Atari 2600 copies of E.T. The Extra Terrestrial were discovered in the Alamagordo, New Mexico landfill on April 26th, 2014. IGN's Naomi Kyle and Fran Mirabella III wer e t here on-site, and were of the few reporters that got to step onto the very spot of the burial. Be sure to watch the feature " Why Did Atari Bury E.T. the Video Game in a New Mexico Landfill " and check out our screenshot gallery of what's been found.

E.T. for Atari Discovered in Desert 30 IMAGES

The Big Moment:

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The History of the Atari Landfill Myth

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Watch as we document the very moment director, Zak Penn, announces they've found the first E.T. cartridge. As one of the few outlets allowed into the zoned dig spot itself, which public and others were barred from, you'll see some fantastic close-ups of not just E.T., but Defender, Breakout, and Atari consoles themselves. As the facts still come into focus, it's clear Atari dumped assets in the desert for more reasons than the often cited: "E.T. is the worst game ever."For 30 years gamers and historians have asked: were millions of unsold Atari cartridges and hardware, including the infamous flop, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, really buried in the Alamagordo, New Mexico desert?Why is this a big deal? In the following video, Sam and Naomi discuss the history before attending the find.The dig itself is part of an upcoming documentary that will be released exclusively on Xbox One by the newly formed Xbox Entertainment Studios. Directing the film is Avengers and X-Men 2 writer, Zak Penn.The myth of the buried games was still in question just before the dig began; Zak Penn told IGN, "Other than garbage and the truth, I have no idea what we'll find. I think that's what's exciting, we won't know exactly what's down there until they start digging."Where did all this start? In 1983, the New York Times and other papers reported 14 trucks of unsold Atari products were driven from a factory in El Paso to a landfill.This represented the end of an era. With Atari's business in ruin (thanks to a number of flops, including E.T. and a shoddy port of Pac-Man) and the general public losing almost all interest in home console games, 1983 was a bleak year for the video game industry. What's become known as the "video game crash" was due in large part to Atari's collapse , and E.T. was Atari's final, and costliest, blunder of that era.Although the burial was widely reported at the time, Atari employees, including Howard Scott Warshaw, the rushed programmer in charge of getting E.T. shipped in just 6 weeks (games took 6 months or more to make in the early 80s), have disputed the claim. Additionally, if anything was buried, it was crushed and paved over -- even before the elements took their toll. Whatever the case, E.T.'s journey from shovelware to shovel is an important historical story that finally has an ending.

For more on the dig, and results as to whether or not the legendary mountain of alleged E.T. copies is found, stay tuned to IGN.