let's just put it on the table, here, okay?

我就開門見山，直說了，好嗎？

E.T. is frequently cited as one of the worst video games in history.

《E.T.》 在是大家公認有史以來最爛的遊戲。

I got to read a magazine that said that my game

我甚至看到一本雜誌說我這款遊戲爛到

was single-handedly responsible for the crash of the video game industry in the early 80s.

拖垮了八零年代早期的電玩產業。

(laughing)

(笑聲)

That's a good one.

說得真好。

People are reticent to ask me about it.

大家不太敢跟我提到這件事。

They think I'm very sensitive about it, you know,

他們覺得我對這件事很敏感，說法諸如：

"Oh my God, you did the worst game of all time, you know.

「天啊，你製作了史上最爛的遊戲！

Don't you wanna hide?"

難道不想挖個洞躲起來嗎？」

And it's like, no.

當然不會。

(Narrator) Howard Scott Warshaw.

[旁白] Howard Scott Warshaw

He was a video game programmer for Atari in the early 80s.

在八零年代早期擔任雅達利公司的遊戲程式設計師。

He made some of the most beloved games for the Atari 2600.

他為雅達利 2600 遊戲機製作了許多令人喜愛的遊戲。

[Howard] I made Yars' Revenge, then I followed that with

[Howard] 我設計了《亞爾的復仇》，緊接著是

Raiders of the Lost Ark. I have had two

《奪寶奇兵》，這兩款遊戲都

very successful games, both million sellers.

非常成功，賣出上百萬組。

I truly believed that everything I touched, hopefully, was gonna

我當時深信只要我出馬

turn to gold because I was gonna put everything I had into it.

就能點石成金，因為我總是投注所有心力。

[Narrator] One fateful day, Howard received a call from the

[旁白] 某個歷史性的一天，Howard 接到一通電話，

CEO of Atari, asking him if he wanted to take on their

是雅達利公司執行長打來的，問他願不願意承接

highest profile game ever, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

公司史上規模最龐大的遊戲《E.T. 外星人》。

[Howard] And I said, "We definitely can do that."

[Howard] 於是我回答：「我們絕對沒問題！」

[Narrator] But, there was one major caveat.

[旁白] 但有一個重要的限制條款。

[Howard] It had to be something that related to the movie,

[Howard] 這款遊戲必須呼應電影情節，

and it had to be doable in five weeks.

而且必須在五周內完成。

I mean, I had five weeks to do the game.

當時我只有五周的時間可以設計遊戲。

So I was working all the time.

於是我不分晝夜地工作。

(digital beeping) (upbeat music)

(電子聲) (歡快音樂)

E.T. was gonna be a basic puzzle game

《E.T. 》遊戲的原理是基本的解謎遊戲，

with some challenges that you run around to solve,

玩家需要解決不同的挑戰，

and if I redistribute the pieces among enough different,

而我只要重新排列組合

random places, it makes a fresh challenge each time around and

就能創造新的挑戰任務。

bingo!

搞定！

[Narrator] When it was released, E.T. was an immediate

[旁白] 《E.T.》剛發布的時候，

success, selling over a million copies.

銷售量驚人，賣出上百萬份。

But a few months later, things started to turn.

但幾個月後，情況開始轉變。

[Howard] Retailers are starting to find that the game is not

[Howard] 遊戲零售商發現這款遊戲的銷量

moving, it's coming back, a lot of people are

停滯，開始走下坡，許多人都

disappointed with it.

對這款遊戲很失望。

[Narrator] Because of the poor planning and tight production

[旁白] 由於計畫不夠詳盡，

schedule, Howard failed to catch

製程又趕， Howard 沒能發現

a fundamental flaw in the game's design.

這款遊戲在設計上的重大缺陷，

[Howard] There are too many times where you make a move,

[Howard] 玩家常常移動了一步

you do something, and suddenly you wind up somewhere else.

或做了某件事，就瞬移到其他地方，

Now, suddenly you're somewhere else,

所以玩家會突然移動到另一個地方，

and there's too many places in E.T. where the user

而在《E.T.》遊戲中又有太多場景，導致玩家

is disoriented, and that's a sin of which I am guilty,

常玩到迷路，這是我的失誤

and I have been serving penance.

而我也一直都在懺悔中。

[Narrator] Shortly after E.T.'s release,

[旁白] 《E.T.》發行後不久，

the video game crash was in full swing.

電玩遊戲產業分崩離析，

Disappointing sales and mismanagement

難看的銷售成績和混亂的管理

forced Atari to restructure.

迫使雅達利重新整頓公司

[Howard] And in the next couple of months,

[Howard] 接下來幾個月，

Atari went from 10,000 employees to 2,000 employees.

雅達利公司的員工從一萬名裁至只剩兩千名。

[Narrator] During the turmoil,

[旁白] 在這場騷亂中，

Howard left the gaming industry for good.

Howard 為了大局著想，離開了遊戲產業。

He didn't think much about E.T. until nearly a decade later.

他將近十年內都不再回想關於《E.T.》的事情。

[Howard] Well, by the early 90s,

[Howard] 到了九零年代早期，

people started coming out with what a bad game E.T. was.

大家又開始討論《E.T.》這款遊戲有多爛。

I was just kinda surprised anybody was actually even talking about it.

我其實蠻驚訝大眾甚至還願意討論這件事。

Good afternoon, some of those E.T. Atari games

午安，最近雅達利的《E.T.》遊戲

unearthed at a New Mexico landfill are now up for sale.

在新墨西哥州的垃圾掩埋場被尋獲，並重新上架販賣。

Beaten up cartridges on eBay are going for hundreds of dollars a piece.

這款遊戲在 eBay 上價格竟然高漲至一片幾百元美金。

So we had a poll online,

我們在網絡上進行投票。

Yeah.

是。

Where fans could choose what game they wanted to see you

粉絲投票選出想看你玩的遊戲

- play. -OK.

好的。

They chose this.

他們選了這片

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

《E.T. 外星人》

Even 30 years later, this obscure thing

即使過了三十年前，但這個奇怪的作品，

that I did so long ago in just five weeks...

這個我多年前用五周敢出來的作品，

it's still generating excitement, enthusiasm.

仍然能夠振奮人心。

I get emotional just talking about it now.

光用講的都讓我情緒激動。

Because I just felt I was at the center of something

因為我覺得我曾是某個東西的核心人物，

that is still meaningful.

而它至今仍有意義。

And that is a huge success.

這就意味著巨大的成功。

So when people ask me, you know, "Was E.T. a failure?"

所以當有人問我：「《E.T.》是一款失敗的作品嗎？」

I don't mind when people call it that,

我不介意其他人這樣說，

but it'll never, it'll never be a failure to me.

但它在我心中絕對不是一個失敗的作品。

(cheerful music)

(歡快音樂)