The Unholiest of gaming urban legends is true.... Massive Atari horde found in New Mexico

[Raven's Nest]

Some of you may have heard the legend that is how Atari collected all of the unsold copies of their ET game (YES THAT ET GAME) and buried them in the desert never again to see the light of day?

Well it has been found... Cue Raiders of the lost ark music....

http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/26/5656288/construction-workers-unearth-legendary-cache-of-atari-games-in-new

Atari's E.T has long been touted as the worst video game to have ever been created, so bad that it had to be sealed away forever. This sounds like the start of a hilarious B movie if you ask me.

 

[Ldude893]

Those idiots Do they know what they just UNLEASHED UPON THIS WORLD? Throw them back into that hole before it starts melting people's faces!

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit, they actually found it.

Now, what?

Maybe make it a landmark and put it in a museum? Or maybe fire the games into the sun because they suck...?

In any event, it's kinda cool that it's found.

 

[Fappy]

Looks like the AVGN movie needs to get its post-production ass in gear considering the plot premise (he is looking for the ET landfill). Come on James! Finish it!

 

[Erttheking]

Huh, I could've sworn someone somewhere had said that those landfills were all a hoax. Guess not. Well, this is certainly an interesting thing to watch.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Oh cool, they found them.

I like how games are so old it's almost worth getting archaeologists to dig them up.

 

[Aerosteam]

The hell? People are putting tons of effort and time in the search for it? They've got search teams, high-vis vests, cameras and everything!

Eh, who am I to judge, some people are into searching mythical things that might not be real.

 

[Objectable]

Don't they know what they have done? We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but this day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from this revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Wow they actually found them. Now to do the job properly this time and burn these cartridges to at last free this world of the game's vile existence... or stick them in museum I guess.

 

[Muspelheim]

The legends were true...

May the Gods defend their souls from the terrible phantoms of the past their search must have unleashed. They were meant to rest for eternity beneath the shifting sands, but such is not the way of Mortals. Their sacrifice for our knowledge will not be forgotten.

 

[Darks63]

They found the unholy grail of gaming. they buried due to all the stuff being worthless in the face of the 1984 crash. Now watch all that crap be worth a ton due to the novelty factor.

Its shame nobody made a prophecy about finding that horde heralding the next VG crash so i could have an extra laugh about this.

 

[white_wolf]

Wow, do they get a reward for that? I don't think anyone's going to pay for the more preserved cases.

 

[StormDragonZ]

Now the most important question needs to be answered:

Do they still work?

 

[Queen Michael]

So it's not only true that they buried them, people actually tried to find them, and succeeded to boot...

Though I must say that it would have been better to let the darn things stay where they were.

 

[Leemaster777]

I can only imagine their faces when they found those cartridges...

Spoiler

Incidentally, if there are any intact copies of the game IN that landfill, they'd probably be worth quite a substantial sum to collectors.

Ironic that they were entirely worthless when they were buried, but now they might ACTUALLY have a price as a piece of history.

 

[Diddy_Mao]

Interesting. I always see this game pop up along side superman 64 as the "worst games ever made."

Curious since the failure of E.T. was due more to a crippling overestimation in supply vs demand.
Yeah E.T. is a bad game but no more so than most lisenced games of the era. Folks who claim it to be the worst game ever made clearly nevet played the Atari 2600 KoolAid game. That damn thing was virtually unplayable.

 

[Mossberg Shotty]

Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit, they actually found it.

Now, what?

Maybe make it a landmark and put it in a museum? Or maybe fire the games into the sun because they suck...?

In any event, it's kinda cool that it's found.

Well it certainly deserves some form of commemoration. Maybe they should erect a giant E.T. statue on the spot where they found it.

Maybe I'm just young, but I've never heard this urban legend before.

 

[Winnosh]

I can only imagine their faces when they found those cartridges...

Spoiler

Incidentally, if there are any intact copies of the game IN that landfill, they'd probably be worth quite a substantial sum to collectors.

Ironic that they were entirely worthless when they were buried, but now they might ACTUALLY have a price as a piece of history.

Unlikely since while there may have been many buried there there were far more that went into circulation and are still out there. The ones buried were really just a drop in the bucket.

Now if they listed and marked these as separate Landfil carts. Then that might be worth something.

 

[Fijiman]

Now the most important question needs to be answered:

Do they still work?

Another important question is is any of that stuff worth anything? No seriously, I'm genuinely curious as to whether any of that is worth more now than when it was buried.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit, they actually found it.

Now, what?

Maybe make it a landmark and put it in a museum? Or maybe fire the games into the sun because they suck...?

In any event, it's kinda cool that it's found.

Well it certainly deserves some form of commemoration. Maybe they should erect a giant E.T. statue on the spot where they found it.

Maybe. I don't know if they wanna go for a giant statue of E.T. statue because of what it would look like from a distance.

If you know what I mean. ;D

Maybe I'm just young, but I've never heard this urban legend before.

Really? Huh...

In other news, I feel old.