In the game, the player takes on the role of the titular alien and tries to elude FBI agents while collecting pieces of a telephone to call E.T. "No one is allowed to dig until the WEP is approved by the [Solid Waste and Ground Water Bureau]," Jim Winchester, a spokesman for the New Mexico Environment Department said. "A WEP must be approved in advance of any excavation, and that includes even the city of Alamogordo," Winchester said. "We received the WEP on Feb. 13, and Solid Waste and Ground Water Bureau staff completed a review and a letter with our joint findings was sent on Feb. 27," he said. ALAMOGORDO, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico environmental regulators are blocking two companies from digging up an Alamogordo landfill in search of a rumored cache of what some consider the worst Atari video game of all time. Atari purportedly disposed of millions of game cartridges and other equipment by the truckload at the landfill. An attempt to reach Fuel was unsuccessful but Catherine Pasciak, a producer for LightBox, said the company was planning on traveling to Alamogordo to film if and when the project was approved. She said the filmmakers had already shot some interviews in Feburary. A 2004 study found elevated levels of several chemicals in the landfill, prompting the New Mexico Environment Department to request further testing. According to the NMED, "22 compounds of concern" were found at the site and NMED recommended to the Environmental Protection Agency that further investigation be done under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, commonly known as Superfund. The landfill was first used as a dumping ground in the 1920s but has been closed since the late 1980s, officials said.
– Truckloads of Atari's 1983 ET game—often listed as the worst video game in history—are believed to be entombed in a New Mexico landfill, and it doesn't look like they'll be unearthed any time soon. The New Mexico Environment Department has nixed a film production company's plan to dig for the old games, saying the firm has failed to submit a proper waste excavation plan, reports the Alamogordo Daily News. Fuel Entertainment and LightBox Interactive had planned to excavate the site for a documentary to be released on the Xbox One console, tied in with giveaways of games that might be unearthed at the site, the AP reports. Commissioners in the city of Alamogordo approved the search back in June, but state officials say they rejected the dig plan last month and a new one has yet to be submitted.