E.T. to leave the Earth

[Snailface]

Not to outer space, mind you, just out of the ground.

Legend has it that in 1983, the highly-anticipated Atari game ET sold so poorly that it reportedly
had to have its excess stock of 5 million cartridges buried out in the New Mexico desert. This event,
many video game historians believe, was the catalyst for the video game industry crash of the mid-eighties.

For many years, retro-game buffs have fantasized about the prospect of unearthing these infamous
cartridges. Now it finally looks as if this out-of-this-world fantasy will get off the ground ...

On Tuesday, Alamogordo's City Commission approved a deal with
Canada-based film production and entertainment company Fuel Industries
to excavate the Atari dump site and create a documentary surrounding the
Alamogordo landfill legend.

Source

 

[Melchizedek]

The AVGN will discover the truth in his movie

 

[mechagouki]

I thought this was an urban legend? Nothing about the story makes sense.

 

[Qtis]

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.

A pity they won't find the games intact

 

[Gahars]

I thought this was an urban legend? Nothing about the story makes sense.

They produced too many copies of the game, couldn't sell them, and so disposed of them in a hole in the desert. What doesn't make sense about that?

Anyway, they better be careful about opening that thing. Otherwise...

 

[KidIce]

A pity they won't find the games intact

WTF is wrong w/ you? Who would want to find a working copy?!? That game was horrible... And causes cancer.

 

[bowser]

When I last played E.T. on my Mattel Intellivision around 18 years ago, I could never get him out of the pit that he used to fall into. How ironic.

 

[Joe88]

They produced too many copies of the game, couldn't sell them, and so disposed of them in a hole in the desert. What doesn't make sense about that?

recycling, they could have easily made some money back
not a single piece of evidence exists to support this 30 year urban legend besides some hearsay
that's why it doesn't make sense

 

[thaddius]

Fuel Industries? Could that be the Ottawa-based video game company (who recently underwent a name change) Fuel Youth Engagement? They probably weren't answering e-mails as of Wednesday because they were tied up in the Ottawa International Game Conference. I'll ask my contacts there.

 

[mechagouki]

They produced too many copies of the game, couldn't sell them, and so disposed of them in a hole in the desert. What doesn't make sense about that?

I've read interviews with former Atari executives who stated that all that went into the landfill was the unusable equipment/parts from the Atari factory that was being closed due to production being moved abroad to cut costs.

The old BS about them producing 1 million more ET carts than there were VCS machines in existence makes no sense, the company might have been horribly mismanaged at that time, but no game manufacturer produces more games than their known user base can absorb. And as for burying systems alongside the carts - why would they? The VCS continued to be sold in one form or another well into the 1990s, in fact I'm pretty sure you can still buy a version with built in games.

Even if it were true, why bother excavating? Whatever they might find will be essentially worthless. What a waste of money, there are people in North America who can't afford to eat or pay rent, and this is a priority for someone?

 

[KingdomBlade]

Even if it were true, why bother excavating? Whatever they might find will be essentially worthless. What a waste of money, there are people in North America who can't afford to eat or pay rent, and this is a priority for someone?

To make what should be a fairly entertaining documentary about the story. It says it right there. They're a film company. They're not just excavating shit for the heck of it. What do you expect an entertainment and film production company to do? Donate their production budget to the poor?

 

[DinohScene]

I'd love to have a copy of E.T.
It's a piece of gaming history.

 

[Rizsparky]

Couldn't they have reused the cartridge shells for other games?

 

[dragonblood9999]

3 year's ago when I was at my sister's house in Canada, we decided to go to some flea markets, I saw a loose copy of the game. I asked the lady how much she wanted for it, because I wanted to experience how bad the game was myself, without going to emulation, the seller wanted 40 because "it is and old game" I told her the game is not worth $2 and showed her how much it was on ebay. She got mad because she said that she bought the game in a pawn shop for $25 and the pawn shop owner said it was worth over $50.

 

[Satangel]

Ah yes, I heard about this too. 5 million copies, wtf where they thinking.... And just dumping them somewhere, good job! That really solves it

 

[mechagouki]

To make what should be a fairly entertaining documentary about the story. It says it right there. They're a film company. They're not just excavating shit for the heck of it. What do you expect an entertainment and film production company to do? Donate their production budget to the poor?

Yup, a documentary about digging up a landfill full of crap that nobody wanted then and nobody wants now is going to be gripping stuff. Or they could make a useful documentary about the uneven distribution of wealth in the United States and how some people can't afford to go to the Doctor whilst rich spoiled kids fret about the specs of the new Xbox. Coming from the Philippines I would expect you to understand the divide between haves and have-nots.

 

[Ergo]

Yup, a documentary about digging up a landfill full of crap that nobody wanted then and nobody wants now is going to be gripping stuff. Or they could make a useful documentary about the uneven distribution of wealth in the United States and how some people can't afford to go to the Doctor whilst rich spoiled kids fret about the specs of the new Xbox. Coming from the Philippines I would expect you to understand the divide between haves and have-nots.

WOW, culturally chauvinistic (and condescending...but I repeat myself) much??

 

[Sicklyboy]

So at first, I was going to say:

Wait, they're gonna...

Oh... oh my...

But then I read:

I've read interviews with former Atari executives who stated that all that went into the landfill was the unusable equipment/parts from the Atari factory that was being closed due to production being moved abroad to cut costs.

The old BS about them producing 1 million more ET carts than there were VCS machines in existence makes no sense, the company might have been horribly mismanaged at that time, but no game manufacturer produces more games than their known user base can absorb. And as for burying systems alongside the carts - why would they? The VCS continued to be sold in one form or another well into the 1990s, in fact I'm pretty sure you can still buy a version with built in games.

Even if it were true, why bother excavating? Whatever they might find will be essentially worthless. What a waste of money, there are people in North America who can't afford to eat or pay rent, and this is a priority for someone?

Yup, a documentary about digging up a landfill full of crap that nobody wanted then and nobody wants now is going to be gripping stuff. Or they could make a useful documentary about the uneven distribution of wealth in the United States and how some people can't afford to go to the Doctor whilst rich spoiled kids fret about the specs of the new Xbox. Coming from the Philippines I would expect you to understand the divide between haves and have-nots.

I'm sure that these FILM PRODUCERS FROM CANADA are really concerned about the distribution of wealth among THE POOR OF THE UNITED SATES OF AMERICA.

Better yet, let's have them give all of their money to the poor, go into bankruptcy, shut down their production company/studio, and join the ranks of the poor. Then not make a documentary about it because suddenly they can't afford to.

 

[KidIce]

When I last played E.T. on my Mattel Intellivision around 18 years ago, I could never get him out of the pit that he used to fall into. How ironic.

It was never released for the Intellivison... Serious bonus points to Mattel for not allowing that piece of filth to sully their system, though.

 

[Xuphor]

Interesting fact many people don't know: E.T. for Atari actually sold VERY VERY well.
The problem was that they made about 20x as many copies of the game as people who owned an Atari.

The more you know.