Collecting and Preserving Videogames and Their Related Materials: A Review of Current Practice, Game-Related Archives and Research Projects

Abstract: This paper reviews the major methods and theories regarding the preservation of new media artifacts such as videogames, and argues for the importance of collecting and coming to a better understanding of videogame artifacts of creation, which will help build a more detailed understanding of the essential qualities of these culturally significant artifacts. We will also review the major videogame collections in the United States, Europe and Japan to give an idea of the current state of videogame archives, and argue for a fuller, more comprehensive coverage of these materials in institutional repositories.