The Preservation of Our Video Game History Leads Inventory Management 2.27.12

Written by: Rocco DeMaro | February 27, 2012 at 10:11AM


"Over the last 40 years or so, we've seen the rise of the first new medium of expression and communication since the rise of television and not to preserve our history would be a crime."

-Warren Spector, Director / Producer of Deus Ex

As we sit here in 2012, video games don't carry the same cultural weight as some other forms of expression and communication.  At least not yet.

If I had to speculate on a 'why', the newness of the medium jumps to mind, a bias of age that'll hopefully pass with time, as it did in other mediums.

But Warren Spector isn't waiting around.  He's issuing a call to arms to preserve our video game history, an idea that should resonate strongly with anyone interested in granting interactive media the cultural respect it deserves.

His comments are part of a larger feature on the subject over at Gamasutra.  An excerpt from Mr. Spector: Early Square Soft Letter

"It's important for all publishers and developers (and even some gamers) to preserve our history for future generations.  Unlike earlier media, like film and television, which were born at a time when historians and academics tended to focus on an established canon of 'important' works and 'great men,' video games were born at a time when the cultural gatekeepers were more open to new ideas, new thinking and new media."

"Where the early history of film and television has been largely lost thanks to industry indifference and academic ignorance, we have a chance to preserve our history, before our pioneers pass away, our design documents, marketing materials and beta builds disintegrate or get trashed, and our hardware deteriorates to the point of inoperability. The fact is, over the last 40 years or so, we've seen the rise of the first new medium of expression and communication since the rise of television and not to preserve our history would be a crime."

Spector cites money as the leading reason so much of gaming's early history is at risk. Tecmo Coming Soon

"The issue is money. These institutions are fighting for survival in a down economy and an age of cuts to academia. They need support. If they get it, our past is secure. If they don't, our history will be lost like that of so many media that came before us."

Other early-gaming heavyweights have contributed to the piece as well, including Square Enix, Tecmo and Richard Garriott, creator of the Ultima series.

"Most of the digital code has already migrated to more modern platforms. It's my original games on paper tape which are already a complete loss," Garriott said.

"Our industry should work with the network of museums that have begun to archive our history to be sure we do a better job than the film industry did of its early work."

Hear, hear.

Time to clear the rest of this week's inventory:

•  The followup to Ironclad Games' enjoyable Sins of a Solar Empire was revealed last week.  'Sins of a Dark Age' is the title and while the game isn't at all tied to the first game, it seems it'll be just as unique.

Blair Fraser, co-founder and producer at Ironclad:

Sins of a Dark Age is something totally unique in the strategy genre.  Like Sins of a Solar Empire, which blended 4x with real-time strategy, we’ve taken our favorite elements of traditional RTS and action RTS and added our own twists and turns that result in a completely new and unrivaled strategy experience.

In SODA, players choose either a Hero role or a Commander role. Heroes will battle enemies on the front line while the Commander focuses more on macro-strategical decisions like base building, resource gathering and the tactical deployment of troops.

The game is primarily a multiplayer affair, with no set campaign being offered just yet.  More from Ironclad:

Sins of a Dark Age is primarily multiplayer and the number of players will depend on the specific scenario. Cooperative scenarios will typically be 5 players (5 versus AI) and competitive scenarios will typically be 10 players (5 versus 5). Bots can be used to create a pseudo-singleplayer experience.

However we recognize that not everyone wants to play competitively so we will continue to provide a number of cooperative scenarios that aren't simply copies of the competitive experience. Single player can be achieved using bots.

There is no release date for the game just yet, though a beta is scheduled for this summer.

•  How much would it cost to build the Death Star?  Hint:  A lot.

•  Etrian Odyssey IV for the 3DS was announced last week in the Nintendo Direct broadcast.  The latest in the challenging old-school RPG series from Atlus features some beautiful screens (from Nizo Yamamoto of Studio Ghibli) and a casual difficulty setting.