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Talk:E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (video game)

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Praxidicae (talk | contribs) at 16:10, 6 September 2018 (Reliability of pastebin). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Good articleE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (video game) has been listed as one of the Video games good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.
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July 15, 2006Featured article candidateNot promoted
July 20, 2006Good article nomineeListed
September 13, 2006Featured article candidateNot promoted
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August 14, 2007Featured article candidateNot promoted
October 1, 2009Good article reassessmentKept
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Release date

@Indrian, I understand your argumentation on why there is not concrete release date [on which the game hit all stores]. However, if Retro Gamer found out this date, wouldn't it be likely that it was the beginning of the game's rolling-out and thereby the initial release date of the game (which is what we list in the infobox)? Lordtobi () 06:35, 1 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

  • I hear you; it’s just that Retro Gamer is really not a good source for that kind of pinpoint info from 35 years ago. If you can find a period source that indicates such a date, by all means add it back. Indrian (talk) 13:36, 1 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
    Well, they don't usually make stuff up, do they? Most of their content resulted from talking with the people involved with the content, so I'd assume it to be correct. I will try to find more timely sources, but 1982 is porrly documented on the interwebs, outside maybe Google Books. Lordtobi () 16:45, 1 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • No, Retro Gamer would not just make stuff up, but it is an enthusiast publication not a scholarly one and does have a habit of blowing the details. I tend to be distrustful of most information in it that did not come from a clearly delineated primary source. A date like that is far more likely to have come from a questionable website than from good source research. Indrian (talk) 18:14, 1 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
    @Indrian: I see you also reverted my related edits on Computer Space and Atari 5200, though without using the undo button, so I wasn't notified. I see your point that there apparently were no "street dates" for either of these properties, however, [citation needed]. Specifically on Computer Space, you claimed that "Evidence suggests it may not have even shipped until December"; I cannot find such evidence anywhere in the article, nor did you provide it. Then again, why would it say November in the first place? I'll go as far as to say that the release date for the game is not sourced anywhere in that article. In the infobox, "Release date" does not have to strictly mean "street date", but the day of first availability/when it started shipping from the manufacturer. Retro Gamer is considered reliable by WPVG and is edited by industry professionals, at least for the most part, so WP:V definetly applies. Lordtobi () 18:16, 1 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
    • My my, we did get snippy in that Computer Space edit summary didn't we? No, RG's BS release date is not good enough. Go read Cash Box if you want to learn a thing or three about Computer Space. The complete text is online and even completely searchable. And then for an encore you can go to the All in Color for a Quarter blog and search Computer Space and see Nolan Bushnell's own word on the matter in a deposition from the 1970s. Indrian (talk) 22:21, 1 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
      Links to the websites in question would probably be helpful. Lordtobi () 22:40, 1 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • I did try to look up the date through RSes (books, etc.) and seems to be either September 1982 (given the Sept 1 deadline) or December 1982 (the deadline was to assure the game was out by holiday for sales). I see nothing to suggest it was out any later than December 1982. Also we can confirm that Atari Age said Dec 1982 as the target release [1]. Every RS that talks about the game all call it a 1982 game. --Masem (t) 23:08, 1 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
    • It was definitely out by the beginning of December, as the first time it shows up in Billboard's software charts is the week ending December 4th. When during that week it came out is not possible to determine from the sources I have seen. Certainly there is objectively a date that was the first time anyone anywhere bought the game, but such dates were just not announced anywhere in those days because different stores around the country got the game at different times and there was no embargo for a set street date. Its likely Atari itself did not know for certain the first day it actually went on sale. You can look at newspaper ads, but stores will advertise product that are not actually on the shelf even if said ad says its "available," so that again gives you only a likely range. In most cases there is just simply no way to determine the very first day a game went on sale. Indrian (talk) 23:21, 1 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
      • Oh yeah, I expect nothing more precise than month/year for games of the Atari 2600 generation. They shipped them to stores, stores stocked them when they got them, compared to the present where stores are supposed to wait until the typical Tuesday release date to unpack/etc. --Masem (t) 21:04, 4 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Reliability of pastebin

A pastebin uploaded by an anonymous user isn't a reliable source for any purpose, in my view. I don't think an anonymous paste should ever be cited in the body of an article – it's no more verifiable than not having a source at all. Kevin (aka L235 · t · c) 14:55, 6 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

this is patently wrong. This is the definition of a primary source. And having a source is cleary very preferably according to our verfiabilty goal than not having. If you are concerned about the fluidity of padzebin, use the webarchive. There is no reason to remove sources (exchanging against better, yes) as this is against our core goal of verifiabilty. Shaddim (talk) 15:58, 6 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Have you read WP:V? Because you are absolutely, without a doubt, wrong. In what way is it reliable, as defined in our policies? CHRISSYMAD ❯❯❯¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 16:02, 6 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict) Primary sources can be used to verify claims of something already verifiably notable enough to be included. Using primary sources by themselves to cite something's existence would mean that we could expand the section by at least 20 more unnotable remakes by various people, citing their respective websites. Both claims from the section in question had been subject to the latter, though I found sources backing up one of them.
MobyGames is inherently 100% unreliable and on WP:VG's bad sources list. Pastebin really isn't anything at all, just a website where you can paste code or text. In this case, it was posted by an anonymous user and without any context. Unless you were to compile the code yourself, you couldn't check whether this actually the legitimate code, so it's not useful as a source either way. Lordtobi () 16:05, 6 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
notability is applied on the whole article not subparts. Non-controversial facts can be added even without sources. (See sources for the sky is blue) Sourves are always preferable due to verifiabilty Shaddim (talk) 16:09, 6 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Again, I'll point you to WP:V. CHRISSYMAD ❯❯❯¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 16:10, 6 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]