'E.T.' Found in New Mexico; Lost Atari Cartridges Unearthed

E.T. has been found! Well, at least the Atari video game "E.T.", that is.

Many years ago, gaming urban legend has it that the video game maker "buried millions of unsold games, considered one of the biggest flops in history," The Guardian said. This unsuccessful attempt at cashing in on the hugely successful 1980s movie was said to jumpstart Atari's near-collapse.

"In 1983, it was reported by a number of newspapers at the time that 14 truck loads of unsold Atari games and other equipment were transported from an El Paso factory to the Alamogordo city landfill and dumped," Forbes reported.

Apparently, with the unearthing of hundreds of "E.T." video games in a landfill Alamogordo, New Mexico, the urban legend and rumors turned out to be true, after all.

"Last year, Fuel Entertainment secured the right to excavate the landfill in search of the lost games, a project it undertook on Saturday. The archeological effort hit pay dirt: The diggers have uncovered at least hundreds of cartridges, including both E.T. and some titles which were best-sellers at one time, including 'Asteroids,' 'Centipede' and 'Space Invaders,'" Time noted.

The excavation was recorded for a documentary "which will premiere as an exclusive offering on Xbox." It will be directed by Zak Penn of "The Avengers" and "X-Men 2" fame. This spells more "ka-ching" for Microsoft.

Notably, one of those present at the dig was the game's designer himself, Howard Scott Warshaw.

"It may be a horrible game, but 32 years after, you are here, talking to me about it. It's a tremendous honor," he was quoted by USA Today as saying.

According to Kotaku's deputy editor Tina Amini, the game flopped because "it was practically broken." "E.T." reportedly fell into traps that were nearly "impossible" to escape and "would appear constantly and unpredictably," USA Today reported.