Tag: Video Game History Foundation

  • Video Game History Foundation Unveils Digital Library of Rare Items

    Video Game History Foundation Unveils Digital Library of Rare Items

    Key Takeaways

    1. The Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) has launched a digital archive showcasing the evolution of video games, currently available for free early access.
    2. The archive includes diverse materials such as development documents, artwork, press kits, and promotional items from iconic video games.
    3. Over 1,500 out-of-print video game magazines are available in full text, providing valuable industry insights.
    4. Notable contributions include documents from retired game producer Mark Flitman, offering a unique perspective on video game production and marketing.
    5. The VGHF library is expected to expand with more materials as it continues its early access phase.

    After eight years of sorting and cataloging, the Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) has unveiled a digital archive brimming with research resources about the evolution of video games. Early access is currently available for free to anyone who wants to delve into the history of gaming. Although not every piece of content is ready yet, numerous key materials are already on offer.

    Rich Collection of Historical Materials

    Since its inception in 2017, the non-profit VGHF has gathered diverse materials, including noteworthy highlights such as: Development documents featuring unpublished insights into game creation, artwork, press kits, and promotional items from iconic video games. Additionally, the archive contains behind-the-scenes materials, rare gaming publications, catalogs, magazines, memorabilia, ephemera, and much more.

    A Treasure Trove of Magazines

    One standout aspect is the availability of over 1,500 out-of-print video game magazines, all searchable in full text. This includes industry journals that aren’t easily found by the public. The VGHF highlights a particularly interesting collection of documents from retired game producer Mark Flitman, who was associated with companies like Konami, Acclaim, Midway, and Mindscape in the 1990s and 2000s:

    Mark allowed us to digitize and share the mountains of paperwork and digital file backups he’s kept in his basement for over two decades. Even if you don’t know the games he worked on—and you probably know a few!—his papers are an incredible record of the business of video game production and marketing.

    – Phil Salvador from VGHF

    Explore the VGHF Library

    There’s plenty more to uncover at the launch of the VGHF library: Access is completely free, as previously mentioned. Once you begin exploring the archive, you’ll discover a vast array of captivating materials. Since this is an early access phase, there are many more exciting finds to look forward to in the future.

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  • Video Game History Foundation Launches Digital Library of Retro Games

    Video Game History Foundation Launches Digital Library of Retro Games

    The Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) has been set up with the aim of keeping the history of video games safe for future generations to learn about, study, and enjoy. Recently, the foundation has made significant progress by introducing a new digital library filled with a wealth of video game-related materials.

    A Treasure Trove of Content

    The VGHF’s new Digital Archive is a vast and expanding collection of video game content, which includes hard-to-find video game magazines such as Electronic Gaming Monthly and GamePro, along with promotional items, concept artwork, development papers, interviews, and lot more. This archive is freely accessible online for anyone, and you don’t need to create an account to dive in.

    Easy Navigation

    Like many digital libraries, the variety of materials can be quite a lot to take in, but the archive seems to function well. The magazines, development papers, and other media have been fully scanned, allowing users to look up a specific magazine title and explore all available issues that the VGHF has digitized. The quality of these scans is impressive, and even better, they are completely text-searchable.

    If you enter a specific term, such as a video game name, console, or developer, the archive will try to show all media that includes that word. For instance, if you search for “Super Mario World” (including the quotes), you’ll find hundreds of magazines and other media pieces that mention those words together. This makes it easy to gather a large amount of material related to Nintendo’s well-loved SNES game.

    Innovative Technology

    To achieve this functionality, the VGHF had to create its own optical character recognition (OCR) software to properly read text from video game magazines, which are known for their vibrant colors and bold layouts. The initial outcomes are promising, as the VGHF’s OCR technology can recognize and scan text that many other OCR programs might have trouble with.

    The VGHF Digital Archive is still in its early stages and expanding quickly. Some initial users have reported that the servers can be a bit shaky at times. As of the time of writing, all searches performed for this article went smoothly, but it’s important to note that the website might experience issues during peak usage times.

    Don’t forget, the VGHF Digital Archive isn’t limited to just gaming magazines. If you’ve ever been curious about a Christmas card from a SEGA company party or wanted to see a company’s financial report for a certain quarter, the VGHF Digital Archive could have that, too.

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