History of video games/Preservation

Museums, Libraries, and Archives Game specific Europe thumb|The Computerspiel Museum in Berlin, Germany. Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines in Moscow, Russia. Computerspielemuseum Berlin in Berlin, Germany. Finnish Museum of Games in Tampere, Finland. National Videogame Museum in Sheffield, United Kingdom. Video Game Museum of Rome in Italy. Muzeum her Cibien's Corner in Prague, Czech Republic. Retro Gaming Museum with branches in Iceland and Norway.Contact https://www.retrogamingmuseum.com/contact.html Retro Gaming Museum 11 January 2022 en North America The Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, New York. National Videogame Museum in Frisco, Texas. The University of Texas Video Game Archive in Austin, Texas. The Computer and Video Game Archive (CVGA) at the University of Michigan Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Star Worlds Arcade in De Kalb, Illinois. International Video Game Hall of Fame in Ottumwa, Iowa (Under development) Montreal Video Game Museum in Montreal, Canada. Other The Nostalgia Box in Perth, Australia. The Retro Video Game Museum in Sydney, Australia."Retro Video Game Museum" https://www.gamesmen.com.au/retro-video-game-museum 15 January 2022 Related Collections Museums or collections of other subjects that include Computer Game or Video Game history. Popular Culture thumb|The Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) in Seattle, Washington. The MADE (Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment) in Oakland, California. Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne, Australia. Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle, Washington. Ray & Pat Browne Library for Popular Culture Studies in Bowling Green, Ohio - Has media related to games such as movies based on game IP, rather than games themselves. Computing General computing museums often include game hardware, or early computer models that were sometimes used for gaming. The National Museum of Computing in Bletchley Park, United Kingdom. The Micro Museum in Ramsgate, United Kingdom.The Micro Museum UKHistoryVintage ComputersGames https://www.themicromuseum.org/ the-micro-museum 25 September 2021 en Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. Living Computers: Museum + Labs in Seattle, Washington. Nexon Computer Museum in Jeju, South Korea. Other The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan.Digital Collections https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/search-results#advancedSearch=1&tab=artifact-results&s.0.in=keywords&s.0.for=Video%20games&years=0-0&perPage=10&pageNum=1&sortBy=relevance www.thehenryford.org 22 December 2020 en Slovak Design Museum in Bratislava.Castello Jay How a design museum unearthed a treasure trove of classic Slovak games https://www.theverge.com/22882705/slovak-design-museum-classic-game-preservation-1980s 15 January 2022 The Verge 15 January 2022 enSlovak Design Center Places https://www.visitbratislava.com/places/slovak-design-center/ 15 January 2022 Visit Bratislava Threats Minor Battery backed RAM Many early game cartridges use RAM to store save data.Miscellaneous Attributes : Battery Backed RAM https://www.mobygames.com/attribute/sheet/attributeId,175/p,22/ MobyGames 18 November 2020 This requires a a battery to deliver power to the RAM at all times to avoid save game loss. These batteries will inevitably run out of juice, loosing the save games contained on the cartridge, and potentially causing other problems should they fail in other ways. Ventilation Ensuring proper ventilation to an air cooled device, and keeping it clean of dust can extend it's operative life.Techs Armor Built for Failure: The Unfortunate Truth about Consoles https://www.armortechs.com/built-for-failure-the-unfortunate-truth-about-consoles Armor 18 November 2020 17 November 2020Xbox Support https://support.xbox.com/en-US/help/hardware-network/console/position-ventilate-console support.xbox.com 18 November 2020 Material degradation Many computers and consoles use white ABS plastic with flame retardants that yellow over time.Plastic Cleanup Via Retrobrighting https://hackaday.com/2020/03/13/plastic-cleanup-via-retrobrighting/ Hackaday 3 November 2020 13 March 2020This guy makes badly aged Apple computers sparkle again https://www.cultofmac.com/439119/this-guy-makes-badly-aged-apple-computers-sparkle-again/ Cult of Mac 3 November 2020 22 July 2016 Forgery As with any work of art, or commodity, the existence of forgeries of historical video game materials makes authenticating certain materials more difficult.Orland Kyle Inside the $100K+ forgery scandal that’s roiling PC game collecting https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2022/06/inside-the-100k-forgery-scandal-thats-roiling-pc-game-collecting/ 9 June 2022 Ars Technica 7 June 2022 en-us Major Defective Design Some consoles have inherent flaws in their designs that will eventually cause them to fail, such as the power supply used by the Amstrad GX4000Feature: Your Beloved Games Console Is Slowly But Surely Dying https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/12/feature_your_beloved_games_console_is_slowly_but_surely_dying 24 April 2021 Nintendo Life 25 December 2019 or the Red Ring of Death on the original Xbox 360. As with any modern computer, many consoles and gaming hardware and software are likely to be susceptible to time issues, and may fail or encounter unexpected behavior once certain dates are reached. Notably, many devices have software which will encounter issues on January 19, 2038.Is the Year 2038 problem the new Y2K bug? https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/17/is-the-year-2038-problem-the-new-y2k-bug 18 January 2021 the Guardian 17 December 2014 enFrancisco Neil McAllister in San Linux clockpocalypse in 2038 is looming and there's no 'serious plan' https://www.theregister.com/2015/02/20/linux_year_2038_problem/ 18 January 2021 www.theregister.com en Displays Some consoles with early built in displays, such as the Microvision or the Game Boy, have poorly made displays that rely on ample light to work, and either rot over time or become sunburnt and become unusable.Milton Bradley Microvision https://www.popculturemaven.com/games/milton-bradley-microvision/ Pop Culture Maven 3 November 2020 19 February 2014Repairing A Sunburned Game Boy Screen https://hackaday.com/2018/01/26/repairing-a-sunburned-game-boy-screen/ Hackaday 3 November 2020 27 January 2018 Some display technologies, such as early OLED panels, are highly likely to burn in images over time, though this typically does not render the device unusable.Brookes Tim OLED Screen Burn-In: How Worried Should You Be? https://www.howtogeek.com/687180/oled-screen-burn-in-how-worried-should-you-be/ How-To Geek 18 November 2020Muddle Ty Five Reasons the PlayStation Vita Might Suck https://squishturtle.com/five-reasons-the-playstation-vita-might-suck-ebee0b73d639 Medium 18 November 2020 en 17 September 2017 CRT displays are no longer manufactured in mass quantities, leading to shortages of replacements for arcade machines that use them.History of the CRT TV https://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/television/retro-tech-the-crt-tv-11363858003032 BT.com 11 December 2020 en This is complicated by CRT technology having many desirable qualities for gaming not replicated in current display technologies.Leadbetter Richard We played modern games on a CRT monitor - and the results are phenomenal https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2019-modern-games-look-beautiful-on-crt-monitors Eurogamer 11 December 2020 en 17 September 2019CRTs And The “Retro Look” https://gametyrant.com/news/crts-and-the-retro-look GameTyrant 11 December 2020 Some early light gun games rely on CRT technology to operate.Robertson Adi Inside the desperate fight to keep old TVs alive https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16973914/tvs-crt-restoration-led-gaming-vintage The Verge 11 December 2020 en 6 February 2018 Arcade Batteries Some Arcade games, such as some made by Sega or those using the Z80 based Capcom Kabuki chip, would intentionally destroy critical data should an included battery fail.Reverse Engineering Capcom’s Crypto CPU https://hackaday.com/2014/12/12/reverse-engineering-capcoms-crypto-cpu/ Hackaday 3 November 2020 12 December 2014Life Nintendo Ninterview: Preserving Gaming History With Arcade Collector ShouTime https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/06/ninterview_preserving_gaming_history_with_arcade_collector_shoutime Nintendo Life 3 November 2020 4 June 2016 Capacitor Plauge/Failure Older capacitors may degrade out of spec, leak fluid, or otherwise become destructive with time, though this is highly dependent on capacitor chemistry, typically affecting small electrolytic capacitors the worst and on if the device has had proper storage conditions.Ask Hackaday: Experiences With Capacitor Failure https://hackaday.com/2019/04/12/ask-hackaday-experiences-with-capacitor-failure/ Hackaday 18 November 2020 12 April 2019Vaccinate yourself against CAPACITOR PLAGUE! https://www.wirebiters.com/vaccinate-capacitor-plague/ Wirebiters 18 November 2020 8 January 2014 Server shutdowns Some games rely on server functions or always online DRM to run, resulting in an unplayable game once servers are decommissioned.Brown Ryan Why video game preservation matters and games like Battleborn are anti-consumer https://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/importance-video-game-preservation-games-7932296 mirror 3 November 2020 en 9 May 2016 Obtaining legal access to game server software is much more difficult than it is to acquire legal access to the end user copy of the game.Orland Kyle Researchers can now legally restore “abandoned” online game servers https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/10/researchers-can-now-legally-restore-abandoned-online-game-servers/ Ars Technica 3 November 2020 en-us 29 October 2018 MMO games are particularly difficult to archive.Robertson Adi EVE, offline: how do you archive a universe? https://www.theverge.com/2014/2/24/5441866/eve-offline-how-do-you-archive-a-universe The Verge 4 November 2020 en 24 February 2014 As software and games move to exclusively be distributed over the internet, preservation becomes trickier due to a lack of physical media.Current Game Preservation is Not Enough How They Got Game https://web.stanford.edu/group/htgg/cgi-bin/drupal/?q=node/1211 web.stanford.edu 3 November 2020Nintendo Makes It Clear that Piracy Is the Only Way to Preserve Video Game History https://www.vice.com/en/article/wjm5kw/nintendo-makes-it-clear-that-piracy-is-the-only-way-to-preserve-video-game-history www.vice.com 28 November 2020 en Sometimes online storefronts may remove older media, despite many old games being "finished".Clark Mitchell Apple to developers: if we deleted your old app, it deserved it https://www.theverge.com/2022/4/29/23049576/apple-outdated-apps-removal-extension-90-days 30 April 2022 The Verge 29 April 2022 enAs Apple Threatens Pulling Games, Devs Explain Why Forced Updates Are A Preservation Nightmare https://kotaku.com/apple-iphone-ipad-games-app-store-removed-delisted-upda-1848837569 30 April 2022 Kotaku en-us Deliberate removal Sometimes a game developer will decide to pull digital games from a storefront, making downloading new copies impossible, even if the digital storefront still operates and the game date is not technically lost.Demise of Silent Hills Proves Gaming Has a Preservation Crisis https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/demise-of-silent-hills-proves-gaming-has-a-preservation-crisis PCMAG 25 November 2020 enSaving 'P.T.' https://www.vice.com/en/article/qkjppd/saving-pt www.vice.com 25 November 2020 en Other removal is less overt. Bulky obsolete arcade hardware is sometimes stored outside where it is degraded by the elements,Incredibly Rare Sega Arcade Game Found Rotting In A Field https://www.kotaku.com.au/2021/02/incredibly-rare-sega-arcade-game-found-rotting-in-a-field/ 26 March 2021 Kotaku Australia 23 February 2021 en-AU though sometimes salvage of previously unpreserved materials from these units is possible.24-Year-Old Neo Geo 64 Prototype Latest Game To Be Found In A Field https://www.kotaku.com.au/2021/03/24-year-old-neo-geo-64-prototype-latest-game-to-be-found-in-a-field/ 26 March 2021 Kotaku Australia 18 March 2021 en-AU Data loss Often source code, development materials, and the final game product itself are not properly preserved by developers or publishers.The Uncertain Future of Video Game History https://egmnow.com/the-uncertain-future-of-video-game-history/ EGM 3 November 2020 12 August 2019 Additionally original audio recordings of in game samples are of interest to preservationists, and are also useful for remastering projects.Orland Kyle Super High-Fidelity Mario: The quest to find original gaming audio samples https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/02/super-high-fidelity-mario-the-quest-to-find-original-gaming-audio-samples/ 24 February 2021 Ars Technica 5 February 2021 en-us Bit rot, or degradation of game media, can also cause information to become lost if no backups exists. Wahba Michael The Bits and Bytes of Video Game Preservation https://www.scholarlygamers.com/feature/2018/11/09/the-bits-and-bytes-of-video-game-preservation/ Scholarly Gamers 11 December 2020 en 9 November 2018 Even when studios keep backups, it is still possible for source material to be lost through corruption.Farokhmanesh Megan Mass Effect’s Pinnacle Station DLC is forever lost due to data corruption https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/3/22264321/mass-effects-pinnacle-station-dlc-data-corruption-lost 4 February 2021 The Verge 3 February 2021 en Solutions There are two primary approaches to video game preservation, maintaining the physical objects themselves, and maintaining the digital contents of games.A Laboratory for Video Game Preservation https://www.museumofplay.org/blog/2019/10/a-laboratory-for-video-game-preservation 3 January 2021 www.museumofplay.org 11 October 2019 en Both of these approaches require different skillsets, and an individualized approach to specific items. There have been a number of successful attempts to mend copyright law to make preservation of gaming easier without harming the ongoing industry.Copyright Law Just Got Better for Video Game History https://www.vice.com/en/article/zm9az5/copyright-law-just-got-better-for-video-game-history 3 January 2021 www.vice.com en Some preservationists seek out dev kits, looking for lost data, though some companies have retaliated against those who do so.The Questionably Legal Hunt For Abandoned AAA Games https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtvQiVeaLqw 15 March 2021 enI dumped a one of a kind Nintendo 64 Turok 3 Development ROM MVG https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2Mk-d6QLio 15 March 2021 en Open source projects on GitHub, including a number of games and related technologies, are preserved on digital PiqlFilm in their Arctic Code Vault located under permafrost in a former coal mine in Svalbard.GitHub launches Arctic Code Vault to preserve open source software for 1,000 years https://venturebeat.com/2019/11/13/github-launches-arctic-code-vault-to-preserve-open-source-software-for-1000-years/ 4 February 2021 VentureBeat 13 November 2019GitHub is done depositing its open source codes in the Arctic https://www.engadget.com/github-arctic-vault-success-020240808.html 4 February 2021 Engadget enGitHub Archive Program https://archiveprogram.github.com/ GitHub Archive Program 4 February 2021 en This film is said to be readable until the year 3020. The film also includes instructions on how to build a reader, should it be needed.How we’re stopping global memory loss https://www.piql.com/blog/how-were-stopping-global-memory-loss/ 4 February 2021 Piql 19 August 2020 Of course this project only protects open source software that was on GitHub on the archive date. This follows the precedent of another Svalbard based archive, the Global Seed Vault, which seeks to preserve agricultural biodiversity in case of destructive events.The ‘Doomsday’ Vault Where the World’s Seeds Are Kept Safe https://time.com/doomsday-vault/ 5 February 2021 TIME.com Preservation History An early encyclopedia of video game history was known to exist on the French Minitel system.www.jeuxvideo.com https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1999/01/21/www-jeuxvideo-com_3533196_1819218.html 22 September 2021 Le Monde.fr 21 January 1999 fr Gallery Threats Solutions References Video game preservation 2100%__NOTOC__Esports Etiquette