ET Cartridges Found in Desert Landfill After 31 Years

[Steve W]

There are photos of Warshaw being handed the first cartridge pulled out of the ground.

One of the reasons why this stayed in the "rumor" category for so long was because Howard Scott Warshaw claimed several times that he had never heard of the unsold or returned games being dumped in the landfill. I've read that from him in a couple of articles throughout the years. So that helped take it from hazily remembered fact to vague internet rumor over the course of 30 years.


That copy of Centipede they retrieved looks like it was stored in one of those plastic cases that shops like Target used to put games in so they could be hung from pegs. I've only got one or two of those, I always wished I had more.

[tom]

So as already stated in the Book Atari Inc Business is fun they buried stuff, not just ET games, but numerous different carts, inventory and other stock.

That 1 million ETs buried in the desert was just crappy made up stuff.
On the other hand, it's nice folklore and keeps the Atari name alive.

[CRTGAMER]

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?"

THIS. I get the impression the warehouse dump were all games destined to ship to store shelves. Still, there is that picture of 2600 official release Centipede when the original story claimed only ET carts (not whole boxes) were disposed. One can hope some prototypes are buried in there.

[Aussie2B]

Supposedly there were over a million excess copies of E.T., but I don't know why anyone would believe that ONLY E.T. got trashed when there were even more excess copies of other games. It's not like Atari had just one temporary brainfart and royally screwed up with one single release; they established a routine of mindbogglingly horrible business decisions.

[Sparkster]

I think it's fantastic that they unearthed something. It may not have been the legendary "millions" of copies, but the fact that they found something to lend credibility to the story is awesome.

[Gamevet]

Supposedly there were over a million excess copies of E.T., but I don't know why anyone would believe that ONLY E.T. got trashed when there were even more excess copies of other games. It's not like Atari had just one temporary brainfart and royally screwed up with one single release; they established a routine of mindbogglingly horrible business decisions.

I've heard that they had manufactured like 12 million Pac-Man carts and only managed to sell @ 7+ million of those. There may be other locations that have tons of these carts buried under the desert ground.

I'd guess that they made even more E.T. carts, considering the amount of money they had paid for the license.

[Greg2600]

To be honest, I never understood the myth/passion for this dump. EVERY major business/manufacturer in the United States dumps tons and tons of excess merch into landfills. Why is this garbage so special? From what I've read, what they found was basically everything Atari was dumping from their plant in Texas. Of which non-ET stuff outnumbers ET carts.

[Gamevet]

To be honest, I never understood the myth/passion for this dump. EVERY major business/manufacturer in the United States dumps tons and tons of excess merch into landfills. Why is this garbage so special? From what I've read, what they found was basically everything Atari was dumping from their plant in Texas. Of which non-ET stuff outnumbers ET carts.

It was a symbol of the console crash of the '80s. E.T. was pretty much the poster-child for how poorly the industry was being managed, with games like it and Pac-Man having more copies than their were owners of the consoles. Those unsold games had to go somewhere.

[Gameguy]

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

Apparently Howard Warshaw (E.T. and Yars' Revenge) was present when they broke ground, if first hand accounts are to be believed.

There are photos of Warshaw being handed the first cartridge pulled out of the ground.

I just assumed that with Atari being disappointed with the sales of that game, they'd take it out on the guy who made it. So he was all there for sure? Not just "Weekend at Bernie's" there?

[PizzaKat]

Aww, what did Centipede ever do to be buried with that trash

[JSoup]

Aww, what did Centipede ever do to be buried with that trash

Meant as a way to sanctify the grounds, perhaps?


But seriously, E.T. isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be. It's not amazing by any stretch, but it's not complete ass either.

[bb_hood]

Aww, what did Centipede ever do to be buried with that trash

I KNOW!!! Thats a GOOD game!!

But seriously, E.T. isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be. It's not amazing by any stretch, but it's not complete ass either.

I gotta disagree. TECHNICALLY speaking its not the worst.. but its really pretty bad.

They gotta come up with some official 'game badness' scale, kinda like Mohs hardness scale but for bad games.

[Niku-Sama]

I wonder what effect this is going to have on these games prices that they are digging up.

And still like I said before I wonder if there's any prototype stuff in there, now interested in hardware over games. You know they have had to bury systems in with that stuff

[Aussie2B]

Eh, it's not like these games can really go any lower in value. Unless they find some dumped prototypes or something, all these games were way overproduced blockbusters, so even without these mangled landfill copies, they're still super common and cheap.

[Collector_Gaming]

Eh, it's not like these games can really go any lower in value. Unless they find some dumped prototypes or something, all these games were way overproduced blockbusters, so even without these mangled landfill copies, they're still super common and cheap.

but now you can own a "fabled landfill copy"

[tom]

ET the most valuable game in video gaming history:

http://www.gamegavel.com/item.cgi?show_item=0000940332

[tom]

Aww, what did Centipede ever do to be buried with that trash

Why don't people understand, Atari buried excess stock, not a certain game only. They buried video games, hardware, inventory, paperwork, maybe secretaries, the lot. NOT ONLY ET.
It's best you guys read the Book Atari Inc Business is fun

[tom]

Meant as a way to sanctify the grounds, perhaps?


But seriously, E.T. isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be. It's not amazing by any stretch, but it's not complete ass either.

Info from Digital Press Guide Advanced, sorry about the misprint (Activision instead of Atari, DP error)

Thing is most people here probably never played the game.
I mean, if a 12 year old girl manages to beat the game, how stupid are the boys at playing video games?

[bb_hood]

but now you can own a "fabled landfill copy"

They should sell dirt from that landfill so collectors can make their own semi-authentic copy.

[JSoup]

[pretty informative book scans here]

For me, it's a perspective thing. I can totally see why someone would have been pissed when the game was new, I've made bad game purchases as I'm sure everyone else has. But hindsight is 20/20 and I only played three cents for my copy of E.T. and I'm sure most modern collectors payed somewhere in that range as well. At that price, I'm a sufficiently less annoyed at a bad game being bad and am willing to look for the silver lining.

All that said, I figured there would be at least one guy back then who liked the damn thing.