Latinx Games Festival makes move to National Hispanic Cultural Center; Atari 'E.T.' game to be on display

The billion-dollar gaming industry is one of the fastest growing across the globe.

And the Latinx Games Festival is an event where gamers converge to find out the latest in industry happenings.

From Sept. 20-22, the sixth annual event heads to the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque. This is the first time it will be held outside of California.

“Having the Latinx Games Festival in New Mexico means that New Mexico is being treated as a national place for the creative economy,” said Zack Quintero, NHCC executive director. “This is the first time (the NHCC) is a host to the national conference and it puts us on an entirely new level.”

Founded in 2019, the Latinx Games Festival represents the definitive video game industry event for Latinx game development.

The organization aims to connect, learn from and advocate for Latinx game developers, providing a platform for global opportunities within the video game industry.

Over the past five years, the event has attracted sponsorships from industry leading companies such as Nintendo, Xbox and Valve. Breakout sessions and panels are free for community members to attend.

Quintero, who started at the NHCC in March 2023, began discussions with the festival in June.

There was a site selection committee, and New Mexico wasn’t on its radar, according to Quintero.

“I reached out on a hope because I had followed those conferences,” Quintero said. “I thought a lot of the work they are doing would complement our mission. This is a growing industry that we’re going to be able to help build into the next decade. They came to visit the center, and we took them around Albuquerque, and they selected us.”

With the conference coming to the NHCC and Albuquerque, Quintero said he wants the center to be a national location for different points of culture and the creative economy.

Jason Vega, Latinx Games Festival founder, said the event will have a Latinx games exhibition.

“This will be an exhibit showcasing video game history celebrating the Latino influence in gaming,” Vega said. “Take ‘Mortal Kombat,’ which was developed by Ed Boon and John Tobias, who are two Dominicans who helped get this game off the ground. I’m excited to see how the exhibition comes together.”

During the event, the NHCC will also play host to one of the rarest games ever made: “E.T. the Extra Terrestrial” on Atari 2600, which only has a few copies remaining after its launch in 1982.

In 1983, Atari began the process of dumping 29 truckloads of games and consoles into the Alamogordo landfill.

About a dozen truckloads were dumped when rumor began about people sneaking into the landfill and retrieving Atari game cartridges.

The city of Alamogordo put an end to Atari’s access to the old landfill and later passed an ordinance preventing out-of-town waste at the landfill.

In 2014, a dig began to find the Atari Tomb. On April 25, 2014, the burial site was found and a documentary team chronicled the find in the film “Atari: Game Over.”

There were about 1,300 games recovered, including the titles “Asteroids,” “Star Raiders” and “E.T.”

Quintero said the game is on loan from the Tularosa Basin Society.

“This is part of New Mexico history,” he said. “It’s a great moment for game lovers.”

A full list of programming will be made available ahead of the festival’s start date, but Quintero said it will have award-winning panelists, breakout sessions and even an esports tournament on campus.

“We want to make sure that we’re making the event accessible to people throughout New Mexico,” he said. “We’re sharing with the esports teams around the state. It’s an immersive experience, and attendees will get to learn more about the industry.”