One of gaming’s greatest urban legends is the rumor that Atari, the publisher chiefly responsible for the video game crash of 1983 with its horrendously under-programmed and over-priced game E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, crushed and buried millions of copies.
Fuel Entertainment confirmed that it struck a deal with Alamogordo’s City Commission to excavate a site where it believes the cartridges are buried. The company seeks funding for the project and has approximately six months in order to search the site.
The goal is to transform the search into a documentary that explains E.T.’s legend, and could confirm once and for all that Atari did in fact proceed with the burial. Considering the popularity of video game culture films these days (see The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters), we can’t wait.
