The British Library, the world's largest in terms of total number of items, is interested in archiving video games.
"The games publishing industry recognises the value in preserving their computer games, and many in the industry that I've talked to could relay horror stories about old material disappearing or being left to gradually decay in a box under someone's desk." said Paul Wheatley, a specialist in digital preservation at the British Library.
The first European museum entirely dedicated to the medium of video games will be unveiled at the Italian Videogame Developer Conference in December.
Comments
13 comments so far...
slick loose on 5 Nov '10 said:
Good idea, s**t logo
altitude2k on 5 Nov '10 said:
Erm...why?
lordirongut on 5 Nov '10 said:
I think it's a great idea. Then games, older ones especially, won't just disappear into memory. I think they've proven themselves just as much a part of our culture as books, films or TV.
a.d on 5 Nov '10 said:
That's pointless
Grapple on 5 Nov '10 said:
Its a great idea, it allows future generations to laugh at us
WHERESMYMONKEY on 5 Nov '10 said:
so long as they also preserve some way to play the games i think it's a brilliant idea. then future generations will be able to know the thrill and excitment of playing Custer's Revenge.
zombiesinmyhead on 5 Nov '10 said:
Libraries archive things, its what they do.
Part of my job is to produce documents which pass into the public domain, and we're required by law to send the British library copies. These are far from scintilating documents (even though they are brilliantly produced, if I say so myself), so the British Libray houses tons and tons of tedious crap, so why not squeeze a few games in there? Its preserving the history of the industry and British culture, so I say go for it. Can't hurt now, can it?
dubplate240 on 5 Nov '10 said:
Great idea, it's important to recognise the UK games industry and keep a record of all the great games they have created. Went to the Game On exhibition on London bout 10 years ago and that was a fantastic archive of (playable) gaming history. We need something like that again.
KMakawa on 5 Nov '10 said:
I think its important that we recognize what the UK Gaming Industry has done, and what the gaming industry as an whole has done to the world.
We have seen many inspirational titles come from the UK, and many inspirational individuals to go with that.
What better a way to acknowledge that then archiving it all for the future to look back on, and remember "where it all started." as we do forget all the old generational stuff that happened within this industry.
Paperboy anyone?
metallicorphan on 5 Nov '10 said:
Paperboy?..not really a good example,as i have that on XBLA
anyway,i do think its a good idea,some Video Games can be a way to tell a story,just as Books and then Film do,and as they archive those why not Video Games
kimoak on 5 Nov '10 said:
www.worldofspectrum.org
Here's my suggestion as a contribution. Aaah memories!
adamp105 on 6 Nov '10 said:
Well why the heck not!?!?! As people have already said, it's what they do with films, books and well, almost everything culturally relevant, so games have to be at least considered for it! It's part of our culture, it's part of history and that is a terrible thing to forsake!
zelamy on 7 Nov '10 said:
great idea, shame the ever increasing drm infesting games will make this a very difficult task.
not much point archiving media if it can never be accessed.