(PCM) An urban legend that has lasted for decades has finally been put to rest now that documentary filmmakers and diggers have unearthed Atari’s rumored “lost” E.T. video games in a New Mexico landfill.
The “Atari Grave” has always been a legend that stumped gaming fans and so-called technology geeks for many, many years. The legend of the “Atari Grave” claimed that the video game manufacturer sent a couple of dozen truckloads of the “E.T.” video game to the New Mexican desert to be forever buried in a concrete covered landfill. Most gaming experts cite “E.T” as being one of the very worst video games of all time and many blame it for the ultimate downfall of Atari as a company.
Finally, a breakthrough in the mystery of just what Atari buried out the desert happened when filmmakers who are creating a documentary that will be aired via Xbox Live received permission to dig up the mythical burial site.
As they filmed a backhoe beginning to dig up over 30 years worth of dirt and trash, they were soon able to spot the Atari logo and packaging sprinkled throughout the debris. At least the lost “E.T.” games have been recovered. It started with just one, but soon the crew began to find more and more cartridges as they continued to dig.
The documentary’s director Zak Penn showed the gaming fans that showed up at the site to witness the history-making dig one of the cartridges discovered at the site and claims that there are indeed hundreds more to be found.
The city of Alamogordo, New Mexico, where the landfill is located, agreed to give the filmmakers up to 250 of the cartridges discovered and then plan to sell off the rest.
So was Atari’s “E.T.” the worse game ever released? We are guessing that is always going to be a debate among gaming enthusiasts, but at least one major mystery has been solved for now.
