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E.T. Phone Home, or from Pit to Surface: Intersections Between Archaeology and Media Archaeology

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Videogame Sciences and Arts (VJ 2019)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 1164))

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Abstract

This paper demonstrates the possibilities of intersection between archaeology – as a discipline, as a field – and media archaeology, taking as a case study the excavation of the Atari cartridges held in Alamogordo, New Mexico, USA, on April 2014. It also indicates how the conjunction of these two archaeologies can provide new (and alternative) historical narratives to “facts” crystallized by time and often accepted as unquestionable truths, opening possibilities for new understandings about cultural, social, and economic aspects concerning certain media phenomena.

In order to differentiate, throughout the text, (i) archaeology as a discipline/field and (ii) other types of “archaeology” (media archaeology, game archaeology), the paper makes use of “archaeology” when referring to the first scenario (i), and “media archaeology”, “archaeology of games”, when referring to the second (ii).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The acronym КУВТ stands for Комплект У чебной В ычислительной Т ехники, which, translated from Russian, means “Computer Equipment Kit for Education.” See Yamaha YIS503II. In: MSX Resource Center, https://www.msx.org/wiki/Yamaha_YIS–503IIR, last accessed 2019/06/30.

  2. 2.

    Beyond Combat, another eight titles were released alongside the Atari 2600 platform, in October 1977: Air-Sea Battle, Basic Math, Blackjack, Indy 500, Star Ship, Street Racer, Surround, Video Olympics. Available: https://gamicus.gamepedia.com/List_of_video_game_console_launch_games#Atari_2600/, last accessed 2019/06/30.

  3. 3.

    VGChartz, http://www.vgchartz.com/article/250871/the–best–selling–atari–2600–games–of–all–time/, last accessed 2019/06/30. In the Wikipedia entry “List of best–selling Atari 2600 video games”, which considers various sources, Yar’s appears at position 13, with approximately 1 million copies sold. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best–selling_Atari_2600_video_games/, last accessed 2019/06/30.

  4. 4.

    According to the website VGChartz, the title obtained a total of approximately 500,000 and copies sold. However, there are other versions about this number, such as that of Warshaw himself, which point to the number of 1 million copies sold. See http://www.vgchartz.com/article/250871/the–best–selling–atari–2600–games–of–all–time/ and http://www.digitpress.com/library/interviews/ interview_howard_scott_warshaw.html/, last accessed (both links) 2019/06/30.

  5. 5.

    The Billboard edition (December 18) quoted by Page can be accessed at the following link: https://books.google.com/books?id=jSQEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&hl=en&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false, last accessed 2019/06/30.

  6. 6.

    VGChartz, http://www.vgchartz.com/platform/31/atari–2600/, last accessed 2019/06/30.

  7. 7.

    http://www.vgchartz.com/article/250871/the-best-selling-atari-2600-games-of-all-time/, last accessed 2019/09/30.

  8. 8.

    http://www.neocomputer.org/projects/et/, last accessed 2019/7/7.

  9. 9.

    https://www.randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-et.html/, last accessed 2019/09/30.

  10. 10.

    http://www.neocomputer.org/projects/et/, last accessed 2019/7/7.

  11. 11.

    https://www.polygon.com/2014/6/3/5775026/et–myth–worst–game–ever, last accessed 2019/06/30.

  12. 12.

    https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/08/881–et–cartridges–buried–in–new–mexico–desert–sell–for–107930–15/, last accessed 2019/06/30.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Emmanoel Ferreira

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  1. Emmanoel Ferreira
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Correspondence to Emmanoel Ferreira .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    Nelson Zagalo

  2. University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    Ana Isabel Veloso

  3. University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    Liliana Costa

  4. University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    Óscar Mealha

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Ferreira, E. (2019). E.T. Phone Home, or from Pit to Surface: Intersections Between Archaeology and Media Archaeology. In: Zagalo, N., Veloso, A., Costa, L., Mealha, Ó. (eds) Videogame Sciences and Arts. VJ 2019. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1164. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37983-4_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37983-4_20

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