Today we uncover an essential website for any video gamer who appreciates the history of the greatest video games ever created and also of the worst video games created......
The Video Game History Foundation is dedicated to cataloging, digitizing, and preserving the history of video games.
The VGHF believes that Video game preservation matters because video games matter.
That's something we at Games Freezer 110% believe in.
With video games deeply ingrained into our culture, they’re here to stay.
The VGHF go on to point out that:
That's something we at Games Freezer 110% believe in.
With video games deeply ingrained into our culture, they’re here to stay.
The VGHF go on to point out that:
- Video games generated an unprecedented $91 billion dollars in revenue in 2016
- Video Games are being collected by the Smithsonian, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Library of Congress.
- Video Games have inspired feature films and books
- Video Games are used as a medium of personal expression, as the means for raising money for charity, as educational tools, and in therapy.
The VGHF then goes on to point out the problem statement:
- Video game history is disappearing.
- The majority of games that have been created throughout history are no longer easily accessible to study and play.
- That playable code is only a part of the story.
- In order to know how and why games were made, how they were advertised and sold, and even how they were seen by players of their time, historians and researchers rely on artwork, interviews, reviews, packaging, advertising, internal documentation, and more - to tell a complete story.
- Without an organized effort to collect, document, and preserve these materials, there is a very real danger of losing them forever.
All of the above hit a chord with me immediately and then I saw Frank Cifaldi's video games magazine collection and I think I just worked out exactly what my home office needs to look like. That for me looks like heaven!
Take a look at the video below to see what I mean!
Who Are The VGHF? (taken directly from the VGHF website)
Take a look at the video below to see what I mean!
Who Are The VGHF? (taken directly from the VGHF website)
Frank Cifaldi — Founder and Director
Frank Cifaldi is a video game archivist, historian, and developer living in Oakland, California. Game titles he has worked on include Mega Man Legacy Collection, #IDARB, and Sharknado: The Video Game. Prior, to this he had a decade-long career as a journalist and an editor, primarily at Gamasutra and 1UP. He is on the advisory board for the National Videogame Museum and the Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment, and has facilitated donations of rare video game artifacts to the Strong Museum of Play and the Library of Congress.
Steve Lin — Founding Board Member
Steve Lin is a tech executive and team-builder with an undying passion for preserving video game history. He has led video game publisher Gree's Canadian studio, was the Head of Platform at tech startup GotIt!, the VP of Operations at mobile ad company OpenFeint, and was a part of Google’s AdSense team. Steve’s private collection of video game artifacts is among the most substantial in the world, and includes many one-of-a-kind items. He advises collectors and archives worldwide, and is a founding donor to the National Videogame Museum.
Simon Carless — Founding Board Member
Simon Carless is the Executive Director of the Game Developers Conference, the premiere international conference for the videogame industry. He’s worn many hats in his twenty years in the video game industry, including (but not limited to) the Chairman of the Independent Games Festival, Editor-In-Chief of Gamasutra, Game Developer Magazine, and Slashdot Games, a Digital Achivist at the Internet Archive, and a game designer at Infogrames, working with properties that included Superman and the Looney Tunes.
Mike Mika — Founding Board Member
Mike Mika is a twenty-year veteran of the video game industry. He is currently the head of development at Other Ocean Interactive, where he was the lead designer and engineer on 2015’s Xbox One hit party game, #IDARB. Between his careers at Other Ocean, Backbone, Digital Eclipse, Ngmoco, and as an independent developer, Mike has had his hands in over 100 titles, ranging from Nintendo’s now-vintage Game Boy all the way to modern consoles. Mike is also a former editor of Next Generation, a well-respected video game magazine from the 90s. His collection of video game history is substantial; parts of it were loaned to The Smithsonian American Art Museum for its Art of Video Games Exhibit.
Chris Melissinos — Founding Board Member
Chris Melissinos has been interested in video games and computer technology since programming his first game on his trusty VIC-20 in 1980. Focusing on video game technology development as the former Chief Gaming Officer at Sun Microsystems, he has been an active member of the video game industry for almost two decades. He is also the founder of PastPixels, LLC, where he curated “The Art of Video Games,” an exhibit for the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The Art of Video Games helped establish video games as a legitimate art form, and enjoyed a ten-museum national tour between 2012 and 2016.
The VGHF Digital Library
The VGHF has a digital online repository of artifacts related to the history of video games and video game culture.
They are looking to create a searchable, organized, always-online archive of verified, high-quality material that is accessible to researchers and historians as a public education resource.
They are looking to create a searchable, organized, always-online archive of verified, high-quality material that is accessible to researchers and historians as a public education resource.
Some of the items and artifacts already in the repository are:
- High-resolution, lossless scans of game packaging and documentation.
- Playable binary code that has been verified as clean and untainted.
- Marketing and PR material, including press kits, “preview” screenshots of games, trailers, vintage slides, and advertisements.
- Periodicals, newsletters, and other printed resources.
- Internal documentation, notes, source code and assets, and related materials from game creators and publishers that offer behind-the-scenes insight into how games were made and sold.
- Digitized video, including sales videos that were never before available to the public.
To whet your appetite even further and to really sell the benefit of this amazing organisation to you I present the first awesome feature from the guys at VGHF......
THE NES LAUNCH COLLECTION! (1985)
It Is YOUR DUTY As A Gaming Connoisseur To Support This Amazing Organisation In Any Way You Can....
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