History of video games/Print version/Specialty topics

Special topics

• 
  The Intel Extreme Masters 2013 in Poland.

Early History

First game tournament

The first video game tournament occurred at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California on October 19th, 1972 with the Spacewar! as the game being played.

Other early events

A world championship was held in 1981.

1990's

Nintendo World Championship

The 1990 Nintendo World Championships was a major event.

Age of Fighting Games

A number of StreetFighter II versions were made. Over the course of development, ideas from fan modifications were integrated with the official product to create a superior experience.

Rise of competitive FPS

Many notable events like Quakecon first saw a start during the 1990's.

Dennis Fong, known as the ace Quake and Doom player Thresh, helps popularize the control scheme WASD.

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  Pro Quake gamer Thresh sitting in a Ferrari 328 he had just won from programmer John Carmack in 1997.

2000's

StarCraft

StarCraft becomes a hit in South Korea as an esport, with it's popularity lasting over a decade. In 2000 World Cyber Games (WCG) is established. StarCraft also gains popularity in China, especially in internet cafes. Following Chinese players winning several gold medals at WGC Seoul 2003, the Ministry of Sports of the Chinese government recognizes esports as an official sport in November 2003, becoming one of the first major governments to do so.

Important Developments

In 2001 Russia becomes the first nation to recognize Esports as a sport, though the government later retracts this recognition in 2006.

In 2000 the first complete version of Counter Strike is released after Valve cooperation hires modders Jess Cliffe and Minh Le to turn their betas into a full experience.

In 2003 the first version of Defense of the Ancients is released as a Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne mod.

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  Televised South Korean Star Craft match in 2006.
• 
  Marketshare of various FPS in America in 2009. Competitive FPS was very popular in the 2000's.

2010's

Major Competitions

The first DOTA 2 international was held in 2011. Also in 2011 the first League of Legends championship hosted a $100,000 prize and attracted 1.69 million viewers.

American Esports

In 2013 the United States government recognizes Esports as a sport. This allowed foreign players to obtain professional P-1 visas visit the United States of America to attend competitions. In 2019 Pennsylvania lawmakers declare February to be Esports month, The "PA Cup" statewide eSports tournament is announced shortly afterwards. In November 2018 the US Army Esports team is created.

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  The International 2016, the Dota2 world championship.
• 
  A typical map in a MOBA game, a genre that defined esports in the 2010s.

2020's

Collegiate Esports

The Esports Arena at Arcadia University in May 2020.

On June 10th, 2020 the Mid-American Conference for Collegiate Athletics creates the independent Esports Collegiate Conference.

Esports during COVID-19

The initial closure of in person sporting events drew many people to esports during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, the cancelation of in person events affected many esports organizations, which then accepted out PPP relief loans.

On November 19th, 2020 The Big House 10 Super Smash Brothers tournament was canceled after Nintendo sent the tournament organizers a cease and disist notice for using netcode needed to make the tournament an online, socially distanced experience. An official Splatoon 2 tournament was canceled following many gamers using tags which supported the Smash Bros community, with an unofficial event The Squid House taking it's place.

2020 Olympics

Beginning on May 13th, 2021 the International Olympic Committee hosted their first esports event, the Olympic Virtual Series, focusing on games based on real life sports.

The first virtual motorsport event was won by Valerio Gallo who represented Italy, with Mikail Hizal of German taking second, and Baptiste Beauvois of France taking third.

Timeline

Gaming Etiquette has evolved over time, often in response to emerging technology and game trends.

1980's

United States Arcades

I got next.

—Common arcade phrase indicating one wants a turn. Good etiquette sometimes, bad etiquette others.

1980's arcade etiquette in the United States of America encouraged modesty, good sportsmanship, and respect of skill.

During the 1980's the practice of leaving a quarter on a machine emerged, a polite non-intrusive way to let a gamer know that someone wanted to have a go at the game they were playing was to put quarters on the machine deck. The number of quarters either indicated the desired play time for a solo gamer waiting, or in the case of Coin Lining the number of people waiting in line if multiple people were waiting, typically only putting down one coin each in that case.

1990's

United States Arcades

In 1995 some American arcades had for etiquette surrounding fighting games, including the quarters on cabinet signal morphing into a way to challenge a player to a match on a fighting game.

Networked Computer Gaming

By 1994 the term gg ("Good Game") stated to be used online to genuinely and efficiently congratulate players at the end of a game, with the release of StarCraft popularizing the term. By 1999 and in increasing frequency as time went on GG would start to be used as an insult, often in at the beginning or the middle of a match, and this has lead to the development of variations such as GGWP ("Good Game Well Played"). In general, l337 speak finds its way into online gaming communities.

Fragging and rage-quitting are practices that predate video games, though Quake II's ability to call out any player that rage-quits mid-match likely helped popularize the term among gamers.

2000's

A LAN party in 2003. The influx of gamers new to networked gaming created new questions and issues in gaming etiquette.

The proliferation of portable electronics and online communications during the 2000's created new etiquette questions. One example is the proliferation of griefing, with many players having experienced this breach of etiquette by the late 2000's.

2010's

Arcades

Common Arcade rules in the 2010's included not being overly drunk (Particularly for barcades), and good sportsmanship.

For barcades with free play it is expected that gamers buy a drink to support the establishment, whether the drink is alcohol or a non-alcoholic does not matter.

2020's

Animal Crossing etiquette

During the COVID-19 pandemic etiquette in 2020 Animal Crossing: New Horizons was covered by a number of media sources, and recommendations were generally made not to make major changes without asking the host.

References

"Indie games" (short for "independent games") are independently-produced games that are created by a single person or very small team.

1999

In 1999 the first version of the GameMaker engine is released, and later gains popularity among indie game developers.

2000

A pirated English translation of RPG Maker is released by Don Miguel, introducing many to game development.

2002

RPG maker 2003 was a continuation of the RPG maker engine, and had surprising longevity, with commercial indie games still being released that were made the engine as of 2018.

2004

2004 was a seminal year in Indie gaming history, with several high profile releases attracting attention.

N was released as a freeware browser game, and would see a number of notable followup games. Alien Hominid was a browser game that was ported to PlayStation 2 and Gamecube in 2004, making it an early indie game to see a port from web to console.

2004 also saw the release of one notable game engines used by a number of games, including N and Alien Hominid.

Yume Nikki

A Japanese horror surreal 2D RPG.

Cave Story

A Japanese 2D platformer and shooter popular on PC at the time.

2005

• First release of the Unity game engine.

2006

Line Rider

A unique flash platformer game of sorts that allowed players to draw lines which would then be traversed by a character using a physics engine. Players would often leverage Line Rider to create their own artwork, some of which was enormously complex.

DEFCON

A real time simulation of Nuclear War. This game is known for it's simple yet deep mechanics, as well as it's retro vector graphics reminiscent of depictions of nuclear commands in Cold War era popular culture.

Dwarf Fortress

A map in Dwarf Fortress.

Loosing is Fun!

—Common phrase among Dwarf Fortress players, The New York Times Magazine

A text based open world game known for it's extensive systems which lead to emergent gameplay.

2007

I Wanna Be the Guy

A freeware 2D Retro-styled Platformer known for it's notorious difficulty. This game artfully used level design to both increase the difficulty of the game, as well as to parody techniques commonly used by 2D platformer games in the late 1980's and early 1990's.

Jazzuo & B-Games

In 2007 Polish developer "Jazzuo" creates several so called "B-Games", influencing a number of notable indie developers.

2008

• Spelunky
• Meat Boy
• OFF
• Braid
• Mighty Jill-Off
• Audiosurf
• Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden
• Castle Crashers
• World of Goo
• N+

You Have to Burn the Rope

The title screen of You Have to Burn the Rope.

A flash 2D platformer known for it's exceptional simplicity and briefness.

2009

• Machinarium

AaAaAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Gravity

A base jumping game between high rise buildings.

Canabalt

Among the first popular endless runner games. It's aesthetic qualities were well received, leading to the game being featured at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Angry Birds

Angry Birds characters became popular figures. Seen here is Astronaut Donald Pettit demonstrating microgravity aboard the International Space Station in 2012 using Angry Birds characters.

An touchscreen physics puzzler hit on early iOS and Android mobile devices, which lead to an extended franchise.

Bit.Trip Beat

A Wii-ware arcade style music game that found widespread popularity, launching ports to other platforms and a series of successor games.

I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1N IT!!!1

An action shooter that proved to be among the most popular indie games available on the Xbox Live Arcade.

2010

Unity Asset Store

In 2010 Unity launches their asset store, making it easier for indie developers to find assets for use in their games. As the decade progresses, other engines follow suit, such as the release of the Unreal Engine Marketplace in 2018.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

A popular melding of adventure and survival horror game genres, and commonly considered among the best horror games of the era.

Fruit Ninja

A mobile game focused on using a touch screen to cut fruit and build combos, while avoiding slicing bombs.

Octodad

A freeware physics game focused on maneuvering an octopus man character through a 3D environment with unconventional controls.

Super Meat Boy

A 2D platformer known for both its difficulty, and its ability to quickly retry levels.

VVVVVV

A 2D platformer hallmarked by replacing jumping with inverting gravity and it's Atari 2600 style aesthetics.

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  Ascending and Descending of VVVVVV.
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  The Yes Men of VVVVVV.
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  The Tomb of Mad Carew of VVVVVV.
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  Prize for the Reckless of VVVVVV.
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  Super Gravitron in VVVVVV.
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  I Love You in VVVVVV.
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  Sweeny's Maze in VVVVVV.
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  Outside the Ship in VVVVVV.
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  VVVVVV featured simple text to advance the plot.

Cart Life

A simulation game focused on the challenges of being a street vendor.

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  A screenshot from Cart Life, showing the art style of the game.
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  Another screenshot from Cart Life.

2011

• Terraria
• Bastion
• The Binding of Isaac
• Dungeons of Dredmor
• The Stanley Parable
• Hatoful Boyfriend
• Jetpack Joyride
• Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP

Kerbal Space Program

A 3D space action game featuring the green aliens.

To the Moon

A 2D RPG without battle mechanics known for it's plot revolving around the concept of memory.

2012

The 2012 Global Game Jam

• GameMaker Studio

The FEZ dev team at GDC 2012.

• Dust: An Elysian Tail
• Frog Fractions
• Fez
• FTL: Faster Than Light
• Hotline Miami
• Mark of the Ninja
• Plague Inc.
• Slender: The Eight Pages
• Skullgirls
• Thomas Was Alone

Mari0

A notable fanmade mashup of Super Mario Bros and Portal.

2013

Subset Games, creators of FTL, at IGF 2013

• Antichamber
• BattleBlock Theater
• Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
• Don't Starve
• Cookie Clicker
• Gone Home
• Papers, Please
• Risk of Rain

Bubsy 3D: Bubsy Visits the James Turrell Retrospective

An unofficial fangame of Bubsy 3D, posted online when the domain name for the original game expired.

The game was set in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art during an exhibition of the postmodern work of James Turrell. The game itself delves into strange scenes, perhaps in a postmodern exploration of its own.

2014

Lucas Pope, creator of Papers, Please, at IGF 2014.

• Five Nights at Freddy's
• Shovel Knight
• 2048
• Lisa: The Painful

Lethal League

A 2D fighting game centered around successfully passing a ball back and forth between players.

Freedom Planet

A 2D platformer made in the style of 2D Sonic the Hedgehog games.

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  A boss in Freedom Planet.
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  A time attack level with the character Milla visible.
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  A cutscene in Freedom Planet.
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  The Freedom Planet box artwork.
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  A concept art sketch of the character Brevon.
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  A concept art sketch of the character Torque.

Nidhogg

A 2D sword fighting game known for it's balance and 1980's inspired visuals.

• A trailer for Nidhogg, both showing gameplay and a common indie marketing technique of the time.
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  A gameplay screenshot of Nidhogg.
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  An arcade stick for Nidhogg.

Transistor

Released in 2014, the game Transistor is known for many of its qualities, particularly its unique art direction. While working on Transistor, game artist Jen Zee took inspiration from the Art Nouveau style, as well as the work of 19th century Austrian artist Gustav Klimt. The game is also well known for its less direct storytelling methods, as well as it's unique hybrid real time and turn based action system which leads to interesting strategic choices for the player.

Game Engines

Unreal Engine 4 is released in 2014, offering a number of improvements.

The Godot and Xenko (now Stride) game engines are open sourced.

2015

Unreal Engine 4 goes gratis

• Unreal Engine 4 eliminates subscription fees, making it more accessible to indie developers.

Games

• Undertale
• Axiom Verge
• 2064: Read Only Memories
• Crypt of the NecroDancer
• Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
• Ori and the Blind Forest
• Soma

Nuclear Throne

A screenshot of Nuclear Throne, showing bullet hell style gameplay.

A top down 2D shooter known for it's difficult bullet-hell style gameplay.

2016

• Furi
• Tattletail
• Job Simulator
• No Man's Sky
• Owlboy
• Salt and Sanctuary
• The Witness
• Rec Room
• Stardew Valley
• Starbound
• Superhot

VA-11 Hall-A

Christoper Ortiz, one of the developers of VA-11 Hall-A, showcases the game at a talk at the Universidad Simón Bolívar in Caracas, Venezuela.

A mix of bartender simulation and visual novel created by a team in Venezuela.

2017

• Cuphead
• Bendy and the Ink Machine
• Hollow Knight
• Doki Doki Literature Club!
• A Hat in Time
• Hello Neighbor
• Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy
• Night in the Woods
• Yooka-Laylee
• Pyre

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  Gameplay of Getting over it with Bennet Foddy
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  Heart Machine, developers of Hyperlight Drifter, at GDC 2017.

2018

• Celeste
• Baldi's Basics
• CrossCode
• Dead Cells
• Donut County
• Gris
• Into the Breach
• Hades

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  Night in the Woods dev team at the 2018 IGF.
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  Gameplay of Celeste

2019

• Baba Is You
• Beat Saber
• Outer Wilds
• Untitled Goose Game
• Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

2020

• Omori

Friday Night Funkin'

Friday Night Funkin' was developed for the Ludum Dare game jam. Some news outlets noted the similarities of Friday Night Funkin' to the sorts of games which were based on Adobe Flash. It's important to note that there was an increased interest in Adobe Flash games, as the time of this game's launch corresponded with the discontinuation of Flash. Notably the game was open source which attracted modders to the game. At the time of release, it was somewhat unusual for original indie titles to launch under an open source license.

2021

Poppy Playtime

is a horror game developed and published by american independent developer MOB Games. The player takes the role of a former employee of toy-making company Playtime Co., who revisits its abandoned toy factory 10 years after its staff's disappearance. The player navigates through a first-person perspective and must solve puzzles, some requiring a gadget named the GrabPack, to progress while avoiding various enemies. first game chapter is released on October 13, 2021, The second chapter is released on May 5, 2022 and the third chapter is released on January 30, 2024.

2022

Cult of the Lamb

is a single-player construction and management simulation, rogue-like action-adventure game developed by indie developer Massive Monster and published by Devolver Digital. The game was released on 11 August 2022 for macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The game follows a possessed lamb who is saved from death by a god-like stranger named "The One Who Waits", and must repay their debt by creating a loyal following in its name.

2023

Pizza Tower

Pizza Tower is a 2023 platform game created by the indie developer Tour De Pizza. It follows a pizza chef, Peppino Spaghetti, who must scale a tower to prevent the destruction of his pizzeria. Across 20 side-scrolling levels, the player increases their score by gathering collectibles and defeating enemies to build combos. At the end of each level, they activate an escape sequence and must return to the beginning within a time limit. Pizza Tower does not feature health or lives, and its difficulty depends on what the player chooses to achieve.

Intro

Open Source games are interesting from a historical point of view, because they allow the examination of a codebase and development cycle over time.

Nethack

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  Nethack received its first release in 1987.
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  Falcon's Eye, a graphical remake of Nethack from 1999.

Battle for Wesnoth

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  Battle for Wesnoth in 2003
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  Battle for Wesnoth in 2008
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  Battle for Wesnoth in 2015

Neverball

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  Neverball in 2006
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  Neverball in 2014
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  Neverball in 2019

StepMania

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  StepMania neoMAX2 in 2009
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  StepMania 5 in 2011
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  StepMania running on an arcade machine around 2011

0 A.D.

Read more about 0 A.D. in its Wikibook.

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  0 A.D. in 2015
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  0 A.D. in 2019
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  0 A.D. in 2021

BZ Flag

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  BZFlag in 2005
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  BZFlag in 2010

Super TuxKart

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  Tuxkart 0.4.0 released in 2004
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  SuperTuxKart in 0.7 2010
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  SuperTuxKart 0.8 in 2013
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  SuperTuxKart 0.9 in 2015
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  SuperTuxKart 0.9.3 Splitscreen multiplayer in 2017
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  SuperTuxKart in 2018

Cube

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  AssaultCube in 2006
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  Cube 2: Sauerbraten in 2011

Minetest

In 2011 the first early release (0.2.20110731_3) of Minetest was posted to Github.

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  Minetest in 2016
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  Minetest in 2020

Nexuiz & Xonotic

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  Nexuiz beta in 2004
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  Nexuiz in 2005
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  Nexuiz in 2006
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  Nexuiz in 2008
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  Xonotic in 2019

Other Open Source and Free Software Games

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  .kkrieger in 2004
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  Lincity NG in 2005
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  Yo Frankie! in 2008
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  Ferts on Fire in 2009
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  Warsow in 2012
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  Secret Maryo Chronicles in 2013
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  Osu! in 2019

References

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  Museum space at the Nostalgia Box in Perth, Western Australia.

Museums, Libraries, and Archives

Game specific

Europe

The Computerspiel Museum in Berlin, Germany.

• Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines in Moscow, Russia.
• Computerspielemuseum Berlin in Berlin, Germany.
• Finnish Museum of Games in Tampere, Finland.
• National Videogame Museum in Sheffield, United Kingdom.
• Video Game Museum of Rome in Italy.
• Muzeum her Cibien's Corner in Prague, Czech Republic.
• Retro Gaming Museum with branches in Iceland and Norway.

North America

• The Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.
• National Videogame Museum in Frisco, Texas.
• The University of Texas Video Game Archive in Austin, Texas.
• The Computer and Video Game Archive (CVGA) at the University of Michigan Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
• Star Worlds Arcade in De Kalb, Illinois.
• International Video Game Hall of Fame in Ottumwa, Iowa (Under development)
• Montreal Video Game Museum in Montreal, Canada.

Other

• The Nostalgia Box in Perth, Australia.
• The Retro Video Game Museum in Sydney, Australia.

Related Collections

Museums or collections of other subjects that include Computer Game or Video Game history.

Popular Culture

The Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) in Seattle, Washington.

• The MADE (Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment) in Oakland, California.
• Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne, Australia.
• Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle, Washington.
• Ray & Pat Browne Library for Popular Culture Studies in Bowling Green, Ohio - Has media related to games such as movies based on game IP, rather than games themselves.

Computing

General computing museums often include game hardware, or early computer models that were sometimes used for gaming.

• The National Museum of Computing in Bletchley Park, United Kingdom.
• The Micro Museum in Ramsgate, United Kingdom.
• Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.
• Living Computers: Museum + Labs in Seattle, Washington.
• Nexon Computer Museum in Jeju, South Korea.

Other

• The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan.
• Slovak Design Museum in Bratislava.

Threats

Minor

Battery backed RAM

Many early game cartridges use RAM to store save data. This requires a a battery to deliver power to the RAM at all times to avoid save game loss. These batteries will inevitably run out of juice, loosing the save games contained on the cartridge, and potentially causing other problems should they fail in other ways.

Ventilation

Ensuring proper ventilation to an air cooled device, and keeping it clean of dust can extend it's operative life.

Material degradation

Many computers and consoles use white ABS plastic with flame retardants that yellow over time.

Forgery

As with any work of art, or commodity, the existence of forgeries of historical video game materials makes authenticating certain materials more difficult.

Major

Defective Design

Some consoles have inherent flaws in their designs that will eventually cause them to fail, such as the power supply used by the Amstrad GX4000 or the Red Ring of Death on the original Xbox 360.

As with any modern computer, many consoles and gaming hardware and software are likely to be susceptible to time issues, and may fail or encounter unexpected behavior once certain dates are reached. Notably, many devices have software which will encounter issues on January 19, 2038.

Displays

Some consoles with early built in displays, such as the Microvision or the Game Boy, have poorly made displays that rely on ample light to work, and either rot over time or become sunburnt and become unusable.

Some display technologies, such as early OLED panels, are highly likely to burn in images over time, though this typically does not render the device unusable.

CRT displays are no longer manufactured in mass quantities, leading to shortages of replacements for arcade machines that use them. This is complicated by CRT technology having many desirable qualities for gaming not replicated in current display technologies. Some early light gun games rely on CRT technology to operate.

Arcade Batteries

Some Arcade games, such as some made by Sega or those using the Z80 based Capcom Kabuki chip, would intentionally destroy critical data should an included battery fail.

Capacitor Plauge/Failure

Older capacitors may degrade out of spec, leak fluid, or otherwise become destructive with time, though this is highly dependent on capacitor chemistry, typically affecting small electrolytic capacitors the worst and on if the device has had proper storage conditions.

Server shutdowns

Some games rely on server functions or always online DRM to run, resulting in an unplayable game once servers are decommissioned. Obtaining legal access to game server software is much more difficult than it is to acquire legal access to the end user copy of the game.

MMO games are particularly difficult to archive.

As software and games move to exclusively be distributed over the internet, preservation becomes trickier due to a lack of physical media.

Sometimes online storefronts may remove older media, despite many old games being "finished".

Deliberate removal

Sometimes a game developer will decide to pull digital games from a storefront, making downloading new copies impossible, even if the digital storefront still operates and the game date is not technically lost.

Other removal is less overt. Bulky obsolete arcade hardware is sometimes stored outside where it is degraded by the elements, though sometimes salvage of previously unpreserved materials from these units is possible.

Data loss

Often source code, development materials, and the final game product itself are not properly preserved by developers or publishers. Additionally original audio recordings of in game samples are of interest to preservationists, and are also useful for remastering projects.

Bit rot, or degradation of game media, can also cause information to become lost if no backups exists. Even when studios keep backups, it is still possible for source material to be lost through corruption.

Solutions

There are two primary approaches to video game preservation, maintaining the physical objects themselves, and maintaining the digital contents of games. Both of these approaches require different skillsets, and an individualized approach to specific items.

There have been a number of successful attempts to mend copyright law to make preservation of gaming easier without harming the ongoing industry.

Some preservationists seek out dev kits, looking for lost data, though some companies have retaliated against those who do so.

Open source projects on GitHub, including a number of games and related technologies, are preserved on digital PiqlFilm in their Arctic Code Vault located under permafrost in a former coal mine in Svalbard. This film is said to be readable until the year 3020. The film also includes instructions on how to build a reader, should it be needed. Of course this project only protects open source software that was on GitHub on the archive date. This follows the precedent of another Svalbard based archive, the Global Seed Vault, which seeks to preserve agricultural biodiversity in case of destructive events.

Preservation History

An early encyclopedia of video game history was known to exist on the French Minitel system.

Gallery

Threats

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  A Super Nintendo Entertainment System with significant oxidization.
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  A smaller amount of yellowing on a Super Famicom in storage. Proper storage can reduce oxidation.
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  Disk rot on a compact disk.
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  The internals of a Pokemon Silver cartridge. The coin cell battery can be seen in the upper right.
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  A corroded coin cell. Battery failure or corrosion can damage hardware.
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  A malfunctioning Virtual Boy eyepiece. Unique hardware can be difficult to repair.
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  Bad capacitors with leaking electrolytes.
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  A retired WoW server blade. Constantly changing games like MMORPGs are difficult to truly preserve. Even if the code and game work, the social structures within the game are very fleeting.
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  An example of progressively worse bit rot seen on a jpeg. Similar corruption can leave games unplayable.
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  A game design document for Bubble Ghost. Often development materials are lost.
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  Cathode Ray Tube displays are no longer mass produced, leading to supply issues for machines that use them.

Solutions

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  Museums can preserve and share gaming history to a wider audience.
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  The location of Svalbard (Dark Green), in relation to Norway (Light Green), and Europe (Shaded grey). A number of long term archival projects are housed here.

Official Retro Consoles

The early 2000's saw the first releases of consoles that emulated older systems with officially licensed games. The late 2010's and 2020 saw many more companies release all in one systems.

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  C64 Direct-to-TV
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  Atari Flashback
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  Atari Flashback 2
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  Nintendo Classic Mini: Family Computer
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  NES Classic Edition
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  Super NES Classic Edition
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  Playstation Classic
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  Atari Flashback Portable (2016)
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  Sega Genesis Mini
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  Atari Flashback X Deluxe
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  Atari Flashback Portable (2019)

FPGA Consoles

FPGA based consoles use reprogrammable chips to mimic other hardware, potentially allowing for more efficient or accurate emulation than pure software emulation can.

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  1chipMSX
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  C-One C64 compatible computer
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  Minimig Amiga 500 compatible computer
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  Replica1 Apple 1 compatible computer.
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  Analogue MegaSG
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  Analogue SuperNT

RetroUSB AVS

An FPGA based NES compatible system.

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Clone Consoles

Retro Bit Retro Duo Portable

A clone system that supports SNES games out of the box, and NES, Sega Genesis, and Game Boy through adapters.

Retro Bit Retro Duo

Yobo FC Twin

Combination NES and SNES compatible console.

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  FC Twin Console
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Hyperkin RetroN

NES compatible system.

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Hyperkin RetroN 5

The RetroN 5 was shown off at E3 2013.

The Hyperkin RetroN 5 is a console launched on December 10th, 2013 that runs Linux and open source emulators to play cartridges for the Famicom, NES, SNES, Genesis, Game Boy Advance systems.

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  The RetroN 5 with controller.
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Hyperkin RetroN 77

Released by 2018, the RetroN 77 plays Atari 2600 at an upscaled 720p resolution over HDMI.

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GB Boy Color

Game Boy Color clone.

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Omega MVS

Rather different from other consoles listed here, in that it's simply a Neo Geo MVS placed in a console formfactor.

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Emulation Consoles

Famicom Classic/ NES Classic

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Super Famicom Classic/ SNES Classic

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Video Converters

OSSC

The Open Source Scan Converter is an low latency upscaler to convert old signals to work on modern displays.

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Framemeister

An early upscaler for retro gaming.

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• 1v1 - One versus one. For one player to fight another player.
• 1337 - Leet or Elite. Shorthand speak in common use by gamers during the 2000's.

A

• AAA - Triple A. A game made with a large studio with a large budget.
• ACG - Refers to the subculture Anime, Comic, and Games.
• AI - Artificial Intelligence. Often shorthand to refer to a computer player.
• API - Application Programming Interface
• APM - Actions per minute. Used by competitive gamers.
• APU - AMD processors known as Accelerated Processor Units. Combines CPU and GPU on a die.
• AV - Audio Visual. Typically used to refer to signal cables or display equipment.

B

• BBC - British Broadcasting Cooperation.
• BD - Short for Blu-ray Disc. A standard for optical disks mainly used for films and console video games.

C

• C128 - Short for Commodore 128.
  • C128D - Short for Commodore 128D, a North America-only version of the computer.
• C16 - Short for Commodore 16.
• C64 - Short for Commodore 64.
  • C64C - Short for Commodore 64C.
  • C64GS - Short for Commodore 64 Games System.
• CBM - Commodore Business Machines, now known as "Commodore International".
• CIB - Complete in Box, term used by collectors.
• CD - Short for CD-ROM optical disk technology.
• CISC - Complex Instruction Set Computer.
• Co-op - Cooperative elements, typically in multiplayer games. Used in terms like Couch Co-op to refer to local multiplayer.
• CPU - Central Processing Unit
• CRT - Cathode-ray tube. Common display used before the 2000's for TV sets, computer displays and arcade machines.
• CV - ColecoVision

D

• DPS - Damage per Second. Also refers to a player role where attacking with a high damage per second is desired (To the point of letting other players handle healing, and taking damage to focus on increasing DPS).
• DVD - An optical disk. Abbreviation is disputed, but usually identified as "Digital Versatile Disc".

E

• EEPROM - Electrically erasable programmable read-only memory - Storage technology used by some early game cartridges.
• EXP - Experience Points

F

• FDD - Floppy disk drive.
• FLOPS - Floating Point Operations Per Second, a common benchmark of processing speed.
• FMV - Full Motion Video. Often used in the 1990's when a game featured prerecorded video. FMV game refers to a game that primarily or exclusively uses prerecorded videos for graphics.
• FPGA - Field Programmable Gate Array. A popular technology used by some clone consoles for accurate replication of original hardware.
• FPS - Multiple meanings. Short for Frames per Second. Also may refer to the First Person Shooter game genre.

G

• GB - Multiple meanings. Short for Game Boy when discussing consoles. Short for Great Britain when discussing releases.
  • GBP - Short for Game Boy Pocket.
  • GBC - Short for Game Boy Color.
  • GBA - Short for Game Boy Advance.
  • GBA SP - Short for Game Boy Advance SP (SP stands for Special)
• GD-ROM - Short for Gigabyte Disc Read only memory - a disk format used by Sega in the late 1990's and early 2000's.
• GG - Multiple meanings. Short for Game Gear when discussing consoles. Short for Good Game in casual chat.
• GPU - Graphics Processing Unit
• GPGPU - General Purpose GPU
• G&W - Game and Watch

H

• HDD - Hard Disk Drive
• HP - Multiple meanings. Short for Health Points. May also refer to Hewlett Packard, a computer and calculator manufacturer.

I

• IBM - International Business Machines. One of the most notable computer manufacturers since the 1930s, inventor of the PC standard in the early 1980s.
• III - Indie games with scope or funding comparable to AAA games. Also the roman numeral for 3.
• IV - Multiple meanings. Short for Intellivision. Also the roman numeral for 4.

J

• JP - Short for Japan when discussing releases.

K

• K - Kilo. Metric unit for thousand. Often seen as Kilobyte, Kilobit, etc.
• KB - Keyboard.
• KD - Kill Death ratio, especially in competitive multiplayer games. Generally a high KD is seen as the sign of a skilled player.

L

• Lag - Slang for latency, especially in online gaming.
• LCD - Liquid Crystal Display - A common display type since the inception of handheld game consoles. Became nearly universal in general displays after the 2000's.
• LED - Light Emitting Diode - Commonly used as indicator lights on consoles, and rarely as discrete parts of a large console display.
• LIN - Short for Linux, an operating system kernel.
• LOL - Multiple meanings. Often refers to laugh out loud. May also refer to the game League of Legends.
• LoZ - Short for the Legend of Zelda, either the first game or the series in general.
• LP - Let's Play. A genre of writing or video which discusses a playthrough of a game.

M

• Mac - Short for Macintosh, a computer line launched by Apple in 1984.
• MAC - Short for "media access control", a type of unique address for computer networks.
• MIPS - Two separate meanings. Short for either Millions of Instructions per Second, or the MIPS processor architecture.
• MMORPG - Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game
• MOBA - Multiplayer Online Battle Arena
• Mobo - Motherboard
• MS - Informal acronym for Microsoft.
• MUD - Multi User Dungeon. The smaller precursor to MMORPG.
• MV - Microvision

N

• N3DS - Short for Nintendo 3DS.
  • N2DS - Short for Nintendo 2DS.
• N64 - Short for Nintendo 64.
• NA - Short for North America when discussing releases.
• NDS - Short for Nintendo DS.
  • NDSi, Short for Nintendo DSi.
• NES - Short for Nintendo Entertainment System
• NIN - Short for Nintendo.
• NG - Short for NEO•GEO.
• NPC - Non Player Character
• NS - Short for Nintendo Switch.
• NSO - Nintendo Switch Online
• NX - Early codename for Nintendo Switch.

O

• OLED - Organic Light Emitting Diode. A common display type in the 2010's and on.
• OS - Multiple meanings. Can refer to Operating System or Open Source.
• OOT - Short for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

P

• PC - Multiple meanings. Personal computer, especially a computer compatible with the IBM Personal Computer (model 5150) or a computer running Microsoft Windows. Also can be used to refer to a Player Character.
• PC-88 - Short for NEC PC-8800 series computers.
• PCB - Printed Circuit Board
• PPE - Multiple meanings. Refers to a computational unit in the PS3 Cell Processor or the Xbox 360 Xenon Processor. Refers to Personal Protective Equipment, which some gaming brands sold during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• PPU - Picture Processing Unit, A GPU of sorts used on some early Nintendo consoles.
• PS - Short for PlayStation in general, may refer to PS1 specifically.
  • PS1 - Short for PlayStation 1
  • PS2 - Short for PlayStation 2
  • PS3 - Short for PlayStation 3
  • PS4 - Short for PlayStation 4
  • PS5 - Short for PlayStation 5
  • PSN - Short for PlayStation Network.
  • PSP - Short for PlayStation Portable.
  • PSX - Codename for PlayStation 1. Also a Japan-only model of PlayStation 2.
• PUBG - Short for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.

Q

• QPU - Quantum Positioning Unit, used by the Super Mario 64 speedrunning community.

R

• RISC - Reduced Instruction Set Architecture.
• RAM - Random Access Memory.
• ROM - Read Only Memory. Also slang for an amateur digital copy of a physical game.
• RPG - Multiple meanings. Generally refers to Role Playing Game. In FPS games, refers to the real life weapon - Rocket Propelled Grenade.
  • ARPG - Action Role Playing Game
  • CRPG - Computer Role Playing Game - Often western in origin
  • JRPG - Japanese Role Playing Game
  • TRPG - Tactical Role Playing Game
  • WRPG - Western Role Playing Game
• RSX - Reality Synthesizer. The GPU used on the PlayStation 3.
• RTS - Real Time Strategy. A genre of game.

S

• SMB - Super Mario Bros..
• SMS - Short for Sega Master System.
• SNES - Short for Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
• SPE - Synergetic Processing Element, used by the PlayStation 3 Cell CPU.
• SSD - Solid State Drive.

T

• TBS - Turn Based Strategy. A genre of game.
• TF - Team Fortress.
  • TFC - Team Fortress Classic.
  • TF2 - Team Fortress 2.

U

• UMD - Universal Media Disc, a portable optical disk format used by Sony.

V

• VC - Multiple meanings. Short for Venture Capital. Short for Nintendo's Virtual Console.
• VCS - Atari Video Computer System, original name of console CX-2600, later renamed "Atari 2600". Also the name of an Atari console launched in 2020.
• VCR - Short for "video cassette recorder", a device used to play and record on VHS tapes or, occasionally, also other video tapes.
• VHS - Video Home System, the most common video tape standard, also used for some very low cost video game consoles.
• VMS - Visual Memory System - Handheld game system/Sega Dreamcast Memory Card in Japan and Europe.
• VMU - Visual Memory Unit - Handheld game system/Dreamcast Memory Card in North America.
• VR - Virtual Reality

W

• WAD - Short for "Where's All the Data?", default format for Doom package files, in which mods are usually distributed.
• WIN - Short for Windows, an operating system.
• Wolf3D - Short for Wolfenstein 3D, after the game's main executable in PC versions.
• WOW - World of Warcraft.

X

• x86 - Commonly-used processor architecture designed by Intel, and used by AMD, VIA, and others. The "x" stands for a variable digit.
• x86-64 - Commonly-used extension of the x86 standard, designed by AMD, and used by Intel.
• XB - Informal acronym for Xbox.
• XBL - Xbox Live
• XBLA - Xbox Live Arcade.
• XD - Variant of LOL

Y

• Y2K - Year 2000. A feared collapse of global computing technology due to poor coding practices on the eve of the millennium.

Z

• Z80 - Short for Zilog Z80 processor.