ET Cartridges Found in Desert Landfill After 31 Years

[alec006]

The "rumors" about the Atari landfill are now proven true, I'll be damned.

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S3413459.shtml

[kainemaxwell]

https://twitter.com/majornelson/stat...29185277968385

Awesome.

[fergojisan]

It wasn't an urban legend or a mystery, it was a documented fact. Atari dumped the contents of a warehouse in Texas, which companies do from time to time. Now, this is just going to perpetuate the claim that Atari destroyed the video game industry. People forget that Atari CREATED the video game industry, and this is not going to help.

[PizzaKat]

How long before these carts are on Ebay?

[bb_hood]

wow they dug up a bunch of mega common dirty games. Nobody wanted them then and I doubt anybody would want them now.

[SparTonberry]

Actually some might given it's a historical artifact now.

[bb_hood]

Actually some might given it's a historical artifact now.

how would one of those carts be any different from the one I own (after I put a handfull of dirt on it)?

[megasdkirby]

how would one of those carts be any different from the one I own (after I put a handfull of dirt on it)?

Give some time to AtariAge members. They will somehow justify it.



And I also bet some will send copies to VGA to have the carts "graded".

90+ of ET Trash.

Give it time.

[Ro-J]

I don't know, I think it might be kind of cool to own one of the landfill carts, if only for novelty's sake or as a conversation piece. I wouldn't pay a whole lot for it, but for the right price I'd consider it.

[Steve W]

I'd love to know if some of them are still functional. I suspect that Atari's stuff was so durable that, rust aside, they might still play. Meanwhile, if you sneeze near a Colecovision console, it corrupts the machine and dies. If you dropped a "Heavy Sixer" Atari 2600 from low orbit, dig it out of the quarter-mile wide impact crater it'll form, and plug it in there's a good chance it'll still work. After the sun expands and swallows the Earth in five billion years, all that'll still be floating out in the rubble left over are Atari 2600s and Commodore 64 monitors. At least future alien explorers can play some good ol' video games.

[treismac]

how would one of those carts be any different from the one I own (after I put a handfull of dirt on it)?

Dude, I've already mailed off a busted up E.T. in a ziplock bag of dirt to get VGA graded, so I'll let you know after I turn around and sell it on eBay.

[treismac]

Give some time to AtariAge members. They will somehow justify it.



And I also bet some will send copies to VGA to have the carts "graded".

90+ of ET Trash.

Give it time.

Damn. You beat me to the VGA joke.

[kainemaxwell]

here's some more pics:

[T2KFreeker]

I laugh at the craziness. How is it a "Rumor" if there is actual news stuff from the day proving that it actually happened? it's not a rumor or an urban myth, it was fact all along. Anyone from the day that watched the news or read the news paper probably knew about it and already knew the stuff would be found. I can understand the fascination of finding the old carts, but the whole "Myth" or "Rumor" when it never was that in the first place, I just don't understand how it happened.

[Gamevet]

I'd love to know if some of them are still functional. I suspect that Atari's stuff was so durable that, rust aside, they might still play. Meanwhile, if you sneeze near a Colecovision console, it corrupts the machine and dies. If you dropped a "Heavy Sixer" Atari 2600 from low orbit, dig it out of the quarter-mile wide impact crater it'll form, and plug it in there's a good chance it'll still work. After the sun expands and swallows the Earth in five billion years, all that'll still be floating out in the rubble left over are Atari 2600s and Commodore 64 monitors. At least future alien explorers can play some good ol' video games.

Yes it is!

[alec006]

I laugh at the craziness. How is it a "Rumor" if there is actual news stuff from the day proving that it actually happened? it's not a rumor or an urban myth, it was fact all along. Anyone from the day that watched the news or read the news paper probably knew about it and already knew the stuff would be found. I can understand the fascination of finding the old carts, but the whole "Myth" or "Rumor" when it never was that in the first place, I just don't understand how it happened.

For years, I've heard back and forth that even when it was reported by news media, it still became a "urban legend" or "rumor". No one has ever dug up the site until now and that I'm guessing is what led to it being believed to be a rumor rather than fact.

[Atarileaf]

Yes it is!

If it wasn't bad enough, having to play ET in a windy desert, but the poor kid has to use those awful proline sticks to play it

[bb_hood]

here's some more pics:

In this instance, CIB stands for Complete In Bucket.

[Gamevet]

More like Crushed in Box.

[Zama]

Atari tried to bury their past but fate would not let them escape their destiny