What paddle-based game was the first commercially successful video game?
Paddle (game controller) get dirty or worn, because turning them too far can break them and because they require more-expensive analog sensing, whereas quadrature encoder-based controllers can be sensed digitally. Any recent game that has paddle-type control uses a quadrature encoder instead, even if the game uses paddles on screen (like Arkanoid). The reason for the name "paddle" for this type of game controller is that the first game that used it, "Pong", was a video game simulation of table tennis, whose racquets are commonly called paddles. Even though the simulated paddles appeared on-screen (as small line segments), it was the hand controllers
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (video game) was commercially successful despite poor critical reaction. Anticipation for "E.T." was high in 1982, and it was a sought-after Christmas gift. In early December 1982, "The New York Times" reported that video games based on successful movies, specifically "E.T.", would become "an increasingly profitable source" for video game development. At first, retailers ordered more supplies than what was expected to be sold, but Atari received an increasing number of order cancellations as new competitors entered the market, an event the company had not anticipated. John Hubner and William Kistner of "InfoWorld" attribute the cancellations to changes Atari initiated in its