This documentary (a joint venture between Fuel Entertainment and Xbox Presents) explores one of the great urban myths in video gaming, the dumping of around 700,000 copies of the Atari game ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,’ for the classic Atari 2600 console at a dumping site in Alamogordo, New Mexico. This game has often been referred to as one of the worst games in history and blamed for the ultimate financial failure of Atari.  This propels the stereotype we still have today that video games based on films are invariably terrible.

Typically at the time Atari would spend many months developing a game but after making a multi-million dollar deal with Steven Spielberg (who approved the game himself) for the E.T. game gave the company just 12 weeks to get the game to market in time for Christmas. Following the games release the companies finances took a turn for the worst and it went on to lose $536 million. Continue reading →