Question

Worst Game Ever？

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a video game that came out for the Atari 2600 game system in 1982. It was based on a very popular film of the same name. Star programmer Howard Warshaw created it with consultation from the film director Steven Spielberg.

It was July 27th, 1982. Howard Warshaw was hot off the success of his most recent game, Raiders of the Lost Ark. He received a call from Atari C.E.O, Ray Kassar. Atari had bought the rights to make a video game version of Spilberg’s Movie, E.T., which had just been released（发行） in June. Kassar told Warshaw that Spielberg had specifically asked for Warshaw to make the game Warshaw was honored, but there was one huge problem. Atari needed the game finished by September 1^st in order to start selling it during the Christmas season.

It had taken Warshaw six months to create Raiders of the Lost Ark. The game he made prior to that took him seven months. He was expected to create E.T. in around five weeks. Warshaw accepted the challenge anyway and production began. Spielberg wanted Warshaw to create a simple maze game similar to Pac-man, but V had a bigger vision. He wanted players to explore different environments in 3D world. Usually companies like Atari have people test games before releasing them, but they decided to skip testing due to time limitations.

The game was a hot holiday item at first. Unfortunately, Atari overestimated how many they would sell. They made 5 million copies and they only sold 1.5 million. Most people who played the game hated it. The graphics（画面）were bad. Game play was awkward. Players got stuck in holes that they couldn’t escape. Some people who stuck with the game grew to like it, but it wasn’t the mainstream success that Atari had hoped it would be.

Too many copies of the game sat on store shelves. One employee remembers the game being discounted five times, from $49.95 to less than a dollar. A newspaper in New Mexico reported that between 10 and 20 semitrailer truckloads of Atari products were crushed and buried at landfill in Alamogordo. Atari lost over $100 million on E.T.. The game was so bad that it was said to have affected Atari’s reputation. The video game industry soon fell into a deep depression, with a profit $3.2 billion in 1983 to just over $100 million in 1985, almost a 97% drop. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial will long be remembered as one of the worst games ever made, if not one of the causes of the decline of entire video game industry.

1.What can we learn about Howard Warshaw from the passage?

A. He was ambitious.    B. He was cautious.

C. He was unreliable.  D. He was inexperienced.

2.Why did E.T. end up one worst video game ever?

A. It was produced in a hurry.

B. It was set in a 3D environment.

C. It was released at a wrong time.

D. It was based on a popular movie.

3.According to the passage, the failure of the game E.T. may have____

A. destroyed the reputation of the film E.T.

B. given chances to other companies to rise

C. led to the fall of the video game industry

D. made people lose interest in 3D environment

4.In the passage the author describes Atari’s failure________

A. in a disapproving way

B. with a supportive attitude

C. with a feeling of pity for the company

D. without expressing his/her own opinions

Answer

1.A

2.A

3.C

4.D

【解析】

试题分析: 根据著名导演斯皮尔伯格的电影外星人制作的一款同名游戏因为制作时间短而导致制作画面粗糙，缺少前期的测试等问题导致游戏公司跌入最低谷。

1.A 细节理解题。根据Warshaw accepted the challenge anyway and production began. 可知，Warshaw是一个有野心的人。他制作的游戏没有试验就投放市场导致公司面临倒闭，试验他不是一个小心翼翼的人；他的一款游戏大卖才被游戏开发公司的总裁Atari选中开放新游戏；故选A。

2.A 细节理解题。根据Usually companies like Atari have people test games before releasing them, but they decided to skip testing due to time limitations.可知，ET这款游戏因为时间的原因没有先期测试就投入生产销售导致销售不如预期。 故选A。

3.C 推理判断题。根据 文章最后一句话推断，ET这款游戏的失败可能导致电子游戏产业的下滑。故选C。

4.4】D 推理判断题。文章一客观的态度来说明了ET这款游戏销售的失败，没有Atari自己的观点。故选D。

考点：考查科技类短文阅读。