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Alamogordo, New Mexico,
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A small town, about30,000 people.
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But, it seems to attractmore than its fair share
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of strange occurrences.
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It's right around thecorner from where
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they tested thefirst atomic bomb.
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[explosion]
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It's also the gravesite ofHam, the first chimpanzee,
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and really the firstAmerican to go in to space.
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And it's the placewhere this guy
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broke the land speedrecord in a rocket sled,
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which is cool,but also kind of strange.
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Despite all of this,the thing that Alamogordo
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is best known for is it'slandfill, the dump.
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Because supposedly that'swhere Atari buried E.T.
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the worst videogame of all time.
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It's been described as theworst video game ever.
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E.T. for Atari...
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Today, we're going to talkabout the worst of the worst.
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Here's our Top TenWorst Games Ever.
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E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
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Now here's the thing aboutET, it's widely regarded
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as the worst videogame of all time.
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[electronic vo]Worst game ever.
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We have this, this myth,
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or this legend of somethingthat happened 40 years ago.
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[singing]♪Whoa,Do,Doodle,Doodle,Do,Doos
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Son of a bitch, get outof the fucking hole.
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If you grab a pieceof the phone,
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the FBI agent keepsattacking you.
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If you take a step in anydirection you fall into a hole.
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And if you get out of thehole you fall right back down.
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One of the major designflaws of the game
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was that ET fell into pits.
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Dang it, shit.
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Oh, come on.
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And guess what, it now livesout its days in a landfill.
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It's rumored that decadesago truckloads of that game
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were dumped in theAlamogordo landfill.
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The idea that they had so manyof things and there was, they
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were so unable to sell them,give them away or whatever,
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they literally hadto drive them out
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into the middle of thedesert and bury them like
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a dead gangster... it's almosttoo crazy to be believed.
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I think it's kind of silly.
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Because it's urban legend.
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It's just a great story.I think.
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I believe that this storyendures because the
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adults just don't get it.
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And that's satisfyingto the young people.
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Whenever you look at
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what the reasons are forit nothing makes sense.
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What drove someone to need tohide this stuff so intensely.
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[digital sound]
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When I was five yearsold, Pong came out,
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and my dad got it for me,and my brother, and sister.
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When the Atari 2600came out.
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Atari!
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I got every cartridge Icould get my hands on.
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I played it constantly.
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Atari was like XBOX andPlaystation rolled in to one.
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It had an 80 percent
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market share and the 2600was its killer app.
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Adventure was probably myfavorite game for the 2600.
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I spent three weekssitting in front of my TV
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trying to find thefirst easter egg
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ever hidden in a video game.
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It looks kind of stupid now.
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You were just a block.
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You picked up an invisible dot
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and carried it to a specialroom to discover the
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programmers name.
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But, to me finding that hiddenscreen was a revelation.
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As an adult, I still playa lot of video games.
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But, I also write and directmovies, thats my job.
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I've worked on a lot ofbig comic book movies,
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the kind they make a lot ofshitty video games out of,
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and I even wrote some ofthe shitty video games.
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But, I'm also fascinated bymyths and urban legends.
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In fact ten years ago, meand this guy Werner Herzog
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went to Scotland to findthe Loch Ness monster.
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We never did find Nessie,but I still love an adventure.
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Ecspecially to unravel anurban legend.
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Today, video gamesare everywhere.
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So, it might be hard to
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understand my generationsobsession with Atari.
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But, for us it was a gate waydrug to a life-long addiction
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to video games.
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And then, one dayit was just gone.
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Some time in the mid-80's,it just disappeared,
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and there were nomore Atari games,
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and I always wonderedwhat happened.
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Where did it go?
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So, this is thefamous landfill.
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Burial.
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The final restingground of E.T..
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Yeah, this is the place.
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Uh, this, this road here.
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This gate, this is exactlythe way the Ataris would
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have came through,
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through that ditchand up through here.
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This is the only access in.
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Back in those days itwas just pure desert.
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And is there any wayto get through this?
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Or we, I mean...
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Oh yeah, it's a highsecurity gate, so...
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Oh, tuck under, yeah Iguess that works.
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Joe Lewandowski, hasbeen the garbage guru,
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if you will, for anumber of years.
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He operated various wastedisposal companies within
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Alamogordo and Otero County.
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And when it comes to theAtari graveyard I believe
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he probably has more directknowledge than anybody else.
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Joe's the guy thats advisingthe city and telling the city
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and telling the city whereeverything is and I think that
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he's the only guy that might beable to walk out to that dump
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and point to a spot onthe ground and say,
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this is where it's at.
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So, so this whole area,this is where it's buried?
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Some people don'tbelieve it's there.
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But, trust me it's there.
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You can kind of feel it,right?Is that just me?
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Uh, that's pretty much you.
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It's just me.
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So, what are theseslittle boxes here?
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Each one of little boxesrepresents where garbage is.
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I see.
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So, someone would write down.
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Oh, thats where weput the Atari trash.
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Thats where we put it.
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Well, that's the problem.Nobody did.
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We do today.
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Um, so it's lookingfor it in a haystack,
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in a pile of haystacks.
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Pretty much.
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And then, looking for aneedle inside that haystack.
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And then find the needle.
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So, it's two levels.
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This picture here isactually out of the
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old El Paso Times article.
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This is actually thatday and that event
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and when it actually occurred.
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Now what we did is justto figure out, okay,
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if this reporter, well shetook this picture here.
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Then the reporter had tobe standing somewhere
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in this area.
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So, here's the two cells thatwe pinned it down to now.
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So, when you come back herethey put the reporter
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taking the picture, andyou make that line.
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And what you're lookingfor it is to make sure
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the line intersectswith the buildings.
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Joe Lewandowskiwasn't just a guy
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who knew his wayaround a dump.
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He was also an amateurarcheologist,
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kind of like Indiana Jones.
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But, without thegun, or the whip.
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See the newspaper photowas like the medallion
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and Joe had used it tocreate his own version
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of the staff of Ra, that canpinpoint the location of the
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Atari dump, which is exactlyhow Indy would have done it.
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Joe was clearly obsessed.
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He believed in the legend.
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He spent over three yearsconstructing a plan to dig up
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the landfill and proveit to the world.
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But, he wasn't a gamerhe wasn't trying
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to find out why and that'swhat I wanted to know.
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Why would the companythat I loved so much
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decide to bury it's future.
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The whole ET story is a verysmall part of the Atari story.
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Let me go back, and explainhow Atari started out.
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The videogame came becauseof the convergence
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of me working inamusement parks summers,
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while pursuing anengineering degree at
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the University of Utah.
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I knew the economics of thecoin operated game business.
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They made a lot of money.
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Nolan designed these incrediblyelegant circuits put together
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in a way that's soclever that, you know,
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modern engineers have ahard time, ah you know,
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understanding orrepairing these things.
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My partner and I Ted Dabney
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started working onthe ping-pong game.
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By the end of '72 we did$3-1/2 million dollars.
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And then we did $19 million,and then we did $35 million.
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It was a hockey stick.
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This electronic mediumwhich was just beginning
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had some traction with people.
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And once you played some ofthe most sophisticated arcade
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games of the day,and understood that
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maybe there was a chanceyou could duplicate that
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in a home game,your eyes got big.
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Home videogames have been asuccess from the moment a
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company called Atari launchedthis basic game, Pong.
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Which has been imitated by atleast 40 other manufacturers.
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They're selling likecrazy. 300,000 last year,
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this year 3 million, nextyear 6, maybe 10 million.
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We felt, well this maybe this isthe time to sell to a company
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with deep pockets.
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I was in my office at Warnerin 1976, the phone rang,
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and it was a guynamed Gordy Crawford
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and he asked the questionI've never forgotten,
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would you guys beinterested in acquiring
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a technology based fastgrowing entertainment company?
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And I said, yes.
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I didn't know what I saidyes to, but I said, yes.
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And that led to myintroduction to Atari.
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[digital sound] ATARI
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What excited me aboutAtari wasn't Pong,
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it was the chipset thatled to the Atari 2600.
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Pong was sort of okay.
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You banged up and back,and up and back.
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But this meant you couldconstantly change the games.
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And that was a veryexciting idea to me.
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We introduced the 2600 in1977 with 9 cartridges.
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♪ [music]
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The home video game was avery close approximation of
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the coin-op experience.
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♪[music continued]
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It changed the mindsetof the world.
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Turning the television froma passive medium into an
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active medium, that was whatwe knew we were doing.
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And that was super exciting tobe the pioneers in that field.
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It just blew people away.
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And nobody knew anyof this stuff.
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They made it up as they went,and they were good at it.
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And it started everything.
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♪ [music continued]
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It was playing those games
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that taught people thepotential of a computer.
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Atari at some level broughtthe computer revolution.
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♪ [music continued]
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They started experimentallyhiring smart kids with this
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idea that maybe they could comeup with other stuff to do.
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♪ [music continued]
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And they inadvertentlywere trying create
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the job of game designer.
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Microprocessor real timecontrol programming
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is just where it's at.
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So there's two kindsof things you could
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typically do with thatin the early 1980s.
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You can do missile guidancesystems or like we say,
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kill people for12 cents a head.
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[lexplosion]
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Or you can make videogames.
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Which I thoughtwas a much better
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application forthe whole thing.
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♪ [music]
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What went on at Atarifrom the very beginning,
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was basically the engineersare going to drive
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this company because theyweren't just engineers,
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they were creative guys.
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They're like musiciansor movie directors.
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They're artists.
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Through luck or providence orboth they ended up with this
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department of gamedesigners that became this
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Dream Team at Atari.
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These guys who made allof these classics.
258
00:11:36,868 --> 00:11:39,112
Tempest and Asteroids andCentipede and Gauntlet.
259
00:11:39,146 --> 00:11:40,838
And you know, think of a game.
260
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The culture was these guysdo what they want to do.
261
00:11:44,013 --> 00:11:46,257
One day I was standing at themen's room at the urinal
262
00:11:46,291 --> 00:11:50,399
and I looked down and I saw apair of bare feet next to me.
263
00:11:50,433 --> 00:11:53,333
And I looked, and here is aguy wearing a pair of shorts
264
00:11:53,367 --> 00:11:55,542
and nothing else.
265
00:11:55,576 --> 00:11:57,268
And I said, somethingand they said, oh yeah,
266
00:11:57,302 --> 00:11:59,788
that's so-and-so, he'sa great engineer.
267
00:11:59,822 --> 00:12:00,858
He doesn't like towear to clothes.
268
00:12:00,892 --> 00:12:04,068
The coin-op engineers atAtari, they were great.
269
00:12:04,102 --> 00:12:05,932
And on the consumer side
270
00:12:05,966 --> 00:12:09,970
Howard was one of thebest programmers.
271
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He was one of the bestof those engineers.
272
00:12:12,076 --> 00:12:15,527
At the heart of the creativeprocess is the Programmer.
273
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I tried to create basicallya sensory experience
274
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that evokes a certainfeeling in the user.
275
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I mean I tend to programfrom a concept.
276
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I mean it was,I was made for this.
277
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I mean it's just whatI was made to do.
278
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[music]♪
279
00:12:31,889 --> 00:12:33,373
January 11, 1981
280
00:12:33,407 --> 00:12:34,857
I showed up for myfirst day of work as a
281
00:12:34,892 --> 00:12:36,859
Game Programmer at Atari.
282
00:12:36,894 --> 00:12:40,932
So do you remember the firstday you showed up here?
283
00:12:40,967 --> 00:12:42,002
Absolutely.
284
00:12:42,037 --> 00:12:46,489
My first office mates wereTod Frye and Rob Zdybel.
285
00:12:46,524 --> 00:12:48,560
And I had an understandingthat there was a lot of dope
286
00:12:48,595 --> 00:12:51,943
that was smoked atAtari when were there.
287
00:12:51,978 --> 00:12:53,531
And so on my first day atwork I brought a joint
288
00:12:53,565 --> 00:12:55,913
'cause I didn't wantto be, you know,
289
00:12:55,947 --> 00:12:58,985
uh, I wanted to bea courteous guest.
290
00:12:59,019 --> 00:13:00,883
And so I showed up...
291
00:13:00,918 --> 00:13:01,919
Which by the wayis a good lesson
292
00:13:01,953 --> 00:13:03,092
for our younger viewers.
293
00:13:03,127 --> 00:13:05,198
If people are doing drugs,bring your own, so you fit in.
294
00:13:05,232 --> 00:13:11,031
Tod walks in, shutsthe door, and says,
295
00:13:11,066 --> 00:13:12,205
I'm going to get high in here.
296
00:13:12,239 --> 00:13:14,828
So if you don't want to bearound this, you better leave.
297
00:13:14,863 --> 00:13:15,725
No, actually here I said,I brought a joint.
298
00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:17,313
And he sort of lookedat me and went
299
00:13:17,348 --> 00:13:18,280
[makes noise]
300
00:13:18,314 --> 00:13:20,903
I'm going to smoke somereal stuff. Okay.
301
00:13:20,938 --> 00:13:22,318
That was my introduction.
302
00:13:22,353 --> 00:13:24,182
That was my first day at work.
303
00:13:26,322 --> 00:13:27,392
We wanted peoplewho worked hard
304
00:13:27,427 --> 00:13:29,636
and yet had fun at doing it.
305
00:13:29,670 --> 00:13:33,226
How do we mix up so that wedon't know the difference
306
00:13:33,260 --> 00:13:34,572
between our work and our play.
307
00:13:34,606 --> 00:13:37,023
The company's motto was,we take fun seriously.
308
00:13:37,057 --> 00:13:40,647
But we used to say, wetake fun intravenously.
309
00:13:40,681 --> 00:13:44,133
And, uh, they didn'tlike that very much.
310
00:13:44,168 --> 00:13:45,169
No, I, I don't know why.
311
00:13:45,203 --> 00:13:49,276
The party atmosphere wasactually a calculated
312
00:13:49,311 --> 00:13:52,659
plan to incentivize.
313
00:13:52,693 --> 00:13:53,625
I would set quotas.
314
00:13:53,660 --> 00:13:56,905
If the quotas were metI'd throw a keger.
315
00:13:56,939 --> 00:13:59,459
He would justroll out in a car,
316
00:13:59,493 --> 00:14:00,460
go to a liquor store.
317
00:14:00,494 --> 00:14:02,393
And they gave someonea company credit card
318
00:14:02,427 --> 00:14:04,188
and they came back witha bunch of booze.
319
00:14:04,222 --> 00:14:06,259
And we consumed it.
320
00:14:06,293 --> 00:14:07,398
Over there is wherethe hot tub was.
321
00:14:07,432 --> 00:14:09,883
Inside on the first floor,there's some great stuff
322
00:14:09,918 --> 00:14:11,298
that went on in that room.
323
00:14:11,333 --> 00:14:12,334
Over here, here'sthe hill that,
324
00:14:12,368 --> 00:14:13,680
you know one day I waswearing a Dashiki shirt
325
00:14:13,714 --> 00:14:15,613
which I was veryinto back then.
326
00:14:15,647 --> 00:14:18,064
And I would do somersaultsdown the hill.
327
00:14:18,098 --> 00:14:20,273
I might have had somecocktails that afternoon
328
00:14:20,307 --> 00:14:21,377
at that point.
329
00:14:21,412 --> 00:14:23,034
Did you know that you wereentering this crazy party
330
00:14:23,069 --> 00:14:25,450
atmosphere that it would be?
331
00:14:25,485 --> 00:14:27,694
No, even though Iwas told I was,
332
00:14:27,728 --> 00:14:31,042
I had no expectation thatit could really exist.
333
00:14:31,077 --> 00:14:35,150
The best recruiting tool wecould have for an engineer
334
00:14:35,184 --> 00:14:38,981
was to bring him overto one of our parties.
335
00:14:39,016 --> 00:14:40,086
Hey, how's it going?
336
00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:43,089
What's happening people?
337
00:14:43,123 --> 00:14:45,677
And they thought, hey,I'm a nerd.
338
00:14:45,712 --> 00:14:46,506
There are girls here.
339
00:14:46,540 --> 00:14:49,992
They're talking to me.It's good.
340
00:14:50,027 --> 00:14:51,062
That was the culture.
341
00:14:51,097 --> 00:14:52,167
These guys are the lifeblood of the business.
342
00:14:52,201 --> 00:14:55,308
And they do what they wantto do. And that's fine.
343
00:14:55,342 --> 00:14:58,449
In some ways things happenedto me over the course of
344
00:14:58,483 --> 00:15:03,005
3-1/2 years here that made thenext 25 years really tough.
345
00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:04,696
Because it establisheda standard of what
346
00:15:04,731 --> 00:15:07,182
professional life and lifein general could be.
347
00:15:07,216 --> 00:15:09,563
And I never let go of thethought that my life could
348
00:15:09,598 --> 00:15:12,118
still be this or better. I justdidn't know how to do it.
349
00:15:14,396 --> 00:15:16,156
It's really intense for me
350
00:15:16,191 --> 00:15:17,364
to come back here.
351
00:15:17,399 --> 00:15:19,435
This is the first time I'vebeen back here in 30 years.
352
00:15:19,470 --> 00:15:25,579
And this was the place where Iwas introduced to what life
353
00:15:25,614 --> 00:15:26,649
could be for me.
354
00:15:26,684 --> 00:15:30,999
What a working life couldbe, what real creative
355
00:15:31,033 --> 00:15:32,069
satisfaction could be.
356
00:15:32,103 --> 00:15:34,450
What doing something reallymeaningful could be.
357
00:15:34,485 --> 00:15:38,696
Those are all things that comeback to me in this moment.
358
00:15:38,730 --> 00:15:42,217
And it's just very intense.
359
00:15:42,251 --> 00:15:44,012
So, what reallyhappened in 1983?
360
00:15:44,046 --> 00:15:48,119
People heard the rumors,but Atari denied the dump
361
00:15:48,154 --> 00:15:51,122
ever took place and eventuallypeople forget about it.
362
00:15:51,157 --> 00:15:52,365
But. with the growthof the Internet
363
00:15:52,399 --> 00:15:57,197
and all it's best and worstlists, E.T. and its burial went
364
00:15:57,232 --> 00:16:01,408
from small town gossip tofull blown urban legend.
365
00:16:01,443 --> 00:16:05,136
By the mid 90's videosbegan to appear online
366
00:16:05,171 --> 00:16:06,689
that seem to suggest that
367
00:16:06,724 --> 00:16:09,175
anyone with a shovel couldgo out in the desert
368
00:16:09,209 --> 00:16:10,521
and dig up the buried games.
369
00:16:10,555 --> 00:16:13,558
That's what I thought too.
370
00:16:13,593 --> 00:16:15,146
But it wasn't closeto that easy.
371
00:16:15,181 --> 00:16:18,494
Joe had spent yearsresearching the burial,
372
00:16:18,529 --> 00:16:22,291
if his information wascorrect the games were not
373
00:16:22,326 --> 00:16:23,361
only deep underground, theywere covered with concrete.
374
00:16:23,396 --> 00:16:28,056
Joe was still waitingthrough a sea of red tape.
375
00:16:28,090 --> 00:16:30,403
But, if and when thecity approves his plan
376
00:16:30,437 --> 00:16:32,267
to excavate the landfill,
377
00:16:32,301 --> 00:16:35,063
he was going to needmore than just a shovel.
378
00:16:35,097 --> 00:16:38,307
He would need giantyellow digging machines.
379
00:16:38,342 --> 00:16:42,242
And a bunch of guys in hatsand vests to operate them.
380
00:16:42,277 --> 00:16:46,281
This is a, one of the photosof the actual burial
381
00:16:46,315 --> 00:16:47,489
when they did it.
382
00:16:47,523 --> 00:16:49,215
So we're looking at like 15feet down to hit the concrete.
383
00:16:49,249 --> 00:16:52,563
Under concreteit's mostly dirt.
384
00:16:52,597 --> 00:16:53,667
It's just a, it's thebottom of the pit.
385
00:16:53,702 --> 00:16:55,462
What's that thingright over there?
386
00:16:55,497 --> 00:16:56,463
That's a motor grader.
387
00:16:56,498 --> 00:16:58,155
A motor grader.
388
00:16:58,189 --> 00:17:00,191
Yes. That's for reallyjust fine grading,
389
00:17:00,226 --> 00:17:02,538
you know, like thehighways and roads.
390
00:17:02,573 --> 00:17:04,368
And fine planing large areas.
391
00:17:04,402 --> 00:17:08,337
So we conceivably mightneed that for this, right?
392
00:17:08,372 --> 00:17:09,580
No. No.
393
00:17:09,614 --> 00:17:11,064
But, I mean, you might.
394
00:17:11,099 --> 00:17:14,205
you could bring it out before.
395
00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:18,209
You might want to parkit so it's ready.
396
00:17:18,244 --> 00:17:19,038
No, not really.
397
00:17:19,072 --> 00:17:19,831
We're fine No,We'll be alright.
398
00:17:19,866 --> 00:17:21,178
Oh, I don't know.Not my field.
399
00:17:22,903 --> 00:17:26,528
I am concerned that Joe'smoving kind of quick
400
00:17:26,562 --> 00:17:28,495
and we do need tothrow some brakes on
401
00:17:28,530 --> 00:17:29,531
and slow it down.
402
00:17:31,153 --> 00:17:33,362
The opposition comes from,um, environmentalists maybe
403
00:17:33,397 --> 00:17:35,261
within the community.
404
00:17:35,295 --> 00:17:36,503
And the concern is, is thatAlamogordo also may have
405
00:17:36,538 --> 00:17:41,301
something else buried in thelandfill that may be hazardous.
406
00:17:41,336 --> 00:17:42,509
And we may not know exactlywhere this location is.
407
00:17:42,544 --> 00:17:47,687
Nobody really and truly has deadhonest records as to where
408
00:17:47,721 --> 00:17:48,757
everything is buried out there.
409
00:17:48,791 --> 00:17:51,553
And we're talking potentialmercury laced pigs,
410
00:17:51,587 --> 00:17:53,417
malathion, possible DDT.
411
00:17:53,451 --> 00:17:56,627
There's potentially lead inthere and maybe some other
412
00:17:56,661 --> 00:18:00,251
dangerous metals that arein those cartridges.
413
00:18:00,286 --> 00:18:01,321
I don't want to be in an areawhere we might crack open
414
00:18:01,356 --> 00:18:05,532
a sealed tomb, so to speak,of these hogs where
415
00:18:05,567 --> 00:18:09,157
mercury gas comes out.
416
00:18:09,191 --> 00:18:11,504
So I don't want theStephen King novel,
417
00:18:11,538 --> 00:18:12,746
oh we hit the wrong spotand all of a sudden we are
418
00:18:12,781 --> 00:18:15,163
evacuating Alamogordo.
419
00:18:15,197 --> 00:18:16,785
That is unacceptable to me.
420
00:18:16,819 --> 00:18:18,649
If there's a problem that the
421
00:18:18,683 --> 00:18:20,823
New Mexico EnvironmentalDepartment perceives,
422
00:18:20,858 --> 00:18:23,171
we're not going tobe able to proceed.
423
00:18:23,205 --> 00:18:24,620
[digital game sound]
424
00:18:24,655 --> 00:18:26,898
Until I'm satisfied it's safe,it's not going to happen.
425
00:18:26,933 --> 00:18:28,831
At least within my power.
426
00:18:28,866 --> 00:18:30,868
I, you know, there's somuch power that I have.
427
00:18:30,902 --> 00:18:37,461
♪ [music]
428
00:18:37,495 --> 00:18:38,462
So for my first game
429
00:18:38,496 --> 00:18:42,569
they wanted me to do acoin-op conversion.
430
00:18:42,604 --> 00:18:44,606
Although I had only beenthere for about a week,
431
00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:45,641
I went to my manager,
432
00:18:45,676 --> 00:18:49,335
I said, you know something,I said, this game
433
00:18:49,369 --> 00:18:52,717
Star Castle on the 2600is just going to suck.
434
00:18:52,752 --> 00:18:54,374
I know it's going to suck.
435
00:18:54,409 --> 00:18:55,617
And I said, but I thinkI can take some of the
436
00:18:55,651 --> 00:18:56,963
key things that I thinkmake it a fun game
437
00:18:56,997 --> 00:18:58,896
[digital game sound]
438
00:18:58,930 --> 00:19:04,453
and rework it so that itwould work on the 2600.
439
00:19:04,488 --> 00:19:06,662
And so they said,okay, go ahead,
440
00:19:06,697 --> 00:19:07,629
do what you want to do.
441
00:19:07,663 --> 00:19:09,458
So how did you learnhow to program a game?
442
00:19:09,493 --> 00:19:12,461
I just read the manual andstarted writing the game.
443
00:19:12,496 --> 00:19:15,292
No one had ever donelike a backstory
444
00:19:15,326 --> 00:19:16,396
for a game before.
445
00:19:16,431 --> 00:19:18,778
And thought this is my firstgame and I wanted to be
446
00:19:18,812 --> 00:19:19,882
involved in every part of it.
447
00:19:19,917 --> 00:19:21,815
I want to make it the bestgame it could possibly be.
448
00:19:21,850 --> 00:19:23,783
So, I wrote this sevenor eight page story.
449
00:19:23,817 --> 00:19:25,543
I stayed up all nightwriting this story.
450
00:19:25,578 --> 00:19:27,200
Knocked it out.
451
00:19:27,235 --> 00:19:29,961
And it was a science fictionstory about flies that
452
00:19:29,996 --> 00:19:31,549
get on the first interstellarspaceships and mutate,
453
00:19:31,584 --> 00:19:32,688
evolve and take over thesolar system but now
454
00:19:32,723 --> 00:19:35,898
they're under attack by thisother monster and stuff
455
00:19:35,933 --> 00:19:37,245
and that's the shortversion of the story.
456
00:19:37,279 --> 00:19:40,731
So I thought, wellI need to name it.
457
00:19:40,765 --> 00:19:44,424
So what I did was I namedYar because that's
458
00:19:44,459 --> 00:19:45,322
Ray spelled backwards.
459
00:19:45,356 --> 00:19:47,772
And Ray Kassar wasthe CEO of Atari.
460
00:19:47,807 --> 00:19:49,602
Right, so I've got hisname keyed into the type.
461
00:19:49,636 --> 00:19:52,708
And I thought Revenge,a great action word.
462
00:19:52,743 --> 00:19:54,572
You know,so that's compelling.
463
00:19:54,607 --> 00:19:57,230
And so that's how itbecame Yars' Revenge.
464
00:19:57,265 --> 00:20:03,236
♪ [music]
465
00:20:03,271 --> 00:20:04,582
When Yars' Revengecame out,
466
00:20:04,617 --> 00:20:05,618
it was a hit.It was huge.
467
00:20:05,652 --> 00:20:07,516
Games that could look likeYars' Revenge looks,
468
00:20:07,551 --> 00:20:12,038
that could draw that kind ofstuff were like magical.
469
00:20:12,072 --> 00:20:13,073
Even though Yars' Revengemight look primitive.
470
00:20:13,108 --> 00:20:15,731
You know, it looks likethe Super Conducting
471
00:20:15,766 --> 00:20:16,905
Super Collider comparedto a lot of the games
472
00:20:16,939 --> 00:20:18,838
that were out thereat the time.
473
00:20:18,872 --> 00:20:20,598
I remember the first timeI put the cartridge in
474
00:20:20,633 --> 00:20:22,876
I was like, what is this?
475
00:20:22,911 --> 00:20:24,947
It really was a very innovativeshooter of that era.
476
00:20:24,982 --> 00:20:26,846
Getting a ship to fly around,so it's fun just to fly the
477
00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:29,331
ship around, is a trick,especially on that hardware.
478
00:20:29,366 --> 00:20:31,644
The enemy was cool and scary.
479
00:20:31,678 --> 00:20:34,612
And it felt reallygood to defeat it.
480
00:20:34,647 --> 00:20:36,994
You feel like it's yourvictory when you beat
481
00:20:37,028 --> 00:20:38,927
those challenges.
482
00:20:38,961 --> 00:20:39,962
And you feel like it's yourdefeat when they beat you.
483
00:20:39,997 --> 00:20:43,656
And you'll keep comingback because you didn't
484
00:20:43,690 --> 00:20:45,520
lose by being cheated.
485
00:20:45,554 --> 00:20:46,555
You didn't lose 'cause thegame did something unfair.
486
00:20:46,590 --> 00:20:48,523
You lost because youweren't quite good enough.
487
00:20:48,557 --> 00:20:50,904
And all of the great gamessit right on that edge.
488
00:20:50,939 --> 00:20:52,837
I remember playingYars' Revenge one day
489
00:20:52,872 --> 00:20:55,771
and we happened on thistrick that let you,
490
00:20:55,806 --> 00:20:58,843
if you were on this right spotat the right time in the game,
491
00:20:58,878 --> 00:21:00,845
and it was in between levels,these initials came up.
492
00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:02,502
And the initials were HSW.
493
00:21:02,537 --> 00:21:03,917
To us it was someweird mystery.
494
00:21:03,952 --> 00:21:06,886
Like we had to figureout what HSW meant.
495
00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:08,853
And finally in one of the gamemagazines they published
496
00:21:08,888 --> 00:21:10,786
what HSW meant.
497
00:21:10,821 --> 00:21:11,477
And it turns out HSW meansHoward Scott Warshaw,
498
00:21:11,511 --> 00:21:12,340
the guy who madethe game.
499
00:21:12,374 --> 00:21:15,584
Yars' Revenge wasthe first game that
500
00:21:15,619 --> 00:21:17,103
Atari ever did wherethe programmer's name
501
00:21:17,137 --> 00:21:18,311
went out with the cartridge.
502
00:21:18,346 --> 00:21:20,002
Yars' Revenge hada lot of firsts.
503
00:21:20,037 --> 00:21:21,728
And that was justone of them.
504
00:21:21,763 --> 00:21:24,835
Yars' Revenge is the bestselling original game for the
505
00:21:24,869 --> 00:21:26,906
Atari 2600.
506
00:21:26,940 --> 00:21:28,666
It sold something likea million copies.
507
00:21:28,701 --> 00:21:32,049
Every reviewer at the timethought it was one of the
508
00:21:32,083 --> 00:21:33,015
best games ever put out.
509
00:21:33,050 --> 00:21:35,363
You know it made a lotof money for Atari.
510
00:21:35,397 --> 00:21:39,988
In 1981, this is a companythat made operating
511
00:21:40,022 --> 00:21:44,406
profits of something like$375 million dollars.
512
00:21:44,441 --> 00:21:45,787
One of today's greatestmarketing triumphs in the
513
00:21:45,821 --> 00:21:46,960
entertainment fieldis videogames.
514
00:21:46,995 --> 00:21:48,928
If the business...
515
00:21:48,962 --> 00:21:50,585
It was beyond comprehension.
516
00:21:50,619 --> 00:21:53,070
The fastest growing companyin American history.
517
00:21:53,104 --> 00:21:54,727
This was an explosion.
518
00:21:54,761 --> 00:21:55,831
Even though, those of uswe're in the middle of it,
519
00:21:55,866 --> 00:21:58,593
but shaking heads going,oh my God, this is amazing.
520
00:21:58,627 --> 00:22:01,147
We were the most successfulcoin-op company.
521
00:22:01,181 --> 00:22:03,874
We were the dominantconsumer company.
522
00:22:03,908 --> 00:22:08,534
And we sat around literallysaying to ourselves.
523
00:22:08,568 --> 00:22:11,537
What are thecategories of games?
524
00:22:11,571 --> 00:22:13,435
What are the capabilitiesof the coin system?
525
00:22:13,470 --> 00:22:15,955
Where is this industry going?
526
00:22:15,989 --> 00:22:17,474
Everything that Joe has
527
00:22:17,508 --> 00:22:19,545
put together on thisAtari graveyard,
528
00:22:19,579 --> 00:22:22,617
so far seems to becoming true.
529
00:22:22,651 --> 00:22:24,722
I am in favor of theAtari games being
530
00:22:24,757 --> 00:22:26,897
dug up because it isthe largest myth
531
00:22:26,931 --> 00:22:28,519
in the gaming world.
532
00:22:28,554 --> 00:22:30,072
I believe that Joejust thinks it will
533
00:22:30,107 --> 00:22:32,143
be an outstandingevent for Alamogordo
534
00:22:32,178 --> 00:22:34,456
and a way for us toget on the map.
535
00:22:34,491 --> 00:22:37,148
On Tuesday, Alamogordo'sCity Commission approved a
536
00:22:37,183 --> 00:22:40,566
deal to dig in the old landfillwithin the next 6 months.
537
00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:42,947
The City has given itsokay, and now the State
538
00:22:42,982 --> 00:22:44,466
has given them approval.
539
00:22:44,501 --> 00:22:46,468
Film crew will bein Alamogordo.
540
00:22:46,503 --> 00:22:48,919
The documentary film crewwill start probing the dump
541
00:22:48,953 --> 00:22:52,992
for their strange buriedtreasure at 9:30am.
542
00:22:53,026 --> 00:23:04,762
[drilling rig]
543
00:23:04,797 --> 00:23:07,109
So this is an impressivelooking machine out here.
544
00:23:07,144 --> 00:23:08,145
What the hell is it doing?
545
00:23:08,179 --> 00:23:10,147
What this drilling rigdoes is it goes down,
546
00:23:10,181 --> 00:23:11,942
straight down, and ittakes out core samples
547
00:23:11,976 --> 00:23:14,979
and brings up whateveris in the ground.
548
00:23:15,014 --> 00:23:16,705
We've narrowed itdown from 300 acres
549
00:23:16,740 --> 00:23:18,983
down to about 5 to 10 acres.
550
00:23:19,018 --> 00:23:22,124
And so what we're doing now istrying to get it even closer.
551
00:23:22,159 --> 00:23:24,472
'Cause we're looking forthings like somebody's mail,
552
00:23:24,506 --> 00:23:26,197
you know, the postmarks, uh, newspapers,
553
00:23:26,232 --> 00:23:28,130
things like thatlooking for dates.
554
00:23:28,165 --> 00:23:35,724
And we're looking forSeptember of '83.
555
00:23:35,759 --> 00:23:38,589
Nothing good yet.
556
00:23:38,624 --> 00:23:40,039
Don't you think people aregoing to be disappointed
557
00:23:40,073 --> 00:23:42,110
if we dig it up and we don'tactually find the ET games?
558
00:23:42,144 --> 00:23:43,214
I mean wouldn't that be...
559
00:23:43,249 --> 00:23:45,527
It would be very disappointingfor every, all of us,
560
00:23:45,562 --> 00:23:46,770
all the work, 3 years of workput it into this thing.
561
00:23:46,804 --> 00:23:48,012
So what do we do then?
562
00:23:48,047 --> 00:23:50,118
You're just going to dig up thewhole landfill or something.
563
00:23:50,152 --> 00:23:51,740
No, we can't, theEnvironmental Department
564
00:23:51,775 --> 00:23:52,914
will not allow that to happen.
565
00:23:52,948 --> 00:23:55,641
You're saying that there's apossibility that this could
566
00:23:55,675 --> 00:23:56,849
turn out to be agiant waste of time.
567
00:23:56,883 --> 00:23:57,815
I think I said it before.
568
00:23:57,850 --> 00:23:59,645
I'll bet the car,I won't bet the house.
569
00:24:07,618 --> 00:24:08,999
Most everybody, at leastin the Western world
570
00:24:09,033 --> 00:24:10,552
has played a videogame of some kind,
571
00:24:10,587 --> 00:24:11,553
they've gone to an arcade.
572
00:24:11,588 --> 00:24:12,520
They know the Atari brand.
573
00:24:12,554 --> 00:24:13,797
They certainly know ET.
574
00:24:13,831 --> 00:24:15,833
And so I thinkthere's a universal
575
00:24:15,868 --> 00:24:17,628
curiosity about this game.
576
00:24:17,663 --> 00:24:21,252
You know, something did happenthose couple of nights in 1983
577
00:24:21,287 --> 00:24:25,671
that I think it merits aserious investigation.
578
00:24:25,705 --> 00:24:27,914
So why did I decideto go to Alamogordo?
579
00:24:27,949 --> 00:24:31,055
I'm very much interested in theimpact that a particular game
580
00:24:31,090 --> 00:24:34,887
or an industry has made withina cultural and social context.
581
00:24:34,921 --> 00:24:37,821
What's striking about theAtari ET game in the
582
00:24:37,855 --> 00:24:40,306
Alamogordo landfillis that they're
583
00:24:40,340 --> 00:24:41,756
there and not in museums.
584
00:24:41,790 --> 00:24:44,068
I think this is what excitesmany people who keep
585
00:24:44,103 --> 00:24:46,795
this narrative alive, is theywant to get these items.
586
00:24:46,830 --> 00:24:48,866
They want visible proof.
587
00:24:48,901 --> 00:24:50,868
They want some kindof tangible evidence
588
00:24:50,903 --> 00:24:54,251
that dump did take place.
589
00:24:54,285 --> 00:24:56,840
I've been professionallymaking games since about '94.
590
00:24:56,874 --> 00:24:59,049
But more than that,
591
00:24:59,083 --> 00:25:01,189
I'm a, I'm someone whosebeen chiefly doing a lot of
592
00:25:01,223 --> 00:25:03,329
historical work with videogames, trying to preserve
593
00:25:03,363 --> 00:25:05,262
video games and get peopleto understand that video
594
00:25:05,296 --> 00:25:06,228
games are more like art.
595
00:25:06,263 --> 00:25:08,058
And so I've been doinga lot of advocating
596
00:25:08,092 --> 00:25:09,577
preservation and education.
597
00:25:09,611 --> 00:25:12,545
I always thought one day I'mgoing to get over and see
598
00:25:12,580 --> 00:25:15,099
finally once and for alllike where it's buried.
599
00:25:15,134 --> 00:25:16,722
I almost don't even reallyneed to know what's in it.
600
00:25:16,756 --> 00:25:18,551
I almost want to keepthat mystery alive.
601
00:25:18,586 --> 00:25:21,140
To me, under thatlandfill is actually
602
00:25:21,174 --> 00:25:23,625
the burial site ofan entire industry.
603
00:25:23,660 --> 00:25:25,662
Because what affectedAtari at the
604
00:25:25,696 --> 00:25:27,215
time affected everyone.
605
00:25:27,249 --> 00:25:30,321
And everything that I thoughtwas going on forever stopped.
606
00:25:30,356 --> 00:25:33,083
And it stopped almost at thatsame moment that these,
607
00:25:33,117 --> 00:25:37,743
whatever is there was buried.
608
00:25:37,777 --> 00:25:40,090
So for me, I want to find outwhat, what's, what is there.
609
00:25:40,124 --> 00:25:41,919
It's like opening theArk of the Covenant.
610
00:25:41,954 --> 00:25:43,024
[laughs]
611
00:25:43,058 --> 00:25:44,128
It's like, you kind of wantto look but is my face
612
00:25:44,163 --> 00:25:45,302
going to melt off?
613
00:25:45,336 --> 00:25:48,063
I don't know. I have told mywife that I will be going
614
00:25:48,098 --> 00:25:49,237
to New Mexico.
615
00:25:49,271 --> 00:25:51,066
And she asked me, why?
616
00:25:51,101 --> 00:25:52,274
And I started toexplain, and she said,
617
00:25:52,309 --> 00:25:54,207
I don't, I don't need to know.
618
00:25:54,242 --> 00:25:55,312
[laughs]
619
00:25:55,346 --> 00:25:58,384
You can just go do it.
620
00:25:58,418 --> 00:25:59,488
You want it Ernest on screen?
621
00:25:59,523 --> 00:26:01,663
Uh, whatever, Ernest islike my fancy writer name,
622
00:26:01,698 --> 00:26:02,871
Ernie is whateverybody calls me.
623
00:26:02,906 --> 00:26:04,252
Well, actually, alright, sowe'll use your writer's name.
624
00:26:04,286 --> 00:26:05,391
How would youdescribe yourself?
625
00:26:05,425 --> 00:26:10,085
Uh, a screenwriter, novelist,gentleman adventurer.
626
00:26:10,120 --> 00:26:13,157
The thing about having an Atarifor me it was simulator.
627
00:26:13,192 --> 00:26:16,057
Like I could simulate beingIndiana Jones or simulate
628
00:26:16,091 --> 00:26:17,748
being E.T..
629
00:26:17,783 --> 00:26:18,853
[digital game sound]
630
00:26:18,887 --> 00:26:20,786
Having access to that andcoming from a family of
631
00:26:20,820 --> 00:26:22,235
like modest means,and not having to,
632
00:26:22,270 --> 00:26:24,065
you know, beg for quartersand just being able to play
633
00:26:24,099 --> 00:26:26,239
as much as you wanted,that was such a huge
634
00:26:26,274 --> 00:26:28,310
part of my childhood,and fed my imagination.
635
00:26:28,345 --> 00:26:30,278
And that was theinspiration for,
636
00:26:30,312 --> 00:26:32,383
Ready Player One, my novel.
637
00:26:32,418 --> 00:26:34,903
The idea of what if WillyWonka had been a video game
638
00:26:34,938 --> 00:26:37,250
designer and he heldhis golden ticket
639
00:26:37,285 --> 00:26:39,805
contest inside his greatestvideo game creation.
640
00:26:39,839 --> 00:26:42,014
And that all came fromfinding those Easter eggs
641
00:26:42,048 --> 00:26:43,187
in all those Atari games.
642
00:26:43,222 --> 00:26:45,845
I feel like a kid this pastweek like getting ready
643
00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:46,708
to go to camp.
644
00:26:46,743 --> 00:26:48,089
Alamogordo and theAtari graveyard.
645
00:26:48,123 --> 00:26:49,677
For me it's like holy ground.
646
00:26:49,711 --> 00:26:50,539
And that was when I realized my
647
00:26:50,574 --> 00:26:51,679
DeLorean is alreadyin New Mexico.
648
00:26:51,713 --> 00:26:54,336
I just have to fly to SantaFepickup my DeLorean from
649
00:26:54,371 --> 00:26:56,166
George R.R. Martin,whose using it for the
650
00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:59,376
Back To The Future screeningand drive it down to Alamogordo.
651
00:26:59,410 --> 00:27:00,411
I could stop at thevery large ray.
652
00:27:00,446 --> 00:27:02,379
Also, hit Roswell andthen go to Alamogordo.
653
00:27:02,413 --> 00:27:04,277
And be there for theexcavation of the
654
00:27:04,312 --> 00:27:05,416
Atari graveyard.
655
00:27:05,451 --> 00:27:07,867
As soon as those, you know,tumblers kicked into place
656
00:27:07,902 --> 00:27:09,869
I'm like the most epicroad trip of all time,
657
00:27:09,904 --> 00:27:10,421
I have to go.
658
00:27:10,456 --> 00:27:11,595
♪ [music]
659
00:27:11,630 --> 00:27:14,253
It's like I'm Indy going toWestoros to meet Doc Brown.
660
00:27:14,287 --> 00:27:15,668
And save E.T.
661
00:27:15,703 --> 00:27:20,984
♪ [music]
662
00:27:21,018 --> 00:27:22,917
[screeching tires]
663
00:27:22,951 --> 00:27:29,268
[birds churping]
664
00:27:29,302 --> 00:27:33,134
[horn honks]
665
00:27:33,168 --> 00:27:34,307
Boom.
666
00:27:34,342 --> 00:27:36,102
Uh, have a great drive, anda great time in Alamogordo.
667
00:27:36,137 --> 00:27:37,448
George, thank you so much,I appreciate it, man.
668
00:27:37,483 --> 00:27:40,417
My pleasure.
669
00:27:40,451 --> 00:27:44,110
[engine starting]
670
00:27:44,145 --> 00:27:44,628
♪ [music]
671
00:27:44,663 --> 00:27:46,043
[tires screech]
672
00:27:46,078 --> 00:27:58,504
♪ [music]
673
00:27:58,538 --> 00:28:02,473
[tractor digging]
674
00:28:02,508 --> 00:28:03,164
Right there.
675
00:28:03,198 --> 00:28:04,337
There it is.
676
00:28:04,372 --> 00:28:06,788
This is a good piece ofevidence because right here...
677
00:28:06,823 --> 00:28:09,066
Is that the date right there?
678
00:28:09,101 --> 00:28:10,033
Right there.
679
00:28:10,067 --> 00:28:12,380
You got Sunday, October2, 1983 right there.
680
00:28:12,414 --> 00:28:13,553
That's good, right?
681
00:28:13,588 --> 00:28:16,798
Yeah, Atari was from the 23rdto the 29th of September.
682
00:28:16,833 --> 00:28:18,282
So this is like a week later.
683
00:28:18,317 --> 00:28:20,112
Well, it's not even a week,it's like 2 or 3 days later.
684
00:28:20,146 --> 00:28:21,285
Well, I'm not thatgood at math.
685
00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:23,391
Atari's would havebeen on the bottom.
686
00:28:23,425 --> 00:28:24,357
Then garbage from thefollowing weeks would have
687
00:28:24,392 --> 00:28:26,014
been piled on top fromthe following week.
688
00:28:26,049 --> 00:28:27,084
Right. So where are the games?
689
00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:29,328
No games yet.
690
00:28:29,362 --> 00:28:30,156
No Atari stuff at all?
691
00:28:30,191 --> 00:28:31,192
No, not yet, not yet.
692
00:28:31,226 --> 00:28:32,780
Okay.
693
00:28:32,814 --> 00:28:34,298
I love the challenges.I love the mystery.
694
00:28:34,333 --> 00:28:37,439
I love the- -the especiallywhen people say
695
00:28:37,474 --> 00:28:39,821
they'll never be foundor they're not there.
696
00:28:39,856 --> 00:28:42,928
That just what makes thechallenge even better.
697
00:28:42,962 --> 00:28:45,378
I put 3 or 4 yearsof this research,
698
00:28:45,413 --> 00:28:50,383
the planning, the politics,the environment department.
699
00:28:50,418 --> 00:28:52,972
I mean many, many, manythings to get to this point.
700
00:28:53,007 --> 00:28:55,078
Yeah now, it's veryimportant we find 'em.
701
00:29:01,463 --> 00:29:04,777
So back in the early '80smovie licenses for videogames
702
00:29:04,812 --> 00:29:07,228
were just startingto come into vogue.
703
00:29:07,262 --> 00:29:11,922
And I think Raiderswas the first one.
704
00:29:11,957 --> 00:29:13,372
So they needed someone to doRaiders of The Lost Ark.
705
00:29:13,406 --> 00:29:15,546
I think what happened wasYars was very successful.
706
00:29:15,581 --> 00:29:20,793
And so they wanted meto do a big game.
707
00:29:20,828 --> 00:29:22,001
And then it wasup to Spielberg.
708
00:29:22,036 --> 00:29:23,865
So when I went down andmet with Spielberg,
709
00:29:23,900 --> 00:29:25,004
and if Spielbergwould have said,
710
00:29:25,039 --> 00:29:26,247
you know, I don't think he'sreally right for the game,
711
00:29:26,281 --> 00:29:27,317
they would havesent someone else.
712
00:29:27,351 --> 00:29:31,804
Can Indiana Jones escapefrom the forces of evil in
713
00:29:31,839 --> 00:29:36,050
Atari's Raiders of TheLost Ark adventure game?
714
00:29:36,084 --> 00:29:38,190
What was the reception of theRaiders of The Lost Ark game?
715
00:29:38,224 --> 00:29:39,501
It was another amillion seller.
716
00:29:39,536 --> 00:29:40,917
Raiders was huge.
717
00:29:40,951 --> 00:29:42,090
I mean I can honestly say,
718
00:29:42,125 --> 00:29:43,505
I'm the only programmerin the history of
719
00:29:43,540 --> 00:29:45,266
Atari where every oneof my games that was
720
00:29:45,300 --> 00:29:47,199
released was amillion seller.
721
00:29:47,233 --> 00:29:52,100
The word meteoriccomes to mind.
722
00:29:52,135 --> 00:29:54,827
And now,Steven Spielberg
723
00:29:54,862 --> 00:30:01,178
brings us E.T.,the Extra-Terrestrial.
724
00:30:01,213 --> 00:30:03,008
Spielberg says,man, you know,
725
00:30:03,042 --> 00:30:04,181
my pictures they open slow.
726
00:30:04,216 --> 00:30:08,461
And, uh, they build and thehold and duh-dah-da-da-dah.
727
00:30:08,496 --> 00:30:10,843
And I just looked at him andI didn't know anything.
728
00:30:10,878 --> 00:30:12,396
I said, not this one.
729
00:30:12,431 --> 00:30:14,398
It was ET, I said, it'sgoing to open huge
730
00:30:14,433 --> 00:30:21,267
and it's going to stay huge.
731
00:30:21,302 --> 00:30:23,407
Okay, the movie comesout, it's a huge hit.
732
00:30:23,442 --> 00:30:25,996
And we want to do thecartridge of it.
733
00:30:26,031 --> 00:30:27,342
Okay.
734
00:30:27,377 --> 00:30:29,517
You know, every time youtry to take some kind
735
00:30:29,551 --> 00:30:31,277
of a property and moveit into another medium
736
00:30:31,312 --> 00:30:34,211
for a pure profit motive,you get trouble.
737
00:30:34,246 --> 00:30:36,075
Specifically, withrespect to games,
738
00:30:36,110 --> 00:30:38,975
you know, it's like, oh youknow, like let's go see
739
00:30:39,009 --> 00:30:40,217
if we can exploit thismovie as a game.
740
00:30:40,252 --> 00:30:41,287
You know, maybe we couldmake extra money out
741
00:30:41,322 --> 00:30:43,427
of a profitable franchise.
742
00:30:43,462 --> 00:30:45,464
Now there was a negotiationgoing on between the
743
00:30:45,498 --> 00:30:49,088
Atari people and thepeople at Universal
744
00:30:49,123 --> 00:30:50,331
about what we weregoing to pay.
745
00:30:50,365 --> 00:30:53,265
And Steve Ross who wasthe CEO of Warner
746
00:30:53,299 --> 00:30:54,473
got in and whateverthe reasons,
747
00:30:54,507 --> 00:30:56,889
he agrees to a dealthat is so off the
748
00:30:56,924 --> 00:30:58,373
chart nobody believes him.
749
00:30:58,408 --> 00:30:59,236
But he does it.
750
00:30:59,271 --> 00:31:00,444
It was $20 to $30million dollars,
751
00:31:00,479 --> 00:31:02,274
it was some crazy number.
752
00:31:02,308 --> 00:31:04,172
Steve Ross basicallywas trying to woo
753
00:31:04,207 --> 00:31:06,416
Steven Spielberg to cometo work for Warner
754
00:31:06,450 --> 00:31:10,144
because he recognized thatSpielberg was a genius.
755
00:31:10,178 --> 00:31:14,562
And that all playsinto this story.
756
00:31:14,596 --> 00:31:17,530
But we, we acquired therights to E.T. and it was,
757
00:31:17,565 --> 00:31:19,947
we had to have the gameout for Christmas.
758
00:31:19,981 --> 00:31:22,294
And that's a problem.
759
00:31:22,328 --> 00:31:26,919
One afternoon I'm sitting inmy office and a call comes in.
760
00:31:26,954 --> 00:31:28,300
[phone rings]
761
00:31:28,334 --> 00:31:30,233
And it's Ray Kassar.
762
00:31:30,267 --> 00:31:31,959
And he's calling fromMonterey.
763
00:31:31,993 --> 00:31:32,994
So I take the call
764
00:31:33,029 --> 00:31:34,375
and Ray Kassar comes onthe phone and he says,
765
00:31:34,409 --> 00:31:38,448
Howard, can you doET in 5 weeks?
766
00:31:38,482 --> 00:31:42,038
And I said, yes I can.
767
00:31:42,072 --> 00:31:43,315
And he goes:
768
00:31:43,349 --> 00:31:47,388
Okay. In 2 days I want you to bein San Jose Executive Airport.
769
00:31:47,422 --> 00:31:48,596
They'll be a Learjetwaiting for you.
770
00:31:48,630 --> 00:31:52,358
Be on that jet, be ready topropose the game to Spielberg.
771
00:31:52,393 --> 00:31:55,016
[phone hangs up]
772
00:31:55,051 --> 00:31:57,053
During that meeting when Iflew down on the Lear jet
773
00:31:57,087 --> 00:31:59,469
to go meet Spielberg andpresent the game to him,
774
00:31:59,503 --> 00:32:02,023
even though weonly had 5 weeks,
775
00:32:02,058 --> 00:32:03,473
I still wanted to innovate.
776
00:32:03,507 --> 00:32:06,545
So I proposed a 3Dworld that the game
777
00:32:06,579 --> 00:32:07,649
was going to take place on.
778
00:32:07,684 --> 00:32:11,999
And the huge scope of whatI was trying to achieve.
779
00:32:12,033 --> 00:32:16,244
It walks that line betweenreally trying to make something
780
00:32:16,279 --> 00:32:18,729
happen and venturinginto the impossible.
781
00:32:18,764 --> 00:32:19,834
And walking off a cliff.
782
00:32:19,868 --> 00:32:22,250
The emotionality of thegame was supposed to come
783
00:32:22,285 --> 00:32:24,045
out through the interactionof the characters.
784
00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:27,669
You have the FBI agent who'sinterested in what you have.
785
00:32:27,704 --> 00:32:29,326
That's why the FBI agent
786
00:32:29,361 --> 00:32:31,535
just steals stuff thatyou were holding.
787
00:32:31,570 --> 00:32:34,642
You have the scientist who'sinterested in who you are.
788
00:32:34,676 --> 00:32:38,577
The scientist actually carriesyou back to the city,
789
00:32:38,611 --> 00:32:39,750
because they want to study you.
790
00:32:39,785 --> 00:32:42,236
And Elliott comes in to saveyou, there's times when you
791
00:32:42,270 --> 00:32:44,065
can call Elliott andhe help you out.
792
00:32:44,100 --> 00:32:46,585
And so those are the kindsof things that I had
793
00:32:46,619 --> 00:32:49,036
that I thought createdpossibly some sentiment.
794
00:32:49,070 --> 00:32:51,072
But, and at one pointSpielberg says to me,
795
00:32:51,107 --> 00:32:54,524
he goes, you know,couldn't you do something
796
00:32:54,558 --> 00:32:57,147
more like Pac-Man?
797
00:32:57,182 --> 00:32:59,218
No Steven, we need to doa game that's fresh.
798
00:32:59,253 --> 00:33:02,290
We need to do something that'sreally worthy of this movie.
799
00:33:02,325 --> 00:33:03,360
It's not how simple tomake a complicated game.
800
00:33:03,395 --> 00:33:07,192
It's how complicated agame can you make subject
801
00:33:07,226 --> 00:33:10,057
to the constraint ofeasy learnability.
802
00:33:10,091 --> 00:33:11,265
My job is to producea cartridge
803
00:33:11,299 --> 00:33:14,406
that is going tosell for Atari.
804
00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:16,028
A typical VCS game
805
00:33:16,063 --> 00:33:18,099
at the time took5 or 6 months.
806
00:33:18,134 --> 00:33:20,136
And this was goingto be in 5 weeks.
807
00:33:20,170 --> 00:33:23,760
You might think, no, nobodycan do a game in 5 weeks.
808
00:33:23,794 --> 00:33:26,107
Like most people in thedepartment would think.
809
00:33:26,142 --> 00:33:29,800
But I don't think that way,I think, yeah I can do that.
810
00:33:29,835 --> 00:33:32,148
The word hubris comesto mind.
811
00:33:32,182 --> 00:33:34,219
I mean whatever it is Imight have been full of,
812
00:33:34,253 --> 00:33:36,221
I was overflowing withit at that point.
813
00:33:36,255 --> 00:33:38,464
Because if the game can'tmake the Christmas market,
814
00:33:38,499 --> 00:33:40,156
the game is a total waste.
815
00:33:40,190 --> 00:33:41,398
They're going tomiss their window.
816
00:33:41,433 --> 00:33:43,780
So that was the big thing.
817
00:33:43,814 --> 00:33:46,127
It was the, uh,$22 million dollar bet
818
00:33:46,162 --> 00:33:48,612
that you could turn thegame around in that time.
819
00:33:48,647 --> 00:33:51,098
I had a development stationmoved into my home.
820
00:33:51,132 --> 00:33:55,826
So I could be basically workingon this game almost 24 hours.
821
00:33:55,861 --> 00:33:59,554
We found that there was agood probability of success
822
00:33:59,589 --> 00:34:03,282
if we took a coin operatedgame and just ported over
823
00:34:03,317 --> 00:34:07,769
to a game that we couldplay on the VCS.
824
00:34:07,804 --> 00:34:10,841
ET didn't have that.
825
00:34:10,876 --> 00:34:12,671
[video clip]
826
00:34:12,705 --> 00:34:21,473
Hello. Is some body out there?
827
00:34:21,507 --> 00:34:24,096
ET, the video game.
828
00:34:24,131 --> 00:34:26,133
Wow.
829
00:34:26,167 --> 00:34:28,169
It's the video game thatlets you pretend you're E.T.
830
00:34:28,204 --> 00:34:29,895
Okay. So the game is done.
831
00:34:29,929 --> 00:34:31,621
And one of the conditionsI asked for was that
832
00:34:31,655 --> 00:34:33,726
Steven Spielberg is the onewho approves the final game.
833
00:34:33,761 --> 00:34:35,659
So Steven Spielbergplayed the final game
834
00:34:35,694 --> 00:34:38,283
and approved it for release.
835
00:34:38,317 --> 00:34:44,116
Howard, who was a, uh,a certifiable, uh, a genius
836
00:34:44,151 --> 00:34:47,430
went off and about a numberof weeks later came
837
00:34:47,464 --> 00:34:50,640
back with a conceptand a, uh, game plan.
838
00:34:50,674 --> 00:34:53,781
And I was, I was amazedat how difficult it was,
839
00:34:53,815 --> 00:34:55,783
and yet at the same timewhat fun it was to play.
840
00:34:55,817 --> 00:34:56,922
You've played it?
841
00:34:56,956 --> 00:34:58,544
I've seen the final game.
842
00:34:58,579 --> 00:34:59,200
Are you happy with it?
843
00:34:59,235 --> 00:35:00,236
Oh yeah.
844
00:35:00,270 --> 00:35:01,685
Yeah. It's my favoriteOf course I'm biased.
845
00:35:01,720 --> 00:35:02,617
I made the movie.
846
00:35:02,652 --> 00:35:03,584
[laughs]
847
00:35:03,618 --> 00:35:04,585
So, Steven Spielbergthought it was okay.
848
00:35:04,619 --> 00:35:08,520
So, I thought, alright,I'm good with that.
849
00:35:08,554 --> 00:35:10,832
And, uh, not that I'mblaming him for anything.
850
00:35:10,867 --> 00:35:11,833
No, of course not.
851
00:35:11,868 --> 00:35:13,387
But, uh...
852
00:35:13,421 --> 00:35:16,873
But, it's his fault.
853
00:35:16,907 --> 00:35:21,429
The videogame that letyou help E.T. get home.
854
00:35:21,464 --> 00:35:24,294
Just in time for Christmas.
855
00:35:24,329 --> 00:35:25,399
After E.T. was released
856
00:35:25,433 --> 00:35:26,917
and there was a greatsense of relief that we'd
857
00:35:26,952 --> 00:35:28,885
actually made the schedule,and everything was good.
858
00:35:28,919 --> 00:35:31,543
And then the game wentout into market.
859
00:35:31,577 --> 00:35:33,614
And it was very high onthe Billboard list.
860
00:35:33,648 --> 00:35:35,581
And again, things were good.
861
00:35:35,616 --> 00:35:37,480
I got E.T. I think itwas Christmas of 1982,
862
00:35:37,514 --> 00:35:38,929
if I remember correctly.
863
00:35:38,964 --> 00:35:41,346
And I thought I was like,gonna be the guy on the
864
00:35:41,380 --> 00:35:42,933
street who had ETbefore everybody else.
865
00:35:42,968 --> 00:35:45,453
It turns out everybody I knewgot E.T. that Christmas.
866
00:35:45,488 --> 00:35:48,180
After a while people startgoing by me in the halls,
867
00:35:48,215 --> 00:35:50,424
people from other buildings,people from marketing
868
00:35:50,458 --> 00:35:52,495
and management and they'resaying things like,
869
00:35:52,529 --> 00:35:54,393
you know, you knowsomething Howard,
870
00:35:54,428 --> 00:35:57,293
you did a great job,we don't blame you.
871
00:35:57,327 --> 00:35:59,467
That was reallysomething what you did.
872
00:35:59,502 --> 00:36:00,641
You really camethrough for us there.
873
00:36:00,675 --> 00:36:03,954
And we don't want you to thinkwe think anything else.
874
00:36:03,989 --> 00:36:06,992
This is really isn't aboutyou, don't feel bad.
875
00:36:07,026 --> 00:36:08,235
It's okay. It's cool.
876
00:36:08,269 --> 00:36:09,822
And I'm thinking like, what thehell are they talking about?
877
00:36:09,857 --> 00:36:12,894
E.T. was a really hardgame 'cause it was the
878
00:36:12,929 --> 00:36:16,001
kind of game that, um,was brutal, unfair.
879
00:36:16,035 --> 00:36:17,589
Uh, it didn't makea lot of sense.
880
00:36:17,623 --> 00:36:19,694
I grew up in, in Londonand there was a video
881
00:36:19,729 --> 00:36:22,973
game store in my town that,uh, let you rent them.
882
00:36:23,008 --> 00:36:24,009
I mean I don't knowwhat the rental was,
883
00:36:24,043 --> 00:36:25,907
like 50 pencefor a weekend.
884
00:36:25,942 --> 00:36:27,875
And I still remember feelinglike I wasted my money,
885
00:36:27,909 --> 00:36:29,463
because it just, it was bad.
886
00:36:29,497 --> 00:36:30,602
People aren't liking it.
887
00:36:30,636 --> 00:36:33,294
And people aren'tliking it a lot.
888
00:36:33,329 --> 00:36:35,538
And what made it particularlybad was my memory
889
00:36:35,572 --> 00:36:38,437
of the movie was so great.I loved the movie.
890
00:36:38,472 --> 00:36:39,818
Everyone loved the moviewhen it came out.
891
00:36:39,852 --> 00:36:42,269
It's a great movie, stillis, a classic movie today.
892
00:36:42,303 --> 00:36:45,479
And so this massivechasm that existed
893
00:36:45,513 --> 00:36:48,275
between the quality of the movieand the quality of the game
894
00:36:48,309 --> 00:36:51,416
that it was based on, I thinkjust made it seem that
895
00:36:51,450 --> 00:36:52,417
much more like aslap in the face.
896
00:36:52,451 --> 00:36:54,384
Okay, well maybe itwon't sell $6 million,
897
00:36:54,419 --> 00:36:56,006
maybe it'll only sell $4million or $3 million,
898
00:36:56,041 --> 00:36:57,767
that'll be okay.
899
00:36:57,801 --> 00:37:00,942
And then there's like returns,people are returning the game.
900
00:37:00,977 --> 00:37:02,012
They made too many.
901
00:37:02,047 --> 00:37:03,704
How many they madeI don't even know.
902
00:37:03,738 --> 00:37:05,637
They made like 4million cartridges.
903
00:37:05,671 --> 00:37:08,640
That means there could bemillions of carts coming back.
904
00:37:08,674 --> 00:37:13,817
So what do you do withuseless, worthless product?
905
00:37:13,852 --> 00:37:15,681
How do you get rid of it?
906
00:37:15,716 --> 00:37:20,652
Bury it. That's apretty good answer.
907
00:37:20,686 --> 00:37:22,999
Well career change isnot anything new to me.
908
00:37:23,033 --> 00:37:25,346
I've been through a numberof different careers.
909
00:37:25,381 --> 00:37:29,971
I actually went and got a uhCalifornia Real Estate License
910
00:37:30,006 --> 00:37:32,733
and then a Broker's Licenseand I did that for a while.
911
00:37:32,767 --> 00:37:34,424
And I did that justlong enough to know
912
00:37:34,459 --> 00:37:36,288
that this was like the last
913
00:37:36,323 --> 00:37:37,116
thing in the worldthat I wanted do.
914
00:37:37,151 --> 00:37:39,809
And now I am alicensed practicing
915
00:37:39,843 --> 00:37:41,742
psychotherapist in California.
916
00:37:41,776 --> 00:37:43,985
And I am a very uniquetherapist in that I have a
917
00:37:44,020 --> 00:37:44,917
Master's of Engineeringand I also have a
918
00:37:44,952 --> 00:37:48,783
Master's of Arts inCounseling Psychology.
919
00:37:48,818 --> 00:37:51,510
I mean I am the SiliconValley therapist.
920
00:37:51,545 --> 00:37:55,583
I am very good at translatingbetween English and nerd.
921
00:37:55,618 --> 00:37:58,483
And this is the firsttime, since I left Atari,
922
00:37:58,517 --> 00:38:02,521
that I feel doing whatI really love doing.
923
00:38:02,556 --> 00:38:06,939
So, it took me thirty yearsto get back to a place
924
00:38:06,974 --> 00:38:11,081
I don't feel I'm a step downfrom where I used to work.
925
00:38:11,116 --> 00:38:15,465
And thats many manydifferent jobs.
926
00:38:15,500 --> 00:38:17,709
I know this dig is coming upand I'm going to be there
927
00:38:17,743 --> 00:38:19,987
and I am going to bestanding right there.
928
00:38:20,021 --> 00:38:24,094
And I am going to be litereallywatch my past be dug up.
929
00:38:24,129 --> 00:38:27,753
And that's a weird kindof thing to anticipate.
930
00:38:27,788 --> 00:38:29,755
My hopes are in one way myexpectations are in another
931
00:38:29,790 --> 00:38:31,585
and I don't knowits going to be.
932
00:38:31,619 --> 00:38:36,003
I really don't know whatits going to mean to me
933
00:38:36,037 --> 00:38:37,970
when if something comesup if its there.
934
00:38:41,733 --> 00:38:45,115
[tractor engines]
935
00:38:45,150 --> 00:38:57,058
♪ [music]
936
00:38:57,093 --> 00:39:02,961
[truck engine]
937
00:39:02,995 --> 00:39:13,040
[tractors digging]
938
00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:19,874
[tractors digging]
939
00:39:19,909 --> 00:39:22,187
Part of Archeology isthat sense of community
940
00:39:22,221 --> 00:39:24,845
and the fact that werehelping each other out um
941
00:39:24,879 --> 00:39:26,709
to address these issuesthat were interested in.
942
00:39:26,743 --> 00:39:29,712
And most of the time weredoing it on a volunteer basis.
943
00:39:29,746 --> 00:39:32,024
It's going to be interestingto see how they' decide to
944
00:39:32,059 --> 00:39:35,925
excavate in order to clear abetter area you know so that
945
00:39:35,959 --> 00:39:38,548
we can get at morecontent that we need.
946
00:39:38,583 --> 00:39:40,412
One of the workers down theredid confirm to finding a
947
00:39:40,447 --> 00:39:41,724
Donnie and Marie poster.
948
00:39:41,758 --> 00:39:42,828
Yeah, yeah. Which is awesome.
949
00:39:42,863 --> 00:39:44,865
Well basically, becausewere going to treat this
950
00:39:44,899 --> 00:39:46,556
is a salvage excavationwe will dig a trench.
951
00:39:46,591 --> 00:39:49,628
We'll go through andexcavate the material
952
00:39:49,663 --> 00:39:51,009
in the pits that we dig.
953
00:39:51,043 --> 00:39:52,528
At which point we'll sendthem up to the tables
954
00:39:52,562 --> 00:39:53,943
we'll sort throughthe materials.
955
00:39:53,977 --> 00:39:56,428
We'll weigh it, countit, identify it.
956
00:39:56,463 --> 00:40:00,121
And uh yeah, that's the plan.
957
00:40:00,156 --> 00:40:01,260
So, what's happenedso far today?
958
00:40:01,295 --> 00:40:04,194
Uh, basically I starteddigging in the hole and the
959
00:40:04,229 --> 00:40:05,920
trucks have already startedgoing through the train.
960
00:40:05,955 --> 00:40:07,646
So, just thatpeople understand,
961
00:40:07,681 --> 00:40:08,613
and probably right now
962
00:40:08,647 --> 00:40:10,718
I am cutting to anawesome diagram of this.
963
00:40:10,753 --> 00:40:13,065
[digital sound]
964
00:40:13,100 --> 00:40:17,069
There's like 20 feet of garbagefrom the top of wherever the
965
00:40:17,104 --> 00:40:17,553
games are buried.
966
00:40:17,587 --> 00:40:18,139
Garage and dirt.
967
00:40:18,174 --> 00:40:19,934
Sorry. Garbage and dirt.
968
00:40:19,969 --> 00:40:22,212
Um in the diagram it'sgoing to be pretty clear.
969
00:40:22,247 --> 00:40:24,249
And so that all hasto be taken away?
970
00:40:24,283 --> 00:40:25,146
Right?
971
00:40:25,181 --> 00:40:27,010
Ya, we will get thevast majority of the
972
00:40:27,045 --> 00:40:27,977
hole excavated out.
973
00:40:28,011 --> 00:40:28,840
And so have we found anything?
974
00:40:28,874 --> 00:40:30,255
Have we found anyAtari games or?
975
00:40:30,289 --> 00:40:32,533
No, nothing. Nothing.Nothing yet.
976
00:40:32,568 --> 00:40:36,123
And, and Son, I mean, youseem pretty nervous.
977
00:40:36,157 --> 00:40:37,124
Right.
978
00:40:37,158 --> 00:40:37,987
Are you?
979
00:40:38,021 --> 00:40:39,264
Oh yeah, terrified.
980
00:40:39,298 --> 00:40:39,954
Terrified.
981
00:40:39,989 --> 00:40:41,991
Okay. Um, I'm gotta be honest.
982
00:40:42,025 --> 00:40:43,130
I'm nervous as shit.
983
00:40:43,164 --> 00:40:44,925
I don't know if that willhelp motivate you guys.
984
00:40:44,959 --> 00:40:46,133
But, um...
985
00:40:46,167 --> 00:40:47,755
Yeah, that did it for us.
986
00:40:47,790 --> 00:40:48,894
Alright. Yeah, was that good?
987
00:40:48,929 --> 00:40:49,723
We, we need to getback to work.
988
00:40:49,757 --> 00:40:51,794
Great! Go team!
989
00:40:51,828 --> 00:40:53,520
Son, calm down buddy.
990
00:40:53,554 --> 00:41:00,872
♪ [music plays]
991
00:41:00,906 --> 00:41:01,631
People say nerd or geek.
992
00:41:01,666 --> 00:41:02,736
I say enthusiast.
993
00:41:02,770 --> 00:41:04,669
I love things and I lovepeople who love things.
994
00:41:04,703 --> 00:41:08,258
If you just spent all your timefocusing on all the amazing
995
00:41:08,293 --> 00:41:10,640
like art and entertainmentthat's being made,
996
00:41:10,675 --> 00:41:13,574
there's so much happening nowyou can't even take it all in.
997
00:41:13,609 --> 00:41:16,991
♪ [music]
998
00:41:17,026 --> 00:41:18,234
It's like the dig.
999
00:41:18,268 --> 00:41:19,338
When I tell people like theright kind of people, about it.
1000
00:41:19,373 --> 00:41:22,307
Their like I can't believeits finally happening
1001
00:41:22,341 --> 00:41:23,929
and that your goingto get to be there.
1002
00:41:23,964 --> 00:41:25,275
You know likeI get goosebumps,
1003
00:41:25,310 --> 00:41:27,312
goosebumps, justtalking about it.
1004
00:41:27,346 --> 00:41:37,564
♪ [music]
1005
00:41:37,564 --> 00:41:44,812
♪ [music]
1006
00:41:44,847 --> 00:41:55,202
♪ [music fades]
1007
00:41:55,236 --> 00:41:56,893
A local video gameshop in Austin, Texas
1008
00:41:56,928 --> 00:41:58,101
Game Over Video Games,
1009
00:41:58,136 --> 00:42:00,828
gave me every copy they had ofevery one of Howard's games.
1010
00:42:00,863 --> 00:42:03,762
Little known fact E.T. has thevery first official video game,
1011
00:42:03,797 --> 00:42:06,765
Easter Egg everin a video game.
1012
00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:08,318
Warren Robinett had thefirst ever in Adventure,
1013
00:42:08,353 --> 00:42:10,666
but he did that withoutanyone knowing.
1014
00:42:10,700 --> 00:42:12,599
Howard asked if he could put
1015
00:42:12,633 --> 00:42:14,117
Easter Eggs in the gameand Atari said yes.
1016
00:42:14,152 --> 00:42:16,257
If you go find the geranium
1017
00:42:16,292 --> 00:42:18,052
and you make thegeranium regenerate,
1018
00:42:18,087 --> 00:42:23,264
it turns in to Yar from Yar'sRevenge and he flies away.
1019
00:42:23,299 --> 00:42:25,715
First time that happened tome when I was 11 years old,
1020
00:42:25,750 --> 00:42:27,337
I shit myself.
1021
00:42:27,372 --> 00:42:29,857
And if you do it again itturns it to Indy from
1022
00:42:29,892 --> 00:42:30,824
Raider's of the Lost Ark.
1023
00:42:30,858 --> 00:42:33,171
So, Howard hid charactersfrom this game,
1024
00:42:33,205 --> 00:42:34,862
and this game, and putthem in this game.
1025
00:42:38,763 --> 00:42:39,660
Hello.
1026
00:42:39,695 --> 00:42:41,904
Good afternoon,welcome to the lodge.
1027
00:42:41,938 --> 00:42:43,181
Well, it's great to be here.
1028
00:42:43,215 --> 00:42:44,078
Are you guys checking in?
1029
00:42:44,113 --> 00:42:44,803
Absolutely.
1030
00:42:44,838 --> 00:42:46,080
Great. Can I get the last name?
1031
00:42:46,115 --> 00:42:50,015
Warshaw.W-A-R-S-H-A-W.
1032
00:42:50,050 --> 00:42:50,947
Howard.
1033
00:42:50,982 --> 00:42:51,879
That's me.
1034
00:43:10,277 --> 00:43:13,280
So, it's the day of theactual dig and my wife
1035
00:43:13,314 --> 00:43:16,248
and I are in a van on theway to the landfill.
1036
00:43:16,283 --> 00:43:18,837
It was a strange feelingand I was like nervous,
1037
00:43:18,872 --> 00:43:22,082
and I didn't reallyunderstand why.
1038
00:43:22,116 --> 00:43:24,394
But, I just had this sense.
1039
00:43:24,429 --> 00:43:27,121
Like a tingly thingthat something is
1040
00:43:27,156 --> 00:43:29,054
going on here today
1041
00:43:29,089 --> 00:43:31,954
and as we pulled in tothe landfill there were
1042
00:43:31,988 --> 00:43:36,061
already people there. there'smore people and as we go on
1043
00:43:36,096 --> 00:43:37,925
there's more people.
1044
00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:39,099
And it just keepsgoing and going.
1045
00:43:39,133 --> 00:43:45,657
♪ [music]
1046
00:43:45,692 --> 00:43:47,728
This has sort of felt like areligious pilgrimage to me.
1047
00:43:47,763 --> 00:43:50,248
Called up some friends and sayhey can we get down there.
1048
00:43:50,282 --> 00:43:52,422
And I asked my brother-in-lawif he wanted to go.
1049
00:43:52,457 --> 00:43:54,390
And I said heck lets doit. Lets check it out.
1050
00:43:54,424 --> 00:43:56,219
And my wife said whatever.
1051
00:43:56,254 --> 00:44:04,676
♪ [music]
1052
00:44:04,711 --> 00:44:06,747
It's one of those weirdmonumental video game
1053
00:44:06,782 --> 00:44:09,405
based events that only comearound once a century.
1054
00:44:09,439 --> 00:44:11,303
This is our generationsurban legend.
1055
00:44:11,338 --> 00:44:13,340
Billions of cartridgesout in the desert.
1056
00:44:13,374 --> 00:44:15,238
Growing up you always readlittle rumors about it.
1057
00:44:15,273 --> 00:44:17,931
I grew up playing an Atari whichmy babysitters had given to me
1058
00:44:17,965 --> 00:44:19,967
and actually had the E.T. game.
1059
00:44:20,002 --> 00:44:22,314
My friend and I, she and Ifor fun on the weekends
1060
00:44:22,349 --> 00:44:24,454
would actually drive around andtry to figure out where would
1061
00:44:24,489 --> 00:44:25,973
these Atari games be buried.
1062
00:44:26,008 --> 00:44:26,974
It's like the funof the legend.
1063
00:44:27,009 --> 00:44:28,251
It's like looking forthe Loch Ness monster.
1064
00:44:28,286 --> 00:44:29,770
What did you think
1065
00:44:29,805 --> 00:44:31,220
of the E.T. game when youplayed it last night?
1066
00:44:31,254 --> 00:44:33,015
Uh. It was awesome.
1067
00:44:33,049 --> 00:44:36,846
Cause in my opinion Ilike terrible games.
1068
00:44:36,881 --> 00:44:45,337
♪ [music]
1069
00:44:45,372 --> 00:44:47,029
To come back and relivethe feeling,
1070
00:44:47,063 --> 00:44:50,273
I got from the game issomething I couldn't pass up.
1071
00:44:50,308 --> 00:44:52,379
I just wanna learnabout the urban myth.
1072
00:44:52,413 --> 00:44:54,346
See if it's really buried outhere.
1073
00:44:54,381 --> 00:44:56,763
I just came out here to bepart of video game history.
1074
00:44:56,797 --> 00:44:58,868
I just had to see whetherit was true or not.
1075
00:44:58,903 --> 00:45:01,250
You have to be a specialkind of nerd to be able
1076
00:45:01,284 --> 00:45:05,426
to wanna to drive 28hours for a video game.
1077
00:45:05,461 --> 00:45:08,982
♪ [music continues]
1078
00:45:09,016 --> 00:45:12,088
The myth that ET the videogame for the Atari 2600
1079
00:45:12,123 --> 00:45:13,296
is the worst videogame of all time.
1080
00:45:13,331 --> 00:45:15,989
It would be so great to debunkbecause it's just not true.
1081
00:45:16,023 --> 00:45:18,025
And also to redeemHoward Scott Warshaw,
1082
00:45:18,060 --> 00:45:19,855
because he is anamazing video designer
1083
00:45:19,889 --> 00:45:21,960
and his game was great.
1084
00:45:24,583 --> 00:45:25,412
[laughs] Cool car.
1085
00:45:25,446 --> 00:45:27,794
Yeah, I like that.E.T.'s in there.
1086
00:45:27,828 --> 00:45:31,073
This morning coming to adump in a small town in
1087
00:45:31,107 --> 00:45:32,384
New Mexico.
1088
00:45:32,419 --> 00:45:35,180
There were people linedup to waiting to get in.
1089
00:45:35,215 --> 00:45:36,872
When is the last time yousaw a line of people
1090
00:45:36,906 --> 00:45:39,322
waiting to get in to a dump.
1091
00:45:39,357 --> 00:45:41,946
It totally took me by surprise,but, in a delightful way.
1092
00:45:41,980 --> 00:45:45,259
♪ [rock music continues]
1093
00:45:45,294 --> 00:45:46,122
You never go to a dump.
1094
00:45:46,157 --> 00:45:48,090
Unless your throwingsomething away
1095
00:45:48,124 --> 00:45:51,334
and here we are trying to findtreasure, buried treasure.
1096
00:45:51,369 --> 00:45:54,165
I think they'll find something.
1097
00:45:54,199 --> 00:45:56,788
The cartridges had to gosomewhere why not here.
1098
00:45:56,823 --> 00:45:59,066
There is a lot of openspace great place to dump
1099
00:45:59,101 --> 00:46:00,861
a million cartridges.
1100
00:46:00,896 --> 00:46:05,452
This is a definitepossibility there is games.
1101
00:46:05,486 --> 00:46:09,939
This is archeology for thetime I grew up so nostalgia
1102
00:46:09,974 --> 00:46:11,803
for anything from thatera is pretty high.
1103
00:46:11,838 --> 00:46:20,605
[tractor engine]
1104
00:46:20,639 --> 00:46:22,469
Now the wind is reallypicking up on cue.
1105
00:46:22,503 --> 00:46:23,815
On cue.
1106
00:46:23,850 --> 00:46:25,541
Uh, the weatherhere in Alamogordo
1107
00:46:25,575 --> 00:46:29,856
is awesome if youlike sandstorms,
1108
00:46:29,890 --> 00:46:33,514
and a impending doomfilled cloud of white.
1109
00:46:33,549 --> 00:46:36,586
Whoa.
1110
00:46:36,621 --> 00:46:39,969
[crashing sound]
1111
00:46:40,004 --> 00:46:40,901
Wow, this is getting brutal.
1112
00:46:40,936 --> 00:46:43,352
Yeah. Sorry, thisis, this is brutal.
1113
00:46:43,386 --> 00:46:44,560
It's getting very windy.
1114
00:46:44,594 --> 00:46:47,321
Basically what's happening isthe white sands are blowing
1115
00:46:47,356 --> 00:46:48,840
in from White Sands.
1116
00:46:48,875 --> 00:46:52,085
And, uh, covering everythingand it's really shitty.
1117
00:46:52,119 --> 00:46:54,052
They're saying this islike an historic wind...
1118
00:46:54,087 --> 00:46:54,915
Really?
1119
00:46:54,950 --> 00:46:55,605
Today,
1120
00:46:55,640 --> 00:46:57,124
That's what somebody told us.
1121
00:46:57,159 --> 00:46:58,608
To think were in themiddle of a sandstorm,
1122
00:46:58,643 --> 00:47:00,369
really this is what's going on.
1123
00:47:00,403 --> 00:47:02,509
And for me it was almost likethe big sandstorm right at
1124
00:47:02,543 --> 00:47:03,544
the opening ofClose Encounters.
1125
00:47:03,579 --> 00:47:05,995
Where people are wearingthe goggles and bandanas
1126
00:47:06,030 --> 00:47:07,997
and everyone is like gatheringaround because found
1127
00:47:08,032 --> 00:47:11,138
something and they can'tbelieve what they found.
1128
00:47:11,173 --> 00:47:12,484
Are we the first?
1129
00:47:12,519 --> 00:47:15,349
This is Tony Johnsonfrom Denver, Colorado
1130
00:47:15,384 --> 00:47:17,248
who ran up to mein my DeLorean.
1131
00:47:17,282 --> 00:47:18,145
And was like, Ifound something.
1132
00:47:18,180 --> 00:47:19,043
I found something.
1133
00:47:19,077 --> 00:47:21,217
And Tony is going togo down in history
1134
00:47:21,252 --> 00:47:23,633
'cause he found the firstevidence of Atari hardware.
1135
00:47:23,668 --> 00:47:26,257
Whoa, whoa, that's pretty huge.
1136
00:47:26,291 --> 00:47:27,396
Right, there it is my man.
1137
00:47:27,430 --> 00:47:29,916
Uh, ladies and gentlemen wehave an, an announcement.
1138
00:47:29,950 --> 00:47:33,298
So Tony, tell us whatyou just found.
1139
00:47:33,333 --> 00:47:37,406
Uh, an Atari 2600joystick top.
1140
00:47:37,440 --> 00:47:40,029
[crowd cheering]
1141
00:47:40,064 --> 00:47:42,238
So Tony,where did you find it?
1142
00:47:42,273 --> 00:47:44,068
Walking to the bathroom.
1143
00:47:44,102 --> 00:47:46,035
[crowd laughs]
1144
00:47:46,070 --> 00:47:46,691
So was it a surface find?
1145
00:47:46,725 --> 00:47:48,451
Surface, surface find.
1146
00:47:48,486 --> 00:47:50,108
Yeah, like we knowwhat a surface find is.
1147
00:47:50,143 --> 00:47:51,247
Right?
1148
00:47:51,282 --> 00:47:52,455
Well, a surface find is justsomething that, you know,
1149
00:47:52,490 --> 00:47:53,456
you're walking around, you'relooking down on the ground.
1150
00:47:53,491 --> 00:47:55,355
You see somethinginteresting, you pick it up.
1151
00:47:55,389 --> 00:47:57,012
It's totally out ofarchaeological context.
1152
00:47:57,046 --> 00:47:59,946
What are the odds that, thatlike blew out the hole?
1153
00:47:59,980 --> 00:48:01,430
I actually thinkthat's pretty good.
1154
00:48:01,464 --> 00:48:03,363
I mean the wind is blowingfiercely in that direction.
1155
00:48:03,397 --> 00:48:05,606
You know, the stuff iscoming out of the bucket.
1156
00:48:05,641 --> 00:48:07,643
You know, we've been findinga lot of interesting things,
1157
00:48:07,677 --> 00:48:08,575
the date fromaround that time.
1158
00:48:08,609 --> 00:48:09,541
Anything from Atari?
1159
00:48:09,576 --> 00:48:10,991
Uh, nothing from Atari yet.
1160
00:48:11,026 --> 00:48:12,510
How can you authenticate this?
1161
00:48:12,544 --> 00:48:13,925
Can you carbon date it?
1162
00:48:13,960 --> 00:48:15,099
[laughs]
1163
00:48:15,133 --> 00:48:17,342
No, it's much toorecent for that.
1164
00:48:17,377 --> 00:48:19,379
[digital sound]
1165
00:48:23,659 --> 00:48:25,281
There are really two thingsthat we could be dealing
1166
00:48:25,316 --> 00:48:26,973
with when taking a lookat these cartridges
1167
00:48:27,007 --> 00:48:28,077
if they're actually there.
1168
00:48:28,112 --> 00:48:30,942
The first thing is that theyjust loaded the trucks
1169
00:48:30,977 --> 00:48:32,392
with these cartridges, andthen they dumped them.
1170
00:48:32,426 --> 00:48:33,462
And that's the bestpossible scenario.
1171
00:48:33,496 --> 00:48:35,947
Because you can pull 'emout and I bet you most of
1172
00:48:35,982 --> 00:48:37,052
them will be playable.
1173
00:48:37,086 --> 00:48:38,501
You know, they're, they'vejust been in there for,
1174
00:48:38,536 --> 00:48:40,745
you know, since 1983.
1175
00:48:40,779 --> 00:48:41,642
Trashbags.
1176
00:48:41,677 --> 00:48:44,507
Stroh's beer cans,wood, tons of wood.
1177
00:48:44,542 --> 00:48:46,026
Were right aboutwhere we need to be.
1178
00:48:46,061 --> 00:48:48,132
But there's still no Atarito try this at all.
1179
00:48:48,166 --> 00:48:50,410
We've been here fora while already.
1180
00:48:50,444 --> 00:48:54,103
It's tedious, thewind is horrible.
1181
00:48:54,138 --> 00:48:56,140
We're wondering if they'regoing to find anything or not.
1182
00:48:56,174 --> 00:49:00,523
It's like a nylon cord. Uh,and a big red wrapper.
1183
00:49:00,558 --> 00:49:02,698
I don't think there isanything in that hole except
1184
00:49:02,732 --> 00:49:03,871
rattlesnakes and scorpions.
1185
00:49:03,906 --> 00:49:05,735
If it's buried, it is probablyfor a reason and it should
1186
00:49:05,770 --> 00:49:07,945
stay buried.
1187
00:49:12,535 --> 00:49:14,158
I wasn't thinking thatsomething was really
1188
00:49:14,192 --> 00:49:18,196
messed up until late '83.
1189
00:49:18,231 --> 00:49:19,577
To me Atari was nevergoing to go away.
1190
00:49:19,611 --> 00:49:21,717
It was this thing that wasjust part of my life.
1191
00:49:21,751 --> 00:49:24,754
And the thought that there couldever be a day where there was
1192
00:49:24,789 --> 00:49:28,413
no Atari, or no Atari 2600,uh, it never crossed my mind.
1193
00:49:28,448 --> 00:49:32,245
ET comes out and ETis not so great.
1194
00:49:32,279 --> 00:49:37,112
And somewhere toward the endof the year I'm starting to
1195
00:49:37,146 --> 00:49:39,321
wonder are we makingour numbers.
1196
00:49:39,355 --> 00:49:42,255
Which leads to one of theworst nights of my life.
1197
00:49:42,289 --> 00:49:46,569
On December 7, 1982I get a call from
1198
00:49:46,604 --> 00:49:48,433
Dennis Groth who wasthe CFO of Atari.
1199
00:49:48,468 --> 00:49:53,093
And he says, Manny,here's the new budget.
1200
00:49:53,128 --> 00:49:56,338
And it's a huge shortfallfrom what we had been told.
1201
00:49:56,372 --> 00:49:58,478
Warner Communications saidtoday that its once blooming
1202
00:49:58,512 --> 00:50:01,308
Atari business lost another$180 million dollars
1203
00:50:01,343 --> 00:50:04,277
in the third quarter fortotal losses this year
1204
00:50:04,311 --> 00:50:07,038
of more than half abillion dollars.
1205
00:50:07,073 --> 00:50:08,764
I'm starting to see enoughsigns in the company that
1206
00:50:08,798 --> 00:50:11,560
things were startingto unravel.
1207
00:50:11,594 --> 00:50:13,562
It was unravelinghard and fast.
1208
00:50:13,596 --> 00:50:15,667
And we didn't haveany ready solutions.
1209
00:50:15,702 --> 00:50:19,257
Several Atari executives,including Atari's Chairman,
1210
00:50:19,292 --> 00:50:22,295
Raymond Kassar, soldWarner stock shortly
1211
00:50:22,329 --> 00:50:24,193
before the negativeearnings announcement
1212
00:50:24,228 --> 00:50:26,402
and the decline in theprice of the stock.
1213
00:50:26,437 --> 00:50:29,681
Kassar denies any wrongdoing or impropriety.
1214
00:50:29,716 --> 00:50:33,133
But a number of stockholdershave sued Warner.
1215
00:50:33,168 --> 00:50:35,101
So they got rid of Ray Kassarand they brought in a guy
1216
00:50:35,135 --> 00:50:36,550
from Philip Morris.
1217
00:50:36,585 --> 00:50:43,212
And when he came in Atari had10,000 employees and within
1218
00:50:43,247 --> 00:50:47,734
about 4 months or 5 monthsAtari had 2,000 employees.
1219
00:50:47,768 --> 00:50:53,464
I really got that we had lost80 percent of our staff.
1220
00:50:53,498 --> 00:50:56,260
In the short run the marketis frequently irrational.
1221
00:50:56,294 --> 00:50:59,125
In the longer runhopefully it's rational.
1222
00:50:59,159 --> 00:51:01,092
The wild upside ride was over.
1223
00:51:01,127 --> 00:51:04,820
I did not understandthe extent of the
1224
00:51:04,854 --> 00:51:06,787
downside ride that was coming.
1225
00:51:06,822 --> 00:51:07,961
This is slipping away.
1226
00:51:07,995 --> 00:51:13,104
The train is derailing.It's not going to keep riding.
1227
00:51:13,139 --> 00:51:16,521
And what am I going to do next?
1228
00:51:16,556 --> 00:51:18,282
It was a big emotional blow.
1229
00:51:18,316 --> 00:51:19,904
It was my baby.
1230
00:51:19,938 --> 00:51:24,115
And I hated to see it abused.
1231
00:51:24,150 --> 00:51:26,635
New Media Magazinecredited E.T.
1232
00:51:26,669 --> 00:51:31,364
with destroying thevideo game industry.
1233
00:51:31,398 --> 00:51:32,261
That's interesting.
1234
00:51:32,296 --> 00:51:33,366
I think that's reallyinteresting that
1235
00:51:33,400 --> 00:51:35,713
I could be singlehandedlyresponsible for toppling
1236
00:51:35,747 --> 00:51:37,542
a billion dollar industry.
1237
00:51:37,577 --> 00:51:39,579
E.T. comes out, theindustry dies.
1238
00:51:39,613 --> 00:51:41,305
Howard's associated with that.
1239
00:51:41,339 --> 00:51:43,548
And I think that's, that'seffected his career and what
1240
00:51:43,583 --> 00:51:45,136
people will remember him for.
1241
00:51:45,171 --> 00:51:46,896
And that's, that's pretty bad.
1242
00:51:46,931 --> 00:51:51,867
The fact that a guy's careergot destroyed because he did
1243
00:51:51,901 --> 00:51:55,215
E.T.,given the circumstancessurrounding doing E.T.,
1244
00:51:55,250 --> 00:51:57,700
is completely unfair.
1245
00:51:57,735 --> 00:52:00,186
I mean it's sad,that's really sad.
1246
00:52:00,220 --> 00:52:01,739
There's this videogame Walk of Fame.
1247
00:52:01,773 --> 00:52:03,430
There's also the showcalled D.I.C.E where they
1248
00:52:03,465 --> 00:52:04,569
give out lifetimeachievement awards,
1249
00:52:04,604 --> 00:52:05,570
Howard's not in that.
1250
00:52:05,605 --> 00:52:07,469
He's not, he's not putin that same group.
1251
00:52:07,503 --> 00:52:09,333
They kind of keep him out withall these things and it's,
1252
00:52:09,367 --> 00:52:12,819
it's kind of a shame.
1253
00:52:12,853 --> 00:52:16,305
The day I left Atari,when things really fell apart
1254
00:52:16,340 --> 00:52:18,894
and it was over and I'mliterally carrying my garbage
1255
00:52:18,928 --> 00:52:22,587
out to my car to leavefor the last time.
1256
00:52:22,622 --> 00:52:27,661
That was a very depressingmoment for me.
1257
00:52:27,696 --> 00:52:29,353
Because I felt I was losing
1258
00:52:29,387 --> 00:52:31,941
the most importantthing in my life.
1259
00:52:31,976 --> 00:52:36,222
And I, I also knew
1260
00:52:36,256 --> 00:52:39,570
it was so unreal that I'dnever be able to recreate it.
1261
00:52:39,604 --> 00:52:44,333
The burial in Alamogordo isbasically Atari's funeral.
1262
00:52:44,368 --> 00:52:45,990
The burial of thosecartridges represents the
1263
00:52:46,024 --> 00:52:51,616
burial of that beautiful era.
1264
00:52:51,651 --> 00:52:53,653
And that may be what'sinteresting about it.
1265
00:52:53,687 --> 00:52:54,861
I don't know.
1266
00:52:54,895 --> 00:52:56,414
I mean that's a whole psychologyI'm not going to go near.
1267
00:52:56,449 --> 00:52:58,451
But, but it may bebecause it is about the,
1268
00:52:58,485 --> 00:53:00,349
the death of Atari,that's what it is.
1269
00:53:04,422 --> 00:53:06,597
And we can't control howthe past returns to us.
1270
00:53:06,631 --> 00:53:09,393
We may get somethingthat no longer
1271
00:53:09,427 --> 00:53:10,980
resembles an E.T. cartridge.
1272
00:53:11,015 --> 00:53:13,397
We may get somethingmonstrous, something twisted,
1273
00:53:13,431 --> 00:53:14,329
something decayed.
1274
00:53:14,363 --> 00:53:17,021
We may not even know whatwe're looking at
1275
00:53:17,055 --> 00:53:19,575
if unearth Atari's E.T..
1276
00:53:19,610 --> 00:53:20,714
Part of me feels that when you
1277
00:53:20,749 --> 00:53:22,923
finally crack open this placeand you start to look,
1278
00:53:22,958 --> 00:53:24,960
it's going to be a lotlike the Ark of the Covenant.
1279
00:53:24,994 --> 00:53:26,513
It's just going tobe a bunch of sand.
1280
00:53:26,548 --> 00:53:31,449
But another part of mehopes that what's found
1281
00:53:31,484 --> 00:53:32,588
there is going to lead to a lot
1282
00:53:32,623 --> 00:53:34,901
more understanding and a lotmore discovery about what,
1283
00:53:34,935 --> 00:53:42,288
what really happened.
1284
00:53:42,322 --> 00:53:45,843
Shit! Do you see what I see?
1285
00:53:45,877 --> 00:53:47,431
What's his name?
1286
00:53:47,465 --> 00:53:48,708
Joe, Joe.
1287
00:53:48,742 --> 00:53:49,364
What?
1288
00:53:49,398 --> 00:53:50,641
What is that right there?
1289
00:53:50,675 --> 00:53:51,883
They want me to come in?
1290
00:53:51,918 --> 00:53:57,544
Let's go.
1291
00:53:57,579 --> 00:53:58,856
So what's up?
1292
00:53:58,890 --> 00:54:03,723
Did you guys find something?
1293
00:54:03,757 --> 00:54:08,969
I should have broughtmy binoculars.
1294
00:54:09,004 --> 00:54:09,867
Can you show me?
1295
00:54:20,878 --> 00:54:21,982
They're bringingsome stuff over
1296
00:54:22,017 --> 00:54:23,536
to the archaeologisttable right now.
1297
00:54:23,570 --> 00:54:24,640
Let's see what's going on.
1298
00:54:29,369 --> 00:54:34,098
Can everybody hear me?
1299
00:54:34,132 --> 00:54:35,168
We found something.
1300
00:54:35,202 --> 00:54:38,067
Uh, the archaeologistshad confirmed it's from
1301
00:54:38,102 --> 00:54:43,418
1983 28 feet down, it'sthe E.T., the video game
1302
00:54:43,452 --> 00:54:45,489
intact in its box.
1303
00:54:45,523 --> 00:54:57,501
[crowd applauses]
1304
00:54:57,535 --> 00:54:59,123
It's an emotional, anemotional event that
1305
00:54:59,157 --> 00:55:01,436
backed up thislegend with fact.
1306
00:55:01,470 --> 00:55:03,058
And it's incredibleto be a part of it.
1307
00:55:03,092 --> 00:55:07,442
Good job Joe!
1308
00:55:07,476 --> 00:55:09,582
I wasn't nervous 'till we gotdown to that where he was
1309
00:55:09,616 --> 00:55:10,721
almost reaching his max limit.
1310
00:55:10,755 --> 00:55:13,379
But yeah, it was a big weightoff my shoulder when,
1311
00:55:13,413 --> 00:55:18,453
when that bucket came upand the ET was intact.
1312
00:55:18,487 --> 00:55:19,005
Congratulations there.
1313
00:55:19,039 --> 00:55:20,144
Thank you.
1314
00:55:20,178 --> 00:55:22,077
I didn't think you weregoing to find 'em intact.
1315
00:55:22,111 --> 00:55:23,527
But I thought for sure they'dbe crushed and ruined.
1316
00:55:23,561 --> 00:55:24,804
Now I got goose bumps.
1317
00:55:24,838 --> 00:55:26,461
And it's not becauseof the dust storm.
1318
00:55:26,495 --> 00:55:28,359
What's this moment like for you?
1319
00:55:28,394 --> 00:55:31,155
Look at all the excitementthat's been generated today
1320
00:55:31,189 --> 00:55:35,159
over something Idid 32 years ago.
1321
00:55:35,193 --> 00:55:43,892
It just, it's an immenselypersonal thing.
1322
00:55:43,926 --> 00:55:50,174
What it took to makethese games was a lot.
1323
00:55:50,208 --> 00:55:54,109
And this one was done in5 weeks, that was one of
1324
00:55:54,143 --> 00:55:57,975
the hardest 5 weeks of my life.
1325
00:55:58,009 --> 00:56:00,840
So I need a little moment.
1326
00:56:00,874 --> 00:56:04,602
And I'm just soexcited to be here.
1327
00:56:13,093 --> 00:56:14,129
A lot of these peoplewho were complaining
1328
00:56:14,163 --> 00:56:15,130
about E.T. they neveractually even played it.
1329
00:56:15,164 --> 00:56:17,443
And ever since then Iwould talk to people
1330
00:56:17,477 --> 00:56:18,547
and they would talk about E.T.,
1331
00:56:18,582 --> 00:56:19,514
and I'm like, well, haveyou ever played the game?
1332
00:56:19,548 --> 00:56:21,205
And it would come outthat they didn't.
1333
00:56:21,239 --> 00:56:23,863
They would just kindof continue this myth
1334
00:56:23,897 --> 00:56:25,002
of the game beingreally horrible.
1335
00:56:25,036 --> 00:56:26,037
It is a good game.
1336
00:56:26,072 --> 00:56:28,454
It wasn't the worst thatAtari had to offer.
1337
00:56:28,488 --> 00:56:30,490
There were like, I remembergetting a game called
1338
00:56:30,525 --> 00:56:31,111
Fire Fly.
1339
00:56:31,146 --> 00:56:33,493
[digital game sound]
1340
00:56:33,528 --> 00:56:34,701
That is the worstgame for Atari.
1341
00:56:34,736 --> 00:56:36,220
That's what everybodyshould be focusing
1342
00:56:36,254 --> 00:56:37,773
their efforts on, not ET.
1343
00:56:37,808 --> 00:56:39,672
Let met be clear, theworst game ever made was
1344
00:56:39,706 --> 00:56:42,882
obviously Trespasser.
1345
00:56:42,916 --> 00:56:44,021
So I just want to beclear with that.
1346
00:56:44,055 --> 00:56:47,645
With a shit load of justhorrible poorly made cranked
1347
00:56:47,680 --> 00:56:48,646
out Atari games to
1348
00:56:48,681 --> 00:56:51,684
call E.T. the worstone is just shameful.
1349
00:56:51,718 --> 00:56:54,721
In contemporary game culturewe like trashing games.
1350
00:56:54,756 --> 00:56:56,516
I don't mean puttingthem in landfills,
1351
00:56:56,551 --> 00:56:59,830
but verbally trashinggame design.
1352
00:56:59,864 --> 00:57:02,867
It's become fashionableto sort of regard E.T.
1353
00:57:02,902 --> 00:57:04,973
as the worst videogame of all time.
1354
00:57:05,007 --> 00:57:07,665
In fact, it makes everybody'slist as the number one.
1355
00:57:07,700 --> 00:57:09,771
And I'm going to go out on acomplete limb here and say,
1356
00:57:09,805 --> 00:57:11,497
and maybe people willattack me for this,
1357
00:57:11,531 --> 00:57:12,843
but I'd rather playAtari's E.T.
1358
00:57:12,877 --> 00:57:14,638
than any Call Of Duty.
1359
00:57:14,672 --> 00:57:17,951
You know, in context giventhe time and the situation
1360
00:57:17,986 --> 00:57:20,851
that Howard had to livein, to program that game,
1361
00:57:20,885 --> 00:57:23,543
it really is anastonishing masterwork.
1362
00:57:23,578 --> 00:57:25,821
He made an amazing fuckinggame that's a whole self
contained
1363
00:57:25,856 --> 00:57:29,515
world in 5 weeks, that'seven more impressive.
1364
00:57:29,549 --> 00:57:32,552
I don't know any human beingwho could have turned E.T.
1365
00:57:32,587 --> 00:57:36,107
in the timeframes involved intoa really successful game.
1366
00:57:36,142 --> 00:57:41,078
He should be applauded for beingable to have done anything in
1367
00:57:41,112 --> 00:57:45,082
the time that was allotted.The scorn should be heaped
1368
00:57:45,116 --> 00:57:48,982
upon those who thought thatit was even rational to try
1369
00:57:49,017 --> 00:57:53,159
to build a cartridge ina month and a-half.
1370
00:57:53,193 --> 00:57:55,748
The analogy that peoplealways use for these
1371
00:57:55,782 --> 00:57:57,750
first timers, for peoplewho try something first,
1372
00:57:57,784 --> 00:58:00,511
uh, is the firstpenguin analogy.
1373
00:58:00,546 --> 00:58:02,686
Where the first penguinwho jumps down the hole
1374
00:58:02,720 --> 00:58:05,551
through the ice is theone who invariably gets
1375
00:58:05,585 --> 00:58:06,413
eaten by the seal.
1376
00:58:06,448 --> 00:58:07,622
But if there wasn'ta first penguin,
1377
00:58:07,656 --> 00:58:10,279
then the penguin is goingto be going out through the ice.
1378
00:58:10,314 --> 00:58:12,834
So it sucks to bethe first penguin,
1379
00:58:12,868 --> 00:58:20,013
but somebody's got to do it.
1380
00:58:20,048 --> 00:58:21,601
So, it turned out thatJoe Lewandowski
1381
00:58:21,636 --> 00:58:23,051
had been right all along.
1382
00:58:23,085 --> 00:58:26,088
The games were buriedalmost exactly where he
1383
00:58:26,123 --> 00:58:28,781
had predicted and nomercury filled pigs
1384
00:58:28,815 --> 00:58:31,577
popped up out of the ground.
1385
00:58:31,611 --> 00:58:34,890
So, the legend of theburial was true.
1386
00:58:34,925 --> 00:58:37,030
Or was it?
1387
00:58:37,065 --> 00:58:39,136
When the archeologistcataloged all the games
1388
00:58:39,170 --> 00:58:41,310
there were a bunchof E.T. cartridges,
1389
00:58:41,345 --> 00:58:42,898
but no where near themillions that were
1390
00:58:42,933 --> 00:58:46,281
such a big part of the legend.
1391
00:58:46,315 --> 00:58:50,216
In fact, E.T. made up 10%of the total games found.
1392
00:58:50,250 --> 00:58:53,875
The rest included some ofthe best games ever made.
1393
00:58:53,909 --> 00:58:55,842
Deafender, and Centipede, and
1394
00:58:55,877 --> 00:58:58,017
Yar's Revenge.
1395
00:58:58,051 --> 00:59:05,714
There was even one copy ofAdventure, which I snagged.
1396
00:59:05,749 --> 00:59:08,993
The burial wasn't a coverup or done out of shame.
1397
00:59:09,028 --> 00:59:10,961
It was a warehouse dumpdone by a company in
1398
00:59:10,995 --> 00:59:13,204
financial distress.
1399
00:59:13,239 --> 00:59:14,861
At the time the Alamogordolandfill was just the
1400
00:59:14,896 --> 00:59:18,244
most practical solution.
1401
00:59:18,278 --> 00:59:22,351
E.T. wasn't buried becauseit was the worst game ever.
1402
00:59:22,386 --> 00:59:25,147
People called it theworst game ever because
1403
00:59:25,182 --> 00:59:27,736
it had been buried.
1404
00:59:27,771 --> 00:59:29,738
And as a result it gotblamed for destroying
1405
00:59:29,773 --> 00:59:31,740
an entire industry.
1406
00:59:31,775 --> 00:59:33,742
The game and it's creatorhad taken the wrap
1407
00:59:33,777 --> 00:59:35,779
for a crime they didn't commit.
1408
00:59:36,918 --> 00:59:41,060
The notion that E.T. causedthe demise of Atari
1409
00:59:41,094 --> 00:59:41,957
is simply stupid.
1410
00:59:41,992 --> 00:59:44,373
It's just stupid.
1411
00:59:44,408 --> 00:59:46,893
Atari committed suicide,
1412
00:59:46,928 --> 00:59:48,101
it was not homicide.
1413
00:59:48,136 --> 00:59:50,966
And it wasn't theE.T. cartridge.
1414
00:59:51,001 --> 00:59:55,902
It was a concomitanteffect of a lot of
1415
00:59:55,937 --> 01:00:01,149
missteps in technology, indeployment, in marketing.
1416
01:00:01,183 --> 01:00:03,151
So, people say E.T. destroyedthe video game industry.
1417
01:00:03,185 --> 01:00:05,187
I'm sure I've heard that before,but it's just really funny.
1418
01:00:05,222 --> 01:00:09,433
No, the behavior pattern thatcreated the conditions for the
1419
01:00:09,467 --> 01:00:12,747
E.T. failure is what destroyedthe video game industry.
1420
01:00:12,781 --> 01:00:16,785
The cause of the fall wasAtari trying to sell
1421
01:00:16,889 --> 01:00:22,411
yet another 10 millionAtari 2600s into a market
1422
01:00:22,446 --> 01:00:23,930
that was saturated.
1423
01:00:23,965 --> 01:00:26,761
E.T. didn't destroyAtari. It wasn't good,
1424
01:00:26,795 --> 01:00:28,728
but it didn't destroy Atari.
1425
01:00:28,763 --> 01:00:31,904
That's one of thosethings people say.
1426
01:00:31,938 --> 01:00:35,114
And the reality of lifeis if enough say it,
1427
01:00:35,148 --> 01:00:37,668
it becomes thetruth for people.
1428
01:00:37,703 --> 01:00:42,293
A simple answer that is clearand precise will always have
1429
01:00:42,328 --> 01:00:53,788
more power in the world thana complex one that is true.
1430
01:00:53,822 --> 01:00:58,206
There's another E.T. 6 pack.
1431
01:00:58,240 --> 01:01:01,830
What I would like to seehappen is I would like to see
1432
01:01:01,865 --> 01:01:06,007
whatever remains are recoveredwill then find their way
1433
01:01:06,041 --> 01:01:09,079
into a museum in theservice and game industry.
1434
01:01:09,113 --> 01:01:10,252
Well, you know, theCity of Alamogordo
1435
01:01:10,287 --> 01:01:12,461
owns the games and whathave you that came
1436
01:01:12,496 --> 01:01:15,154
through there, by virtue of thefact they're in our landfill.
1437
01:01:15,188 --> 01:01:19,089
We might be able tosell them on e-Bay.
1438
01:01:19,123 --> 01:01:22,817
So if another terrible videogame needed to be buried,
1439
01:01:22,851 --> 01:01:26,268
would you be prepared to letit be buried in Alamogordo?
1440
01:01:26,303 --> 01:01:27,787
Absolutely, come on down,we'll bury your game.
1441
01:01:34,380 --> 01:01:38,487
Atari was the first greatconsumer company to come
1442
01:01:38,522 --> 01:01:39,765
out of Silicon Valley.
1443
01:01:39,799 --> 01:01:41,111
It was exciting,it was different.
1444
01:01:41,145 --> 01:01:43,078
It was the first engagementthat a generation
1445
01:01:43,113 --> 01:01:44,493
had with computers.
1446
01:01:44,528 --> 01:01:48,187
So, a generation grewup being introduced
1447
01:01:48,221 --> 01:01:50,499
to the computer ageby Atari games.
1448
01:01:50,534 --> 01:01:54,055
We brought a whole massivenew entertainment medium
1449
01:01:54,089 --> 01:01:55,746
into public consciousness.
1450
01:01:55,781 --> 01:01:58,956
So for a whole generation weare the definition of the
1451
01:01:58,991 --> 01:02:00,233
video game era.
1452
01:02:00,268 --> 01:02:03,133
And it's cosmic.
1453
01:02:03,167 --> 01:02:04,341
These guys neverreally got their due
1454
01:02:04,375 --> 01:02:08,103
for really startingthe whole industry.
1455
01:02:08,138 --> 01:02:11,210
Three lives wasinvented by a person.
1456
01:02:11,244 --> 01:02:13,557
Flying a ship around wasinvented by a person who
1457
01:02:13,591 --> 01:02:15,352
had to figure outwhat that was.
1458
01:02:15,386 --> 01:02:20,219
And it was so good that itwas copied everywhere.
1459
01:02:20,253 --> 01:02:22,393
And because it was copiedeverywhere and because it's
1460
01:02:22,428 --> 01:02:26,846
so ubiquitous it's impossible toremember why it was so special.
1461
01:02:26,881 --> 01:02:31,057
I think Atari's legacyis that we started the
1462
01:02:31,092 --> 01:02:35,096
Silicon Valley ethic ofengineers as rock stars.
1463
01:02:35,130 --> 01:02:36,131
It didn't exist before.
1464
01:02:36,166 --> 01:02:40,515
I think the casual cultureand the meritocracy
1465
01:02:40,549 --> 01:02:42,448
didn't exist before.
1466
01:02:42,482 --> 01:02:45,313
I believe these areunderpinnings of the
1467
01:02:45,347 --> 01:02:48,523
things that made andcontinue to make
1468
01:02:48,557 --> 01:02:50,456
Silicon Valley a specialplace in the world.
1469
01:02:50,490 --> 01:02:54,253
And, uh, and Ithink that Atari
1470
01:02:54,287 --> 01:02:59,845
will continue toendure as an icon of,
1471
01:02:59,879 --> 01:03:03,987
uh, of innovation.
1472
01:03:04,021 --> 01:03:14,066
♪ [music]
1473
01:03:14,066 --> 01:03:28,563
♪ [music]
1474
01:03:28,597 --> 01:03:41,265
[garage shutting]
107801
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