X

Xbox to air exclusive documentary series

The series of documentary films will air only on Xbox 360 and One, starting with a film about the infamous video game of ET: The Extra-Terrestrial.

Nic Healey Senior Editor / Australia
Nic Healey is a Senior Editor with CNET, based in the Australia office. His passions include bourbon, video games and boring strangers with photos of his cat.
Nic Healey

Xbox Entertainment Studios has teamed with a documentary production team to air a series of film length docos, exclusively on the Xbox One and Xbox 360.

(Credit: Atari)

The production company, Lightbox, is helmed by two-time Academy Award-winning producer Simon Chinn (Searching for Sugar Man and Man on Wire) and Emmy-winning producer Jonathan Chinn (FX's 30 Days and PBS's American High).

According to Chinn, the film series will revolve around "the extraordinary events and characters that have given rise to the digital age".

The first film in the series will be directed by Zak Penn, who has story credits for the Avengers and the sadly cancelled TV series Alphas. The film will look at the strange tale of Atari and the video game version of ET: The Extra-Terrestrial.

In 1983, Atari, faced with overwhelmingly negative response to ET the video game, reportedly buried millions of unsold game cartridges in the middle of the night, in the small town of Alamogordo, New Mexico.

The rumoured landfill is due to be excavated by Fuel Entertainment, and the Lightbox team will document the process as well as the urban legends surrounding the game.

The documentary series will begin in January 2014 and will be available in all markets that Xbox Live is supported in.