The new documentary “Atari: Game Over” tells the real-life tale of one of video game’s biggest urban legends: that, in 1983, Atari dumped thousands of unsold copies of the notoriously bad E.T. video game in a New Mexico landfill.
Produced by Academy Award- and Emmy Award-winning producers Simon and Jonathan Chinn, and directed by comic book movie veteran Zak Penn, “Atari: Game Over” explores the video game industry’s first bubble and collapse, as well as the golden age of video games, through the lens of the excavation.
Penn is perhaps best known for film-writing credits like “X2: X-Men United” and “Marvel’s The Avengers,” action-heavy films with big budgets. And while the actual dig site scene is described as “similar to an action scene, but on a very low budget,” the making of a documentary was a different experience for the director.
A feature of “Atari: Game Over,” powered by Xbox technology, is the ability to leave time-shifted comments that stay on the film’s timeline, so that your friends can see what you said as they experience the same point in the film. Additional comments are embedded by director Zak Penn thorough key moments.
As far as E.T. goes, the game has been maligned for decades as “the worst video game ever,” but Penn sees it differently. “It’s so far from the worst video game that it’s absurd. I came to appreciate it as the story unfolded.”
Source: Xbox News