E.T., Atari, and Ernie Cline

The New York Times ran a story back in 1983 detailing the dumping of a metric ton of Atari E.T. The Extra Terrestrial game cartridges in a dump in the middle of New Mexico.  No seriously, it happened.  This has been an ongoing to quest to uncover the truth of the matter, the team finally gaining permission last year for an excavation and documentary team to start digging in Alamogordo, New Mexico.  For decades, legend had it that Atari put millions of E.T. cartridges in the ground, though some skeptics have wondered whether such an extraordinary event took place.  Even James Heller, a former Atari manager (who was invited by the production to the dig site) says in 1983 the company tasked him with finding an inexpensive way to dispose of 728,000 cartridges they had in a warehouse in El Paso, Texas. After a few local kids ran into trouble for scavenging and the media started calling him about it, he decided to pour a layer of concrete over the games.

“I never heard about again it until June 2013, when I read an article about E.T. being excavated,” he remembers. He was not aware of the controversy and never spoke out “because nobody asked.”

Well thanks to Fuel Entertainment partnered with Microsoft’s Xbox Entertainment Studios and LightBox Entertainment along with (one of my favorite authors of the last decade) Ernie Cline, the truth is known.  The Associated Press reports that hundreds of copies of the game have been uncovered, it is unclear how many more remain under the dirt and concrete.  

Now Ernie Cline who isn’t mentioned the majority of write ups on this dig is no stranger to artifacts of the 80’s.  His best selling novel “Ready Player One” is a grimoire of music, pop culture and video games, and is being optioned for a film adaptation.  (It BETTER frakking happen, the book is amazing, one of my favorites of the last several years, and would be incredible on film)  I actually got to interview Cline not long after his film Fanboys opened and while he was on a roadtrip in his tricked out Delorean promoting his book and the contest (Ernie actually bought a second one specifically for the contest, it was the grand prize).  I got to ride around in it with him for a bit after our on camera interview.  But the reason I’m bringing his name up with this subject is his blog is the best detailed account of everything leading up to the dig.  If anyone should be there to explain why this discovery is exciting, it’d be him.  And Wired, who did a two part vid series on the dig.  Also, the Delorean I rode around in is currently in George RR Martin‘s garage, and that’s pretty cool.

We’ll keep you updated as more news comes out of the desert.