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Thread: ET Cartridges Found in Desert Landfill After 31 Years

  1. #21
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    So is there anything stopping me from taking a hammer to a copy of ET tomorrow, rolling it through the dirt, and listing it on ebay tomorrow as having come from this landfill?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Zama View Post
    Atari tried to bury their past but fate would not let them escape their destiny
    sounds like a newspaper headline to me!
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    Quote Originally Posted by kainemaxwell View Post
    here's some more pics:



    Looks like pics of stuff from my local flea market this morning. "Them atari games is rare" says the guy behind the table, "$3 each or $15 per bucket".


    That landfill wound having more treasure in it that Al Capone's vault! lol

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    Quote Originally Posted by Satoshi_Matrix View Post
    sounds like a newspaper headline to me!
    Here is a more accurate headline: Trash excavated from garbage hole



    (except for that centipede game, that game is sealed and mint)

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gamevet View Post
    More like Crushed in Box.
    Outstanding.

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    I like how many of those games have cleaner labels than my copy. :/
    Or that they still work after all that time being exposed to the elements, while flea market copies in the sun are a coin toss.

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    If I read the article correctly they were sealed under concrete. That would protect them pretty well from rain water.
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    Quote Originally Posted by fergojisan View Post
    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.
    Actually, what I believe was 'urban legendy' about the dump was that it was nothing but 1000's (or millions) of copies of ET. But, what this dig has actually done is debunked the legend. As you stated, there was no doubt (or shouldn't have been) that Atari dumped a lot of games and stuff there, but now we know it was mostly non-ET games (at least based on what's been dug up so far), not that it was just a place to hide a warehouse of a single game title...

    That's the part that became legend though, that it was all just ET because they made _SOOO_ many of them.

    ET wasn't even the first cartridge found... The press is just using ET to make headlines since no one would give a sh*t if they said 'bunch of worthless common 2600 games found in landfill'.

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    Quote Originally Posted by rik1138 View Post
    Actually, what I believe was 'urban legendy' about the dump was that it was nothing but 1000's (or millions) of copies of ET. But, what this dig has actually done is debunked the legend. As you stated, there was no doubt (or shouldn't have been) that Atari dumped a lot of games and stuff there, but now we know it was mostly non-ET games (at least based on what's been dug up so far), not that it was just a place to hide a warehouse of a single game title...

    That's the part that became legend though, that it was all just ET because they made _SOOO_ many of them.

    ET wasn't even the first cartridge found... The press is just using ET to make headlines since no one would give a sh*t if they said 'bunch of worthless common 2600 games found in landfill'.
    Actually, I think there were and still are some people that don't believe this really happened despite all the earlier documentation. I think the dig was just a huge publicity stunt and not necessary, but even after the find yesterday, there are still people posting on various forums claiming that the items were planted. It kind of makes me sad that there are people that go for conspiracy theories despite overwhelming evidence contradicting their crazy beliefs.

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    I remember the first article I read about the dumping stated that in addition to the cartridges, failed Atari prototypes were also thrown into the landfill. All the articles I am reading seem to only be focusing on the ET game, but mention "other computer equipment." Has anyone discovered any of the "other computer equipment?"

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bojay1997 View Post
    Actually, I think there were and still are some people that don't believe this really happened despite all the earlier documentation. I think the dig was just a huge publicity stunt and not necessary, but even after the find yesterday, there are still people posting on various forums claiming that the items were planted. It kind of makes me sad that there are people that go for conspiracy theories despite overwhelming evidence contradicting their crazy beliefs.
    What's probably lending to the conspiracy theories is that they are finding complete, intact copies of the game. That really shouldn't be surprising, giving the whole sealed in concrete thing. But the story most people know is that the games were either crushed first, then buried or the other way around. Looking at the documentation shows that the only crushing that took place was pretty much what was standard protocol for a landfill, but that's not the story people have been reading for 30 years. So, skepticism.

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    I'df be curious if there was any prototype stuff in there

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    They were in the desert under concrete...should be good. I've pulled 2600 carts out of a plastic box full of water at a flea and they still worked.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Atarileaf View Post
    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
    Hahahaha!!! No doubt the kid will be a retro gamer for life after this experience.

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    Everytime I see something on or read about this story all I can think of is the CODE MONKEYS episode.


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    The ebay idea is hilarious. People paying for legitimate destruction and flagging counterfeit destruction.
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    Not as extreme as Rickstilwell though.[/quote]


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    I'm always amazed at how much fascination ET still commands, and how many people who weren't even alive at the time of its release are dead set on the idea that "it caused the great craaaaash!" It's simply one of hundreds of terribad licensed games for the 2600. That's it.

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    So they found copies of the game buried in the landfill, but they haven't found the body of the guy who programmed it?

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    Howard Scott Warshaw is still very much alive, and was there at the dig

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gameguy View Post
    So they found copies of the game buried in the landfill, but they haven't found the body of the guy who programmed it?
    Apparently Howard Warshaw (E.T. and Yars' Revenge) was present when they broke ground, if first hand accounts are to be believed.

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