• E.T. cartridges found in New Mexico landfill after thirty years of mystery
    94 replies, posted
[QUOTE]Evidently, Atari did bury its biggest mistake in the New Mexico desert. Excavators have found copies of the 1982 Atari 2600 cartridge E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial — a notorious flop blamed for console gaming's collapse a year later — in a dig at an Alamagordo, N.M. landfill on Saturday. The highly publicized dig, which will be the subject of an upcoming documentary, appears to confirm the story that Atari dumped thousands of unsold E.T. cartridges at the site more than 30 years ago. The image above is of materials recovered from the dig. Polygon's Matt Leone, on the scene, says at least one E.T. package has been found "complete with inserts. They say there are lots more games down there." Atari, then the dominant maker of home consoles and video games, paid millions for the rights to make an adaptation of the 1982 blockbuster E.T. The resulting game is considered one of the worst of all time and, along with a similarly disappointing port of Pac-Man for the Atari 2600, is blamed for home consoles' ice age from 1983 until the North American launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System.[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.polygon.com/2014/4/26/5656282/atari-et-landfill-new-mexico-found-cartridges[/url] [t]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BmK0JkMCUAEsh5Y.jpg:large[/t] [t]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BmK2pIBCIAAqRTK.jpg:large[/t] [t]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BmK3R87CIAAr_G_.jpg:large[/t]
This is a great end to a big game story
New Mexico: Home to Carlsbad Caverns, SETI, Albuquerque, Whitesands Missile Range, Clovis Man, and a big pile of buried shit.
Holy fucking [B]SHIT[/B], the legends were true after all
"Extraterrestrial found in New Mexico"
Isn't finding this dump the plot of the upcoming AVGN movie? Welp.
Well shit, looks like the AVGN movie is based on a true story now.
[QUOTE=Electrocuter;44651293]Isn't finding this dump the plot of the upcoming AVGN movie? Welp.[/QUOTE] this is a viral ad for AVGN not really, it's for a documentary that xbox is filming for the Xbox One. the documentary is exclusive to XB1's movie store.
One of the biggest urban legends of video games, finally proven instead of treated as fact. Not to mention it was one of the various reasons why the gaming industry crashed and had to be resuscitated by Nintendo in the first place.
lol they actually buried the game in the landfill. Now we know for sure, and damn is that funny. On a related note, I actually own a working cartridge of this game, got it at a garage sale with a few other games for $20. Sadly it isn't worth a damn thing, but there is definitely some sentimental value to holding the worst game ever made. Now if only I could get my hands on a cheap copy of Shaq-fu, I'd be set.
Damn I really wish I could have been there for it I always believed this legend was true I didn't even think it was disputed lol
There was a Centipede cart in there too? Odd.
Are these bags normal for Atari games? All of my CIB games are in normal cardboard boxes, if this is only on these copies this may become a collector's piece.
I wonder if Atari'll get in trouble for this considering that people now know for sure that they've been littering for the past 32 years.
Holy shit. Maybe my friend's dad really did work at Atari.
[QUOTE=markg06;44651355]I wonder if Atari'll get in trouble for this considering that people now know for sure that they've been littering for the past 32 years.[/QUOTE] The Atari that buried these is long gone; They died in the mid 90's after the Atari Jaguar failed, then got bought up by Infogrames, I believe.
[QUOTE=Irockz;44651354]Are these bags normal for Atari games? All of my CIB games are in normal cardboard boxes, if this is only on these copies this may become a collector's piece.[/QUOTE] I'm pretty sure those aren't bags, those are the boxes worn down from like thirty-plus years.
an ancient evil has awoken
some things are better left buried
I have two copies, get on my level.
The cynic in me can't help but wonder if those were a set up, afterall, its a pretty shitty documentary if you don't find anything!
[QUOTE=FoneJack;44651346]There was a Centipede cart in there too? Odd.[/QUOTE] I wonder if the port was any good. They had one of the original machines at an arcade near me, it was a pretty fun game.
or maybe that was the content of the space ship that crashed on Earth.... :tinfoil:
these people have no idea what evil they've unleashed
[QUOTE=Bazsil;44651436]an ancient evil has awoken[/QUOTE] "And you shall worship him"
So.. Uh, how any of these are in the condition for sale? Worn down or not, It is not an every day occurrence that you get to actually sell treasure you literally dug up. Well, in this case it really isn't much of a treasure, is it? :v:
I hear that the entire crew all died a week later from mysterious causes
[QUOTE=Articsledder;44651523]I wonder if the port was any good. They had one of the original machines at an arcade near me, it was a pretty fun game.[/QUOTE] I've played the 2600 version on the original system and its pretty good but I can't say on its faithfulness as a port. CGR has a review if your interested [video=youtube;H_ioo5G7Olc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_ioo5G7Olc[/video]
Repackage them and sell them as goty editions.
[QUOTE=RayvenQ;44651514]The cynic in me can't help but wonder if those were a set up, afterall, its a pretty shitty documentary if you don't find anything![/QUOTE]It's quite possible they found a paper trail, or found someone who was at Atari at the time and knew where; then decided to do a documentary when they were convinced it wouldn't end in a dead-end. Or it could all be bollocks. The article gave me momentary amusement, and that's all I was really looking for.
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