ET makes his video game return

The best thing is, you can’t bury digital games in the desert!

Chillingo and Universal have teamed up to bring the Strawdog Studios’ developed title ET: The Green Planet to iOS.

It’s available to download for free right now from the App Store.

The stumpy, stretchy-necked alien is no stranger to games, of course, though it’s safe to say that his most famous video game outing was less successful than his attempts to phone home.

ET the Extra-Terrestrial was released in 1982 on the Atari 2600 and has become notorious as being one of the worst video games ever made. Arguments over the game’s licence led to creator Howard Warshaw having only five weeks to program the title before release.

Atari’s hopes that the game would thrive regardless on the strength of the IP proved misplaced, and its colossal commercial failure is regarded as a significant contributing factor to the 1983 video games market crash.

It is believed by many that millions of unsold copies of the game were buried somewhere in New Mexico, although no concrete evidence of this has ever been found.

This new game is being released to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the film and is certainly a deviation from the 1982 outing. It takes place on ET’s homeworld and sees the plucky chap trying to save the indigenous gardens.

Players will also be able to visit their friend’s gardens.

ET The Extra-Terrestrial is one of the greatest science-fiction films ever made and conjures up nostalgia for countless fans around the world,” Chillingo co-founder and co-GM Chris Byatte stated.

We are excited to commemorate this global cultural phenomenon by publishing an amazing new game.”