Atari Video Game Dig: E.T. Cartridges Uncovered in Landfill

by William White | April 28, 2014 2:02 pm

A film crew working on a documentary about Atari has found hundreds of E.T. cartridges[1] buried in a landfill over 30 years ago.

atari-video-game-dig-et[2]The E.T. cartridges were part of an urban legend that claimed the game was so bad that Atari dumped truckloads of it into a landfill. Now the urban legend has been proven to be true as the games have been found. Atari didn’t even know if the urban legend was true or not due to having switched hands multiple times over the year and no documents about the event being kept, reports the Associated Press.

“For a lot of people, it’s something that they have wondered about and it’s been rumored and talked about for 30 years, and they just want an answer,” Zak Penn, the director of the Atari documentary, told Business Insider[3].

Microsoft’s (MSFT[4]) Xbox Entertainment Studios has a hand in the Atari film, which is set appear on Xbox consoles later this year. The film crew behind the discovery has been given permission to take 250 or 10% of the cartridges that are discovered, depending on how many are found. The city of Alamogordo, where the landfill is located, is hoping that the discovery will help bring tourist to the city, the Associated Press notes.

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Endnotes:

  1. hundreds of E.T. cartridges: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/diggers-ready-unearth-ataris-games-23477542
  2. [Image]: https://investorplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/atari-2600-concole.jpg
  3. Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com.au/r-new-mexico-dig-uncovers-et-video-games-buried-after-1980s-flop-2014-26
  4. MSFT: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=MSFT
  5. Rumors Fly Over PlayStation Now Game Rental Prices: https://investorplace.com/2014/03/playstation-now-rental-prices/
  6. The April Xbox One Update Is Finally Here: https://investorplace.com/2014/04/xbox-one-update-msft-stock/
  7. 6 Most Anticipated New Video Game Releases for 2014: https://investorplace.com/2013/12/new-video-game-releases-2014/2/

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2014/04/atari-video-game-dig-et/