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Library of Congress Considers Archiving Games

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the four-score-and-twenty-metroids-ago dept.

GamePolitics reports on talks at the U.S. Library of Congress concerning archiving our digital cultural heritage, including games. From the article: "The initiative is called 'Preserving Creative America,' and plans to compile (with industry help) a list of the commercial digital content most at risk of loss or degradation. The initiative will also develop ideas for preservation, business models to help maintain archives, and promote discussions between the archives and commercial content producers so that the archives are kept up to date. CM: Hopefully the Library of Congress will consider that many PC games were rushed to market before they were ready. Critical software patches should be included in the archive. That's right Sierra, I'm talking about you."

79 comments

  1. copy protection by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Will the LoC also be archiving the NoCD cracks that allow these games to be played without the original media, too?

    --
    This guy's the limit!
    1. Re:copy protection by Xabora · · Score: 2, Informative

      IIRC, Libraries are allowed to use cracks if they dont have the original media for archival reasons.

      --
      "16bit Gaming Goodness!"
    2. Re:copy protection by AnyoneEB · · Score: 1

      You imply that there is something wrong with me using cracks to play my own games.

      --
      Centralization breaks the internet.
  2. Runs only on closed systems by Bromskloss · · Score: 1

    Interesting thing, they often run only on systems (Windows) that are closed and you have to buy a license for. And if the system is too old, I don't know if you could even buy it. This suddenly sticks out more than usual, when it comes to archiving historical documents for the good of the general public.

    --
    Swedish plasma phys. PhD student; MSc EE; knows maths, programming, electronics; finance interest; seeks opportunities
    1. Re:Runs only on closed systems by TheCarp · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Hell how about the games that came on a bootable disk with custom boot sectors and all sorts of nastiness to prevent them from being easily copied.

      Of course, now they have the ultimate solution to that, good luck even finding a drive to read them :)

      I shudder to think how many games are all but gone just for having been stored on old floppies that were hard to copy and have since degraded.

      I actually talked with an old apple 2 game developer once. He described how he used the ability to control the stepper motors in the drive to cause it to write data to the disk such that instead of being concentric rings of data, the data track spiraled down the disk.

      The things people did :)

      -Steve

      --
      "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
    2. Re:Runs only on closed systems by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 1

      This could actually benefit from things like Nintendo's loss of rights to the NES hardware that basically made the unathorized "clone" systems legal. If consoles open up or are legally replaceable with a clone after a generation or so, the games won't be useless anymore. (IANAL and am not closely familiar with what happened in the NES' case, maybe someone could reply with more info.)

      --
      Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
    3. Re:Runs only on closed systems by HTL2001 · · Score: 1

      he must have liked when CDs came out then

      --
      By reading this, you have given me brief control of your mind.
    4. Re:Runs only on closed systems by bdleonard · · Score: 1

      Umm, CDs are concentric circles, not spirals. The phonograph on the other hand...

    5. Re:Runs only on closed systems by fbjon · · Score: 1

      CD's are spirals not concentric circles.

      --
      True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
    6. Re:Runs only on closed systems by Glonoinha · · Score: 1

      Actually (as I understand it) they half-stepped the motors so it would read/write in the space between tracks.
      Apple 5.25" floppy disks used 40 tracks, but the media and the drive were capable of 80 tracks in theory - so the half-steppers put some stuff on the non-tracks between the regularly used tracks, and included code in the game to half-step the drive to go read that code. Without a way-cool hack to copy the disk, you couldn't replicate the data that was in the non-tracks (you could possibly read it, but making your floppy write it there was a bitch.)

      --
      Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
  3. Will they be playable in 100 years? by eln · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is a great idea, but in order to be worth anything, they would need to store the hardware and/or hardware emulators to play these games. A copy of, say, Super Mario Brothers is useless without an NES or NES emulator.

    1. Re:Will they be playable in 100 years? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Emulators will likely be preserved by the 'net at large, just as no-CD checks will also likely be preserved. Copyrighted media, on the other hand, can be hard to get one's hands on.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Will they be playable in 100 years? by Elemenope · · Score: 1

      And even if not, I imagine if we haven't descended into a new dark age by then, in one hundred years we'd have the capability to reverse engineer the play device from a decent collection of data cartridges, especially if we had partial records (as we almost certainly would) of what the end product ought to look like. And any copy protection would be trivial in any case. After all, most game CP is meant to foil the average consumer, almost none are aimed for long-term encryption facing a concentrated effort to extract them. And even if they were, all it would take is time.

      --
      All the techniques ever used to make men moral have been themselves thoroughly immoral... (Nietzsche)
    3. Re:Will they be playable in 100 years? by blackraven14250 · · Score: 1

      I don't think ZSNES is going anywhere anytime soon. It'll be kept updated.

    4. Re:Will they be playable in 100 years? by minusthink · · Score: 1

      Well if you can storing ROMs, why couldn't you store emulators as easily?

      --
      "when life gets complicated, I like to take a nap in a tree and wait for dinner" - Hobbes.
    5. Re:Will they be playable in 100 years? by magetoo · · Score: 1
      What you say is true. But that still means it will take lots of effort writing emulators, bypassing copying restrictions, etc. It's far better making sure today people won't have to do all that tomorrow.

      Which means preserving the emulators (and cracks) we have now, and actually encouraging people to write emulators too. Fortunately, that sort of thing has mostly taken care of itself up until now, but what about the coming generation of consoles, for example?

  4. Ahem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Torrent please.

    1. Re:Ahem by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 1

      More importantly, how big is the file that's downloaded? And please provide your answer in the standard unit of measure (LoCs).

      --
      This guy's the limit!
    2. Re:Ahem by Alsee · · Score: 1

      Let me guess... you work at the Library of Congress and that was an official request?

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  5. Sierra? by Jarlsberg · · Score: 1

    They've been dead since about 99. I don't think they care any more. ;)

    1. Re:Sierra? by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 1

      They've been dead since about 99. I don't think they care any more. ;)

      You think wrong. Sierra might be dead, but copyright holders still exist and sometimes they do care.

      Here's an example: there was a great space trading game called Elite, created in 1984 by David Braben. It was such a success that it was ported to many platforms of the time, many sequels were made, and Elite has become a cult game many still play. It's such a good game in fact that many people tried to clone it. However, one of the clones' developer, who had reversed-engineered the original Elite, got into trouble with David Braben and was forced to stop his effort, despite the fact that the company that distributed Elite is long dead.

      --
      "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    2. Re:Sierra? by daemious · · Score: 1

      What about Half-Life?

      Well yeah, they've certainly been dead inside since about then anyways.

    3. Re:Sierra? by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      Where does Ian Bell figure into this?

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    4. Re:Sierra? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sierra now exists as a label of Vivendi Universal, and while it was mostly dead as a development house once most of its staff was fired in '99, the end really came when it was sold to Cendant in '97. However, as the other poster noted, VUG has rabidly enforced copyrights. You may remember "Betrayal At Krondor" and "Red Baron" being released as freeware by Sierra? Well, that lasted for a few years, then VUG rescinded its status as freeware.

    5. Re:Sierra? by Duds · · Score: 1

      As I recall, getting very pissed off with Braben over it.

    6. Re:Sierra? by Jarlsberg · · Score: 1
      Yeah, I remember that very well. I was always intending to check out Betrayal of Krondor, but I never got around to it. I had read Feist's book up to that point as well. Hmf, it's weird to hear that Vivendi has rescinded its freeware status. I don't really see what there's to be gained now.

      Anyway, I was a passionate Sierra fan since its inception and have played every single adventure game they've released (at least the graphical ones -- the text based stuff were never released around here). I know they exist as a label, but that doesn't really mean anything. Sierra died when Ken W. left the board.

    7. Re:Sierra? by WWWWolf · · Score: 1
      Yeah, I remember that very well. I was always intending to check out Betrayal of Krondor, but I never got around to it. I had read Feist's book up to that point as well.

      Hardcover edition of Krondor: the Betrayal came with a copy of Betrayal at Krondor. At least back when it was new. Don't know if it still does. (Not the best possible version since it didn't have CD audio tracks - though in my particular variant of the budget edition they even managed to mess those up - but it did have something the other versions didn't have: Feist's interview.)

      And they apparently still sell the game for a few pennies, um, somewhere. I think Home of the Underdogs had the link to a site that sells it. Or try eBay.

      It's a wonderful game, got me introduced to Feist's worlds and I think it's just about the greatest PC RPG ever made right after Ultima series. Really shame it's not freeware anymore.

    8. Re:Sierra? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Wikipedia says it's free, and even provides a link to download the full game.

    9. Re:Sierra? by WWWWolf · · Score: 1
      The Wikipedia says it's free, and even provides a link to download the full game.

      Not anymore, the link, that is. =) (I removed it on grounds that Wikipedia is not an abandonware guide, and it was a misplaced external link anyway.)

      I don't see where the article says it's free to download, though. The article has stated the following for quite a while now:

      Sierra released Betrayal at Krondor free of charge in 1997 to promote the game Betrayal in Antara. Contrary to popular belief, Vivendi Universal Games has stated that the game is not free to be redistributed by others.
  6. Too good to be true? by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I mean, it looks nice on paper and at first, but ... why do I suddenly have a feeling like it's targeted at so called "abandonware" and those who enjoy it?

    Abandonware sites often claim they just do it "so those games don't go into extinction". With this reason gone, there's no reason anymore for game companies to shoot with big shells their way without getting bad rep. Because, they're no longer the "guardians of game culture", and game studios that want to shut them down are dirty, greedy corps that would rather see a game get forgotten before allowing it to exist for free.

    With this, abandonware sites are just pirates sites to be shut down soon. So start leeching now, as long as it still works!

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:Too good to be true? by vertinox · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Abandonware sites often claim they just do it "so those games don't go into extinction". With this reason gone, there's no reason anymore for game companies to shoot with big shells their way without getting bad rep.

      I think the point of Abandonware sites (like the-underdogs.org) is that they only host games that aren't being sold or have anyone to complain about them releasing them.

      Technically, you can't sue someone over a copyright you don't own.

      So game companies can't just sue someone they don't own the rights to whether they like it or not. If they can aquire the rights later down the road... Then yes they can sue.

      I don't think this will take any steam out of the abandonware's argument.

      --
      "I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
      -Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
    2. Re:Too good to be true? by iCough · · Score: 1

      I agree. I make sure I keep ahold of all the games I like so that I will never loose them or misplace them. Mainly so that in the future, when I have a sudden craving to play these games, I can just grab the game and play. I'd say, start looking for those torrents people. Start backing up everything you want.

    3. Re:Too good to be true? by 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF · · Score: 1

      Abandonware sites often claim they just do it "so those games don't go into extinction". With this reason gone, there's no reason anymore for game companies to shoot with big shells their way without getting bad rep.

      What good is a game no one can play? What good is a law designed to encourage producers to produce that forever makes a game unavailable to everyone? Copyrights should expire the day that a company stops selling the copyrighted material at a reasonable market price. Otherwise they are just a way to erase our artistic heritage in the quest for more money.

    4. Re:Too good to be true? by DerekLyons · · Score: 1
      With this, abandonware sites are just pirates sites to be shut down soon.
      Abandonware sites *are* pirate sites - period. The excuse of 'preventing the game from going extinct' is their version of 'well, the door was unlocked anyhow|she was dressed like she was asking for it'.
    5. Re:Too good to be true? by spikeb · · Score: 1

      oh fuck off

    6. Re:Too good to be true? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it's archived in the LoC, aren't there steps you can take to request it?

    7. Re:Too good to be true? by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      The real "pirates" are the greedy assholes that want to lock away our cultural heritage to preserve some so-called "right" to profit that they aren't even using anyway!

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    8. Re:Too good to be true? by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Yes, they are, by legal standards, pirate sites. The question is, though, whether they are in the wrong or whether the law is. The first step to dictatorship is when the citizens of a country don't question the laws imposed onto them anymore.

      If there is something that the general population (as "general" as gamers can be) wants to have, and if this commodity is not distributed or offered for money from anyone anymore, who gets hurt by offering it for free? Who is damaged? Who loses money?

      If "abandonware" games threaten the sales of current games, the question isn't whether the old games should be banned, the question is rather why old games with outdated graphics, ancient gameplay and "low tech" offer more entertainment value than new games with state of the art graphics and modern gamepl... ok, with state of the art graphics.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    9. Re:Too good to be true? by DerekLyons · · Score: 1
      The real "pirates" are the greedy assholes that want to lock away our cultural heritage to preserve some so-called "right" to profit that they aren't even using anyway!
      ROTFL. A game is hardly an artifact of 'cultural heritage', it's (in general) something enjoyed by a vast minority and discarded as soon as they were bored with it or the next big thing came along.
    10. Re:Too good to be true? by DerekLyons · · Score: 1
      Yes, they are, by legal standards, pirate sites. The question is, though, whether they are in the wrong or whether the law is. The first step to dictatorship is when the citizens of a country don't question the laws imposed onto them anymore.
      You'll get no argument from me on that front. Where my argument lies is with the general replacement of laws with anarchy. 'I have the unlimited right to copy, distribute, rip, burn, etc... anything, anytime, anywhere' is the attitude so often espoused.
      If there is something that the general population (as "general" as gamers can be) wants to have, and if this commodity is not distributed or offered for money from anyone anymore, who gets hurt by offering it for free? Who is damaged? Who loses money?
      Precisely the arguement I expected. You don't question the law - you insist that you have rights not currently enshrined in law without demonstrating that the law is wrong or immoral.
      If "abandonware" games threaten the sales of current games, the question isn't whether the old games should be banned, the question is rather why old games with outdated graphics, ancient gameplay and "low tech" offer more entertainment value than new games with state of the art graphics and modern gamepl... ok, with state of the art graphics.
      And then you follow it up with an irrelevant strawman facing down a claim nobody made.
    11. Re:Too good to be true? by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      You're a real dumbass, you know that?

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    12. Re:Too good to be true? by DerekLyons · · Score: 1

      No, I'm just a grownup with a sense of proportion and a fond attachment to reality.

    13. Re:Too good to be true? by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      What anarchy?

      I don't demand an unlimited right to copy. What I do question is whether it is "right" (not by legal, rather by "moral" standards) to disallow the distribution of something that is not distributed by the legal owner. If a game is offered at a store, I can go into that store and buy it. No problem. I want to play it, I pay the price, everyone's happy.

      But what if I want to play a game that isn't offered by its creator anymore? Am I disallowed to play it? Because the rights owner says so? There are many games that aren't sold anymore. Good games. Real gems of game history.

      Should they be gone just because someone decided it's not good for the general audience to have access to them anymore?

      To your second statement: Yes, I do expect everything that is not explicitly outlawed to be allowed. That's pretty much what every civilized country bases its laws on: Allowed unless outlawed. If it starts to be the other way around, better start packing and moving.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  7. It's a little late... by 192939495969798999 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    They missed a bunch of stuff from the 80's-90's that is VERY hard to find now. For example, anyone remember the Apple II game "Floppy", with the little marshmallow-looking guy? If you have it, let me know... I'd be that the LOC has some freaking trouble finding stuff like that in 2006!

    --
    stuff |
    1. Re:It's a little late... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I could use a working version of "shuffle puck cafe".. was on the old macs.. hopefully some kind soul has ported it for PC?

    2. Re:It's a little late... by pablomarx · · Score: 2, Informative

      http://www.apple2.org.za/mirrors/ftp.apple.asimov. net/images/games/action/floppy.dsk.gz

    3. Re:It's a little late... by pablomarx · · Score: 1
      Mac Version: http://mac.the-underdogs.info/index.php?show=game& id=673 and http://mac.the-underdogs.info/index.php?show=game& id=130

      DOS Version: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=2159

    4. Re:It's a little late... by 192939495969798999 · · Score: 1

      Nope, that's not it either. It was an action game, the little marshmallow guy walked around on the screen and did stuff.

      --
      stuff |
    5. Re:It's a little late... by pablomarx · · Score: 1

      Nope, that's not it either. It was an action game, the little marshmallow guy walked around on the screen and did stuff.
      The DOS&Mac links were obviously for the anonymous poster wanted Shufflepuck Cafe.
      The link at Apple2.org.za is for an Apple][ game named "Floppy", which looks like:
      http://img326.imageshack.us/img326/1176/picture16a j.png
      If that's not a little "marshmallow guy", I'm not sure what is.

    6. Re:It's a little late... by Panaflex · · Score: 1

      There's a clone of Shufflepuck cafe called TuxPuck. Also - there's original ShufflePuck cafe versions for Mac, Dos, Amiga, among others.

      I've seen the amiga version and the Mac version. I loved both of them.

      -Roger

      --
      I said no... but I missed and it came out yes.
  8. Half Life 2 by ToxikFetus · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Are they also going to archive Valve's Steam servers so future generations can access Half Life 2?

    1. Re:Half Life 2 by twistedsymphony · · Score: 1

      Good Question.

      I was thinking about this last time I saw one of those articles championing games "of the future" that download on the fly as you play them.
      Even now I wonder where my purchased copy of Geometry Wars will go after the Xbox 360 gives up the ghost or if MS ever closes shop on Xbox Live. I can't play any of those games without being connected to the MS servers. I know it probably wont happen to MS but what about down the road. I'm sure we'll see some downloadable only content come around for some system that eventually goes belly-up (phantom anyone?).

      How would these games even be preserved?

      Also If the National Archives are for the "benefit of the public" how can I get my hands on the archived games as a member of the benefited public? (Seriously though, how does it work for archived books and paper documents?)

      --
      Collector's Edition
    2. Re:Half Life 2 by DarcSeed · · Score: 1

      I know with the super famicom they had a somewhat similar system called the satellaview (It wasn't over the internet so much as a Satellite system or something). While I haven't played many of the games made for that system (seeing as though I don't speak japanese), the complete remake of Zelda 1 (BS-Zelda) was captured and eventually stored somehow, even though it was a download game, as well as being time based (you could only play it certain times I think). There are patches that allow you to play it anytime you want in english, which is totally awesome since this game never got a full remake in America.

      I would imagine that someone out there found a way to preserve games with xbox live and hence in the future I would hope you could play those games again.

      --
      Best death? What, die from a naked lady avalanche?
    3. Re:Half Life 2 by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but preserving history shouldn't have to rely on hacks like that!

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

  9. GP Forum Topic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.gamepolitics.com/forums/showthread.php? t=463

    There's the discussion on the GP Forums there.

  10. LOC: Beat at its own game! by davecrusoe · · Score: 1

    Yay, 8088State & EFNet #o.w. !!! LOC's already been beat, hands-down, by preservationists! (Long before abandonware sites came online, thanks!)

  11. How About Jenna? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    what about all that pr0n? isn't that cultural? of course, the library of congress could use slashdot users as back up.

  12. Games == Art? by Psx29 · · Score: 1

    Does this mean that games will be able to fully enjoy free speech protections since even the Library of Congress is considering archvining them?

  13. Right next to the Ark of the Covenant ... by rlp · · Score: 3, Funny

    Right next to the Ark of the Covenant ... a copy of Duke Nukem Forever.

    --
    [Insert pithy quote here]
    1. Re:Right next to the Ark of the Covenant ... by Alsee · · Score: 1

      Unfortuantly the software doesn't run without preserving the hardware for it, and they still haven't been able to locate an Infinium Phantom console.

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  14. Mod's, S3ms, demo's by BrookHarty · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Would be nice if all the artwork and music for demos and boot loaders where kept around. The digital expression that kick started the video game industry and hackers turned video game producers should be kept around.

    Entire parts of the digital, pre-internet history are being lost with new technology.

    -
    Scene Music

  15. Virtual Apple has it. by antdude · · Score: 2, Informative

    Play it online if you have IE6.0. ;) It works. I never seen or played this game.

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    1. Re:Virtual Apple has it. by 192939495969798999 · · Score: 1

      I wasted most of 5th grade on that game, I think! Wow. I never thought I'd see that again.

      --
      stuff |
    2. Re:Virtual Apple has it. by antdude · · Score: 1

      Internet rocks. You can almost see anything again. ;)

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  16. Awesome, thanks by 192939495969798999 · · Score: 1

    That's the one, dang, that brings back some memories! Too bad it runs 5000 times too fast on my test emulator.

    --
    stuff |
  17. Might not be a good idea... by Karl+Cocknozzle · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...I don't know about you, but I don't want my Grandkids/Wife/whoever knowing how many hookers I beat up while playing GTA3: Vice City.

    --
    Who did what now?
  18. I like this... by Landshark17 · · Score: 1

    I like this idea because it lends more credibility to an industry often derrided by politicians for being violent and counter-productive. It's the first step in moving games away from being a scapegoat toward what they truly are: interactive art.

    --
    This sig is false.
  19. A lot of talk here by phorm · · Score: 1

    About how they will archive the required hardware or server-side authentication etc... but not about what they would be archiving. While Half Life 2 et al might make the honor of archival, that's not a for-sure thing either. What exactly would qualify a game for inclusion in the LOC?

    1. Re:A lot of talk here by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      If it's an "archive," shouldn't everything qualify? The entire point of it is to preserve it in case you want it in the future, and there's no way of knowing which things will be important then. Archaeologists learn the most from ancient cultures' trash, you know.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

  20. In the US there is, legally speaking by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 1

    The DMCA outlaws game cracks. Stupid, but it is currently the law.

  21. Lost History by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This discussion is making me pretty sad. There is a rich and interesting history of video games (and international CULTURE) that is rapidly being totally lost. Perhaps some museum (or the LOC) will attempt to preserve this, but very little of this is actually being done (legally, at least).
    And what makes this difficult? COPY PROTECTION for one thing. The "locks" publishers put on games make the likelyhood of thier preservation miniscule. What effect will the DMCA have in this respect over time? And even outside of that, how many games are now so locked up that it's virtually impossible to preserve them? Anything on Steam comes to mind as over-locked.
    I would think that the people making these games, who I assume (perhaps rashly) LOVE games would be most opposed to this. If I understand the biz well enough, it's not really the developers (i.e. programmers) getting filthy rich off games, but the publishers (and/or their stock holders).
    Yet another example of service to the almighty dollar destroying us.

  22. Welcome retrogamer. Spare a quarter? by Keen+Anthony · · Score: 1

    Congratulations Library of Congress. You now understand what we in the international community of pop historians and computer archivists have known for years; that our electronic culture, diversions and all, is fragile and worth preserving. I sincerely hope copyright and patents issues won't in any way hinder you the way they have us.

    As you embark to build a collection of arcade, home console, and home computer components that I'm sure will one day surpass my own, please remember to maintain a proper image file backup of any software media as well as of actual ROM chips.

    Also, please consider creating high-resolution digital images from the original documentation, artwork, and arcade cabinets, but especially the artwork - open formats only please. There have been many great artists who have contributed works to video games such as Roger Dean for many of the Psygnosis' releases, and the commercial artwork used in software is really reflective of our cultural heritage; and they should be enjoyed for their own merits.

    Finally, please consider lending support to hardware emulation projects that exist in the public domain, as these are the best means for revisiting our past without impacting the original hardware or software media itself.

    Oh, and uh, just between us, if you could get me a save state for the final level of Tengen's Gauntlet, I'd appreciate it. Oh, and an original Death Race arcade cabinet would really be cool too. Oh, and while your at it, there was this very nice DOS hex editor called "Auto" that I used to use to get $20,000 in Sim City 2000. If you see it somewhere, give me a call. ;-)

  23. 'Preserving Creative America' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I assume that, given the title 'Preserving Creative America,' that the software chosen will be strictly of American origin.

    So, in other words, they're going to preserve a bunch of FPSes, MMORPGs and Sports Games.

    And "Leisure Suit Larry."

    Whoopie.

    Can't wait til the equivalent of the Japanese Library of Congress decides to start archiving games... lord knows where they will store them all. :)

  24. hardware by tabby · · Score: 1

    I guess they are also going to be archiving 20 years of hardware, OS's & drivers too. Or are we just going to have a useless stack of cds & floppy discs.

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  25. Universities have it already by fragmer · · Score: 1

    UCSC (University of California, Santa Cruz) already started its own videogame library in preparation for its new Computer Science & Videogame Design major that starts in 2007. The plan is to accept games as donations from students, and purchase several consoles and powerful PCs to play them. Also, many colleges with videogame design/engeneering majors already have notable videogame collections.

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  26. DMCA violation by rossjudson · · Score: 1

    They'll have to violate the DMCA to create those archives. So no cultural heritage for you! And no soup!

    1. Re:DMCA violation by Charan · · Score: 1

      Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the Library of Congress have an exeption from the DMCA?

    2. Re:DMCA violation by Charan · · Score: 1

      Note to self: exception + exemption = exeption

  27. Whoa! by Keith+Russell · · Score: 1

    If we've been using Libraries Of Congress as a unit of measurement for the capacity of DVDs, what happens when games shipped on DVD are added to the Library of Congress, man?

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