The hunt for the E.T. video game

It’s time to unearth the truth behind the ultimate urban legend – does the E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial video game burial site really exist? Deep within a landfill in the small New Mexico town of Alamogordo is where the answer lies.

The Atari Corporation allegedly disposed of millions of unsold E.T video game cartridges in 1983 by burying them in the small town landfill after the game received an overwhelmingly negative response from gamers and critics.

E.T. featured in MyGaming’s Legendary video game fails, and the game was credited with irreparably damaging Atari. Fuel Entertainment took an interest in the urban legend and, in December 2013, acquired the rights to excavate the Alamogordo landfill in search of the game. Fuel also partnered with Xbox Entertainment Studios to film the event as part of documentary series.

Zak Penn, director of X-Men 2 and the Avengers, will be in charge of documenting the dig, which takes place on 26 April 2014. Members of the public are welcome, so if you are in the New Mexico area over that weekend go check it out.

Members of the original E.T video game team are set to join too, including game designer Howard Scott Warshaw, as well as a team of archaeologists to make sure the games are dug up in a scientific manner.