Aha, so that's how to win at E.T.!

A little eBay is a dangerous thing.  I've been spending a little time there lately, mostly looking for some Atari 2600-compatible controller extension cables (which are strangely less common than I would have expected).  A few days ago I searched for "Atari" – which results in too many random hits to be useful if you're looking for something specific, but can be fun to try on occasion simply because it results in so many random hits.

I usually don't find anything I want to buy with this search, but this time it turned three things, including this:

I guess now is the time to admit it – I actually don't hate E.T., the whipping boy of the Atari 2600 era.  I enjoy it.  Admittedly it has its flaws, but it's a surprisingly fresh Atari 2600 title once you figure out how to play it and avoid accidentally falling in the pits.  Howard Scott Warshaw deserves more credit, especially since he had to conceive of and program the game in something like four months.

I love classic video game books.  Aside from the games themselves, books are perhaps my favorite things to collect.  They are direct windows to the era, thoughts captured in printed form at the time when these games were contemporary.  Given that, and my fondness for E.T. the video game, I had to Buy This Now for $10.

It is an instant classic.  It's a tiny book, paperback dimensions but only 32 pages long.  Each page is printed on colored, heavy-gauge paper.  And it's so very refreshing to read something written about E.T. before it went on to become one of the most hated games ever.  The opening paragraph describes it as "the first 'emotional' video game," where you identify with the protagonist and his fate rather than merely trying for the high score.  The book argues, not inaccurately, that this is the future of video gaming, and is "stuff of the heart."  How strange to think they are talking about E.T.!

The strategy detailed in the book isn't bad either.  The authors outline ways to play for points, or for speed – what would be called a "time attack" today.  But even with only 32 pages, they manage to repeat themselves a lot.  Yes, there are several power zones, and you should quickly memorize where the Call Ship Zone is... I get it!  There is, however, a very handy map that lets you visualize the game's screen layout as a cube – something that I never thought of before.

This book seems rather rare.  I am currently the only person on LibraryThing to have it in my collection.  So it may be hard to score a copy, but I definitely recommend it for all fans of classic video game books.  It's a wonderful relic.

Incidentally, there are scans of the entire book at AtariMania.  Strangely, the cover design and page layout is totally different than my edition of the book, even though the text seems to be identical.