The Search for ‘E.T’ Game Carts to Continue in New Mexico [Video]

This is always a story that has fascinated me, for no real reason. All it really is, is a story about a company dumping massive amounts of product into a landfill. However, it's really the cove-up that's the interesting thing about it. This story has garnerd so much interest, that a small film company has been granted and 'excavation' permit to find the games!

Before we jump into it, here is the story.

E.T, a video game based on the smash hit movie of the same name, was released on the Atari 2600. Game programmer Howard Scott Warshaw was given an extremely short amount of time to produce this game and was told by different sources (including Steven Spielberg) how the game should look. Due to the amount of time to make the game, the game was a complete disaster.

Considered to be the "Worst Video Game of All Time!"

Millions of game carts were created, and many were never sold. Although the game sold very well during the holiday season of 1982. Atari thought that the game would sell more Atari game consoles, so they produced more product! When the game was a flop, Atari was stuck with millions of games and game hardware and lost money.

The myth is, that Atari secretly had semi-trucks take the unsold product to a landfill in New Mexico, have it crushed and buried under cement. Some sources say that this is true, but Atari Officials stated that something else was buried out there.

Till now!

Fuel Entertainment and LightBox Interactive have secured a permit to excavate the area that is thought to hold the E.T game carts and Atari consoles. They have been given six months to do so, and will create a documentary of their excavation.

As a gaming history nerd, I cannot wait to see if they turn up anything and put this myth to rest. At the same time though, just imagine what is in a landfill. Let's just say that I am glad that someone else is taking care of digging through crap to clear up this myth.