Game Preservation SIG/Projects

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There are many people doing excellent, unofficial work to preserve videogame history, and there's no way that we could hope to list them all in one short section. But here are some of the important advances, projects, and rulings that relate to game archiving, with a particular eye to mentioning people who will be directly or indirectly involved in this SIG.

If you are not on this list, pleas contact one of the SIG members to have your site or project listed here.

Contents

[edit] Physical Archives Of Game Hardware/Software

These hold a physical archive of hardware or software. Archives are different from collections - since these can be accessed by the public and are usually not owned by just one person.

...this part of the resource list will be updated mid-late 2009! stay tuned...

Closed down places:

  • The National Coin-Op & Video Game Museum - located in Laclede’s Landing just a few blocks from the Arch in St. Louis, it closed a few years after opening. More details. If anyone knows who ran the museum (or if you did help run it) please contact the SIG who would like to record the history of the place.

[edit] Digital Game Software Repositories

These hold digital archives of software, with the archive being held on servers.

  • Software Preservation Society - (Previously known as CAPS Project) - privately archiving floppy disc images to very high technical standards, including copy protection. Concentrating on Amiga, but also other systems disks (with no plans for non-floppy-disk systems). Read more here.
  • Archive.org Classic Software Preservation - twinning disc images with metadata and scans, currently not in action.
  • Spectrum Tape Preservation - The STP projects' aim is to obtain perfect TZXs of each and every release of each and every Spectrum game ever released.
  • The Apple II Lost Classics Project - The Lost Classics Project was originally established on in the GEnie A2 RoundTable and has transitioned along with the A2 crew, making it’s first web appearance in 2001 along side of the then newly formed A2Central.com, and is now available under the Apple2.info/org group banner. Our goals for this site are any and all Apple II software that has been officially reclassified to be listed here, either in announcement form or direct hosting.

[edit] General Digital Archives

Archives, museums and Universities which host digital archives of content, which usually contain some angle of software, music or other related material.

[edit] Archive Projects

These are projects which currently have no repository or physical archive, but are ongoing work to preserve game history.

  • Preserving Virtual Worlds - Funded by the Library of Congress' National Digital Information Infrastructure Preservation Project (NDIIPP). A collaboration of teams at four institutions: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Stanford University, University of Maryland, and Rochester Institute of Technology. Partners include Linden Lab and the Internet Archive. An about PDF is available to download (from here) for much more information. Project goals are to carry out scoping work in 2008 and by end of 2009 have secured collections as proof of concept in the areas of electronic literature, digital games, and virtual worlds for hosts such as D-Space, the Stanford Digital Repository, and the Internet Archive.
  • Keeping emulation environments portable (KEEP) - Funded under 7th FWP (Seventh Framework Programme) at CORDIS. Collaboration across Europe between Computer Game Museum, Germany, Joguin Sarl, Foerderverein Fuer Jugend Und Sozialarbeit E.V., University of Portsmouth, Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Cross Czech A.S. and Tessella Support Services (All National libraries or educational institutions, including the European Games Developer Federation (EGDF)) to bring about researching sustainable strategies for the longterm preservation of our digital heritage, with the statement relating to games being "We are also very glad, that we succeeded on the basis of the research project to establish computer games as cultural artefacts of the same grade as traditional artefacts.". Starts February 2009 and runs for 3 years.
  • Early New Zealand Software Database - This is a satellite project that has spun off Melanie Swalwell's historical research. The project is endeavouring to collect information online about locally written and/or published software (predominantly for home computers), with a view to future preservation. Seeing as you can't preserve it if you don't know it exists, the project is requesting the NZ computing community to contribute what they know about software titles from the 1980s and 1990s. It's early days yet, and this is a new method of data/info collection for me, but so far I am pleased with the response. There is a facility for uploading files and source code, where this is possible, and nominating creative commons licenses for software and other assets, again, where appropriate. The lists of games include hobbyists and independent games that might otherwise be missed by other databases.

[edit] Information About Videogames

These websites and projects record an array of historical information on games. They may be general game databases, system specific, or generally historic. Find blogs, and more article inclined (no pages of information on videogames) sites below.

  • MobyGames - the best online database of multi-platform game information (authors, developers, publishers, etc.). Has a points system for contributions, and can always use a hand if you have some spare time and knowledge.
  • GameFAQs - the CNet-owned repository of game FAQs (Frequently Asked Question text files), save games, and messageboards.
  • Hall Of Light - a fan-run Amiga game database with some excellent features and much metadata.
  • PlayStation Museum - this site provides information, images and personal stories on all items produced for the Sony PlayStation.
  • Dreamcast History - another great example of a fan-based high-quality, single-platform information site.
  • The Killer List of Videogames - The International Arcade Museum's video-game division, has an authoritative database on coin-operated video-games.
  • Freebase - A large database system, including a 8,500+ entry videogame section. Currently in alpha, it includes methods of access by the website and via. an separate API.
  • GB64.com - C64 games database.
  • Dave Perry's Game Industry Map - has, apart from a large database of current studios and production places, as well as collaborative list of videogames, video game company acquisitions, and massive multiplayer games. Wiki-style, so sign up and help contribute!
  • Institue For Advanced Atari Gaming Studies - Information on Atari systems.
  • TurboGrafx-16 site - A subsite of the above, for the TurboGrafx-16 system.
  • Atari Archives - a large site dedicated to archiving Atari books, information and software, with permission from the original owners of information. Look for some old books and other interesting articles here.
  • arcade-history - a searchable & comprehensive database which provides an accurate listing of known antique & modern coin-operated games & machines (information is Creative Commons licensed).
  • The Arcade Flyers Archive - A whole host of arcade flyers, pinball flyers and other ones, available to download.
  • Jupiter Ace Resource Site - Dedicated to the Jupiter Ace system.
  • The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers - "a Who's Who of classic game programmers" from the 8-bit era, constantly updated.
  • Oldskool.org - a website dedicated to old PC gaming-related nostalgia and resources, articles, and other information.
  • Phosphor Dot Fossils details old videogames, and some related media.
  • Wikia Gaming has a few thousand wiki's dedicated to specific games or game collections. This is a growing resource, with much less stringent requirements then Wikipedia.
  • Artari Age - Sources of magazines, game db's, and tons more on the Atari systems.
  • Classic Gaming - The Ultimate Resource - A Gamespy site with a slowly updated main feed, and older site content on the older systems.
  • Digital Press - a site with a lot of information on old videogames, much more for collectors but with a good amount of random information to be found too. There is also a highly active forum.
  • MSX Resource Center holds information on the MSX system and the emulators based on it.
  • SMS Power! - "Sega 8-bit preservation and fanaticism"
  • Satakore - Archive of Sega Saturn material.
  • Intellivision Lives - Intellivision based site, especially good for people who worked on the Intellivision system and software.
  • Pong Story - Early history of Pong, Ralph H. Baer and related systems by David Winter.
  • Association MO5.com - French based archive, digital repository and website centred on European, especially French, information exhibits and resources. Will be providing static English translated pages in the future too.

[edit] History Sites with Articles

Also with blogs and/or feed sites, which don't strictly have a set of pages dedicated to explaining videogames in some way.

  • RetroBlast commonly have interviews, updates to their site about current historical goings ons (or just nostalgia posting :) ), and some useful information with an active forum too.
  • Vintage Computing and Gaming has a lot of great articles by expert collector/historian Benj Edwards.
  • Retro Times Monthly a free online web magazine containing articles each month on old videogames, or different parts of the culture and parts of those systems.
  • Classic Game Room which reviews older games and hardware (along with some newer stuff too).
  • Gaming Pathology which looks at a varied assortment of odd old games being entered into Mobygames.
  • How They Got Game - Project site for the How They Got Game project with articles on various games.
  • ASCII by Jason Scott - Personal website of famed historical computer documentary maker.
  • Taking Inventory - Jason Scotts log of GET LAMP related findings, bits and pieces and information about how the film is going.
  • IGN Retro which contains some odd retro pieces, a podcast I've not listened to and some random articles. IGN of course has a larger database of games itself, of varying qualities of information.
  • 1Up's Retro Gaming Blog, subtitled as "News, retrospectives and commentary on classic games"
  • Lost Levels - a website about unreleased games found and reported on the site.
  • The Oldskool PC hosts articles on various, well, oldskool PC topics. A more updated blog from the site owner (Jim Leonard of Mobygames fame) is available too, covering old topics and new.
  • Re:Retro a retro videogame blog solely posting news and the odd article about retro games (with a lot of videos to boot).
  • RetroGaming Radio is a now stopped podcast about retro games. Notable for it's archive and Classic Gaming Expo coverage.
  • racketboy: Retro gaming contains various articles on the major past systems, as well as what was popular for them, the costs to buy them now and so on. A great resource for finding out about a system quickly.
  • Waxy.org - Andy Baio's website, which regularly contains old historical technical shows, media. Check the archives for videogame related things.

[edit] Collector Specific

Still useful for their backlog of entries on older games reported on ebay, for sale or otherwise on how rare or interesting the systems were. Usually not too in depth for historical information however, but good for screenshots. If you subscribe to some of these, don't be surprised at what you see, because yes, there really was that kind of merchandise for your favourite game, and yes, Nintendo did once sell that. You'll also be too poor to afford any of it ;)

  • gameSniped.com checks out the American ebay often for a vast array of games, collections, systems and other videogame things available.
  • Video Game Price Charts.com has general information on game cost trends. It also has a blog which it updates with information about how things are going. The information is a bit guestimate however, check their methodology, but still, a possibly useful resource.

[edit] Documentaries and similar Historical Information

These are historical records or documentaries on videogames.

  • GET LAMP is a documentary about Text Adventures (later Interactive Fiction), the storytellers who created them, and their unique place in the history of computer games. It is being created by Jason Scott.
  • ARCADE: A DOCUMENTARY is a documentary on Arcade games also by Jason Scott.

[edit] Information about specific parts of videogames

  • Multimedia Wiki - Game Formats - Information on the codecs used in many game videos - console specific, to modern day (this effort very usefully goes back into ffmpeg). There is also information on general formats, which might be useful for some older promotional videos or documentaries included on CD's.
  • Arcade Controls - a site dedicated to, you guessed it, arcade controls!
  • The Cover Project - videogame covers project, trying to host a copy of every cover of every game.

[edit] Information on related items (not the actual games)

  • MagWeasel documents many of the game magazines from around the world run by Kevin Gifford (see also the regular GameSetWatch Game Mag Weaseling column by the same guy). Now inactive.
  • Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences retains copies of nominated games, and history of their organisation and members, although primarily exist as an awards body.

[edit] Playing Videogames Projects

[edit] Abandonware, Emulators and ROMs

An area usually referred to as "done because no one will sue", but useful none the less for reference or some historical work. Emulators themselves are entirely legal, but digital copies of ROMs or programs are dubious.

  • Virtual Apple 2 - Over a thousand disk images of Apple 2 (Apple ][) games, playable in the VM on the site with some metadata.
  • 2600 Online - Java emulated collection of Atari 2600 games.

...this needs more entries, please contact us to add more...

[edit] Freeware, Open Games, Legal Digital Copies of Games

  • Legal Torrents - Collection of various legal media that is freely available, some of it game related.
  • Liberated Games - Free, legal games for download.

[edit] Journals, Magazines

An incomplete list of journals and magazines which either cover videogame history, culture, humanities or are otherwise interesting for recording videogame history. IE: Not just places which review and preview videogames. These are at the moment in no particular order or relevance to videogame history, and is sorely needing more entries, and more information on how open or closed the items in each journal are.

For a list of papers related to games and computers, see:

[edit] Forums

Also found on other sites (and if we get a resource list correctly sorted, can be noted as an optional extra for a normal site). These are *just* forums usually.

  • Video Game Evolution - A forum "spanning the evolution of videogames" with a retro theme to the site.
  • empyre - Australian based forum for discussion of different media topics. Has looked at Videogames in the past.

[edit] Archives Of Videogame-Related Media

Online there are many archives of media which are not the videogames themselves. Most are publicly accessible archives of media.

[edit] Videos

[edit] Historical media

Videos relating to previews, reviews, trailers, and any other media which is related to videogames.

  • Archive.org Game Videos Collection - over 2,500 videos featuring electronic press kits, in-game footage, machinima, speed runs, etc.
  • FilePlanet - massive, IGN Entertainment-owned, pay for non-queued download site that has a gigantic array of game-related media.
  • Good Cow Films SEGA area - Some SEGA game archives - gameplay videos, commercials and print ads, including some especially rare games.
  • Machinima Archive - over 500 high-quality game-based machinima pieces. Collaborative effort of the Internet Archive and the How They Got Game research project at Stanford University, with contributions from the Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences and Machinima.com.
  • Archiving Virtual Worlds collection - videos captured from or about virtual worlds and on-line game worlds.

[edit] Speed Runs

Videos dedicated to completing a video game in the fastest way possible, gives a good overview of the game mechanics and a way to see a game played from start to finish.

  • Tool-assisted Console Game Movies - Videos of Tool-assisted runs, which allow perfectly timed speed runs of games due to the abilities of ROM emulation.
    • Related are speedy speed runs which speed up the gameplay of speed runs, and usually puts them to music. These can be found at a variety of video sharing sites.
  • SuperPlay! - This website specializes in shoot 'em up and action arcade games. These are speed runs done by very skilled players, and has some great videos.

[edit] Screenshots

These are the endings of games as screenshots or video. Spoilers abound, although they help to see what otherwise would take hours of playtime to do.

  • MamEnd and GamEnd - A Spanish site with a collection of arcade game and other game endings.
  • VGMuseum - A collection of game screenshots, including endings.
  • Game Revolution - Hosts a collection of video game endings

[edit] Audio

Archives of game audio and music online.

  • OverClocked ReMix - Site dedicated to remixes of game music.
  • LucasArts Soundtracks - MP3 and album art collection of non-Star Wars early LucasArts games (The PC Star Wars games have instructions attached to get the music from them). LucasArts only has requested the removal of Star Wars tracks, meaning the others are valid to download.
  • Slightly Dark - Site dedicated to rare and out-of-print original video game soundtracks and arranged albums.
  • Game Music Revolution - This site contains a catalogue of primarily Japanese-released game music albums - the tracklists and metadata about the albums.

[edit] Game Manuals

Video game manuals online archives. The physical archives at the top usually have game manual preservation too.

[edit] Art

Archives of videogame concept and in-game art.

  • Video Game Art Archive - Hosts a large collection of concept and game art.
  • Into The Pixel - Yearly collection of videogame artwork, judged and selected, then displayed in a gallery at E3 and other locations.

[edit] Legal Issues Related To Archiving Videogames

[edit] DMCA (America)

[edit] Technical issues related to archiving videogames

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