A 2016 ad for Nestlé’s Kit Kat bars includes a video game that looks an awful lot like Breakout, the classic Atari video game co-created by Apple’s Steve Wozniak. Problem is, Atari says Nestlé didn’t get permission to make this Kit Kat-themed Breakout clone. [More]
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9 Things We Learned About The Video Game Origins Of Chuck E. Cheese’s
By 5.31.17
Did you know that the restaurant and entertainment chain Chuck E. Cheese’s was originally part of the video game company Atari? While today we know the chain for kids’ parties and occasional adult drunken brawls, the chain had its origins in the carnival summer jobs of Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell. It helped to make video games mainstream, and fueled the animatronic nightmares of multiple generations of children. [More]
100 Classic Atari Games Coming To Steam Later This Year
By 1.22.16
Players of a certain age may have fond memories of some old Atari classics of yesteryear, but the hardware isn’t exactly around anymore and copies of games have literally been in a dump. Well, rejoice: Atari is releasing 100 classic game titles to the PC on Steam sometime this spring. In addition to actually running, the titles will have some modern upgrades like working local and/or online multiplayer and Steam Controller support. [via The Verge] [More]
Atari Games Recovered From New Mexico Dump Now Available On eBay
By 11.5.14
Depending on your point of view, a selection of vintage game cartridges recently listed on eBay are either priceless pieces of video game history and lore, or just a bunch of trash that someone is trying to hawk on the Internet. Both of these perspectives are true: it’s the cartridges’ status as trash that makes them so valuable and interesting in the first place. [More]
Dump Expedition Uncovers “E.T.” Atari Cartridges After 3 Hours
By 4.28.14
Every society needs its legends and cautionary tales, and the Atari graveyard in New Mexico was one for Americans of the video game generation. Did the company really dump millions of unsold games in the desert in 1983 and never speak of it again? As part of an upcoming documentary on Atari, a crew excavated the rumored dump site in Almogordo, NM. Within three hours, they freed the first cartridges from the pit. [More]
Date Set For “E.T.” Atari Cartridges Landfill Dig: April 26
By 4.14.14
The world still doesn’t know for sure whether there really are millions of unsold copies of the game “E.T.” for the Atari 2500 buried in a landfill in New Mexico. Maybe that secret would have stayed buried if not for the team who thought that it might be fun and worthwhile to search for them and make a documentary film about the process. [More]
Search For E.T. Atari Cartridges In The Desert Is Still Happening – Or Maybe Not
By 3.24.14
Last June, we shared with you the exciting news that a documentary film crew would be searching the New Mexico desert for a video game legend. They would dig up the desert landfill where millions of unsold copies of the notoriously terrible 1982 Atari game E.T. were allegedly interred. What happened with that? Not much, it turns out. [More]
Movie Studio Set To Comb Desert Landfill For Notoriously Terrible ‘E.T.’ Atari Game
By 6.4.13
There is a legend, a legend of a magical place filled with millions of copies of the notoriously terrible 1982 E.T. title, among other failed Atari games. According to gamer lore, after the title flopped, millions of Atari cartridges were buried somewhere in the desert of New Mexico, perhaps in an attempt to forever bury the shame of the game’s extreme terribleness. Now one film company has been granted the rights to search a landfill in a quest to see if the legend is real. [More]
Atari Files For Bankruptcy In The U.S. Because — Wait, Atari Is Still Around?
By 1.21.13
Mention the word “Atari” to anyone born before the mid-1980s and a happy rush of Pong memories will likely blip through the mind. But even though the heyday of video game company Atari is so far from over some might not even realize it’s still hanging around, not only is it alive in 2013, but it’s filing bankruptcy in the U.S. to maintain its existence. [More]
Backyard Baseball Bonus Codes Hit A Foul At GameStop
By 6.25.09
Dan’s son is learning an important consumer life lesson, which is that sometimes companies promise really fun things that just don’t happen. GameStop sent out a promotional e-mail about a really cool contest involving Backyard Baseball ’10. Except the contest isn’t working, and no one knows who can help Dan straighten it out.
