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[Anth0ny]

Cool. I remember another documentary was in the works to do the same thing a few years back, nice to see someone else give it a shot.

I hope they find some actual cartridges. Don't see it happening, but it would be awesome.

Something like this

 

[Evolution_1ne]

LMAO the whole ET game thing has to be one of the craziest things that has happened in gaming.

there's a amazing tale of irony here that just hasn't revealed itself yet

they literally buried the game

 

[Servizio]

They thought they could bury the past.

They were wrong.

 

[eXistor]

I hope they don't find it, it's a fun urban legend. If they do find it, it can never match up to what you have in your mind, thus destroying the mystery.

 

[sono]

Now that is something.

 

[BurnOutBrighter]

This is the King Tutankhamun of our industry.

Looking forward to seeing what's unearthed. Who knows, the games may even still be playable.

 

[hachiroku]

There are things that are better hidden

 

[BocoDragon]

Some things... man was not meant to tamper with.

 

[Forkball]

They've got to make room for all those Xbox Ones.

 

[Lijik]

I was a really weird kid (this hasn't changed) but I actually kind of liked ET on the 2600. I managed to finish it once. It was still better than the awful Superman game.

I had a teacher in high school who said she had the game growing up and liked it as well

 

[Brashnir]

I had a teacher in high school who said she had the game growing up and liked it as well

I had it as a kid.

I did not like it.

 

[NewGame]

Raidersofthelostark.gif

 

[TheContact]

Wonder if this affects AVGN

 

[JasonUresti]

Game wasn't that bad. Plenty of other 2600's games were much, much worse.

As a little kid I could beat the game, and my mother, who didn't really play games, could beat it as well. It really only required patience and a steady hand.

It's neat that it has attracted such a bizarre mythology around it though.

 

[ixix]

I've seen landfills, and I've seen bad games. I don't think combining the two is really going to make either one more interesting. This ain't exactly peanut butter and chocolate we're dealing with here.

 

[superchunk]

I actually owned this game.

Played it quite a bit and it was extremely frustrating. I did beat it, but never played it again.

I wish I kept all my Atari 2600 stuff, especially this game as its become a freaking legend.

 

[Sblargh]

It sounds cool, but I don't know if they will find anything that resembles an actual cartridge.

 

[Count Dookkake]

.

 

[Zizbuka]

It would be cool if they opened the cases, and Skittles fell out.

 

[tsab]

i think the lyrics are relevant now

 

[Tempy]

Haha http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMW3W-G43gI#!

 

[someguyinahat]

This is the King Tutankhamun of our industry.

No, this was:

 

[redmetal86]

Oh god, the dead shall rise!

I wonder what kind of environmental impact, if any, the cartridges had. All that "toxic waste".

 

[Billen]

They have no idea what they are doing. The sleepers must not be awakened!

 

[LastNac]

An ancient evil is about to be awoken.

 

[Majine]

I think this industry has survived only because that game stayed buried. Now that it's coming back up, we're due for another crash.

 

[mercenar1e]

They are digging up the grave to make room for the Wii U lol

 

[amnesiac]

Wonder what Atari's reaction would be if they found it. "It was obviously planted."

 

[Frolow]

Weren't most of the things Atari dumped in that landfill faulty 2600s and Pac-Man cartridges?

 

[fleck0]

The judge missed a great opportunity to continue the grand tradition of sending games back to the Earth with the Silicon Knights Verdict.

And based on this blurb -

So they made a deal to dump at least nine semi trucks full of that merchandise from its El Paso plant in an Alamogordo landfill in late September 1983. The games were crushed and buried under concrete.

- I don't expect to hear about this project again.

 

[Kazerei]

I found a playthrough of the game and I don't understand what's going on :lol

 

[Cody_D165]

I expected this gif in the thread. I was not disappointed.

I actually like the idea of making this into a documentary, sounds interesting enough to me.

 

[tripleV]

Will watch them dig it up and then bury again.

 

[DopeyFish]

Hope there's some bodies in there too.

probably the dev team

 

[Man-is-Obsolete]

So I always heard they dumped truckloads of these games, but never seriously thought they really dumped in a landfill like that. I figured they would have shredded them up or recycled them or something. Knowing the were literally buried is pretty funny.

 

[TAJ]

Raidersofthelostark.gif

That game was pretty similar and almost as bad as E.T.

 

[Cody_D165]

probably the dev team

Team? What team? It was just this guy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Scott_Warshaw

Poor bastard gave life to one of the worst games the world's ever seen.

 

[fritolay]

I was a really weird kid (this hasn't changed) but I actually kind of liked ET on the 2600. I managed to finish it once. It was still better than the awful Superman game.

I played and beat the game as well. That or I dreamed up the rest. I do know I played the game a lot.

 

[Deuterium]

Wasn't this the premise of the AVGN movie?

Also, digging in the middle of the New Mexico desert doesn't sound that safe. That's where the U.S. government did most of its atomic tests. Who knows what fallout is buried around there.

EDIT: Yes it was. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avgn_movie

I believe you are thinking of Nevada (Nevada Testing Ground).

There was only one above ground atomic test in New Mexico (at Alamogordo, no less), and that was the original Trinity test of the first atomic bomb. There were two other underground tests in New Mexico that occurred in the 1960s.

The vast majority of all above and below ground nuclear tests in the United States proper (not considering outside US, e.g Pacific atolls), were in Nevada at the Nevada Testing range.

 

[bryehn]

What are they going to do with the carts and boxes? Attempt to recycle them I guess?

 

[doemaaan]

I've been wondering for the longest time... Does anyone know where this came from and if there's anywhere I can watch the clip online? Tried finding it before, but got nada.

 

[Mooreberg]

I'd drive up 70 to see this.

 

[HueyFreeman]

History became legend. Legend became myth. And some things which should not have been forgotten were lost.

Read: Unearthing this site may destroy the world.

 

[Delicious Waffles]

I want to pick up a copy of this game just for historical purposes.

I remember watching a few on eBay for a couple of bucks each. Never actually purchased one though.

As for this documentary, I'd give it a watch.

 

[Aaron Strife]

One little known fact about E.T. was that upon purchasing a used copy of the game, your Atari system would open up a secret compartment that would only activate the game upon inserting 35 dollars cash, which would be funneled via the tubes to Atari HQ, thus allowing gaming to prosper forever.

 

[Valjean Lafitte]

Man, why wasn't AVGN the one to actually dig it up? Some random Canadian company doing instead blows. And now my "Never Forget" E.T. shirt is going to be worthless.

 

[Desty]

There was an indie band that did this like 7 years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Rt_3_bQVJU

edit: beaten, should have read the OP

 

[Remk]

Wonder what Atari's reaction would be if they found it. "It was obviously planted."

What Atari? the company has long been gone.

Team? What team? It was just this guy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Scott_Warshaw

Poor bastard gave life to one of the worst games the world's ever seen.

To be fair the game wasnt that bad just confusing at first, it was even a multi screen game.

Plus he also made Yars Revenge which is one of the best Atari 2600 games as pointed out by this CGR review



Excavating a landfill seems like a super boring task too...

 

[MulderWasTaken]

Hopefully they restore at least one and show it play. They can probably restore all they can and try to sell them (if that's possible). I don't know if stuff on a landfill have copyright claims. Or is just like book publishers that when they discard books, they rip the cover so nobody could sell them.

 

[Iced_Eagle]

This is basically the story of Jumanji. Go into desert, dig, find the game, play the game, unleash evils.