Atari Legend

[Melbosa]

http://news.xbox.com/2014/04/ent-atari-dig?linkId=8077375

A team of filmmakers and excavators descended upon the Alamogordo Landfill in New Mexico today, to investigate the longstanding legend of Atari's long-buried cache of "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" cartridges. As the story goes, the reviled Atari 2600 movie tie-in game went largely unwanted by consumers, and Atari -- facing financial catastrophe due to the very costly flop -- decided to rid themselves of thousands upon thousands of these unsold cartridges, dumping them in the New Mexico landfill and leaving them buried forever.

...

Is it crazy I remember this "legend" from back in the day?  I suggest anyone with Atari nostalgia read on.

[Mr. Analog]

I always thought it was an Urban Legend, but since nobody would confirm or deny it I kind of thought it was BS. It blows my mind that this is actually real

I meant to post this on the weekend when I first saw it, thanks for posting it here!

[Thorin]

The article mentions they also found Space Invaders and Centipede cartridges.  I wonder if they'll go auction those off, as people might actually pay for them.

[Darren Dirt]

I always thought it was an Urban Legend, but since nobody would confirm or deny it I kind of thought it was BS. It blows my mind that this is actually real

I'm not as surprised, because IIRC the singular programmer guy (who was given nothing in respect to time and clear design!) confirmed it himself first-hand.

The dude made the highly praised (and "best selling original title") "Yars' Revenge". Then E.T. Now he's a psychotherapist.

[Mr. Analog]

The article mentions they also found Space Invaders and Centipede cartridges.  I wonder if they'll go auction those off, as people might actually pay for them.

heck yeah!

Though if I recall neither was a very good port (maybe I'm thinking of Pac-Man? I know that one was awful for sure)

I always thought it was an Urban Legend, but since nobody would confirm or deny it I kind of thought it was BS. It blows my mind that this is actually real

I'm not as surprised, because IIRC the singular programmer guy (who was given nothing in respect to time and clear design!) confirmed it himself first-hand.

The dude made the highly praised (and "best selling original title") "Yars' Revenge". Then E.T. Now he's a psychotherapist.

I unno, it's one of those "I read it on the internet therefore it's true (or not)" kind of stories where there was a lot of conflicting points from people involved

I wonder if he consoles people who 30 years later are still having flashbacks to the Worst Christmas Gift EVER heh heh

Yar's Revenge was great though holy cow, haven't played that for ages!

[Darren Dirt]

I wonder if he consoles people who 30 years later are still having flashbacks to the Worst Christmas Gift EVER heh heh

Consoles? Counsels? either one seems to work

Apparently he got his license really recently, in the between years he has been a documentary film-maker, covering everything from the VG industry to the BDSM industry #variedInterests




Also hey guess what is the central plot of the upcoming AVGN movie?

Yup, disproving the legend of the burial of the E.T. game cartridges! (And this film has been planned well before this real-life confirmation -- shooting was complete December 2013! #headAsplode )

[Mr. Analog]

For some reason I thought the AVGN movie was out already.

I wonder if this kind of borks the entire premise (is The Nerd drowning in Rolling Rock at this moment?)

ALSO
verb
3rd person present: consoles
comfort (someone) at a time of grief or disappointment.

SO BIPPITY BOOP TO YOUP

[Darren Dirt]

For some reason I thought the AVGN movie was out already.

I wonder if this kind of borks the entire premise (is The Nerd drowning in Rolling Rock at this moment?)

My prediction is that in the film it turns out he is WRONG in his debunking effort ... which is why I said asplode.

Although... someone in the Wiki:Talk makes a damn good point:
"I don't understand from where the urban legend that it was ever an urban legend arose. It was reported in the New York Times and other mainstream media. When Atari was asked, they confirmed the story. There was no real mystery or some kind of hidden secret. The current dig found... exactly what Atari and the NYT said was the case, in 1983..."

[Mr. Analog]

For some reason I thought the AVGN movie was out already.

I wonder if this kind of borks the entire premise (is The Nerd drowning in Rolling Rock at this moment?)

My prediction is that in the film it turns out he is WRONG in his debunking effort ... which is why I said asplode.

Although... someone in the Wiki:Talk makes a damn good point:
"I don't understand from where the urban legend that it was ever an urban legend arose. It was reported in the New York Times and other mainstream media. When Atari was asked, they confirmed the story. There was no real mystery or some kind of hidden secret. The current dig found... exactly what Atari and the NYT said was the case, in 1983..."

Well, the LOCATION for one

You say you buried a truckton of @%&# you didn't want... WHERE IS IT? Thus begins the rumour mill for the next 30 years

[Darren Dirt]

ALSO
verb
3rd person present: consoles
comfort (someone) at a time of grief or disappointment.

SO BIPPITY BOOP TO YOUP

Yeah so he counsels people who experienced console-grief by consoling them

Well, the LOCATION for one

You say you buried a truckton of @%&# you didn't want... WHERE IS IT? Thus begins the rumour mill for the next 30 years

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_video_game_burial#Excavation
"James Heller, the former Atari manager in charge of the original burial, was also on hand at the excavation and revealed to the Associated Press that there were only 728,000 cartridges buried at the site, and that he had been the one to originally order it covered in concrete."

idk, someone coulda just ASKED Mr. Heller directly you would think. Even if he didn't want to give the exact location, I'm sure anyone who wanted confirmation coulda asked around and eventually found out it was him who could confirm the event actually happened...

I mean when you look at the 1983 reporting of the ["alleged"] event, it wasn't some @%&# people made up years later!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_video_game_burial#Burial

For example, UPI news service:
On September 27, 1983, the news service UPI reported that "people watching the operation said it included cassettes of the popular video games E.T., Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, the consoles used to convey the games to television screens and high-priced personal computers."

And New York Freakin' Times:
On September 28, 1983, The New York Times reported on the story of Atari's dumping in New Mexico. An Atari representative confirmed the story for the newspaper

[Darren Dirt]

http://news.xbox.com/2014/04/ent-atari-dig?linkId=8077375

Also on the News.XBox.com website:

A Chat with Jonathan Chinn, executive producer of documentary "Atari: Game Over" (which was part of the reason for this dig)