Atari's Landfill Adventures, I now have the proof it's true.

[high voltage]

I want one of those T-Shirts

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

 

2. I wonder if the AVGN now has to rewrite or bury (pun intended) his movie.

 

 

I don't think it changes anything (from his site) :

 

E.T. Atari landfill unearthed

JAMES / APRIL 26TH, 2014

Well it’s a big year for what started as a little urban legend about Atari dumping their shitty games in a landfill. There will be two movies, both to be released this year. One is Microsoft’s documentary, the real life story in which they dig up the games. The other is, of course, my own independent fictional take, Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie (more exciting updates to follow in the coming months).

Of course today is the big landfill excavation and everybody and their grandma is contacting me about it. I’ve known about the project for a while, and I’ve been in talks with them. Why I have never posted anything is because I respect the secrecy of any project as much as my own. I was going to be involved at the excavation, but of all dates, it landed on my daughter’s one year birthday, which is my priority.

As I’ve expected, they’ve unearthed the motherload of shit, but think about how many people threw that game in the garbage. I’m sure you can dig up any landfill and find at least a few copies of that game. I bet there’s some in my backyard. But anyway, I guess everyone’s expecting a response from me, or some kind of reaction. Well it’s strangely hilarious. It’s weird. The kind of thing where the planets align by some mysterious stroke of fate. When I first heard about the plans to dig up the games, I was beyond shocked. Imagine if you were making a movie about the search for Nessie, and then all of a sudden, somebody drains Loch Ness. What were the chances?

I remember back in 2007 when I first started writing the AVGN movie, I did a lot of heavy research on the landfill. There was A LOT more information available about it back then, however there was less interest. It was more like a cult thing that only few people knew about. But the few people who were, were obsessed. Over the years, it’s gained more widespread attention. I’ve watched the story grow bigger. And now it’s huge, which oddly enough, makes my “alternate reality” fictional take on the story more timely than ever.

http://cinemassacre.com/2014/04/26/e-t-atari-landfill-unearthed/

[kamakazi]

Welcome to AA, Joeh. And thanks for sharing the photos.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Very exciting stuff. I for one would love a game from this history for my collection (there will definitely have to be a proper certification process in place, though)

Any idea how they smell?

[SoulBlazer]

Welcome to AA, Joeh. And thanks for sharing the photos.

Agree, thanks for your comments and photos. What you said matches nice with the news articles (the strong wind driving away most of the crowd, and hundreds of games found) and so on. It would be great if they could find some prototypes and other stuff!

 

I would have loved to have seen HSW when he had to eat crow later in the day.

 

And it's pretty cool we're getting two movies about this later on this year....one 'real' and one 'fake'.

[high voltage]

Anyone else decide to play ET today in honor of the carts being found?

Yep I did and I aced the game twice. But then, I can play this game with my eyes closed and finish it.

Great game and I want one of those landfill ETs

[sh3-rg]

 

Wait for all the L@@K RARE!!! Ebay auctions from alamogordocity(0)

 

What if customs ripped open all their packages.... and ruined the boxes /o\

[GT Turbo]

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/04/landfill-excavation-unearths-years-of-crushed-atari-treasure/

 

 

[Nukey Shay]

Never any doubt that the story was true (even before the thread started). But I assume that the excavation is underway at the first site - the initial load that kids were "looting" BITD (and which prompted the requirement of crushing later shipments). So while many common games are being uncovered presently, I don't believe that they are going to find anything relatively rare or unique at the current dig site. It just makes more sense that the warehouse would have started with full pallets closest to the loading dock before even touching the oddball stuff. It stands to reason that the closest stuff would be basically current titles...the stuff that retailers were cancelling/returning.

[Gregory DG]

So, yeah. I was expecting they'd find more than a couple dozen carts. Thought we'd see 3 million carts encased in concrete.

 

Shoot, you could probably find the same amount of Atari carts in any landfill in any city in America...

Edited April 27, 2014 by Gregory DG

[Mayhem]

Hopefully they might think about breaking through the concrete and seeing what's under there in due time... or money.

[Bruce Tomlin]

So, yeah. I was expecting they'd find more than a couple dozen carts. Thought we'd see 3 million carts encased in concrete.

 

Shoot, you could probably find the same amount of Atari carts in any landfill in any city in America...

Do yoo realize how big a hole they would have to dig to see anywhere near that many? Not to mention that it was brought in more than one load, so they probably aren't even in the same spot. (At least they should be close because of how landfills work.) And most of it had concrete poured on top, so it's not like just opening a can of Pringles.

 

They dug a hole and stuck a front-end loader's scoop into it a few times. And they actually found some Atari stuff. That's pretty good for one day of digging for something buried a quarter of a century ago, with only a general idea of where to look.

 

So anyhow, if they're serious about using the word "archaeologist", then we better see some kind of detailed report on just what was down there. No "we dug a hole, found some stuff, then went home" crap.

 

As far as prototype stuff goes, though, I'm a bit doubtful about that. This stuff came from a production factory. Prototypes are generally not made at the production factory. There's no point in making prototype games that way, and prototype systems just wouldn't likely have the volume yet to be worth the trouble of ramping up an assembly line, unless it was ready to go out the door like the 7800. This stuff supposedly came from the El Paso factory, not Sunnyvale.

 

The only reason they would have prototype stuff is if it had been moved to the warehouse to get it out of the way, or from pre-production runs. They would have had to ship prototype stuff there instead of just dumping it locally. Not gonna happen with games (which use just a few common reusable parts), but possible with bulky stuff like a computer console.

 

And I know something about this, because I work right by an electronics assembly line. We hand-build the first prototypes, two to ten hand-built per PC board revision, then later sometimes as many as 100, for software development, mechanical design samples, and UL testing. Only when we are finally sure the hardware design is right do we start programming the pick-and-place machines for a trial run of another 50 or 100 or so to get an idea of production time to determine labor costs. And even that has to be scheduled between production runs. And that's with the production line under the same roof, not a thousand miles away.

[mos6507]

I remember when there was an effort to try to get Mythbusters to cover this and everyone swore up and down that this event just didn't resonate enough to be worth anybody's time. I predicted this dig would happen eventually. While in the grand scheme of things it's a trivial footnote in history, it is the itch that Generation-X couldn't scratch, and in the era of Facebook, pop culture trivia becomes more important than it would otherwise.

 

I think Moycon doubling-down on his skepticism is along the lines of Donald Trump's reaction after Obama produced his birth-certificate or Richard Hoagland after the newly snapped face on mars photos exposed that thing as a random hill. What this accomplishes has more to do with human psychology than it does with cartridges. We become enamored with a narrative and we fight tooth and nail not to give it up even when the facts contradict it.

[israelg]

So I'm confused.

 

The legend was that a million (actually I'm thinking more like 2 or 3 million) E.T carts were buried because everyone hated the game, and most people that bought it returned it, and the rest never sold so they were worthless, and they were buried in an Alamogordo landfill.

 

But here was the the news headline I saw...".A film production company finds hundreds of buried "E.T." cartridges in a New Mexico landfill"

 

So the legend just kind of changes depending on who is investing? Now it was just a a few hundred E.T.s that were buried? Didn't some one here on AA investigate and get to the bottom of this, and they totally dispelled the legend (after claiming the legend was something other than what it has always been since since the 80's, again changing the legend) , and then even stating that the burial sight wasn't Alamogordo? I'm telling you, millions of E.T's were never buried. They might have been claimed to have been buried for a tax write off, but until I see a headline that states "Millions of ET carts found" and not "hundreds of buried "E.T." cartridges" I'm not buying it. I have no doubt Atari buried SOME carts that year, it was the first year they were actually losing cash hand over foot. There is a HUGE difference between a few hundred and a few million. Did I miss something? Did they find a literal "sea of E.T's" (The game that caused the industry to crash) or did they find like a few pallets of ET's?

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/diggers-find-atari-infamous-e-t-game-cartridges-landfill-article-1.1770182

[Ranthulfr]

I'm pretty sure I can see parts of a RealSports Baseball box, an Asteroids box, and a SwordQuest Earthworld comic in some of the videos posted on YouTube. This one was especially good:

 

Hooray for garbage watching! And thanks to those who have posted videos, photos, and other info from the dig site.

Edited April 27, 2014 by Ranthulfr

[Cynicaster]

Half of me is thrilled that the dig was a success, and the other half wishes the whole thing was just left to legend.

[Gary from OPA]

Its back to being a urban myth, film crew been kicked off the lot, and pit is being refilled now by the city.

 

Even tho there is tons more under the first few bucket fulls pulled out yesterday, and they only tap the first truckload dump that was sand filled, never got around to looking under the cement one.

 

I guess the city didn't care they had 90 percent of buried treasure or the fact there was 5,000 prototypes in there along with tons of other stuff and unseen documents, and rumored even the minidisk controller addon.

 

In the end, it was just all a big PR stunt really, Microsoft and city could not care less about any actual history or unearthed super duper rare finds.

 

They got their 15 minutes of fame that was enough, and Microsoft got a worldwind of free PR coverage worth more then anything dug up, with 50,000 websites and newspapers talking about it and the XBOX ONE now.

[high voltage]

so is it over now?

[doctorclu]

Anyone else decide to play ET today in honor of the carts being found?

 

Yes, I think somewhere between hearing about the game and so many people saying it was such a horrible game I got nostalgic, since I remember liking the game before the internet told me not to.

 

As you'll see in the video I had to buy a copy at a local store and then I show a collection of tips on how to enjoy the game:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jNl2PENHZU

[SpaceDice2010]

So....

 

They had to refill by Sunday. They only got to keep 10% of the find.

 

Anyone wanna make a guess how much these go for on Ebay? I would buy one.

 

Lloyd

[Gary from OPA]

So....

 

They had to refill by Sunday. They only got to keep 10% of the find.

 

Anyone wanna make a guess how much these go for on Ebay? I would buy one.

 

Lloyd

 

There is no 10% that was written out at last minute, two days before the public event. -- The problem is rules the $2,500 amount, and they infact found the right spot a while ago before the public event, and film crew wanted to increase their amount from 100 cartridges to 250 cartridges and 10 percent of everything else, and they been fighting over this since April 6, but on April 23 it was voted 7 to 0 to increase it from 100 cartridges to 250, but to not include the 10 percent.

 

 

Mayor Susie Galea said she agreed to giving the company 250 games or 10 percent but not the 10 percent of any other possible items found.

 

"I am definitely for this project, and would like to see what's down in Atari's tomb, but I don't like the last minute 'we need this, we need this,'" Commissioner Jason Baldwin said. "They are looking to make a good little bit of money off of it and do few things with it. The reason I originally agreed to this company and voted for it because it was just a documentary and everything that came through that landfill is our property and our property to do with it as we see fit."

 

City attorney, Stephen Thies, said the games are currently valued at $10 a piece and if the city caps the amount of games given to the company at 250 games, then the city will not be in violation of its disposition of municipal property ordinances.

 

"The total value would be less than $2,500 however on the other items, the 10 percent items, it is my understanding that some of those could have more value and we would be exceeding the $2,500 limitation." Thies said

Baldwin said he would approve the new terms but did not want to include the 10 percent of other possible items found at the site in the agreement with Fuel.

 

The commission voted 7-0 to approve the agreement with the changes but did not allow the company to receive 10 percent of any other items that could possibly be unearthed at the site.

 

 

So they get 250 games or 10 percent of cartridges whichever is the LESSER amount, but no 10 percent of anything else!

 

Source: http://www.alamogordonews.com/alamogordo-news/ci_25625948/commissioners-adjust-contract-atari-landfill-dig

 

So you will most likely never see anything on eBay that is for sure. -- Maybe in 40 years more a real 'history' dig can be done, instead of pure PR stunt by Microsoft.

Edited April 27, 2014 by Gary from OPA

[Ranthulfr]

The landfill games would make nice souvenirs if they were framed with a COA and a photo from the dig. I'm not sure that I'd go for one of the raw artifacts. Not at a high price, at least.

[MaDDuck]

So let me get this straight, Myth busted, there is no Santa Clause?

[SoulBlazer]

Gary, that's not Microsoft's fault (sounds like you have a axe to grind against them ) That's the CITY's fault. MS had NOTHING to do with that.

 

I agree, though, the chances of anything turning up on EBay is slim.

 

I think there's a chance the company decides to increase their profit (the digging company, mind you) and takes the 'best condition' stuff and offers it on EBay. Some of that would go for a lot of money cause of all the nut fans out there.

 

But the city never sounded that they were behind the project, despite what they publicy claimed during the event yesterday.

 

And the city valuing the games at $10 each? REALLY? What planet are they from?

 

Not to mention if they actually wanted to break through the concrete to find more stuff that's a LOT of extra money and time involved, and I don't think the city wants to approve that.

 

Still, I'm glad they did it and put to rest some questions, and the documentary coming out later this year should be interesting.

[Miss 2600]

The landfill games would make nice souvenirs if they were framed with a COA and a photo from the dig. I'm not sure that I'd go for one of the raw artifacts. Not at a high price, at least.

 

I like that idea!