[-empyre-] Games, histories and preservation

[Jason Nelson]

As for preservation. I've always found game emulators http://www.emulator-zone.com/
  as the ultimate form of preservation (for any digital work). 
   
  Why are game emulators the ultimate for of digital preservation?
   
  The games from the 70s, 80s and 90s, as designed, are no longer playable (unless you own old consoles and by chance they are still working). And so there is that classic, change of hardware format problem. There has been some porting now of the games to stand alone devices or compilations for newer console systems. But really the bulk of these games should have been lost to the changing technologies. 
   
  Instead, decentralized users, from around the globe, both individually and in groups starting creating emulators for old games, for a surprisingly wide range of console systems. They were not doing this under the umbrella of a company or institution, they were amateur coders who simply loved the games. There were also lots of copies of the games out there,
  usually without working consoles.
   
  And now these games are preserved, not in the back room of a state run library. But on
  the hard drives of thousands and thousand of individuals. 
   
  So it would seem that game preservationists have a lot to learn from 15 year olds and
  bit torrent enthusiasts.
   
  cheers, Jason Nelson


       
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