Atari E.T. Games Unearthed In New Mexico Landfill

Remember the urban legend about Atari dumping millions of unsold copies of the E.T. the [...]

By Joe Blackmon

Atari ET

Remember the urban legend about Atari dumping millions of unsold copies of the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial video game in a New Mexico landfill? It turns out the story was true. Back in the early eighties, Atari's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was one of the most highly-anticipated video games ever, which ultimately proved to be one of the worst if not the worst video game ever made. Millions of copies of the E.T. game went unsold, and many of those that were sold got returned. The game is often blamed for causing the downfall of Atari and the American video game industry in the eighties. On Saturday, a team of filmmakers excavated the New Mexico landfill where the game cartridges were rumored to be buried, and they actually found numerous E.T. game cartridges, as well as other Atari cartridges and merchandise. The excavation was done by Fuel Entertainment, Lightbox, director Zak Penn, and Xbox Entertainment Studios for a documentary. Penn was a writer on The Incredible Hulk, X-Men: The Last Stand, and The Avengers.

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