[SPG_Active_Members] video games rotting away

[Henry Lowood]

Speaking as someone who has worked in the area(and as part of the 
Preserving Virtual Worlds team), I agree with Al that games have 
received more attention than most other software areas (not necessarily 
all, though).    But that's only if you view games as software.  If you 
view games as content, then as a medium the situation is worse than for, 
say, cinema or literature.   And I think that distinction is part of the 
reason for the level of attention: There is generally more interest in 
preserving content than preserving software.   I don't agree with that 
bias or tendency (I probably don't even agree with the distinction all 
the time), but I think it's real as far as the resources being thrown at 
the various problems.

Henry L.

On 7/29/2010 9:44 AM, Al Kossow wrote:
> OK, I'll take the bait...
>
> Games are the BEST preserved of all software because of nostalgia and
> reissue value to the entertainment industry. There are THOUSANDS of titles
> archived in private collectors hands. I am a member of both the MAME and
> MESS emulator teams, and know this to be a FACT.
>
> How about OS-360? There are NO known copies of the early versions known to
> exist. Perhaps it's because maybe a few dozen people in the whole world
> care.
>
> http://www.nationalvideogamearchive.org/
>
> It would be nice if a fraction of the millions of Euros being spent on this
> could go to what CHM attempts to preserve.
>
> On 7/29/10 9:32 AM, "Randall Neff"<randall.neff at gmail.com>  wrote:
>
>    
>> "There's been a movement to preserve virtual worlds but MIT's Tech
>> Review paints a dire picture of our video game memories rotting away
>> in the attic of history.
>>      
>
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-- 
Henry Lowood
Curator for History of Science&  Technology Collections;
   Film&  Media Collections
HRG, Green Library, 557 Escondido Mall
Stanford University Libraries, Stanford CA 94305-6004
650-723-4602; lowood at stanford.edu; http://www.stanford.edu/~lowood