E.T. the videogame added to Smithsonian collection

This is why The Smithsonian added E.T. to its collection | Polygon

“The cartridge is one of the defining artifacts of the [Atari] crash and of the era. In addition to the crash, the cartridge can tell many stories: the ongoing challenge of making a good film to a video game adaptation, the decline of Atari, the end of an era for video game manufacturing, and the video game cartridge life cycle.

“The cartridge also serves as closure for many things: the urban legend of the burial, the golden years of Atari, an era where American companies dominated the console scene. All of these possible interpretations make for a rich and complicated object. As they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”