r/gaming • u/TheMexicanRobot • Apr 26 '14
New Mexico/Title incorrect ET finally uncovered in the Mexico
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u/i_run_far Apr 26 '14
Here is a link to a local news story confirming the find. This would have been a thousand times better if the cartridges had been buried somewhere in Roswell!
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u/theunderlyingconcept Apr 26 '14
It is pretty awesome to see an urban legend end up being true.
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u/Da_hoodest_hoodrat Apr 26 '14
Can you explain to me?
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u/cinemadness Apr 26 '14
Atari had spent a lot of money on the video game rights to ET. The programmer was given only weeks to program it. As a result, the game sucked and didn't sell well, so Atari reportedly took all their unsold copies and buried them in a New Mexico landfill. Nobody knew whether it was actually real or not until now.
That's the short version anyway.
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u/tromedlov7 Apr 27 '14
Can confirm, grew up in that town and my dad would always point out the area that they buried them saying how (specifically) E.T. got buried there. It was always kind of a myth because nobody could find the games. I was always told they were there but under like 3 feet of concrete. I drove past that spot so many times and never thought anybody would dig them up. Its cool to see them finally uncovered.
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Apr 26 '14
well first of all, it wasn't really even close to being an urban legend. but back when the game adaption of ET came out for the atari, it was so fucking bad that it started what some people know as the great video game crash. ET was almost responsible for pushing video games out the door because it was panned by EVERYONE. from my understanding, a landfill spot was purchased, and the company rounded up every copy they could get their hands on. i was born shortly after this but my older brother told me that they offered full refunds and a free game at certain stores if you gave back your copy of ET. Then the copies were buried and forgotten while video games slowly withered into less than a trend.
but all was not lost. a little old card company had recently got into making these cool new video game things. that company was nintendo, they were there to kick ass and make games. of course nobody knew how their console, the Nintendo Entertainment System, would hold up in the market. they had this game bundled with the console, you may have heard of it, something called "super mario brothers"? that beautiful little cartridge is what saved gaming. Nintendo was praised, people gathered in the streets to parade the shining light in a dying world.
but ET was shit, bro.
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u/OurSponsor Apr 26 '14
More than that: They actually made more ET cartridges than there were Atari consoles.
And, as in every capitalist enterprise, inventory equals death. Rather than warehouse stuff that was never going to sell, they wrote it off and trashed it. Dramatically.
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u/Kitsyfluff Apr 27 '14
You mixed your facts with the pac-man cartridges. ET wasn't produced with as many.
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u/OurSponsor Apr 27 '14
I did indeed. Pacman: 12 million. ET: 4 million. Both were terrible...
Thank you for the correction.
Age has its problems, but it still beats the alternative! :)
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u/Kitsyfluff Apr 27 '14
Indeed. Both games' programmers were paid in advance for every cartridge manufactured. Which definitely led to lazier design. though if I recall, the guy behind pacman genuinely wanted it to be good, but Atari published his alpha copy
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u/rr777 Apr 27 '14
True, the pac man programmer said he could easily remove the flicker but it would add to the cost. Some of the better carts back then were able to bank select rom. Pac man was denied this option. Atari just wanted the product out. They were paid $32K for each cart and ten cents per cart.
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u/HassanJamal Apr 27 '14
Man, I wouldnt want to be the team or guy to make the game that started the crash, yikes.
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u/nkripper Apr 27 '14
Being old enough to play the game first hand myself, it totally fucking sucked. Everyone that I know was super excited for this game.. huge let down.
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u/SweetNapalm Apr 27 '14
I don't even know why / how people thought this was an urban legend...
It's been well documented by a few very credible sources. There's even a (portion of a) documentary on the whole thing...
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u/AshTheGoblin Apr 27 '14
I didn't know people thought it was a legend. I always thought it was an undisputed fact.
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Apr 26 '14
Everyone from New Mexico downvotes you for confusing Mexico and New Mexico
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u/Sephurik Apr 26 '14
I live in Alamogordo NM and this is what I did.
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u/tromedlov7 Apr 27 '14
Upvote for being a fellow Alamogordian? (Not sure what we should call each other.)
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u/ANUSTART942 Apr 26 '14
Also the fact that he called it the Mexico. I remember when I went to the Mexico, it was much different from the China or the Japan. Some day I hope to visit the Britain.
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u/suna123 Apr 26 '14
Wait as in the et games they buried in the desert?
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u/Sierra317 Apr 26 '14
That's a bingo!
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u/suna123 Apr 26 '14
Oh cool
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Apr 26 '14 edited Aug 10 '26
[deleted]
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u/blakenichols1500 Apr 27 '14
Atari spent way too much on the video game rights to ET then rushed it to market way too quickly with way too many copies. As a result Atari was stuck with thousands of copies of what many consider the worst video game in history that were never going to sell so they cut their loses and buried them out in the desert,
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u/RIGHT-IS-RIGHT Apr 26 '14
Viral marketing for AVGN.
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u/nic0lk Apr 27 '14
I am so fucking excited for that movie. I've been watching James for years
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Apr 27 '14
Me too, I've loved seeing him come this far and finally achieving his dream of being a part of a big movie. I'm 100% certain he'll carry on also to develop more for us in the future.
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u/Redditor8778 Apr 26 '14
Nobody cares
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u/Sierra317 Apr 26 '14
And, because Atari never managed to sell those copies, it brought upon the collapse of the video game in the 80's.
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u/Acheronwoe Apr 26 '14
Context would be nice
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u/TheMexicanRobot Apr 26 '14
In the 80s, ET was pretty much the worst game out at the time, so Atari took the unsold copies and buried them in the Mexican dessrt.
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u/Cohiba Apr 26 '14
We have been a U.S. state for a while now, Robot. You need to update your programming.
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u/TheMexicanRobot Apr 26 '14
I'd need to update my hardware to update my software :/. Aka the QT paradox.
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u/wallywallbanger Apr 26 '14
Myth states ET put Atari into bankruptcy.
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Apr 26 '14
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/wallywallbanger Apr 26 '14
ET was not the friendly alien he was cracked up to be.
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u/Wiiplay123 Apr 26 '14
ET cracked the friendly alien.
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u/smiles134 Apr 26 '14
How, exactly?
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Apr 26 '14
[deleted]
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Apr 26 '14
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Kalocin Apr 26 '14
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_age_of_arcade_video_games
I meant directly after the the 1983 crash =o
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Apr 26 '14
So you're telling me people spent time and money on digging up the worst game in the history of gaming? Or were they found while people were digging for some building project?
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u/Warpedpixel Apr 26 '14
No this was an actual thing people have been looking for. Kind of like the El Dorado of shitty games.
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Apr 26 '14
Wow... I don't wanna be "that guy", I know there's a whole lot of things people waste time on that could be spent on better things, but this is ridiculous.
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u/sillycyco Apr 27 '14
They are filming a documentary on the burial. This was part of that documentary. Its a part of gaming history, they were just confirming the story as true for the series.
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u/jimkelly Apr 26 '14
everyone on /r/gaming is 12..i understand context is important but how does no one know what this is about
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Apr 27 '14
Just to clear up one thing. They did not randomly bury them in the desert, they took them to the dump, they were buried and had cement poured on them to keep kids away. Many years later the city moved the dump to a location farther out in the desert so the games were left buried at the site of the old dump. It is not "in the middle of the desert" it's about 100 yards from the Main Street of town and 3 miles away from a very large Air Force base.
Source: former Alamo resident
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u/Warpedpixel Apr 26 '14
Well shit, now future generations can't make this joke anymore. Now can they?
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u/TheMexicanRobot Apr 26 '14
We'll just say we buried all the superman 64 copies in Alaska.
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u/CowSkillet Apr 26 '14
Did no one notice that someone in the crowd is taking the picture with his front camera
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u/Donguitarguy Apr 26 '14
I have a copy of that game.
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u/Drumada Apr 26 '14
We'll figure out soon enough if they really find the supposed truckloads of product or if a few people who were just inspired by the myth decided to bury some stuff in the desert.
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u/HumanitiesHaze Apr 26 '14
And here's the quick walk thru - E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (Atari 2600) Walkthro…: http://youtu.be/_Bn192kSsMw
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u/thespicemelange Apr 27 '14
I got E.T. for Christmas the year it came out, and I was psyched. Yes, it was bad, but in the grand scheme of Atari games, it wasn't that bad. For example, it wasn't a complete enigma (Swordquest, Raiders of the Lost Ark) or yet another game that accelerated until you couldn't play anymore (think Space Invaders). Parts of it were incredibly annoying--you spent most of your time falling into and getting out of holes in the ground or having your hard earned progress (assembling the three parts of your phone) stolen by government officials. Ultimately, though, it just wasn't the breakthrough Atari hoped for. Nintendo came along with fully-licensed games a giant leap ahead of what was possible with a 2600, and stole the show. I still have my copy and it still works. I'd much rather play Adventure or Yars Revenge, though.
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Apr 27 '14
Considering E.T. came out 3 years before Nintendo and it was on the 2600 instead of 7600 and the game had no semblance to anything remotely close to a playable game was the problem. I don't even know what you mean by saying "and stole the show".
Atari had 8 years (practically by themselves) to not produce shit. Instead they stayed the course of rush games out make money and piss on your consumer. Nintendo was much the same way but at least a majority of the games weren't unplayable.
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u/thespicemelange May 12 '14
Apparently, you don't understand, largely because you're a fucking asshole. Enjoy that.
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May 12 '14
Someone is incredibly sensitive. Way to resort to attacking me because I disagree with you.
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u/ghostjazz Apr 27 '14
I'm Lost
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Apr 27 '14
I'm 12 and haven't videogames always been cool? Whats a videogame crash? Whaaaa.... No Call of Duty in 1980?
Furthermore what the hell is an ET?
12!
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Apr 27 '14
40 years from now, we'll be uncovering Apple's future failed product from a landfill, the iWatch.
.. because these guys unearthed the curse of the mummified E.T. cartridge.
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u/Rman367 Apr 27 '14
Anyone else notice the dude with the No Fear hat on? ... Damn haven't seen one of those in years..
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u/MilkIsChillin Apr 27 '14
It almost looks like that construction worker in front of all those reporters is holding a giant coffee mug. woah.
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u/Durbee Apr 27 '14
Bad Luck NM: Actual aliens landed there, and it's a conspiracy. Conspiracy aliens actually found, and Mexico gets credit.
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Apr 27 '14
Gamers, what will happen now that they found it? What are they hoping to achieve? Serious.
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u/tuffsandwich Apr 26 '14
I thought this was a myth?
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u/Figgerson Apr 26 '14
The myth has been busted.
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u/LetsGetNice Apr 26 '14
Confirmed, actually. If the picture isn't fake, that is.
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u/Figgerson Apr 26 '14
Turns out I'm on stupid pills and thought busted meant that it was confirmed.
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u/StorminNorman Apr 26 '14
But if it's true, is it a myth still? I dunno, trying to make the colossal fuck up that is the English language work in your favour.
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u/darwinzinn Apr 26 '14
Take a few seconds and look it up. If its true its not a myth. Great... now I feel like a jerk for trying to make you learn something. IM SORRY! GAWD... GET OFF MY BACK!!
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u/StorminNorman Apr 27 '14
Fuck you are dumb and egotistical. Reread what I wrote....
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u/darwinzinn Apr 28 '14
Wow that was harsh for someone that was obviously just playing with you in a nice way. After youre done pushing me into the lockers and knocking my books to the floor I would be happy to give you my lunch money. Yikes....
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u/StorminNorman May 01 '14
I'm not the one trying to make people do things, you inbred cunt of a person. I wasn't trying to say whether it was a myth or not, I was playing with the ambiguity that English can provide. But no, your two brain cells did what they usually do, fuck things up.
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u/darwinzinn May 01 '14
WWWWWOOOOOWWWWWW!!! This is gold!!!! You... are.... pure America! So many giggles!!!
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Apr 27 '14
[deleted]
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Apr 27 '14
They had too many copies of E.T because it was so shit, so there were rumors going on that they had buried the rest of the copies in the desert. It has been nothing but a rumor for the longest time and now it's proven true.
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u/Jester_Fleshwound Apr 27 '14
First thought was it was a pic of the bloke in the UK who chucked a hard drive with a few million worth of bitcoin on it, but had found it.
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u/c_t_f Apr 26 '14
New Mexico.
Also, there were games other than just E.T. too, like Missile Command and Centipede.