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Posted on Feb 18th 2008 at 03:17:45 AM by (Tondog)
Posted under Classic Gaming, Movies, Documentary, ET, Atari, 2600, Most Epic Documentary EVER

We all know about E.T., the infamously bad Atari 2600 game. But did you know that Atari buried thousands of unsold copies of the game in a Alamogordo, New Mexico landfill in September of 1983?

Many have doubted this event's authenticity, however a team of four enterprising Auburn University students have decided to team up and make E.T.'s March, a documentary about them trying to locate the landfill where Atari buried all these games. Together, the four students will travel from Auburn, Alabama to El Paso, Texas, which is where the Atari plant was located. From there, they will travel from El Paso to the landfill in Alamogordo, recreating the path that the semitrucks took, while in the meantime taking in the video game culture of the United States.

Judging by the website, they seem very determined to locate this goldmine of video gaming history, and the documentary should prove to be a very interesting watch. Now, I haven't seen King of Kong, the other video game documentary that's been making waves lately, but I can imagine that E.T.'s March must have been inspired by it and the critical acclaim it has been receiving.

The filming of the documentary will take place from March 15-23 and will be released over the internet sometime this summer. There are no plans for a theatrical or DVD release stated on the website, but I assume that they would be willing to do something like that if the right distributor steps in and funds them.

While you're waiting for the film to be released, here's a great, well-researched site all about the E.T. burial story: http://atari.digital-madman.com/

E.T.'s March Official Website


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Comments
 
That's really cool, and should make for an entertaining watch regardless of the outcome.
 
No fair, I planned to someday dig them up.
Funnily enough E.T. still isn't worth much on eBay despite how many copies are now in that landfill.
 
I wonder what they will do with them if the find them...
 
I hope they realize that no respectable landfill will just let anyone start digging around. Landfills are much more complex than a big hole filled with garbage. Random digging will result in leakage and cause the landfill millions in fines from the EPA.
Their only hope is that it's a small landfill that the EPA doesn't know about in the first place.
 
@NES_Rules:

You sound like a Civil Engineering Professor.

On another note, this could be funny.
 
I say RFG makes a preemptive strike.

I'll get my shovel.
 
I thought they sealed it in cement after local children were caught looting and selling the games to pawn shops.  Otherwise, I'm fairly sure a news reporter and the Alamogordo mayor were present to see it because townsfolk were upset about some electronics company (Atari) dumping industrial waste (so thats what they thought of games back then!) so close to their town.
 
@OatBob:

Your right, they did seal it in cement. Atari never denied that they did it, only denied the actual number of carts buried. They steam rolled them first, then poured cement over them before they were buried. The only real myth here is how many, tens of thousands or millions, the former being more reasonable.
 
What?! Damn it! If they were all flattened then coated in cement we'll never know how many there were....
 
No. NOOOO.

I had already said that once I'm older and have the ability to do this I would, and they're taking my thunder.

Oh well. Guess I'll just have to watch.
 
I always wanted to do this.  wouldn't that be awesome?  It'll be cool to watch, hopefully they do good with it.
 
Argh, their expedition has been put on hold!
 
This will definitely be hilarious. Hopefully I will have a chance to look it up when it comes out.
 
@dotDarkCloud (dDC):

As NES_Rules said, they probably found out that this isn't as simple as digging into a Landfill. So much permitting and special design goes into a landfill that it probably is not worth risking your license to have these people look for ET.

Bottom line, Landfills are more than a hole with garbage. Believe it or not, it could be helping to power your house, or capturing methane (Natural Gas) for home consumption.
 
Atari should never of been aloud to dump them. They should of been forced to keep every last copy as a constant reminder Wink

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