A brand new documentary has released for free download on Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Xbox video called ‘Atari: Game Over.’
Directed by Zak Penn, famous for directing ‘Incident at Loch Ness’ and ‘The Grand’ as well as co-writing ‘The Avengers,’ ‘Atari: Game Over’ is a documentary that covers the landfill dig that was done last year for hidden unsold copies of the infamous ‘E.T.’ game for the Atari 2600. The documentary chronicles not only the dig for ‘E.T.,’ but also goes into contextual detail of the history of Atari within the fledgling gaming industry in the 1970s, eventually leading up to the second crash of the industry and the burial in 1983.
‘Atari: Game Over’ features firsthand accounts by industry veterans as well as insider details on the development of ‘E.T.’ by Atari employees and the game’s original creator, Howard Scott Warshaw.
Regarded as one of the worst videogames of all time, ‘E.T.’ is famous for being one of the hugest commercial failures in the gaming industry because of how terribly received it was by gamers. ‘E.T.’s’ reputation has brought it up high enough to be cited as one of the causes of the North American video game crash of 1983, where the gaming industry literally went into recession.
Due to the lacking sales, many unsold copies of ‘E.T.’, as well as various other Atari games, have been known to have been crushed and buried by Atari in a landfill somewhere in New Mexico. However, due in part to doubts of the scope of the burial, people have often considered the whole event to be a famous urban legend in gaming. ‘Atari: Game Over’ follows closely in the efforts of the people who sought to finally prove it all true.
You can check out the trailer for ‘Atari: Game Over’ below, and if it has pique your interest even more, head over to the Xbox site to watch the full documentary for free.
‘Atari: Game Over’ is available now as a free download on Xbox Live for Xbox One and Xbox 360. You can also download the documentary for free on Xbox Video as well.
