According to legend, a massive Atari stash of cartridges — for the ill-fated E.T. game considered by many to be the “worst” title in gaming history — languished for three decades in a desert landfill, gaining cachet under the sand all these years in Alamagordo.
The Alamagordo Atari landfill legend was the stuff of internet intrigue and gamer speculation, but no one was really sure if there were truly a ton of E.T. cartridges from the original console in a far flung trash heap.
Today, April 26, 2014, it was announced that the Atari white whale had indeed been located, and the geek social web flipped its shit — everyone was tweeting about the news that the tale was indeed not a legend at all, but true gamer history:
There is so much stuff they’ve pulled up. This is all just atari 2600 games. pic.twitter.com/w9NpXVBDhf
— Chris Kohler (@kobunheat) April 26, 2014
E.T. cartridges found in infamous Atari landfill https://t.co/qYyFWyfTG4 (cmts https://t.co/6BjB79ZNLj)
— HN from Y Combinator (@hnycombinator) April 26, 2014
Microsoft has found the legendary ‘buried in the desert’ Atari ET games https://t.co/ZbsDgVtbgY by @ow
— The Next Web (@TheNextWeb) April 26, 2014
The development is so new that just hours ago, Mashable reported that no Atari treasures had yet been unearthed on the ground in Alamagordo:
Still no signs of Atari E.T. game cartridges at the New Mexico dig, but this little guy showed up (photo @kat_egli) pic.twitter.com/h5Nh4AYGbZ
— Mashable (@mashable) April 26, 2014
Me and @mikejmika are trying to bring these ET carts from the Atari graveyard back to life! Wish us luck! #diggingEt pic.twitter.com/BZJ9YZA3AE
— Ernie Cline (@erniecline) April 27, 2014
Did your gamer friends go nuts on Twitter or Facebook as the Atari cartridges discovered in Alamagordo began circulating the social web?
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