Buried Atari ET Game Cartridge found in New Mexico
One of the great myths of gaming history finally proved true. After a hard day of digging in the sands of the desert of Alamogordo, New Mexico, the team of the documentary by director Zak Penn unearthed the Holy Grail of bad games: ET the Extra-Terrestrial Atari 1982 title which took bankrupt an entire industry.
As our readers know , Xbox Entertainment Studios is developing content for television offer Xbox One, among which is a documentary about the infamous game that triggered the crash of 1983. The company invited anyone interested to visit the excavation began the morning of April 26, 2014 and over 200 people gathered for the event, although the harsh sun and dust storms caused annoying that only a few could stay until the peak time: the encounter with an ET cartridge, probably the worst game ever.
ET is perhaps the most infamous in a not very important industry for his adaptations licensing case. Due to the haste of the contract between Steven Spielberg and Atari, the game only had six weeks to develop, it should be ready for Christmas 1982. Originally conceived as a title on the line mazes and persecution as Pac-Man , developed by none other than Howard Scott Warshaw, responsible for masterpieces like Atari Yars Revenge and Raiders of the Lost Arc . Despite his talent, time was not enough, and the result is one of the most dysfunctional, confused and poor titles ever created, which had the misfortune to be overproduced by Atari, he hoped was a raging success because of the mania Spielberg film.
The excess supply generated by Atari, who came to exceed the number of consoles, was a key factor in the collapse of the company and the 1983 crisis in the industry, who came to make believe that the medium had come to an end . To get rid of their inventory, Atari struck a deal with authorities in Alamogordo, New Mexico, to bury the cartridges in the desert, doubtful legality practice for years, prompting the government of that city refused extra cartridges that are found there. Atari refuses to today, having knowledge on the subject, although the company today has almost nothing to do with its original language. The documentary prepared by Microsoft will be available later this year;For its part, the film’s director, Zak Penn, expressed relief and thanked the excavation team and the authorities of New Mexico for their cooperation in the filming.