Selects: E.T.: Is It Really the Worst Video Game of All Time? | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

hey everyone it's Josh and for this. week's select I've chosen our 2018. episode on ET the video game it's one of. those topics that you thought you knew. about but after you hear this episode. you'll realize that you've been grossly. misinformed by the internet who knew. that could happen enjoy this trip down. Nostalgia. Lane welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart. Radio.

hey and welcome to the. podcast I'm Josh and there's Chuck and. there's Jerry and it's like the holiday. season I feel great it is holidays uhhuh. with a z and we're going to do what we. almost did for a short stuff oh yes chug. you're commended for for that call well. I was just like I kind of wanted to do. this one always as a long stuff mhm we. don't have a show called medium stuff.

yet. no we have a so so stuff it's called. stuff you should not yeah um but yeah. the I saw that documentary Atari. gameover MH a few years ago it's a good. one and I also guested on Tech stuff and. did a two-part episode on the history of. Atari it's a good one with Strickland. he's great too and um we could probably. do Atari on its own at some point too I. agree I think we definitely should but. this is I mean I was about to say. strickling and I could get two episodes.

out of it but you know how that guy goes. on oh my. God he's the hardest working man in. podcast business I'll tell you that just. ask um so we're talking today about what. is widely believed to be the worst video. game of all time except that it's not. except that it's not yes it's true I. love stories like this where it's like. everything you thought you knew is wrong. and really stop and ask yourself how did. you even know that this truth that you.

knew before I love that man yeah ET the. Atari video. game a lot of people it's that whole. internet bandwagon thing I think yes. worst game of all time they tried to. bury it in the desert it was so bad. killed thear killed the whole stinking. industry right but it was just that bad. of a game oh you've played it no. yeah um I will say this it may be one of. the one of the most disappointing games. of all time it could yes um because if.

you were a kid back then like me and you. and you played Atari like I did. um it was it was a disappointment it was. greatly anticipated I'm sure a lot of. anticipation that was part you know that. was that was probably the biggest reason. why it gets all the attention it's. because it was ET it wasn't uh what was. that dumb game sorcerer yeah or uh fast. food there were so many bad video games. for Atari yeah there were a lot.

it was awful so we'll just come out and. say no ET is not the worst video game of. all time there were a lot of worse far. far worse video games yes uh than ET but. like you were saying as far as the. anticipation went as far as the let down. went as far as the loss of money went. you can understand how people would say. this is the worst of all time but also. the timing of its failure. was so utterly amazingly.

perfect that it just took it from worst. video game of all time to worst video. game of all time yeah it's like here. Atari in video con Home console game. industry you're not doing well and I. noticed you're sinking let me tie this. Anvil around your ankle right that's. shaped like ET yep that's right it's. just really bad timing so let's get into. the story because it's one of the more. interesting ones and it features a great. guy named Howard Scott warshaw who if.

you've seen the uh the movie game over. you have probably come to really like. and admire good dude good dude brilliant. designer uhhuh and like a just a. genuinely great guy uh he um this The. Story begins back in. 1982 I believe um yeah it was 1982 uh he. was a designer at atar he'd apparently. started out writing code at huet Packard. and was very unhappy so he made the move. over to atar even though he had zero.

experience with game design but he was. really an exciting game designer cuz he. came up with some really innovative. ideas yes he uh yars revenge is is one. of the best Atari 2600 games of all time. did you have that one oh yeah I never. played it it's great still great it's. kind of space invader or something it's. like a shooter thing kind of yeah single. screen shooter well you're a uh um I. guess you're a Yar and you're this sort. of bug like like creature and um instead.

of shooting at something to to chip away. at it you do so with your body so you. just fly into this oh I think I have it. go it went uh you would fly into this I. mean of course all this stuff was. supposed to represent like a spaceship. or a planet okay but it was made up of. you know blocks and cubes so I don't. even know what it was yeah but your. whole point was to make it smaller. gotcha and you would fly into it I know. what you're talking about instead of. yeah shooting you would fly into it for. my money that kind of game the best of.

all time was centipede centipede is. great it was great I mean a lot of those. games I played to a when I happened upon. an arcade Galaga and Frogger and. centipede and Defender like those are. still really good challenging joust sure. fun games yeah Miss Pac-Man yeah they. just stand up still sure it's not like. you go to Galaga or J now and you're. like this is easy what was I thinking I. was such a stupid kid those are still. hard challenging games and I think. that's sort of the key to a good video.

game is it's got to be winnable but it's. got to be hard mhm cuz a kid doesn't. want. to you know a pushover right but a kid. also wants to win so Howard Scott. warshaw knew this like he was a a game. designer he wasn't like a code monkey or. anything like that he was a game. designer an artist I'm sure he. considered himself especially at the. time and he should have one of the other. things he was known for um was he was. the guy who realized that you could make.

a game way more enjoyable if you created. a backstory for it so rather than like. uh drive this car there you're actually. running away from this gang of you know. International Mafia guys who are trying. to kidnap your girlfriend or whatever. yeah you make up a backstory for it the. the player reads this backstory and then. plays they care that much more about the. person because their imagination is now. kicked in they're not just doing a. Mindless task they're imagining what's. going on in computer world and he did.

that for for games and he was one of the. first if not the first designer to. create backstories and biographies for. his characters and games yeah and you. know what I'm just now is is sort of. hitting me that um part of the appeal. was the imagination of the kid so like. when you got the game Adventure or. asteroids and asteroids you a a pencil. drawn triangle right shooting at pencil. drawn um shapes shooting pencil at. pencil drawn shapes shooting dots at.

pencil drawn shapes in adventure you are. a cube right that flew around with a. arrow attached to you that was supposed. to be your sword but when you look at. the the actual cartridge or the box that. it came in right they had this great. artwork of this Knight on a horse with. his sword drawn or in in asteroids this. Han Solo like pilot like cruising. through a a you know an asteroid field. and that what kickstart that kickstarts.

the imagination of a 10-year-old right. and then they forget they're a cube. right or an arrow yeah it makes it that. much more real yeah it was really really. cool cuz the imagination can do some. pretty amazing stuff with eight bytes of. graphic yeah you know for sure um. so warshaw figured this out yeah. designing worlds he would design Easter. eggs into his games too yeah he wasn't. the first but yes no but he he was an. early person to do that yeah Adventure. was the first I think and in addition to. yards Revenge he also already had a hit.

um in the Raiders of the Lost Art game. he had designed that and it's still I. play that so much I read you did oh yeah. I so from what I never played that one. from what I understand you it was. extremely difficult you it required both. joysticks uh yeah there was I think I. read somewhere that there were 33. screens which is unheard of I could buy. that um and that like people still have. trouble beating it today well it's it. was really hard um I remember very. specifically there was one part where.

you were to. parachute. um Parachute from one screen and it. would all of a sudden you went to the. bottom and you it would pop up and. you're on the next screen going down. right and there's a tree on the left and. you had to start that jump early going. hard left right and hook onto that tree. with your parachute if you hit at the. wrong angle it burst your parachute and. you would die wow and if you didn't you. would hook onto it and slide perfectly. and it was probably one of the hardest.

things I've ever had to do in a video. game I thought you could say in your. life no as far as video game play though. really it was very very challenging but. it was possible so when you tried it 27. times and you nailed it on that 28 right. like you would run around the. neighborhood telling all your friends. that you nailed the parachute jump very. cool really really hard but it was so. hard that it was like um you would get. frustrated or it kept you sucked in no. no no you're like I know I can get it.

there's the key and that's where ET. messed up but we'll get to that okay so. um on June it's funny he remembers this. the date on June 27th 1982 Howard Scott. warshaw is hanging around. Atari and he gets a phone call he gets a. phone call from the CEO Ray casar. himself that was a big deal back then oh. sure and Ray cassar says Hey kid we know. you we love you we've got something. going on with step Spielberg he.

remembers that you made the Raiders of. the Lost Art game for him he thinks. you're a certifiable genius but we have. a special assignment for you we want you. to make the ET video game can you do it. wait don't answer yet he yeah can you do. it in five weeks and he went sure yeah. he said yeah which I mean even today. you're like five weeks it doesn't sound. like very long that was less than a. tenth of the time that it would normally. take yeah and he had uh the little.

secret is that he had already called. some other people in the company and. said the CEO yeah is this like is this. even possible or am I just crazy for. asking this guy to do this in five weeks. because it takes five or six months and. they all said no it's not possible and. he said well I'm GNA ask him anyway. right and and Howard Scott warshaw. didn't realize that they had already. told him like no this can't be done when. he said yes but he was locked in the. punch and he was 24 years old and full.

of full of exuberance and huus and all. sorts of stuff and said I can do this so. he did and the reason we should say the. reason why this this schedule was so. shortened it usually took five to six. months for a game to be to be developed. and he had five weeks to do it and the. reason why is because the haggling the. deal um to get the rights for the ET. game for Atari to purchase them which. they bought for $21 million yeah took. way longer than expected and they really.

wanted this game out for in time for. Christmas that was the whole deal so. because of the because the deal had. worked all the way up into the summer. and Christmas was on the other Edge they. needed also several weeks to manufacture. the actual cartridges and get them into. stores yeah if you laid all this. timeline out they left five weeks to. develop a game from scratch so they they. knew just the guy to do it and it was. Howard Scott warshaw and Howard said. I'll give it a shot I'm going to do it.

yeah and um I should point out that when. you say five or six months is the usual. time five or six months was fast the. usual time was more than that well you. also probably had a team working on it. too like five or six months was the rush. version right anyway yeah I mean rush I. think. ra not the pretty delightful prag rock. version did that have a they should had. their own video game I'm surprised they. didn't they were like right there in. that wheelhouse would Sur we would know.

like the 2112 game or something we would. know yeah there's no way we wouldn't. know about the Rush 2112 atar game so. warshaw uh gets to meet with uh Stephen. Spielberg uh in the LA and was not given. direction or a brief he me meets with. Spielberg says here's what I propos this. adventure game that follows the plot of. the film somewhat where the kid is ET. playing the game you are ET right you. got to go around and collect all these.

pieces to build a phone so you can phone. home and the government's after you and. these bad doctors are after you and it's. just like your movie right and Spielberg. was like well can't you just have him. like running around eating Reese's. Pieces like Pac-Man yeah and he went oh. there's this great there's this great. quote where he's like here here's one of. my Idols Stephen Spielberg asking me to. knock off Pac-Man for the ET game and I. thought well GE Stephen couldn't you. make something more like the day the the. Earth Stood Still yeah Burn Right burn.

um so he he apparently had to do a. little fancy footwork to talk Spielberg. into going with his vision rather than a. Pac-Man knockoff of ET yeah which who. knows may have may have sold a lot. better but it was uh he he got him to. agree to his vision for this game he. said no this is a groundbreaking movie. we need to make a groundbreaking game. and so Spielberg agreed to it and and. warshaw started to get to work so we. should probably take a break before. Scott Howard Scott really jumps in let's.

do. [Music]. [Applause]. [Music]. it all right Chuck so it's basically the. beginning of July 1982 and Howard Scott. warshaw is the sole programmer for an ET.

video game atari's biggest bet that they. spent $21 million on the rights to that. they're going to spend an additional $5. million on the advertising budget for. the most anyone's ever spent on a video. game up to that point he's the only. programmer who's going to make this game. and he has five weeks to do it which. from what I understand no one had ever. done. before yeah and this was Atari was a. giant at the time um if video if the. video game industry was beginning to.

slip it. wasn't like the public didn't really. realize that yet right uh the industry. may have but Atari held about 80% of the. the market um they were at about two. billion in annual sales and about 3/4 of. a billion in profit which is just. unheard of about two billion in profit. in today's money yeah so a ton of money. but they saw the writing on the wall. they knew that the personal computer. like the commod war 64 that could play.

games but also do a lot more was a real. genuine threat to the home conso so I. read a a contemporary article in the New. York. Times in from 1983 talking about this. and Atari said they did not see the. writing on the wall well one of them. said the first six months of uh 1983 was. one way the second six months it was. like we were in a totally different. business yeah but if you if you read. interviews with them now I think that. might have been oh the guy covering his.

a well yeah I don't think you want to go. out in the press in the moment and say. hey everyone we're super scared. investors don't freak out don't panic. you're right Chuck I I feel a little. foolish uh so they what they did was. they they set warshaw up with um. everything he would have at work they. set him up at home so the only time he. could not be working on this game was. his very short drive over to the office. and he worked on it almost non-stop for. 5 weeks he had a manager that was.

assigned to him to make sure that he ate. that was I'm sure not the manager's only. duty but it was one of the manager's new. jobs was to make sure that warshaw ate. every day how about a waffle sure. whatever stop bothering me et's in the. pit again so for five weeks he worked. almost like you said 24 hours a day he. said it's the hardest he's ever worked. in his entire life yeah and when 5 weeks. came. went he handed off his he handed off the.

game he finished it he he completed it. in time and it wasn't done in his. opinion or it would turn out in. anybody's opinion but it was done it was. a complete game that he had finished in. five weeks the ET video game and it. wasn't just something like like a. Pac-Man knockoff he' given real thought. to it and created uh a world that was. much different from a lot of the other. games at the time at the time he was a. world like it was a cube-shaped world.

with six screens and so if you walk to. the left you knew you were going to end. up on this other screen if you walked up. you would end up on the other screen it. was a world that you were navigating. rather than say like Ys Revenge which is. just one screen and everything's. happening on the one screen and it may. imply motion or something like this with. with the ET game you were moving from. one area of this world to the next yeah. which is it wasn't new it it wasn't new. but it was it wasn't it wasn't standard. to have six screens especially if you.

had five weeks to do it give a guy a. break yeah yeah no I'm not saying it. should what I'm saying is that. um it wasn't like some big revolutionary. thing yeah like the Raiders game was pre. this and it had 30 something screens. okay all right fine and Adventure like. kids were used to this by this point. okay so it wasn't like oh wait till they. get a load of six screens like leaving. the screen I see but I think Scott. Howard Scott warshaw should have gone to. everybody's house and been like here's. your copy of ET the game I just want to.

let you know I made this in five weeks. well he designed Easter eggs in there. too and I kind of wondered like how much. time did he spend doing that oh yeah. with his own initials and like the. little yars Revenge flower I hadn't. really thought about that I don't know. so he say if time was of the essence. though I just maybe put that last on the. list he says today that had he had one. more week to just troubleshoot he could. have worked out all the Kinks he could. have worked out the Kinks and one more. EG but he handed it out he handed it off.

to Atari and Atari said genius they gave. it to Steven Spielberg to play Spielberg. apparently liked it and in the game um. it it wasn't it wasn't just some dumb. clunky game it was a mediocre game but. it was a game and it was done and and it. was out the door and they got it out in. time for Christmas the cartridges. shipped um if you go back onto YouTube. and search ET game ad or commercial it. brings up some extraordinarily nostalgic.

ads of ET dressed as Santa Claus playing. his own video game um of a kid like. receiving the ET video game from ET out. in the shed oh yeah just amazing stuff. so not only is it like Christmas time. feeling but like Christmas time 1982. feeling Christmas plus ET over the top. it's nice it's just like the the um the. taste of iced sugar cookies swells from. the inside of your mouth you almost gag. on it's so overpowering so they they.

produce well we don't know for sure how. many maybe as many as 12 million copies. of this at least four million that's. part of the urban legend yeah I mean I. don't think there's an exact exact. number but millions of copies of these. were produced MH $21 million invested in. the licensing plus five $5 million in. advertising and marketing right not just. I mean who knows what they paid warshaw. or for the actual production right uh I.

mean I doubt if it was millions of. dollars but he was probably salaried. they they sunk a whole lot of money into. this thing right and sold okay at first. they sold about a half a million copies. and then and I. remember oh you do oh yeah oh nice word. got around and this was obviously long. before the internet uhuh like you could. still sell some stuff back then before. everyone realized it stunk right but and. that's what was going on but literally. kid to Kid to Kid in culdesac and.

classrooms got the word that the ET game. stunk yeah and it killed it it did it. they little kids killed it they sold. like a half a million copies right out. of the gate almost and then it it peaked. right there very quickly right around. the Christmas season right yeah I mean. just think about that though it was. children led to the demise it's not like. kids read an article in the newspaper. even a review on the ET game it was kids. going man that game stinks yeah yeah. what you bought that oh don't buy it it.

stinks yeah it's it's terrible and that. happened like a game of telephone all. around the country that's really cool. simultaneously kids get things done they. do man so like you said it happened. pretty fast they it peaked at a half a. million copies and over time it managed. to sell another million on top of that. so a million and a half copies that's a. success I think it's like actually an. atari's top 10 of of best sellers but. the problem is if this story is a story. of everything or anything it's not the.

story of a uh over overconfident game. designer making a terrible game that's. an a very confident game designer making. a middling game if it's a story of. anything it is of Executives yes being. drunk with confidence in hubris yes that. no matter what they put out if it's tied. to a hot property of like a movie or. something it's going to sell doesn't. matter what the game is it's going to.

sell problem one problem two was they. forecasted based on that huis too yeah. so not only did they say it's going to. sell no matter what we put out it's. going to sell bigger than anything we've. ever put out before and they ordered 4. million cartridges well again it sold a. million and a half and 2 and a half. million cartridges were sitting in. warehouses not to mention ones that were. starting to be taken back because not. only did did kids go I don't want this.

game I want to take it back and took it. took it to the stores the stores started. taking their games back to Atari yeah so. atari's like wait wait a minute. everybody this is ET the game what are. you doing put this in your 2600 and shut. up and people didn't listen yeah and you. can hardly blame the executives I mean. they were like warshaw plus. Spielberg is is going to be another hit. cuz we had it in Raiders so I sort of.

get it but it was it was just it was. that. timeline right like that was that was. the big problem it was all the timeline. he could have created a game as good as. Raiders right yeah given five six months. I'm sure yeah even given two months he. probably probably could have made an. even better game but it was it was kind. of a boring game it wasn't that fun. there's a very famous quote from a New. York Times um article in 1982 where a. little 10-year-old said it wasn't that.

fun yeah that was kind of it yeah that's. all you need to say and it wasn't and. Not only was it not fun but. um and I don't even I guess you could. call it a bug it was a. bug it seems more like bad design than. just a mistake M um but what would. happen is ET would fall into these pits. and then he could levitate back out but. depending on which way you were or even. how you're holding the joystick right.

the slightest little move would cause ET. to fall back on into that pit no matter. what direction you went sometimes yeah. but it wasn't like all the time it was. um it happened enough though to where as. a kid remember you asked me earlier if. it was frustrating trying to parachute. as Indie yeah it was not because you. knew you could do it right this was. frustrating I got you kids got. frustrated ET was falling in the pit and. he would get out and you would fall in. the pit right and then you do that.

enough times and you're like I'm going. to play Ys revenge or any of my other. games do you have fast food and kids put. it down yeah you know they put down well. they didn't put down the joystick and go. outside and play that would be like the. the movie ending they just popped it out. and put in the game that they liked. exactly so. um this was uh this was a big deal for. Atari um because it came at at the worst. possible time and um speaking of the.

worst possible time let's take a break. and do an ad break and we'll come right. back all. [Music]. [Applause]. [Music]. right all right Chuck so like I was. saying this came at a really terrible. time for Atara you kind of talked about.

how the personal computer industry was. starting to eat into their profits big. time and um they really needed this ET. bet to pay off and not only did it not. pay off they lost tens of millions of. dollars on this yeah this it was a huge. catastrophic bet for Atari and the. numbers are just stunning in like you. said in 1982 atari's profits were $2. billion in um well in today's.

money no that was yeah their profits I'm. sorry in today's money their gross was 2. billion um in the second quarter of. 1983 they posted a loss of $310. million $536 million loss for the whole. year by 1984 the company had been sold. yeah so it went from $2 billion in. profits to a loss of 500 $36 million. over the course of a year yes and it was.

not because of ET but this is the thing. okay so it gets even worse hold on we're. not there yet I'm getting. excited the whole video game industry. actually went down oh yeah so there's. something called the North American. video game Crash of 1983 where not only. did the did Atari go under basically the. industry did so the whole the whole. industry in 1983 had a 3.2 billion ion. in sales by 1985 2 years later they had.

a100 million in sales yeah it was a. crash like that is a catastrophic crash. and like you're saying no it wasn't. because of ET but imagine this think. about this all of that has been laid. ever since then at the feet of ET the. video game and Howard Scott warshaw. people look at him and say you ruined. the video game industry singlehanded L. that's how he's thought of I think that. was the case up until like 2014 or 15.

right yeah I mean I think people in the. know knew that that was not the case but. the popular pop culture opinion of him. yeah maybe yeah but um let's say ET was. a big hit it would not have saved Atari. no it may have like staved the the. bleeding a little bit but not it would. have been a drop in the bucket basically. yeah um I mean I certainly feel bad for. warshaw yeah. um but he has he has a good inning so.

stick around yeah for that don't go. anywhere uh after ET he took some time. off he said that uh he just needed to. sort of recover I believe was the words. he used he went into real estate uh and. did not enjoy that at all um and. eventually he became a psychotherapist. and that's what he does today he's a he. he's labeled the Silicon Valley. psychotherapist and sort of specializes. and talk he he jokes that he's fluent in. English and nerd so I think kind of.

specializes in talking to Silicon Valley. types right um about their work problems. yeah certainly a man that can identify. right you know yeah yeah I bet he's a. great psychotherapist he seems like he. definitely would be yeah so he. definitely made peace with the whole. thing and I think he um he very. frequently jokes I've seen it in more. than one article that he says um he kind. of enjoys it when people say that et's. the worst video game of all time because. people also say that y's revenge is one.

of the best video games of all time so. he has the greatest range of any video. designer ever so he definitely has like. a I think it took him a little while. that's the impression I have to make. peace with it but he made peace with it. and I think one of the reasons he was. able to make peace with it and I'm just. armchair psychologizing here but he um. came to realiz yeah I've used it before. and you said the exact same thing I. think too yeah um he realized that it. wasn't the worst video game of all time. and that the a lot of the people who.

were saying it was the worst video game. of all time didn't know what they were. talking about which has to be super. liberating sure when the whole world's. like you ruined everything and then you. realize like they don't even know what. they're saying you can just kind of let. roll off your back a little more easily. so the the cherry on top of this story. we mentioned this documentary Atari game. over um it is about the legend of the. story of the ET game which continued. after its de. with this urban legend that Atari was so.

distraught and embarrassed by this game. that they had all the remaining boxes. shipped out and buried in the desert. under cement mhm initially you're like. that doesn't make any sense why would. Atari spend all this money to do this. right when they could just burn them. sell them in the dollar bin do anything. other than this weird plan to bury them. out in the desert of New Mexico yeah and. a lot of people took it when it was kind.

of an initial rumor that like Atari was. trying to bury their shame that's how it. just went that much further to point out. how bad the E video game was Atari was. trying to bury it and forget about it. right uh so in 2011 there was um a party. where there was an Atari former Atari. person there and uh a guy named Mike. Burns was talking to him and said. something about yeah this urban legend. that you guys did this and apparently. the answer was just sheepish enough to.

where he was like wait a minute is that. true right so did he did he fund this. documentary is that how that worked I. think it he he's a guy who makes things. happen he brings people together okay I. think yes he definitely put some of his. own money into it but I think he also. got others to to put money into it as. well okay I didn't know if he was. involved in the dock itself yes yes he. was um or just financing the Dig both. but uh Zack Penn made this documentary.

Um Zack Penn great great writer um. ironically wrote the movie Ready Player. one oh he did which talks about. Adventure and Easter eggs and all that. fun stuff nice so he's he's written a. bunch of movies bunch of the Marvel. movies and stuff um and it was clearly a. labor of love this this documentary if. you've seen it uh you know Zack pen is. like super excited about all this stuff. yeah so the old Alam mordo land Phil in. New. Mexico uh has 300 it's 300 acres and.

then 100 cells which are these uh it. says holes but there're just these big. Square deep pits where you you know if. you listen to our landfills episode then. you know what goes on there they just. dump stuff in there and cover it up. right and the legend was that the ET is. in one of these cells and these days. they chart it and it's mapped out so. they know what's where generally sure. and if a cop comes and says hey there's. some evidence from four years ago they.

could say oh well that's going to be in. this cell it was from this area of town. where it was picked up right and we. buried it here back then they didn't. have anything like that no it was like. they just dug a hole put garbage in it. covered it up and went home according to. a guy named joliee wowski and Mike Burns. lucked out that a guy named Jolie. wendowski worked at the Alam magoto um. city waste department because he is is. basically the institutional memory of.

alam mag Gordo's waist oh yeah and he. worked at the dump for so long that he. had a pretty good chance of remembering. what where the stuff was put um but he. was kind of like no we don't we didn't. document it I have no idea leave me. alone and apparently Mike Burns is not. the type to just be like oh okay I'll. thanks didn't mean to bother you he'll. keep pestering you until you do what he. wants from what I understand um and so. he finally got Jolie wowski on board and. in just an astounding turn of good luck.

Jolie wendowski wife had made a. scrapbook of Joe's time working for Alam. muro's um waste department that included. pictures of the dump from around this. time yeah so they were able to narrow. down these hundred cells over 300 acres. to two to just two which narrowed the. search enough that they could actually. start taking samples to try to find yeah. that was a very big breakthrough and if. you you watch this documentary when. they're when they're taking these. samples and they come across like.

newspaper clippings from that year and. that month yeah where these cartridges. were supposedly buried it's really. exciting it is I got to admit it's like. oh my gosh like they it's like finding. buried treasure right so they narrowed. it down uh all of these people showed up. um fans the uh what's his name ER Ernest. Klein who wrote the book Ready Player. one he showed up in his uh back to the. Future DeLorean right and uh it was a. very big deal they Howard uh warshaw.

came in and he was there and people were. just like embracing this guy instead of. like it's not like he showed up and. people are like there he is get him he's. like this beloved cherished dude right. and I get the sense that this was a very. big deal oh yeah for his closure um. which is interesting cuz burying. something is usually the closure right. in this case digging it up was the. closure yeah good point uh and they did. find.

uh300 Game cartridges yeah which it. makes you wonder like how this how they. got there how the rumor got started to. begin with well and the fact that there. is some truth to it yeah they feel like. it definitely confirms that urban legend. like Atari definitely did cover up they. did dump these these cartridges but it. wasn't just ET cartridges and it wasn't. like the millions that they supposedly. dumped but they probably buried some. elsewhere in either California or Texas.

or both but it it confirmed that yes. this actually did happen the urban. legend was real and at the very least it. gave um Howard Scott warshaw that. closure you were talking about he got to. see you know 30 something years on um. people were. still vibing out on his creation. although in ways he could not have. possibly predicted when he was spending. that five weeks programming this game. yeah he said he was full of gratitude. that's really cool that's a very cool. way to go through life my friend so.

let's oh man you know if you can. remember to have gratitude it truly does. make you happy yeah it's insane it's. just remembering to be grateful is the. trick so they ended up a lot of these. went on eBay um auctioned off I think. they sold about $100,000 worth of these. things uh that went to the uh city of. alam mordo of course they owned them. right it's not like they just gave them. out to everyone that was there is it is. a party gift they should have sure they. should have given everyone one copy I. think some of like like Mike Burns and.

some of his crew got some and El mordo. kept some but I think the ones that were. auction were auctioned by Alam mordo to. go to a funder Museum I would love a. copy ass signed cartridge from moraw I. mean the most I think one went for was. 1,500 bucks so I don't want it that bad. but no I'm saying like that's the most. that's the highest any of them went for. so you could probably get one for a. couple hundred bucks if you tried I. wonder if he listens to the show I hope. so you never know I hope so I hope we. cleared it up for you warshaw you're a.

legend sir yes hats off to you send me a. signed cartridge send two Josh needs one. thank you buddy um you got anything else. no it did ET was not the worst game. there were there were games that were so. bad that you don't they were just in the. dust bin of History they were so bad. yeah like sorcerer like you said mangas. apparently pretty bad yeah they were. terrible like all these not knockoff. companies but you know AR Atari opened. it up to where anyone could right could.

design a game that fit their console and. some people say that that was one of the. reasons why Atari lost market shares. because there's so much crud on the. shelves people were tired of buying. cruddy games for 25 bucks yeah and that. they just oversaturated the market. themselves but they oversaturated with. terrible stuff overed well at any rate. that's ET the game not the worst video. game of all time uh but a heck of a. story I'll tell you what good one and. hopefully it gave you a little bit of.

nostalgia this holiday season yeah. agreed feel that warm tingling it's. either a bladder infection or. Nostalgia uh let's see since I said. bladder infection everybody it's time. for listener. man uh this is a about bird poop uh Hey. guys listened to the olive oil podcast. and loved it very much living in Italy I. use it every. day thus my wonderful complexion and. Youthful looks I want to tell you about. a problem though that we have in Rome. every year indirectly caused by olives.

uh every winter the city center is home. to millions of migrating starlings who. spend their days out in the local. Countryside eating olives and having a. great time in the evening they come back. to our warmer City Center and sleep in. the city center trees for the night. great news for bird watchers but bad. news if you like to avoid being pooed on. oh no uh the city gets covered in the. stuff and he sent me a video and of. these cars parked on the street and it's.

literally looks like it was painted with. bird poop gross completely solid every. square inch that's got to be bad for the. paint and yeah it's really bad uh he. said what what is this got to do with. olive oil while the olive stones may not. come out of the Starling Bird's bottoms. uh but the olive oil infused greasy poo. does it makes driving along the roads. almost impossible I've fallen off my. scooter twice in the past few years oh. my God because of this so I guess it's. it's slippery oily poop oh my gosh uh.

and that is from James in Rome wow. thanks James that email's kind of. petered out at the end there yeah I was. expecting a big finish no just oily poop. all right well thanks regardless and. stay stay safe on your scooter there. James he said people use umbrellas and. hats off to you living in Rome have you. been to Rome sure when I went I was like. I could live here pretty great I told Yi. she's like maybe it's lovely sity it. really is Old World charm cats what's. what else wine food Beautiful People.

yeah man I remember see men and women at. every turn that look like runway models. sure and they were just regular. newspaper boys well the fact that they. do like a little twirl every once in a. while as they were walking really kind. of sold it too yeah and go Chia Chow. Bella Chow Bella uh wow this turned out. weird um if you want to get in touch. with us you can go on to stuff you. should .c and hit us up through our. Social Links or you can just send us a.

good oldfashioned email to stuff podcast. a how stuff. works.com stuff you should know is a. production of iHeart radio for more. podcasts ihart radio visit the iHeart. Radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you. listen to your favorite. [Music]. shows.