Comments on: Saving Our History Before It’s Gone

By: Expiration Imminent « It Burns!

Expiration Imminent « It Burns! — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:22:37 +0000

[...] computers of 2018? What about 2028? Efforts are underway at places like the UT Videogame Archive (more on the archive from Warren Spector) to preserve game data, documentation, and hardware, but [...]

By: Dodo Blog » Blog Archive » Gaming history

Dodo Blog » Blog Archive » Gaming history — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 17:44:40 +0000

[...] Spector (of Deus Ex fame) is heading up an interesting initiative to create a center for videogame history in Austin, for the time being seemingly focused on the [...]

By: mannpower

mannpower — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 15:37:23 +0000

I just wanted to say that you’ve worked on all of the games at the top of my ‘favorites’ list, and that’s no exaggeration; Ultima VII, Deus Ex, Wing Commander 2, Crusader - the list goes on. There was a spark of genius in all of those titles that, for me, define the spirit of game development, and it makes me very happy to know that the people involved in those gems are adamant about preserving their history. You and Richard Garriott especially.

I find it delightfully coincidental that a company called ‘Origin’ essentially pioneered and defined that which most gamers take for granted today; games that do everything right.

Keep up the extraordinary work.

By: haraldc

haraldc — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 22:08:50 +0000

What a great initiative. I hope it works out well.

Personally I’m crazy about film noir and a member of the Film Noir Foundation. There is nothing more satisfying than hearing that FNF has been able to dig up an old movie thought to be lost forever, and restore it if needed. Well, perhaps traveling across the globe to the US and actually watching it is even more satisfying.

By: oliverko

oliverko — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 17:14:08 +0000

Well, I *love* seeing concept art from games (all games, even the bad ones) and I would really enjoy seeing design documents (original sketches/notes etc.) from professional developers.

I myself am ‘doing my part’ (although I didn’t know I was… by hording all of my design docs (I still prefer pen and paper), sketches, to-do lists and misc. documents. My plan is always to release a compilation of the materials on the ‘net after one of my games comes out, but so far…

Anyway, this sounds awesome and hopefully I’ll be able to contribute one day (and I’ll definitely ’stop by’ at the archives one day to discover your secrets!).

By: gshonk

gshonk — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 00:15:42 +0000

As a someone who also enjoys studying the history of entertainment of all forms I am extremely excited for the work that you are doing. As a student and fellow game designer I am extremely thankful that you have lit a fire under some of the biggest names in the industry to preserve our history. I have recently begun studying older movies on my own time and I am thankful for all of the people that have preserved the movies themselves as well as memorabilia. I can not wait to see what comes out of all of this hard work. Thanks for the blog to let us know.

By: razumasu

razumasu — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 16:34:39 +0000

I´m one of the people who are really glad, that the universities and history departments around the world, are beginning to gain an interest in videogame history. As a student at the university of Copenhagen, currently studying for a bachelor in film and media studies before getting my master degree in videogame design, I´ve been struck by the lack of well researched videogame history. If you look at the work of David Bordwell in the film history field, it’s absolutely amazing. My hope is that someone (perhaps, eventually, even me) will be able to do a similar compilation and comparative analysis of videogame history. Figuring out who made what, when, and who evolved already existing concepts. Only by knowing our past can we plan our future

But congratulations on the new videogame archive!