Microsoft granted approval to excavate Atari’s fabled ET dump site

The planned excavation of the fabled Atari dump site said to be filled with thousands of copies of ET The Extraterrestrial game cartridges has overcome its latest hurdle.

According toAlamogordo News, The New Mexico Environment Department has granted approval for the dig having previously blocked previous plans, claiming they were "too vague". There were also concerns that the ground held certain chemicals found to exceed federal thresholds.

Xbox Entertainment Studios, Fuel Entertainment and LightBox Entertainment however will now be able to dig up portions of an old Alamogordo landfill to search for the game cartridges, believed to have been dumped there after the title’s catastrophic failure which nearly single-handedly destroyed Atari.

Develop has more on this story.