{"id":40031,"date":"2023-07-11T15:08:44","date_gmt":"2023-07-11T19:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=40031"},"modified":"2023-07-13T13:46:19","modified_gmt":"2023-07-13T17:46:19","slug":"the-disappearance-of-classic-video-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2023\/07\/11\/the-disappearance-of-classic-video-games\/","title":{"rendered":"The Disappearance of Classic Video Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kelsey Lewin<\/a> (via Hacker News<\/a>):<\/p>\n

The Video Game History Foundation, in partnership with the Software Preservation Network, has conducted the first ever study<\/a> on the commercial availability of classic video games, and the results are bleak. 87% of classic video games released in the United States are critically endangered.<\/p>

Imagine if the only way to watch Titanic<\/em> was to find a used VHS tape, and maintain your own vintage equipment so that you could still watch it. And what if no library, not even the Library of Congress, could do any better — they could keep and digitize that VHS of Titanic<\/em>, but you’d have to go all the way there to watch it. It sounds crazy, but that’s the reality we live in with video games, a $180 billion industry, while the games and their history disappear. <\/p>

[…]<\/p>

This is where libraries and archives should<\/em> come in. Anyone should<\/em> be able to easily explore, research and play classic video games, in the same way that they can read classic novels, listen to classic albums, and watch classic movies. But outdated copyright laws are preventing institutions like ours from doing our jobs.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Dare Obasanjo<\/a>:<\/p>\n

It’s amazing to think how much digitization has made it less likely content will last beyond a generation. Writing on stone tablets last hundreds to thousands of years. An Atari cartridge or Betamax tape is almost impossible to consume today if you aren’t a collector of classic electronics.<\/p>

I used to think my kids and grandkids would read my blog posts and tweets. Now I doubt Medium or Twitter will still be around in ten years.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n