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'Cards Against Humanity' hole is a crowdfunding metaphor (updated)
The Cards Against Humanity crew is no stranger to backing projects that are alternately very helpful and utterly pointless, and its latest is squarely in the latter camp. It's crowdfunding the Holiday Hole, which is... a hole in the ground. That's it. So long as the money keeps flowing, machines will keep digging into a nondescript patch of terrain. A basic $5 donation will buy 3 seconds of dig time, but you can contribute whatever you like. CAH is even livestreaming the whole affair (with multiple camera angles!), in case you want to see where your donations are going.
Sale of buried Atari cartridges nets over $107,000
The never-ending saga of the Atari 2600 E.T. cartridges that were famously buried (and later unearthed) in Alamogordo, New Mexico continues to benefit the small town. Last November, a selection of games (including E.T., Asteroids and Missile Command) that were recovered in the excavation were put up for sale on eBay, and now we know just how much cash they generated. According to the Alamogordo News, the game sales totaled $107,930.15, with more than $65,000 going directly to the town. In addition, the Tularosa Basin Historical Society received over $16,000 while more than $26,000 was spent on shipping and other expenses. A total of 881 cartridges covering 60 different titles were sold overall; a copy of E.T. was the highest single sale at $1,535.
You can buy those excavated 'E.T.' cartridges at auction soon
It would seem that the saga of Atari's video-game mass grave in New Mexico is coming to a close. The Alamogordo City council has voted unanimously to auction off half of the recovered cartridges (around 800 of 'em, according to Reuters). Interested in owning a piece of history? Eurogamer says that we should see the items -- a likely majority of which will be E.T. -- pop up on eBay and the council's website within the next few weeks. Of the remaining carts, the city plans to keep 500 of them and the rest will be donated to museums. If you still can't get enough of the tale, there's always the upcoming Microsoft-backed documentary and our own interview with E.T.'s sole developer, Howard Scott Warshaw. The move to sell these to the highest bidder instead of at a fixed price is a pretty clear indication that city is being a bit opportunistic and taking advantage of nostalgia, if you ask us -- something that probably rubbed off from Atari itself.
Take another look at the E.T. landfill excavation
Hundreds of people went out in the desert yesterday to watch an excavation for E.T., an Atari game so awful that thousands of copies were buried in an Alamogordo landfill. Microsoft and Lightbox plan on turning the dig into a documentary with a working title of Atari: Game Over. [Image: Microsoft]
Microsoft's E.T. game excavation hits paydirt
It looks like the legend might be true after all. Microsoft has uncovered intact copies of E.T. for the Atari 2600 at a New Mexico landfill, supporting claims that Atari buried legions of unsold cartridges in the desert after the movie-themed game proved to be a massive failure. With that said, it's not yet clear that this is the treasure trove that Microsoft was hoping to find for its first Xbox-only documentary. The excavation team has only found a few E.T. units as of this writing, and they have company -- there's a shrink-wrapped copy of Centipede in the mix, for one thing. If the team does find many more examples of the extra-terrestrial flop, though, it could finally put a 32-year-old mystery to rest. [Image credit: Lauren Hansard, Twitter]
Microsoft digs up E.T. carcass-- er, cartridge at landfill
Xbox Entertainment Studios and Lightbox Entertainment's documentary on the excavation of a New Mexico landfill where supposedly thousands of copies of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600 won't be completed for some time yet, but if you want to know how the search went, well, the above image should tell you all you need to know. Yup, they found E.T. - or at least one copy of the game. Xbox spokesperson Larry Hryb, AKA Major Nelson, tweeted pictures showing the cartridge, as well as other Atari 2600 games still in shrink wrap, from the landfill. Dude. Spoiler warning next time! [Image: Larry Hryb]
Atari E.T. cartridge excavation back on track after delay
There are games that earn a negative tone in their word-of-mouth buzz, and then there are games that have truckloads of unsold copies buried in a landfill. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600 is, according to legend, in the latter category. Curiosity makes people do strange things though, and Alamogordo News reports that Fuel Industries' plans to document an excavation for the supposedly buried cartridges is moving forward after the New Mexico Environment Department requested a more specific dig plan. Alamogordo News notes that Xbox Entertainment Studios and LightBox Entertainment are producing Fuel's dig for treasure, the story of which is planned to eventually air on Xbox. A Microsoft representative told Alamorgordo News that moves to begin digging up portions of the landfill are still being finalized. We admit that we'll probably watch the final product, but we can't help but wonder what they'll do with the truckloads of cartridges should they find them. Maybe they'll assemble a replica of the movie's spaceship? Perhaps they'll replace walkie-talkies in an alternate remastering of the film, where agents hurl the cartridges at Elliott to knock him off his bike and capture his extra-terrestrial friend. [Image: Shutterstock, Atari]