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ET found in landfill [Xbox troll = ban]

I

IdreamofHIME

Member
jello44 said:
E.T. was an Atari game that was the bomba to end all bombas.

They had so many unsold cartridges that they buried them in a landfill in Arizona.
Click to expand...

See, this is the part people don't understand. The game was not a bomba, it sold over 2million copies and was the consoles biggest selling title.
The problem was Atari convinced retailers it would continue to sell at that same high volume and it didn't. The extra copies that were made and went unsold are the ones that eventually got buried.
 
S

sangreal

Member
Astro Monster said:
I imagine these would fetch a lot on Ebay.

But would Atari still own them? Or is it finders keepers?
Click to expand...

according to one of the links posted earlier it is usually finders keepers in NM (But this landfill has a guard) but the filmmakers made a deal w/ the town where the filmmakers get to keep 250 or 10% of the cartridges (whichever is greater) in exchange for the excavation/filming rights. I guess the town gets the rest
 
L

Leynos

Member
I'm actually not surprised by the condition of the material being brought up. It has been shown before that recovered newspapers that were buried for decades are perfectly legible since paper in a landfill is out of the sun, and in an anaerobic environment, preventing decomposition. This landfill is also in the desert, so the conditions would have been dry.
 
7

7DollarHagane

Banned
Eusis said:
We could come in between (sort of) and it's just several dozen or a few hundred. There's definitely a bunch of Atari 2600 games thrown there at a minimum anyway.
Click to expand...

I think there are probably a large number of crushed or destroyed ones and a smaller number thrown in intact with them.
 
7

7threst

Member
mrklaw said:
Why would this have any impact on a general gaming crash? Surely it'd just be something that would hasten Atari's downfall, but why the rest of gaming?
Click to expand...

If you're king in a market (Atari), and betting on one horse for the holiday season (E.T.), and that horse fails miserably which is a sign for everybody else in the industry that the medium was just a passing fad and it's time to turn your attention to other things than videogame consoles, you could definitely see it as a crash. I think it was already coming though, with the thousands of clones one popular game could spawn.

It's exactly that crash why it took so long for Nintendo to have any succes in the west with the NES, if I'm not mistaken.
 
statham

statham

Member
Major Nelson said:
It was a pretty cool day out there. I mean as cool as a day can be un an old landfill. The one I am holding in the photo was the very first one they found. There area a TON more down there and the story is developing on exactly how many.

Oh and nice 'shop of my head.
Click to expand...

Cool. any ideas on when its going to air?
 
Megatron

Megatron

Member
sangreal said:
according to one of the links posted earlier it is usually finders keepers in NM (But this landfill has a guard) but the filmmakers made a deal w/ the town where the filmmakers get to keep 250 or 10% of the cartridges (whichever is greater) in exchange for the excavation/filming rights. I guess the town gets the rest
Click to expand...

Yep. Either way, these things are going to be all over e-bay. It's kind of cool, but do I really want cartridges that spent 30 years in a landfill in my house?
 
G

Gorillaz

Member
iMax said:
Major sure knows how to pull off a hard hat.

BmK7FHpIMAE5dTA.jpg
Click to expand...
There is some serious potential in this picture
 
K

Kuro Madoushi

Unconfirmed Member
Major Nelson said:
It was a pretty cool day out there. I mean as cool as a day can be un an old landfill. The one I am holding in the photo was the very first one they found. There area a TON more down there and the story is developing on exactly how many.

Oh and nice 'shop of my head.
Click to expand...
There ya go. You have Larry's blessing. Hope you guys out this up on YouTube.
 
7

7DollarHagane

Banned
IdreamofHIME said:
See, this is the part people don't understand. The game was not a bomba, it sold over 2million copies and was the consoles biggest selling title.
The problem was Atari convinced retailers it would continue to sell at that same high volume and it didn't. The extra copies that were made and went unsold are the ones that eventually got buried.
Click to expand...

Add to that fact that they produced more copies of the game at launch than 2600s that had been sold at the time, expecting the game to be purchased with 2600s for a long time,
 
I

Ishan

Junior Member
Can someone explain to me

1) why is this such a big deal?
2) Is the consensus that this is real (not staged etc)?
 
Majukun

Majukun

Member
mrklaw said:
Why would this have any impact on a general gaming crash? Surely it'd just be something that would hasten Atari's downfall, but why the rest of gaming?
Click to expand...
It's a symbol of an era where the videogame industry didn't really understand how to work properly yet.the entire business model was fucked up,and that it's one of the main reasons of the 1983 crash
 
C

Cthulhu_Steev

Member
Armoured Priest said:
Wonder if they found any copies of the Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark 2600 game.
Click to expand...

First picture has an advert/flyer for it.

Ishan said:
Can someone explain to me

1) why is this such a big deal?
2) Is the consensus that this is real (not staged etc)?
Click to expand...

Because it's videogame history, it's a visual reminder of the 1983 crash lest we go there again, and it's a fucking brilliant idea. I'd like them to rebury them all once it's done though.
 
F

Frolow

Banned
Ishan said:
Can someone explain to me

1) why is this such a big deal?
2) Is the consensus that this is real?
Click to expand...

1. It's been a longstanding urban legend that Atari ad so many unsold cartridges of E.IT, consoles, and other games that they all buried them in a New Mexico Landfill. The rumor has been subject of debate for decades now and to finally see some actual proof is exciting.
2. Pretty much confirmed to be real.
 
KungFucius

KungFucius

King Snowflake
I think it is fine to be skeptical, but to think that you know something is false from the get go is just plain stupid. Sure this could be fake, but citing anecdotal evidence that cardboard degrades in months as proof that this is BS is itself BS.

Reasons it could be real:
  1. It's in a landfill in a desert, so it's fucking dry
  2. If the volume is large enough, the outer region protects the inner region
  3. Nothing shown looks all that pristine whatsoever
 
V

vypek

Member
These were originally buried because way too many were produced, right? It was around a gaming crash when not enough consoles and games were selling?

I'm pretty interested in the documentary now.
 
A

alfredofroylan

Member
Ishan said:
Can someone explain to me

1) why is this such a big deal?
2) Is the consensus that this is real (not staged etc)?
Click to expand...
1) It's one of the most iconic stories in videogame history, I think it's nice to get a fitting ending for it.
2) Local people and media are reporting this, so I think it's quite real
 
M

Messofanego

Banned
Major Nelson said:
It was a pretty cool day out there. I mean as cool as a day can be un an old landfill. The one I am holding in the photo was the very first one they found. There area a TON more down there and the story is developing on exactly how many.

Oh and nice 'shop of my head.
Click to expand...

Haha, you are awesome!
 
N

nate75

Member
This is going make for a very interesting documenatry, a part of gaming history and legend .ET the game considered one of the worst games of all time ,one of the biggest commecial failures in video games and considered a large part in the video game crash of '83 . i for one really want to see this documentary and seems a good way of kicking off xbox original programming . :)
 
P

pompidu

Member
Major Nelson said:
It was a pretty cool day out there. I mean as cool as a day can be un an old landfill. The one I am holding in the photo was the very first one they found. There area a TON more down there and the story is developing on exactly how many.

Oh and nice 'shop of my head.
Click to expand...

Sounds awesome! Cant wait to see the documentary!
 
W

WillyFive

Member
Majine said:
Oh yeah. Did the AVGN movie just got fucked in the ass?
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. If he'd finish the movie soon, it would be quite timely (ironic considering that movie has been in production for half a decade now). But of course, I doubt he'd be able to finish it anytime soon.
 
TrueGrime

TrueGrime

Member
Major Nelson said:
It was a pretty cool day out there. I mean as cool as a day can be un an old landfill. The one I am holding in the photo was the very first one they found. There area a TON more down there and the story is developing on exactly how many.

Oh and nice 'shop of my head.
Click to expand...

Good stuff, Major. Can't wait to watch it.
 
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