• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

The myth is no longer myth .. Atari cartridges found in a New Mexico dump

i try to be interested in this hunt.. then i try harder.. i disappoint myself at my success-rate.
if i lived nearby, i'd probably be involved with the hunt. -- and why didn't atari bury the game Circus? I think i enjoyed E.T. more than Circus..
 
It is strange so many people wanted to not believe that. When a company vastly over produces a product, they usually can't just give it away. There would still be costs in distributing it, costs in providing customer support for it, increased liability costs, costs just storing it, and potential losses if it prevents consumers from buying the next great thing.

So what is a company supposed to do? They dig a hole and bury it! Cheapest option.

Although these days, they would probably dig that hole in some third world country and call it "recycling".
 
I live somewhat near where this dig went down. If i remember correctly i read here or somewhere else that not only did atari bury this game, but others as well as consoles. Also the story is in my area they even had a warehouse here for refurbing or something and this stuff went from here to there. I'd also like to know if maybe they even buried prototype cartridges as well. Finally, when my local news covered it today, one guy stated he went there once yrs eariler and chizzled away @ some of the cement and got a few cartridges of e.t. at that time. It would be nice if the cartridges found and salvageable were not only this title but maybe prototypes of future games that noone even knows about.
 
I would bet there will be some prototypes and unreleased junk in there. They didn't just dump a SEMI full of ET carts, they cleaned out a warehouse or something like that.
 
I thought it was well known that it really happened, and only became a "myth" in recent years?
 
Maybe more of a legend? Myths generally start with some kernel of truth and grow from there, so it is consistent with the definition of the word.
 
I think there was disbelief that any company could incorrectly estimate sales as badly as Atari was claimed to have done.
 
It's a bit hard to know when a market will implode. Atari was selling carts in the millions before the bust, they just went crazy with bad games and got stuck with them.
 
Unknown_K said:
It's a bit hard to know when a market will implode. Atari was selling carts in the millions before the bust, they just went crazy with bad games and got stuck with them.
Click to expand...

Generally, I think that it is only marketing people who have difficulty knowing. :) It seems to me that gamers know very well the difference between a good game and a bad game. Surely Atari must have had a gamer on staff who could have told them that gamers prefer good games and don't like bad games quite as much.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top