The year was 1982. Steven Spielberg shattered all box-office records that summer with a movie called "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" about an ugly but good-natured space alien named E.T. who gets stranded on Earth.

In the movie, E.T. became buddies with a little boy named Elliot. Then E.T. and Elliot played hide-and-seek with federal agents, went flying on bicycles and assembled an intergalactic telephone.

Near the end of that summer, Warner Communications President Steven Ross offered Spielberg $25 million for the video game rights to "E.T." At the time, Warner Communications owned Atari, the world's biggest video game company. Ross's offer was ridiculous. Atari had paid only $1 million for the home rights to "Pac-Man," but Spielberg was impressed and eventually did come over to Warner Bros. Studios.

Ross promised Spielberg that the "E.T." game would be ready by Christmas. When he phoned Atari CEO Ray Kassar to tell him the good news, Kassar said that it would take at least six months. Ross insisted and a game was made.

"E.T." for the Atari 2600 was bad -- really, really bad. In the game, E.T., who looked like a square with a periscope, walked around a maze looking for parts to make his telephone. There were holes in the maze, and E.T. fell down these holes with disturbing regularity.

Atari manufactured 5 million copies of the "E.T." game. And it was a big seller at first. Then many people returned the game.

In the end, Atari disposed of millions of "E.T." cartridges by burying them in the desert.

Over the next few months, Kassar would announce that Atari had not reached its sales goals, causing Warner Communications stock to plummet. Kassar would be fired, Ross would battle to keep control of his Warner Communications empire, and Warner would sell Atari to a ferocious businessman named Jack Tramiel for $240 million in promissory notes based on Atari's future profits.

Ross and E.T. gave Atari away.

And now E.T. is back in two Game Boy games and an original PlayStation title that might well restore Howard Scott Warshaw's self-esteem.

Warshaw was an interesting character around Atari. His first game at Atari was "Yar's Revenge." The game centered around Yar from the Rassak Galaxy.

In this, Warshaw played a small prank on gamers and the company alike: Yar is Ray spelled backward, Rassak is Kassar with the letters reversed. His next game was "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Both games were million-sellers.

It isn't that these games are worse than "E.T." for the 2600, but over the last 20 years, you might expect some improvement.

In Level 1 of "E.T.: Extra-Terrestrial" for Game Boy Advance, players help E.T. dodge frogs, mosquitoes and beetles as he walks around a forest looking for 15 flowers.

OK, E.T. on Game Boy Advance does not look like a square with a periscope. He looks remarkably like the character from the movie who just happens to have a square-shaped body and a head shaped somewhat like a periscope. Aside from the graphic enhancements, this game plays almost exactly like the game for the 2600.

Like the character in the movie, the E.T. in this game warbles around clumsily. He is an easy target for bugs and frogs.

Once you find all 15 flowers, you discover that E.T.'s shipmates have deserted him.

In Level 2, you help E.T. escape the evil federal agents haunting the forest while again avoiding bugs and frogs. Except for the lack of holes, this level almost mirrors the Atari game.

Levels 4, 5, 6, and 9 in this game are about a flying bike, and therefore faster and more interesting than the Atari game; but how many people are going to play through to higher levels when the earlier ones are so bad? The truth is that I liked "E.T.: Escape from Planet Earth" for Game Boy Color even less than "E.T." for Game Boy Advance.

"Escape from Planet Earth" is filled with puzzles and mazes in which you control Elliot on his bike or Elliot and E.T. on foot as they find phone parts. As Game Boy games go, it's a real smorgasbord, with 140 puzzles and 60 environments. Unfortunately, most kids will get bored before ever discovering how much they can stomach.

The last and most interesting E.T. effort is "Interplanetary Mission," a PlayStation game in which E.T. explores alien environments while healing flowers, solving puzzles, and killing little creatures.

Killing enemies does not fit E.T.'s style, but these are video games. Even the innocuous Mickey Mouse smooches enemies in video games.

Bolstered by better graphics, good maze layout, and a few more activities, E.T. gets a passing grade in "Interplanetary Mission." The rest of his outings fail entirely.