When I was a kid, I'd refer to movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark and TRON as "boy movies." I typically skipped these films. I believed they were of no use to me. To this day, I have no interest in films like The Avengers or Men In Black.
One "boy movie" I did enjoy however, was The Last Starfighter. This classic scifi film hit theaters in 1984 and focused around a teen ... Hang on, check it. I love how movie "teens" in the '80s looked so much older than today's movie"teens" -- what's up with that? Like Kevin Bacon was 26 when he played a senior in Footloose that same year!
Anyway, The Last Starfighter focused on a Alex Rogan (Lance Guest), a teen living in a trailer park. He's like the Starfighter video gaming champion -- spending hours defending The Frontier. He's recruited by an alien to bring his video gaming skills into another dimension sorta thing. You know when real life crosses over into video game world. I forget the rest, but it was a pretty cool movie, for a "boy movie."
I wonder if any of you remember it? Of course I probably enjoyed it because back in 1984 I was all about Atari and Lance Guest was rather easy on the eyes--even for a 12-year-old girl.
Here's The Last Starfighter theatrical trailer to spark your memory.
What sort of a retro blogger would I be if I didn't wish Pac-Man a happy 30th Anniversary? To celebrate, here's seven cool trivia tidbits I've learned this week about the only video game that truly captured my heart.
It is also one of the few things I have in common with my baseball-loving, seafood-eating, beer-brewing hubby. We realized this when it came time to pick a cool wedding cake topper. I found out he wasn't a fan of Smurfs and wasn't really down with Dear Daniel and Hello Kitty (the famous Sanrio couple) -- my first cake topper ideas. We went with Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man bride and groom figurines purchased on eBay for $50 a few months before the wedding.
7 Things You Might Not Know About Pac-Man
1. Original name for Pac-Man was Puck Man, but fearing Americans would switch-up the "P" with an "F", Namco decided to change the name.
2. Pac-Man's simplistic shape was based upon a pizza pie missing one slice of pizza.
3. The game was developed with women and couples in mind. Most of the original video games at that time were male-oriented which focused on shooting, space, aliens, etc.
4. Designers felt that using food-munching as one of the game's objectives would attract female game players.
5. An estimated 10 billion+ games of Pac-Man have been played worldwide.
6. "Pac-Man Fever" by Buckner & Garcia reached #9 on the Billboard charts and sold 2.5 million copies. Their record label was so impressed with Jerry Buckner & Gary Garcia's fun lyrics, they commissioned the Akron, Ohio duo to create an entire album consisting of video game songs.
7. Ninety-four percent of Americans can identify the Pac-Man image, talk about amazing branding.
It's funny, the sound effects and music associated with the Pac-Man game, instantaly bring me back to age 10 playing against my dad in arcades on Long Island. Happy 30th my little yellow friend.
I've seen the movie dozens of times. Even as an adult, I still own a few collectible items like E.T. trading cards, a pin, bedding, etc. We even have a framed movie poster hanging in our bedroom.
I remember one Christmas I was given exactly 12 ET-related items. I piled the unwrapped gifts around me near the Christmas tree and counted them over and over again--they included the plate, cup & bowl set, bedding, snack tray and more.
One gift I was beyond-jazzed about was an actual E.T. Atari 2600 video game.
Like most '80s kids, I loved Atari. Who didn't? My top favorite games were Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Asteroids, Pitfall and Donkey Kong. In 1982, the idea of an E.T. Atari game was simply too good to be true--the perfect marriage of my very favorite movie and my very favorite gaming console/pastime.
I remember popping it in and something just wasn't right with it. No matter what I did, I couldn't figure out how to play. Nothing about the game made sense to me. I remember thinking my version was broken somehow. After a few failed attempts, I hurried to a friend's house because she too had just gotten the game. I needed to test out her version and remember my shock in learning she too was clueless.
Were we stupid gaming girls? How was it that we kicked ass at Pac-man, Space Invaders, Frogger and Pitfall, but sucked at the E.T. game? I remember being bummed beyond belief. I wondered why of all the games to baffle me, it had to be my E.T.? Such a let down.
Years later, I was working at an Internet company which owned a very popular male-friendly gaming site, IGN.com. I believe it was there that I first heard the truth about E.T. for Atari.
Apparently the developer was rushed into finishing the game design in time for the 1982 holiday season. Rushing the creativity process must have really made the game backfire. I'm doubting Atari had time to allow for lots of testing and market research-if any. They simply wanted to cash in on the E.T. craze.
At age 12, I didn't read media reports which apparently criticized the E.T. game. To this day the game makes "Worst Games Ever" lists all over the world. The Atari E.T game is also noted as Atari's biggest financial mistake ever made, netting a loss of $100 million loss.
In September 1983 reports began to surface about gazillions of E.T. game cartridges buried in a landfill in New Mexico, read about that here. Some say it's true, some say it's an urban legend.
The famous E.T. Atari game landfill photo
I love this quote from Howard Scott Warshaw, the designer behind the worst game ever created. It's cool how he puts a positive spin on his infamous creation, however it doesn't help me get over the disappointment in my most anticipated gift that Christmas.
"People worry I might be sensitive about the ET debacle, but the fact is I’m always happy to discuss it. After all, it was the fastest game ever done, it was a million seller, and of the thousands of 2600 games, how many others are still a topic? Another thing I like to think about is having done ET (consistently rated among the worst games of all time) and Yars' Revenge (consistently rated as one of the best) I figure I have the unique distinction of having the greatest range of any game designer in history." —Howard Scott Warshaw
