http://kotaku.com/e-t-found-in-new-mexico-landfill-1568100161/all

UPDATE (6/1/14): More information about the events leading up to the dig at this link: http://www.polygon.com/features/2014/5/30/5730962/et-landfill-dig-atari

For those of you who don't know, there is something of a conspiracy surrounding the universally horrible Atari 2600 game, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. After the success of the movie, there was a huge push to get a home console version of the game available for the successful Atari 2600. But the game was rushed through its development cycle and ended up being broken to the point of being nearly unplayable. Millions of cartridges were ordered in anticipation of the game becoming a hit, but so many cartridges were returned or didn't sell, that Atari pulled them all from store shelves across the country.

The legend was that Atari buried them all under a sheet of concrete in a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico in 1983. But no source could ever confirm it and Atari, still a powerful company at the time, would not allow anyone to investigate it. The legend remained simply that-- a legend, for over 30 years until this year, a team for Xbox Entertainment Studios who was making a documentary about the fabled event, got permits from the city of Alamogordo to dig up the area in search of the cartridges.

Today, April 26, 2014, marks a day in gaming history as the legend has been proven true, and intact cartridges of one of the worst video games ever made have been found in a landfill in the New Mexico desert. Other games have been found too: in one of the photos on the news page, you can see what was once a factory sealed copy of Centipede. I'm sure more photos and news stories will be released as events unfold.

You can read more about the entire event here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_video_game_burial

That's one of the coolest stories I've ever heard of! I hope they will find more intact cardridges, maybe people are willing to pay a lot for them because they have become (in)famous now. It's pretty weird to think a great company like Atari buried so many games and consoles.

What the? Is this a fake thread? They found E.T?! Woohoo!

thephantombrain :
Thanks for leading me here.  I'm not a huge gaming nerd, but this definitely gave me a bit of a laugh.  It's pretty amazing that they actually dug these up... now everyone can rush out to buy pieces of junk. XD

Thanks for the follow-up to this.

I see the cartridges and boxes, now I want to see the cool stuff they found. LOL!

Whoa, this is really cool. I thought it was just a myth, but it's actually legitimate.
Makes me wonder if other myths like this are actually true and not just legends.

Are they planning on selling these? I would buy a copy (or a ton of copies). I really want to know why they even wanted to dig them up, it was documented that Atari buried them and pretty well know, although a lot of people didn't believe it and that it was just a myth. Wonder if they found big foot with all those E.T.s?

Retro Gaming pushes it's way towards the front lines freakin A+.  I've always heard about this and didn't see any reason it couldn't be true but now there is no doubt.  I think it would be kinda cool to have a cart from there.

I just watched a video of gameplay...and I must say, that is by far the WORST PIECE OF *insert word here* game that I have ever seen. Everything about it is downright terrible, and I probably would've destroyed all of them too. But to hide it in Mexico? The company clearly didn't care for it, but to hide them in a landfill and prevent investigation is just ridiculous. The company should face stag penalties for this.

megamanmaniac : I have to disagree. I've personally seen far worse games. As I said in the other thread, check out Slaughter Sport on the Genesis for a game that is much worse. Also check out Dark Castle on the Genesis. Both make this game look good. lol

Well that was just stupid. Why bury them because they aren't selling? When was the last time you saw a department store bury clothes because they weren't selling? At worst you can trash them. Burying them yourself is just...the very definition of dumb. lol

Mystery solved. Still, I wonder who thought it was a good idea to dump a bunch of tangible assets into a landfill. Even if the games were not selling, they might eventually sell, and help, if even in the slightest. It might have been a horrible game, and it might have been selling poorly, but it really is not a good idea to just dump your product into a place that will find no use for it. 

Actually, who am I kidding? People returned copies by the masses, and Atari vastly overprinted copies of the game. There was not much else they could do. 

It was true. One of the stupidest decisions ever made. Dump a ton of games into a landfill. Was that really the only thing that they could think of? there is no way that this game was THAT bad, an yes I have played it. When looking through everything that has happened to bad video games, this is what they do? What kind of people did they have making their decisions for them? That is just straight stupid. No matter how you look at it, they wasted money and time they will never get back. I want one of those copies of ET... They should have just sold them. They would have sold them, probably just for people's collections, not for them to play. People now want these games more then ever.

Barathemos :
They really couldn't. Off the top of my head they had several million unsold cartridges, and even worse, stores and customers kept returning more of them, demanding a refund. Even if they slashed the price and sold them, they would probably be returned. As well as a refund, the administrative cost of this would be ridiculous. Equally holding on to them cost money in regards to storage. On top of that, it was a chapter they wanted to forget, hence pouring concrete over the top. Those things were overpriced drinks coasters.
Now,however, they could potentially sell them. Most of it wont work, but a lot of people would buy it as a slice of history. Iv no idea if they intend to, or whether they even have that right though. Atari, in various forms, does still exist so someone potentially has the right to them.

Because of how massive of news this is, it'll be a sticky for a week or so.

They didn't do it because the games were bad, they did it because they had nowhere to put it and they weren't being sold. They had great games like Centipede found in the landfill as well.

My main idea is how on earth a documentary crew found it so easily, yet people were searching the area for years and found nothing. How are we to know the games weren't just planted for the sake of a good story? Plastic melts and warps in heat, yet the shrink wrap was still in tact, and the games were untouched, even though they had been in the (famously) severe weather of the desert for 30 years. How is this possible?

Conspiracy theories on a past conspiracy aside, I'm very glad this whole thing was put to rest, and it was all caught on tape.

Wait it true cool I was all ways wanted to know for sure now keep one and burn the rest XD

alexanyways : People weren't searching the area for decades; it was buried under concrete and the city dump has a guard. New Mexico law doesn't allow foraging in the dump, unlike Texas where Atari's factory was located. That's why they buried them in New Mexico. And the concrete should have helped defend the cartridges and boxes against the elements for the most part.

What intrigues me is why the city of Alamogordo only let the filmmakers take 10% of the cartridges found... what does a town in the middle of a desert want with a bunch of old, crappy Atari games?

Wow I heard people talk about them burying the E.T games but never thought it was real. I guess they were so ashamed they used all the money they actually did make on the game to take those out there and burying them. This was truly an awful game.

Well, I wonder what the Angry Video Game Nerd Movie will be like now that all this is really here

Zurenriri : Yeah, I watched a cool video over it. This is amazing on how they found it after all these years. o:

UPDATE: This is a really good article on the entire backstory of the Atari dig, bringing a lot of facts to light that no other news source did. I'm gonna edit this into the 1st post of the thread.

http://www.polygon.com/features/2014/5/30/5730962/et-landfill-dig-atari