Preserving Games

Archiving the Creation Processes of the Video Game Industry

Skip to: Content | Sidebar | Footer

Category: News and Commentary

Mark Methenitis’s “Copymark”

23 October, 2009 (08:55) | News and Commentary | By: TimA

Mark Methenitis is a practicing lawyer in Dallas and he rights a blog called Law of the Game in which he talks about various legal issues as they relate to videogames and the gaming industry in general.  Not surprisingly, he writes extensively about the complex nature of copyright law as applied to videogames and other […]

Video Game “Extras”

6 April, 2009 (12:06) | News and Commentary | By: admin

In his article “Toward a Virtual Reenactment of History: Video Games and the Recreation of the Past,” Brian Rejack discusses the game Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 and its “extras.”  As the player progresses through the game, he or she can unlock bonus features that can be accessed from the main menu.  Similar […]

Spawn Labs and Mobile Gaming

5 April, 2009 (20:25) | News and Commentary | By: walker

When I think of mobile gaming, whether it’s on a laptop, iPhone or other device, I think of games sensitive to the processing constraints of those platforms: web-based items like Bejeweled or Tower Defense, a retro-graphics piece like Battle for Wesnoth, etc. The latest games on the PS3, 360 or Wii do not come to […]

What Story? Reporting a MUD-Dev Thread from April – May 2000

23 January, 2009 (14:49) | News and Commentary | By: walker

From August 22, 1996 to the early October of 2004 the MUD-Dev mailing list housed a slew of earnest and lengthy discussions — technical, philosophical, design and otherwise — concerning the development and play of multi-user dungeons (MUDs).  MUDs were developed before graphics-capable computers, originating and remaining entirely text-based. Players type commands, role-play or just […]

The Power to Create

8 December, 2008 (14:49) | News and Commentary | By: admin

In a recent interview for the Wired blog, Blizzard’s Executive Vice President of Game Design Rob Pardo is asked about past Diablo games and their perceived “RAM dependency.”  The interviewer notes, “When Diablo II came out…I didn’t really feel like I got the full experience of the game running perfectly until I had something like 2GB […]

Beyond Video Game Preservation

7 November, 2008 (11:44) | News and Commentary | By: admin

Creating video games means establishing virtual worlds. The creation process involves stories, communications and networks – a series of actions that are much more complicated than meets the eye. In exploring and documenting this dynamic process, researchers must go beyond preservation and also consider the emotional and psychological aspects that went into designing a game. […]

A Community of Creativity

3 November, 2008 (01:46) | News and Commentary | By: admin

As video games continue to evolve and branch off in new directions, attempting to provide for all tastes, the medium becomes more difficult to define.  Once, video games were considered mainly as leisure time activities, a niche that the Nintendo Wii continues to expand by attracting consumers who are uninterested in the grandly produced games […]

A New Kind of Archive

2 November, 2008 (18:45) | News and Commentary | By: TimA

Unlike books, movies, or even console videogames, the design process of MMORPGs does not have a fixed endpoint. After the MMO is initially released, designers continue to work on patches and expansion packages and game content is updated continuously. This presents a unique challenge to the archivist, especially one who is interested in preserving content […]

The Other Side of Games

30 October, 2008 (09:33) | News and Commentary | By: walker

Games can be anything. Implementation is certainly restrictive, but design potential is basically limitless. Because of this potential it’s very likely that a great many game elements are cycled through before a final set is decided upon. It may be then that a game can be better understood by what it is not rather than […]

Interviewing Within the Industry

18 September, 2008 (21:31) | News and Commentary | By: Megan

For a while now I’ve been concerned about my ability to conduct interviews within the industry. I have been told by someone who would know that very few studios are going to allow me to look at their development process because in many cases, that process is itself a trade secret. I’m early enough in […]