I'm so much better than you." Well you did at the beginning when Nintendo was dropping the ball on the 3rd party releases, but now with all the exclusives, people can still be "well Wii U is underpowered my PS4/XBOX ONE/PC is so superior," but all the Nintendo gamer has to do is hold up a copy of Smash Bros and say "no, this is why I'm better than you." There are exclusives out there on PS4, XBOX ONE, and PC (well I think there are some on PS4 and XBOX ONE, not sure yet really). But yeah, how about instead of fighting over specs, we fight over who has the best games. I mean, Yoshi Story 2 and Kirby's Canvas Curse 2 are the reason I bought my Wii U, and I'll probably buy Donkey Kong Tropic Freeze, Mario 3D World, and a bunch of the other exclusives on Wii U, because that's why I bought my Wii U, the games. I don't play graphics, I play games. I'll take Conker's Bad Fur Day played on a fuzzy CRT over some uber realistic war shooter at 4K 60FPS at max settings any day. Well this has been Happy Gamer, signing off, and fight over games, not graphics.
Oh and before I go, I'm not a PC gamer, but my brother is. He plays his steam games on his laptop that's about as good as mine when it comes to gaming. He's fidgeted with it to make the games work on his laptop. Like any brother, I like to have a little light hearten fun at his expense, and he the same for me. Nothing serious, just like the story I'm about to share. One day I'm looking over his shoulder as he's playing some real time strategy brawler and the settings are rather crap. I throw the PC master race talking points at him since they aren't being fulfilled. I'm like "Oh so this is what glorious PC gaming looks like, is this 1080p 60fps? My our PS3 looks better than that. Why are you wasting your time if you can't get an experience that's better than a last gen console?" I'm just being a smart ass and trying to get some kind of response. He's just like "Dude shut up, I PC game because I don't have a TV at school, all my friends are on steam, and there's a bunch of games on here I can't get on console (like the one I'm playing at the moment)." Now why can't we all have reasons like that?
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Emulation is NOT "console game disc playable on your PC."
OK, so I saw this on Did You Know Gaming yesterday.
"The disc has a windows .EXE file that can be play on a computer." By the language of the image, it sounds like you'd be able to pop the disc into your PC and play Pikmin, or something, on your PC. Well, as a fan of gaming, I decided to try it out. I have computers that have disc trays that can hold mini-discs. I have a Vista computer and a Windows 7 computer. Given the time the game was released and how technology advances, I figured that one or the other would work.
So I dig out my copy of Pikmin and plop it into my Windows 7 computer. My computer had some trouble reading the disc, as is to be expected, but then it didn't recognize it as "being there" and said "please insert a disc." Well, my computer was running a little hot since it was on for a while, so I decided I'll try it the next day when it cooled down.
I try it again today, it didn't work. "Please insert disc." I thought, "OK, maybe 7 is to advanced, I'll try Vista." I turn on the Vista computer and put the Pikmin disc into the disc tray. I opened up my computer, and same thing, "Please insert a disc." I'm thinking, "what gives, do I need to use XP? Well the XP computer is so screwed up we use it as a night stand, it can't even run Solitare let alone an actual game like Pikmin."
So I looked into the source of the DYKG post. Read it for yourself and see what you make of it.
"Source" that tell you about it.
"Notes" that give the how to.
Now I'm not going to act like I know everything there is to know about game programing, computers, and emulation, but reading how to do it sounds a lot like running the rom in an emulator. OK, it's not an emulator by traditional definitions, but you basically need to take the data from the disc, get a program to run the data, and then make some changes to the data so you can run it. To me, that sounds an awful lot like an emulator. This is not what I took away from the post; I interpreted it to mean "pop your copy of Pikmin into your computer and run the debug menu," not "rip the data for a copy of Pikmin, get a program that will play the data, and then make some changes to the data." Ug.
Well this has been Happy Gamer signing off, and DYKG, if you're reading this, do not include rom hacks of a game rom that needs an emulator as a bit of gaming trivia. The .EXE file thing might be good bit of trivia, but don't word it in a way that sounds like "put the disc in a computer and it'll run." Phase it like "if you look into the Pikmin rom, you'll find a windows .EXE file of a debug mode."
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
XBOX Changes, XBOX ONE kinect free bundle and Gold is only needed for multiplayer
"I will never buy an XBOX ONE so long as I have to buy a Kinect." I don't know if I've ever said that here on this particular blog, but I know I've said it in the comment section on countless articles and videos about the XBOX ONE. This was not an idle threat, I hate the idea of being required to buy something I will never use and the potential will never be fully utilized except in maybe 1 game. Like before, not sure if I ever did my comparison of the Wii and the kinect on this particular blog, but I know I've said it whenever someone said "the technology in Kinect 2.0 is so much more advanced than the original kinect and it opens up the doors to so much." Yeah, the wii remote also had loads of potential, but all we got from that was 3 games that actually utilized the motion controls while the rest was shovelware or tacked on. The same exact thing was going to happen with the kinect. But back to me never buying xbox with kinect. I saw some amazing exclusives at E3. I saw some amazing exclusives on TV and in demo stations. I thought to myself "that sure looks like it'd be grand fun, to bad I'll never buy an XBOX ONE so long as kinect is a required purchase." Now praise the lord that the kinect is no longer mandatory. With that gone, I'm now considering the XBOX ONE as my next console.
On a less publicized note, Microsoft is now unlocking all the streaming media apps and other features from behind the XBOX Gold payment wall. Yeah, you heard right, you will not longer need XBOX Gold to use streaming apps like netflix, hulu plus, crackle, youtube, internet explorer, MLB, NFL, vevo, amazon instant video; the list goes on and on. What do I have to say to that, well thank-you for wising up Microsoft. Absolutely no other device, at least to my EXTENSIVE knowledge, required you to pay a payment wall to access services that are completely free elsewhere or only require you to pay the subscription for the single service. My PS3, all I have to do is pay my hulu plus subscription, buy the episodes or movies through Amazon instant video, or watch some commercials on Crackle. I don't need playstation plus to access these services. The same goes for the Wii, Wii U, Roku, any cell phone or tablet, apple TV, 3DS, PC, and EVERY OTHER DEVICE! When I heard that, I thought "hmm, looks like I'll be able to finally use my XBOX360 for something other than offline gaming." I only had gold for that 1 free month you get for creating an xbox live account. Never had it since. Never needed it. I don't like online multiplayer and they didn't have all the streaming apps I cared about before I got my PS3. Good on you Microsoft, you're giving us options. They're also reworking games with gold where you get free games for having gold, so now it's more like playstion plus, which is a plus. If I ever get the time to actually play videogames again, maybe, just maybe, I might want to get gold for the first time
Now for something that really irks me, when I read articles about people complaining about the kinect news. They're all sad that now we aren't forced to buy a kinect. The make it sound like Microsoft is completely dropping kinect support. News flash, it's still available, but now we don't have to buy it if we don't want to. "But without the known install base developers can't confidently develop for the kinect." Yeah and how well did that work with the Wii? All 3 of the games I played that actually utilized the motion controls were first party nintendo games. All the others were tacked on motion controls or shovelware. The same exact thing was going to happen to the kinect. And you know what, if a developer has an amazing idea for kinect integration or a kinect game, they're going to make it. Really, no developer is going to say "I have this amazing idea for a game that utilizes kinect and would be a system seller, and people would buy a kinect just to play this game, but I won't do it because there's not enough of an install base." If a serious developer went to Microsoft with that pitch, Microsoft would probably give them kinect royalties. But who am I kidding, no one is taking the kinect seriously except for Microsoft and a couple of crazy reporters and fanboys.
Well, that's enough rambling for this topic. This has been Happy Gamer signing off, and remember, you can't please all the people all the time, but you can please almost all of the people by removing crap.
On a less publicized note, Microsoft is now unlocking all the streaming media apps and other features from behind the XBOX Gold payment wall. Yeah, you heard right, you will not longer need XBOX Gold to use streaming apps like netflix, hulu plus, crackle, youtube, internet explorer, MLB, NFL, vevo, amazon instant video; the list goes on and on. What do I have to say to that, well thank-you for wising up Microsoft. Absolutely no other device, at least to my EXTENSIVE knowledge, required you to pay a payment wall to access services that are completely free elsewhere or only require you to pay the subscription for the single service. My PS3, all I have to do is pay my hulu plus subscription, buy the episodes or movies through Amazon instant video, or watch some commercials on Crackle. I don't need playstation plus to access these services. The same goes for the Wii, Wii U, Roku, any cell phone or tablet, apple TV, 3DS, PC, and EVERY OTHER DEVICE! When I heard that, I thought "hmm, looks like I'll be able to finally use my XBOX360 for something other than offline gaming." I only had gold for that 1 free month you get for creating an xbox live account. Never had it since. Never needed it. I don't like online multiplayer and they didn't have all the streaming apps I cared about before I got my PS3. Good on you Microsoft, you're giving us options. They're also reworking games with gold where you get free games for having gold, so now it's more like playstion plus, which is a plus. If I ever get the time to actually play videogames again, maybe, just maybe, I might want to get gold for the first time
Now for something that really irks me, when I read articles about people complaining about the kinect news. They're all sad that now we aren't forced to buy a kinect. The make it sound like Microsoft is completely dropping kinect support. News flash, it's still available, but now we don't have to buy it if we don't want to. "But without the known install base developers can't confidently develop for the kinect." Yeah and how well did that work with the Wii? All 3 of the games I played that actually utilized the motion controls were first party nintendo games. All the others were tacked on motion controls or shovelware. The same exact thing was going to happen to the kinect. And you know what, if a developer has an amazing idea for kinect integration or a kinect game, they're going to make it. Really, no developer is going to say "I have this amazing idea for a game that utilizes kinect and would be a system seller, and people would buy a kinect just to play this game, but I won't do it because there's not enough of an install base." If a serious developer went to Microsoft with that pitch, Microsoft would probably give them kinect royalties. But who am I kidding, no one is taking the kinect seriously except for Microsoft and a couple of crazy reporters and fanboys.
Well, that's enough rambling for this topic. This has been Happy Gamer signing off, and remember, you can't please all the people all the time, but you can please almost all of the people by removing crap.
Saturday, April 26, 2014
The legend is true, E.T. games really were burried in a New Mexican Landfill
Urban legends are fun, but most of the times, they're so far fetched that there's no way they are real. However, there's always that grain of "this could actually happen." Well, here's one that is real.
Greetings, and welcome to happy gamer rambles. A blog where I ramble about my thoughts on videogame news and trends. A little over a week ago, I heard about the E.T. landfill dig that will tell us once and for all if millions of Atari E.T. games are buried in a New Mexican Landfill. Well, it happened this weekend and what is probably the best news ever happened, there REALLY WAS MILLIONS OF E.T. GAMES BURIED IN THE LANDFILL!
No really, Atari actually dumped it's excess E.T. games in a landfill. Check out the Kotaku and Yahoo Games articles on it. I'm sure that by the time you're reading this there will be way more articles on it. But it's real. The legend is real. And as a testament to the durability of cartridge games, someone plugged one into an Atari and it worked.
So what do I have to say on this, I'm ecstatic. This is such great news. I loved the legend. I loved telling people about the legend. I just loved the idea of the company responsible for the worst game ever made burying their leftover inventory in a New Mexican landfill that doesn't allow garbage picking just so the public won't be able to get their hands on easy game copies. When I told people about this dig event, I actually had to tell a fair amount of people about the legend and the game. Looks like my original "everyone has heard of Atari E.T." statement was a little inaccurate, but that just meant that I got to tell people the legend and the history of Atari E.T. It was always a fun story to tell, but I always had to preface with "the legend says" or "according to popular theory" or some other "I can't say this is fact but this is what many people say happened." Now I know it's true. Now when I tell the legend, I can say "this actually happened, on April 26th 2014, almost 30 years after the games were buried, a dig crew got permission to dig the landfill and found thousands, maybe millions of E.T. cartridges." I only wish I was there to see it personally and dig up my own landfill Atari E.T. I want one really bad. Hopefully I can buy one for a reasonable price on eBay. That way, I would have a "to play" copy and a "landfill display" copy.
Well this has been happy gamer signing out. And remember, even if an urban legend seems a little far fetched, it just may end up being true.
Greetings, and welcome to happy gamer rambles. A blog where I ramble about my thoughts on videogame news and trends. A little over a week ago, I heard about the E.T. landfill dig that will tell us once and for all if millions of Atari E.T. games are buried in a New Mexican Landfill. Well, it happened this weekend and what is probably the best news ever happened, there REALLY WAS MILLIONS OF E.T. GAMES BURIED IN THE LANDFILL!
No really, Atari actually dumped it's excess E.T. games in a landfill. Check out the Kotaku and Yahoo Games articles on it. I'm sure that by the time you're reading this there will be way more articles on it. But it's real. The legend is real. And as a testament to the durability of cartridge games, someone plugged one into an Atari and it worked.
So what do I have to say on this, I'm ecstatic. This is such great news. I loved the legend. I loved telling people about the legend. I just loved the idea of the company responsible for the worst game ever made burying their leftover inventory in a New Mexican landfill that doesn't allow garbage picking just so the public won't be able to get their hands on easy game copies. When I told people about this dig event, I actually had to tell a fair amount of people about the legend and the game. Looks like my original "everyone has heard of Atari E.T." statement was a little inaccurate, but that just meant that I got to tell people the legend and the history of Atari E.T. It was always a fun story to tell, but I always had to preface with "the legend says" or "according to popular theory" or some other "I can't say this is fact but this is what many people say happened." Now I know it's true. Now when I tell the legend, I can say "this actually happened, on April 26th 2014, almost 30 years after the games were buried, a dig crew got permission to dig the landfill and found thousands, maybe millions of E.T. cartridges." I only wish I was there to see it personally and dig up my own landfill Atari E.T. I want one really bad. Hopefully I can buy one for a reasonable price on eBay. That way, I would have a "to play" copy and a "landfill display" copy.
Well this has been happy gamer signing out. And remember, even if an urban legend seems a little far fetched, it just may end up being true.
Monday, April 14, 2014
E.T. Landfill Dig
E.T. for the Atari 2600 is considered the worst videogame of all time, and rightfully so. It's so bad, it even killed Pokematic once. Don't know what I'm talking about, check out our review of Atari E.T. here. It's also so bad, it didn't sell very well, but millions of copies were made. So what happened to the millions that didn't sell? Well urban legend says they were buried in a landfill in New Mexico. I say "urban legend" because Atari has neither confirmed nor denied that, and there's a landfill in New Mexico that doesn't allow for trash picking and it would be just about the right size to hold millions of Atari cartridges. Well, that is until April 26th 2014.
Yeah, that's right, after 20+ years of secrecy and "no one gets to dig here," archiologists and gamers alike are finally going to be able to see if there really is a landfill full of millions of Atari E.T. carts. Here's the IGN article.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/04/10/et-video-game-dig-gets-the-green-light
So what are my thoughts on this historic event. I'm psyched. I mean, this is the worst game of all time. This game almost single handedly destroyed videogames as we know it. I, the Happy Gamer, would not exist if this game was successful in destroying video games. Sure, Catholiccontriversy and Pokematic would still be here, but I wouldn't. But here's the thing, I have a deep appreciation for E.T. It is a testament to how terrible a game can be. I have an actual copy of it, and I'm proud to have such a terrible game in my collection. As a collector, I like my games to have history. I like the history behind the action 52. I like the history behind Conkers Bad Fur Day. But the history behind E.T., that just takes the cake. There are some really terrible games out there, and many people wouldn't know they exist if it wasn't for people like AVGN and Irate Gamer. Those games were just so forgettable. However, E.T. lives in infamy. It is a game that is so monumentally bad, you can't forget about it. We as gamers will never forget about it. I can talk to people who only play modern games, and they will know about E.T. I can talk to people who don't even fully know what an Atari is, but they will know E.T. It's just that powerful.
So why should we care if millions of copies were disposed of in a landfill? I'm sure many that were bought are in landfills as well. And while that may be true, that was consumer choice and those are scattered around the world amongst egg shells, wrapping paper, and other garbage. However, this was Atari dumping millions at once in one spot. These E.T. cartridges are amongst millions of other cartridges, and there isn't an egg shell or wrapping paper within miles. As the legend goes, this was a land fill that was basically made for E.T. And if it wasn't made for it, the landfill was the only one that was remote enough and didn't allow for garbage picking. This is the perfect place to unload millions of dollars worth of game cartridges.
Where will I be when this happens? Unfortunately I will be back home unpacking and sorting my college stuff. If I had the money and the time, I would be out there in the New Mexican dessert with my shovel in hand, hoping to get a landfill copy of E.T. If I didn't get a copy, I would just be happy being part of the history. And that's why people care about it, it's history. We're going to put to rest the urban legend of millions of Atari E.T. games just getting dumped in a New Mexican landfill. This is history in the making. Aside from the spectators uploading cell phone videos of the event, apparently there's going to be actual documentary filmmakers shooting a documentary on it. Really, this is history in the making. I'll keep you posted when we actually get details on it. Well, this has been Happy Gamer, signing off, and remember, if you dispose of your terrible game in a landfill hoping people will forget about it, 20 years later, they'll still remember, and will want to dig it up.
Yeah, that's right, after 20+ years of secrecy and "no one gets to dig here," archiologists and gamers alike are finally going to be able to see if there really is a landfill full of millions of Atari E.T. carts. Here's the IGN article.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/04/10/et-video-game-dig-gets-the-green-light
So what are my thoughts on this historic event. I'm psyched. I mean, this is the worst game of all time. This game almost single handedly destroyed videogames as we know it. I, the Happy Gamer, would not exist if this game was successful in destroying video games. Sure, Catholiccontriversy and Pokematic would still be here, but I wouldn't. But here's the thing, I have a deep appreciation for E.T. It is a testament to how terrible a game can be. I have an actual copy of it, and I'm proud to have such a terrible game in my collection. As a collector, I like my games to have history. I like the history behind the action 52. I like the history behind Conkers Bad Fur Day. But the history behind E.T., that just takes the cake. There are some really terrible games out there, and many people wouldn't know they exist if it wasn't for people like AVGN and Irate Gamer. Those games were just so forgettable. However, E.T. lives in infamy. It is a game that is so monumentally bad, you can't forget about it. We as gamers will never forget about it. I can talk to people who only play modern games, and they will know about E.T. I can talk to people who don't even fully know what an Atari is, but they will know E.T. It's just that powerful.
So why should we care if millions of copies were disposed of in a landfill? I'm sure many that were bought are in landfills as well. And while that may be true, that was consumer choice and those are scattered around the world amongst egg shells, wrapping paper, and other garbage. However, this was Atari dumping millions at once in one spot. These E.T. cartridges are amongst millions of other cartridges, and there isn't an egg shell or wrapping paper within miles. As the legend goes, this was a land fill that was basically made for E.T. And if it wasn't made for it, the landfill was the only one that was remote enough and didn't allow for garbage picking. This is the perfect place to unload millions of dollars worth of game cartridges.
Where will I be when this happens? Unfortunately I will be back home unpacking and sorting my college stuff. If I had the money and the time, I would be out there in the New Mexican dessert with my shovel in hand, hoping to get a landfill copy of E.T. If I didn't get a copy, I would just be happy being part of the history. And that's why people care about it, it's history. We're going to put to rest the urban legend of millions of Atari E.T. games just getting dumped in a New Mexican landfill. This is history in the making. Aside from the spectators uploading cell phone videos of the event, apparently there's going to be actual documentary filmmakers shooting a documentary on it. Really, this is history in the making. I'll keep you posted when we actually get details on it. Well, this has been Happy Gamer, signing off, and remember, if you dispose of your terrible game in a landfill hoping people will forget about it, 20 years later, they'll still remember, and will want to dig it up.
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