Making History: The Quest for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

What is video game history?

The term is bandied about often, but what does it really mean?

Sure, it means that gaming has been around for decades – long enough for people to feel nostalgic for specific games, consoles, and times of their lives. But out in New Mexico’s Alamogordo Landfill, just south of First Street, “video game history” has a much more literal definition: Atari infamously (rumor had it) shipped truckloads filled with unsold cartridges of the Atari 2600’s much-maligned “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” in the early 1980s, and dug a mass grave for them here. They were buried, and became the stuff of legend.

For decades, the myth of Atari and these “E.T.” cartridges was whispered among circles of friends. It was the video game industry’s greatest urban legend.

On April 26, Xbox Entertainment Studios, Lightbox, Fuel Entertainment, fans, curious locals, media, and a team of archaeologists gathered at the alleged burial spot to witness a team of excavators dig for this treasure trove, and be a part of and witness video game history.

Lots of people showed up. But would they find anything?

The answer, as it turns out, is yes.

Precisely what they found is where it gets more interesting. Yes, there were “E.T.” cartridges, but also “Space Invaders,” “Asteroids,” “Centipede,” “Defender,” and “Ms. Pac-Man.” And that’s just for starters.

What does it mean?

That’s what director Zak Penn (“X-Men 2,” “Avengers”) and executive producer and Lightbox co-founder Jonathan Chinn (FX’s “30 Days,” PBS’ “American High”) are trying to find out in the forthcoming original Xbox documentary “Atari: Game Over” (working title), the first in a multi-documentary series about the digital revolution, set to release exclusively on Xbox One and Xbox 360 later this year.

Penn and Chinn said that local garbage contractor, dig historian, and resident Joe Lewandowski “did a whole ‘CSI’ thing” with Polaroids, various records, and newspaper articles to pinpoint the burial location “a few months ago.” Since then, the three have worked with Alamogordo mayor Susie Galea, the city, and the state of New Mexico to make this excavation possible.

But it amounted to more than chunks of plastic, pieces of joystick, and mysterious torn bits of hardware (no one’s sure what these were – prototypes for Atari’s “Mindlink” device, perhaps?). The day-long event was really about camaraderie and nostalgia among gamers. Like “gaming history,” these are words that are also often thrown about. But here, they are meant simply as a means of bringing people closer together, and connecting with games and ourselves, through the story of “E.T.,” which is often cited as one of the worst games ever released, and now stands as a divisive gaming icon.

At the time, the hate was universal. But now, it also stands for something that connects us. Anything that can attract 300 strangers to come together on a desert landfill on a Saturday has power; that much can’t be denied.

Raul Ruiz, an Alamogordo civic center manager, says that “E.T.” was what made him popular in school. Reminiscing at the dig site, Ruiz recalled being …read more