The Microsoft-produced documentary, Atari: Game Over, sought to both chronicle the rise and fall of the pioneering game company, as well as dispel or confirm one of the gaming industry’s biggest myths — the burial of hundreds of thousands of unused cartridges of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600. Fans from all over the world descended upon a landfill in Alamogordo, N.M. as crews dug in to discover the truth. While it wasn’t the mass of plastic they were expecting, there were a good number of Atari cartridges found under the ground — including E.T.
Because they were buried within the city limits, the City of Alamogordo claimed ownership of the games and proceeded to sell them online. That turned out to be a good call, as the sales of the cartridges on eBay brought in a whopping $107,930.15. The total was divided up between the city, a local historical society and the payment of fees and such. A total of 881 cartridges were sold, including a copy of E.T. for more than $1,500.
There’s still close to 300 more cartridges left over from the dig that the director of the documentary, Joe Lewandowski, is holding onto. According to the report on Engadget, he may possibly sell them in order the fund a sequel to the documentary that found the games in the first place. Which I hope will be called Atari: Game Over 2: Game Overer.
(Source: Engadget)