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.