Mythical Lost Atari E.T. Games Found in New Mexico Landfill

To many, getting buried in the New Mexico desert was a fitting end to what many consider the worst video game of all time. But the fate of Atari’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial game was considered an urban legend by most… until today.

Superhero film writer Zak Penn, known for contributing to such films as The Incredible Hulk, Marvel’s The Avengers, Elektra, and more than one X-Men film, pressed to have the site excavated with permission from the city of Alamogordo, New Mexico. After receiving permission to dig one hole in the large, open area in 2013, plans to document the process in a film directed by Penn (exclusive to Xbox Entertainment systems) were under way, culminating in today’s monumental discovery. You can get a sneak peek at the process in the video above.

But the real question is, “what are they going to do with the games now that they’ve dug them up?” Well, the city of Alamogordo allowed the documentarians to keep up to 250 cartridges and plan to sell the rest, possibly at local tourist souvenir shops throughout the Southeast New Mexico area. Considering that no one knows exactly how many were dumped in that hole (some speculate up to 3.5 million E.T. games along with many other similar items), they could end up repeating history with a lot of stock they won’t be able to get rid of, especially since the games are literally less playable than it was 30 years ago. I know a hole in the New Mexico desert that needs filling.

Image: Microsoft