Xbox Entertainment Studios next year will debut its first original series, a string of documentaries that will examine memorable technological milestones or digital events. Each film will air exclusively on Xbox One, Xbox 360 and wherever Xbox Live is available.
"These stories will expose how the digital revolution created a global democracy of information, entertainment and commerce, and how it impacts our lives every day," Nancy Tellem, president of Xbox Entertainment Studios, said in a statement.
Atari's "great video game burial of 1983" -- the backlash over the gaming corporation's disastrous ET video game -- is the subject of the series' first film.
Fuel Entertainment earlier this year got the rights to excavate the New Mexico landfill in which the ET game cartridges were buried. The company then approached Xbox to help film the excavation in 2014 and subsequently air the footage in the documentary on Xbox. The film, which Zak Penn (X-Men 2 and Avengers) is directing, will also address "the precipitous rise and fall of Atari itself," Xbox Entertainment Studios noted.
Simon Chinn (Searching for Sugar Man and Man on Wire) and Jonathan Chinn (FX’s 30 Days and PBS’s American High), who will produce every documentary in Xbox's series, roped in Penn for this Atari film.
"When Simon and Jonathan Chinn approached me about this story, I knew it would be something important and fascinating," Penn said in a statement. "I wasn’t expecting to be handed the opportunity to uncover one of the most controversial mysteries of gaming lore."
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