E.T. Atari Games Found in New Mexico Landfill

UPDATE: Microsoft has released a video of the dig which you can check out below.

ORIGINAL STORY: One of gaming's biggest mysteries has today been solved after excavation crews in Almagordo, New Mexico discovered copies of E.T. The Extra Terrestrial and other Atari games and hardware in the once legendary landfill.

The failure of E.T. contributed significantly to the video game market crash in the 1980s and the dig is part of an upcoming documentary being developed by Xbox Entertainment Studio. The feature will be released exclusively on Xbox One and is being directed by Avengers and X-Men writer Zak Penn.

14 trucks were said to be involved in moving the games and equipment to the landfill.

Howard Scott Warshaw, the producer responsible for making the game in just six weeks – average development time in the early 80s was six months – was on hand to see the dig. Warshaw had previosuly disputed whether or not the game-dump had ever happened.

We have ET. WE HAVE ET pic.twitter.com/fIP7XgsyoO

— Chris Kohler (@kobunheat) April 26, 2014

Showing Howard Scott Warshaw, designer of ET (left, in blue), the first recovered cartridge. pic.twitter.com/RQwPNeDkVz

— Chris Kohler (@kobunheat) April 26, 2014