The Search For E.T. Video Game Landfill Goes Live!


Somewhere between completely urban legend to fact lies the truth of the E.T. video game landfill. Turns out that a team of filmmakers have been given the official okay on searching for the supposed landfill full of unsold copies of E.T. the video game. A crucial point in a upcoming video game documentary, we may finally get the answer to years of wondering and speculation.

Okay, for those of you who are completely unaware of the E.T. video game legend, lets go over the details. The massive blockbuster hit E.T. had of course a video game counterpart. Made for the Atari 2600, E.T. the video game was said to be a complete flop and some would even consider the game to cause the infamous video game industry crash of 1983 but that’s a whole different story.

Because of the poor reception, a report of over twenty semi-trailer truckloads took remaining unsold copies of the game and Atari systems and buried them in a undisclosed location. All we know is that somewhere in  Alamogordo, New Mexico, buried in the ground and cased in concrete is several crushed copies of the game.

However, if you think that’s it, you couldn’t be more wrong. Turns out the story goes on to say that other Atari officials have conflicting statements as to what really is buried down in the landfill. At one time there was even a protection allowing no person to locate the landfill and scavenge the area.

The documentary under Fuel Industries has been filming the ins and outs of video games. One of the key moments in history for the film is to find the landfill and dig it up. Now given the green light to do so from Alamogordo City Commission, the documentary will likely get plenty of buzz and perhaps we’ll even hear from Atari on the subject. Currently, the documentary is set to be exclusive to the Xbox 360 and Xbox One but hopefully that changes in the near future.