Back in March, video game fans and all-around nostalgic hipsters flocked to Alamogordo, New Mexico for the unearthing of what was believed to be a bonanza of Atari waste, buried long ago to cover up the shame of a corporation. The goal of the dig was twofold, in that it would finally put an end to the urban legend of the “billions of games” that were dropped into a landfill by Atari for whatever reasons, and it would also help tell the story of the E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial game that was widely considered as Atari’s biggest failure and the game that toppled a billion dollar industry.
While environmental agencies claimed that digging up the landfill could expose people to hazardous chemicals and materials, fans wanted to know the truth of what was buried in the desert, and eventually their questions were answered. Director Zak Penn’s Atari: Game Over tells the entire story, from the meeting with Steven Spielberg and overall public rejection of 1982’s most anticipated Christmas gift to digging up buried treasure in New Mexico and presumably the people who will pay a ton for these cartridges, all with the help of the Atari employees who made this colossal failure possible.
(H/T to Indiewire)