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.

Table of 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.

[edit] Digital Game Software Repositories

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

[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.

[edit] Information About Videogames

These websites and projects record an array of historical information on games.

  • 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.

[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.

[edit] Information on related items

  • 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).

[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.

[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] Technical issues related to archiving videogames

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