E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial gets first new game in over a decade

One of the medium's most derided icons returns to video games in Chillingo's E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: The Green Planet.

One of the most infamous figures in video game history is getting his first game in over a decade. The man with the magic hands and a penchant for peanut butter candy is back for more, and since his game is a downloadable for iPhone and iPad, developer Chillingo won’t have to bury the excess copies in a desert landfill.

Univeral and Chillingo announced E.T. The Green Planet for iOS devices, a new game to celebrate the 30^th anniversary of Steven Spielberg’s movie E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. It’s available on iTunes as of this writing. Like Chillingo’s other addictive time wasters like Puzzle Craft, The Green Planet is based gardening and grinding. At least that’s thematically appropriate for the character, since his species are identified as botanists in the long-forgotten book sequel E.T. The Story of the Green Planet.

E.T.’s first video game outing, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial for Atari 2600 is one of the most infamous games ever made, often cited as a contributing factor to the early ‘80s crash of the American video game industry. Millions of unsold copies of the game are said to be buried in a New Mexico landfill.

That wasn’t the last E.T. game though. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial came out on the Game Boy Advance back in 2001, and it actually isn’t the terrible. At least, that is, it’s less terrible.