Ancient games found in Mexico landfill site

Excavations in the Mexican capital have led to an unlikely find — hundreds of controversially-buried failed Atari game cartridges.

Entombed in the New Mexico landfill were the cartridges of the “E.T.” game, which were part of the force that dealt the death blow to the biggest videogame company of the early ’80s.

The game, according to some, is the worst of its kind to have ever come into existence, bearing a persistent bug where the character would fall into almost inescapable traps. The failure of the game is thought to explain why the company decided to bury thousands or millions of its copies.

Tina Amini, deputy editor at gaming website Kotaku, said, “They had produced so many cartridges that were unsold that even if the game was insanely successful I doubt they’d be able to keep up.”

Kristen Keller, a spokeswoman at Atari, said “nobody here has any idea what that’s about,” addressing the issue of the company’s decision on the game. She said, “We’re just watching like everybody else.”

The excavation process for potentially up to a million copies of “E.T. The Extraterrestrial” game drew crowds of residents and game aficionados in the capital’s southeast.

“I feel pretty relieved and psyched that they actually got to see something,” said Film director Zak Penn.