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

[+Random Terrain]

Please provide a citation for this.

 

50 bucks a piece on average sounds like Canadian prices. In the USA, a hot new game with a big name was worth almost 40 bucks. The rest were in the 20s and 30s (not counting the even cheaper games sold at places like Kay Bee, drug stores, and grocery stores). Here's a quick and dirty example:

 

atariage.com/magazines/magazine_page.html?MagazineID=1&CurrentPage=9

[Mirage]

50 bucks a piece on average sounds like Canadian prices. In the USA, a hot new game with a big name was worth almost 40 bucks. The rest were in the 20s and 30s (not counting the even cheaper games sold at places like Kay Bee, drug stores, and grocery stores). Here's a quick and dirty example:

 

atariage.com/magazines/magazine_page.html?MagazineID=1&CurrentPage=9

I agree, but I wasn't referring to the prices!

[+freewheel]

And that ain't how Canadian corporate taxes work.

 

In fact I've never heard of anything like that at all, but I don't claim to be an expert on taxation in the 60+ North American jurisdictions. Plus you Americans have all sorts of municipal/county taxes, so anything's possible. But typically stores dispose of merchandise to reclaim storage space and "get it off the books", not because of some inventory tax.

 

Lastly, Canadian prices weren't all that much different until the mid 80s. Believe it or not, shortly before the VCS was released, the Canuck buck (we didn't have Loonies in 1976) was actually worth more than the Greenback!

 

Also, this calculation is, quite frankly, insane:

 

 

nearly 800,000 carts times $50 bucks per cart works out to a nearly $4,000,000 tax bill every 3 months

 

That means that for $40,000,000 in inventory, you're paying a $4,000,000 tax bill. Every 3 months. Now, I'm no MBA or anything, but I find it EXTREMELY difficult to believe there's a jurisdiction that charges 10% PER QUARTER in taxes. That is 40% PER YEAR. You'd have to be in an industry with one hell of a markup to be able to survive that. Given that a lot of businesses can often hold onto product for several years - just ask Toys R Us what they're doing with a toy line sitting in their discount bin from 2 years ago, and I've occasionally seen things sit around for nearly 5 years before being heavily discounted - they'd end up paying the value of the item several times over, when you compound things.

 

Sorry, but I'm calling bullshit on that entire post.

Edited July 15, 2014 by freeweed

[Mirage]

Hence, citation needed. There are varied tax laws, so I'll give benefit of the doubt that in some location and/or time, that could be true, but that's not the norm, and is not how taxes work for businesses. In short, normally you do inventory to determine cost of goods sold and other reasons, but not to pay taxes on held finished (or wip) goods every three months. And that's not the reason for JIT manufacturing.

 

So citation needed for that time and locations tax laws to determine validity, otherwise there are too many varying tax laws to say for sure either way.

Edited July 15, 2014 by Mirage

[Andromeda Stardust]

Please provide a citation for this.

It's the nature of the Internet. If someone takes time out from their busy schedule to post in an online forum, then this person obviously values what he/she has to say, otherwise they wouldn't take the time to post it. The bulk of cyberspace is full of self-proclaimed experts who have fact checked their statements with due diligence so that you don't have to. Rest assured: if some random guy on the internet posts something in an online forum...

 

IT MUST BE TRUE!!!

[+freewheel]

So what you're saying is, your assertion is true as well.

[fiddlepaddle]

It's the nature of the Internet. If someone takes time out from their busy schedule to post in an online forum, then this person obviously values what he/she has to say, otherwise they wouldn't take the time to post it. The bulk of cyberspace is full of self-proclaimed experts who have fact checked their statements with due diligence so that you don't have to. Rest assured: if some random guy on the internet posts something in an online forum...

 

IT MUST BE TRUE!!!

 

 

So what you're saying is, your assertion is true as well.

 

Honesty is the best policy, though Trust is earned. Apparently, faith in the confident and sincere is not enough.

 

The truth is out there; I want to believe.

 

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

 

 

Honesty is the best policy, though Trust is earned. Apparently, faith in the confident and sincere is not enough.

 

The truth is out there; I want to believe.

 

ET is real, mann...

Edited July 17, 2014 by stardust4ever

[Jinks]

The cnd has been higher than the usd just a few years ago. Not just in the 70s. In the late 80s was 70 cent now its about 93 cents.

A guy from work was at pawn stars in las vegas and that old guy asked him where he was from he said saskatchewan he then said "never heard of it is it close to quebec?"Yep just 2000miles from it. He was going to say you lived that long in your life and your still a dumb old bastard.

The guy at the disney store knew about saskatchewan when I was there he said yep you guys are our best customers.

[Gary from OPA]

First trailer for ET dig documentary 'Atari: Game Over'

 

Despite the news that Microsoft would shut the doors on Microsoft Studios, the company are continuing production the documentary 'Atari: Game Over' and have released the first trailer at Comic-Con

 

[video=youtube;rIaWAyHIqok]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIaWAyHIqok

Source: http://www.maxconsole.com/maxcon_forums/threads/284257-First-trailer-for-ET-dig-documentary-Atari-Game-Over

[AtariDude]

I hope so. I would like to get this on either DVD or Blue_Ray depending on what it is released on. This might be the one project that Microsoft Studios releases. I wonder when it is expected to be released. Anyone know?

[atari181]

I hope so. I would like to get this on either DVD or Blue_Ray depending on what it is released on. This might be the one project that Microsoft Studios releases. I wonder when it is expected to be released. Anyone know?

At the end of the video it says this fall.

[+freewheel]

And the AVGN movie was released this week. I love how some guy operating on a donation budget making a full cinematic release succeeds, while we're not sure if a mutli-billion dollar corporation can release a documentary.

[Andromeda Stardust]

I hope so. I would like to get this on either DVD or Blue_Ray depending on what it is released on. This might be the one project that Microsoft Studios releases. I wonder when it is expected to be released. Anyone know?

Ditto. I was also upset that Chasing Ghosts didn't get a DVD release as far as I know. I watched it on Netflix but I don't have a Netflix sub anymore. There's got to be some way to watch the landfill documentary without buying an Xbox. I'll even bootleg it if I have to...

 

And the AVGN movie was released this week. I love how some guy operating on a donation budget making a full cinematic release succeeds, while we're not sure if a mutli-billion dollar corporation can release a documentary.

I wasn't aware it was out now. Where can I see the AVGN movie? Hopefully it comes out soon on DVD...

Edited July 28, 2014 by stardust4ever

[+freewheel]

I wasn't aware it was out now. Where can I see the AVGN movie? Hopefully it comes out soon on DVD...

 

http://cinemassacre.com/2014/07/23/avgn-movie-screenings-on-sale-now/

 

It's sold out nearly everywhere, although they do keep adding showings. Digital version coming (no word on format/source) in early September. Physical copies probably a while after, not sure how long production of those takes these days.

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

http://cinemassacre.com/2014/07/23/avgn-movie-screenings-on-sale-now/

 

It's sold out nearly everywhere, although they do keep adding showings. Digital version coming (no word on format/source) in early September. Physical copies probably a while after, not sure how long production of those takes these days.

Nothing in LA (Louisiana) so go figure. Hopefully they'll eventually release it on DVD as I'd much prefer a physical copy over using a streaming service.

[galax]

There is no such thing as a tax on inventory. The value of the inventory can, however, influence the cost of goods sold calculation at the end of the year, which can impact the tax paid.

 

Holding inventory does cost money though- depreciation, storage, insurance, shrinkage, interest on a loan to buy the inventory (or the equivalent- the opportunity cost of not being able to do something else with the money while it is tied up.

 

The Canadian dollar was worth more than the US at the start of 2013- not very long ago.

[Retro Rogue]

Thought you guys would want to see this. Recovered game ROMs from the recent Alamogordo dig displayed at our Atari Museum booth at Classic Gaming Expo. Next to it is the ROM switcher cart I sent down for them to test recovered ROMs with.

 

[Andromeda Stardust]

Thought you guys would want to see this. Recovered game ROMs from the recent Alamogordo dig displayed at our Atari Museum booth at Classic Gaming Expo. Next to it is the ROM switcher cart I sent down for them to test recovered ROMs with.

 

10672404_10203716285579177_1329485814886467178_n.jpg

Did any of the PCBs work? I'd imagine the ROMS would still be readable provided that the pins were not completely corroded off.

[Retro Rogue]

It was all too corroded, though I understand it's hard to make out from the picture I posted. They actually got one to work for a split second and ironically it showed a pit. Seriously.

[+freewheel]

Surprises me that they couldn't get some working. Landfills are excellent storage media, you can basically read newspapers from 60 years ago if you dig down far enough. Especially in the desert I'd think conditions would be prime for safe storage.

 

Considering the insane amounts of water and other damage I've seen with 2600 carts that a simple contact wipe will fix... maybe it's something in the alkaline soils.

[The Eyeball Mural]

"Atari's once-buried E.T. cartridges hit eBay, going for hundreds of dollars"

by Michael McWhertor Nov 04 2014

 

http://www.polygon.com/2014/11/4/7158267/atari-2600-et-landfill-cartridges-ebay-auction

[fiddlepaddle]

Also looks like ordinary, loose copies of ET are going for about five bucks now...

[Andromeda Stardust]

"Atari's once-buried E.T. cartridges hit eBay, going for hundreds of dollars"

by Michael McWhertor Nov 04 2014

 

http://www.polygon.com/2014/11/4/7158267/atari-2600-et-landfill-cartridges-ebay-auction

Anything that makes ET so damn special that the ET carts are currently bidding for hundreds of dollars more than the others?

 

Also why on God's green earth are they selling them all at once? They would probably get 10x as much money if they spread them across several weeks or months. Also if someone missed an auction they would have the opportunity to bid on another instead of everything going all at once, potentially meaning a person bidding high enough to ensure a win may bid on multiple items and get stuck with more than he/she bargained for.

Edited November 6, 2014 by stardust4ever

[rasch_C]

Anything that makes ET so damn special that the ET carts are currently bidding for hundreds of dollars more than the others?

 

Also why on God's green earth are they selling them all at once? They would probably get 10x as much money if they spread them across several weeks or months. Also if someone missed an auction they would have the opportunity to bid on another instead of everything going all at once, potentially meaning a person bidding high enough to ensure a win may bid on multiple items and get stuck with more than he/she bargained for.

 

A major part of the legend is based on the ET game itself; being the worst game ever and the whole reason for the burial. So, the legend goes. So, it makes perfect sense that ET is the most desirable for collectors. Hence, driving up the price.

 

As far as all at once.....It was to my understanding that they have, like, 700 items or so and they were going to do them in multiple batches selling them all before xmas. If my understanding is correct, this is just the first of many "batches".