Trash cans, landfills, and incinerators. Erasure, deletion, and obsolescence. These words could describe what has happened to the various building blocks of the video game industry in countries around the world. These building blocks consist of video game source code, the actual computer hardware used to create a particular video game, level layout diagrams, character designs, production documents, marketing material, and more.
These are just some elements of game creation that are gone -- never to be seen again. These elements make up the home console, handheld, PC and arcade games we've played. The only remnant of a particular game may be its name, or its final published version, since the possibility exists that no other physical copy of its creation remains.
As a community of video game developers, publishers, and players, we must begin asking ourselves some difficult but inevitable questions. Some believe there is no point in preserving a video game, arguing that games are short-term entertainment, while others disagree with this statement entirely, believing the industry is in a preservation crisis.
Where Games Go To Sleep: The Game Preservation Crisis [more inside]
posted by timshel
on Feb 9, 2011 -
44 comments
Chrontendo is a video podcast in which a guy systematically described and discusses
every Famicom/NES game released. Currently up to 33 episodes and counting, and covering hundreds of games.
[more inside]
posted by JHarris
on Nov 1, 2010 -
23 comments
I know from playing the video games of that era that tiny sprites can be very powerful. Maybe it’s because we can project a lot of emotion onto them, or maybe because they’re small and they have big eyes and big heads like children. I don’t know. The Adventures of Ledo & Ix, along with an interview with the filmmaker.
(via)
posted by The Devil Tesla
on Jul 28, 2009 -
16 comments
Too pissed to drive? ("An interactive urinary experience - not to be mistaken with the Wii.") Those naughty but practical Germans have come up with a way to discourage men from driving drunk using a video game embedded in a urinal. I don't know how successful it's been in the real world, but it did win a silver
Clio award for
Innovative Use of Technology. If you don't plan to be in a Frankfurt bar any time soon, or if you lack the necessary
equipment to play, you can try the wee-free simulation
here.
posted by maudlin
on May 19, 2008 -
11 comments
With the wild success of the Guitar Hero series, using video game controllers shaped like guitars is nothing new. However, the duo at
Modal Kombat actually use guitars as video game controllers. They won't reveal all of their tricks, but you can read a bit about their technology
here and at
this interview with Urban Guitar. The results are awfully impressive. View the original Modal Kombat
here, and their newest installment, the admittedly trippy GuitarKart
here.
via
posted by Ufez Jones
on Dec 3, 2007 -
5 comments
DotQuest Can you survive the deadly ghosts in this text adventure?
via languagehat's blog in an oblique fashion.
posted by boo_radley
on Mar 24, 2006 -
24 comments
