Atari landfill combed for old games by film crew

Thirty years after Atari made a video game so bad it nearly took down the video game industry, someone is finally excavating a landfill where the games and consoles were supposedly dumped.

Legend has it that when the gaming company was stuck with millions of unsold and returned copies of the Atari 2600 version of "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" in 1983, they made a deal to trash at least nine semi-trucks full of merchandise at a landfill in Alamogordo, N.M.

The games, game consoles and other merchandise were crushed and buried under concrete, but because no one knew exactly where on the 100-acre landfill the dump took place, the Atari graveyard has become something of an urban legend.

Now, a Canada-based film company, Fuel Industries, has signed a deal with the Alamogordo City Commission to excavate the dump site as part of a documentary about the legend, KRQE reported.

The deal, approved Tuesday, gives Fuel Industries access to the landfill for six months, including the 30th anniversary of the alleged dump.

City officials are hoping the excavation and documentary will bring attention to Alamogordo.