Help save videogames from extinction News • News • Eurogamer.net

And choose which survive.

The newly-formed National Videogame Archive wants your help deciding which old videogames to save and present to future generations as historical and cultural landmarks.

This Save the Videogame campaign launches at Nottingham's GameCity Three festival, which takes place next week, from 30th October to 1st November.

Here, revellers will be invited to star in short video clips pledging support for their favourite games. Some developers have already done so on the Save the Videogame website, and a showreel of theirs and other industry pledges will be shown on the day.

Plus, there's loads of other stuff to do at GameCity, and it falls conveniently after the Eurogamer Expo.

The National Videogame Archive itself, formed in September, aims to collect any and all old game paraphernalia (as well as the games themselves), including box art, instruction manuals, fan art, walkthroughs, cosplay, superplay performances, speedruns, mods and more.

The NVA hopes we don't make the same mistakes that led to the loss of so many early examples of film, TV and music.

My name is Eurogamer, and I'm pledging my support to Save the Videogame.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

Comments (44) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

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Triggerhappytel #1 3 years ago

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Well, it would obviously have to be a proper classic like Super Mario Bros., although my first thought was The Adventures of Alundra, because I love it and wish it had got more attention.
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Cappy #2 3 years ago

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Some early titles have already been lost though, you actually have 'filthy' pirates to thank for helping to preserve some games.
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layleeloo #3 3 years ago

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PONG/PANG. Miner 2049er. Bristles.
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Byzanite #4 3 years ago

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Hardly think video games are going to become extinct. Even the very early ones enjoy a retro following.

Its more like a "All times greatest (retro) game debate".
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optimusprym8 #5 3 years ago

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ET?
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Thunderbolt #6 3 years ago

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Well only a select few games are worth saving, as they tend to age very badly. Whereas Film and Music has a more timeless appeal IMO

And those worthy will have been already collected in some or other retro package
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Alshie #7 3 years ago

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Surely the point of a digital medium is that you can preserve all of them?
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louyfitz #8 3 years ago

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modernish but goldeneye on the N64 FTW!!!!!!
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Bulbatron #9 3 years ago

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The Repton series on the BBC Micro. Great games.

Edited by 1 at 22/10/08 @ 14:42
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penhalion #10 3 years ago

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Everything infocom
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lambtron #11 3 years ago

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Hmm. I can think of a few I'd like to forget ever existed .
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PearOfAnguish #12 3 years ago

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Er, can't we just save all games?
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RexRunti #13 3 years ago

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Wizball and other Ocean classics (the only reason pac man et al are still around is because their owning companies still exist)
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Sir_TimAlot #14 3 years ago

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Psycho Fox
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optimusprym8 #15 3 years ago

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are they going to include the consoles to play them on as well?
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Mudo #16 3 years ago

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I am planning to start a rival group with the express aim of destroying old videogames
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madgerald Verified Studio Head of PR & Marketing, Colossal Games LTD #17 3 years ago

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@optimusprym8
Damn, that what the first game that popped into my head.
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HolyJebus #18 3 years ago

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Do I choose the originators or the best?

Super Mario Bros / Super Mario World
Wolfenstein / Half Life
Tetris / ehhhhh Tetris
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Darkjinxter #19 3 years ago

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Save them all.
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OnlyMe #20 3 years ago

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<a href="http://www.softpres.org /games
">http://www.softpres.org /games
</a>

There's already humoungous list of preserved Amiga games, and by preserved, I mean exact copies down to every little bit and piece of code. These are known as .ipf files, and among many Amiga users they're also called CAPS, short for Classic Amiga Preservation Society which SPS was called before the namechange.

Amiga owners with original games all around the world have contributed to this project, simply by "dumping" disk-images with a unique program made by SPS. Before you can do that, though, you'll have to pass a certain diskdrive test, to see if they're properly aligned and stuff. I myself has dumped plenty of games from my original collection, and I know that I and many others have bought a few Amiga games from ebay for the sole purpose of supporting the SPS project.

This in turn has also made the list of WHDload games grow drastically the last few years (since they need an exact copy of the game to write the install). More about WHDload here: <a href="http://www.whdload.de
">http://www.whdload.de
</a>

The SPS are also completely objective when it comes to games... even universally accepted crap games gets preserved. They're aiming to preserve every single game ever created for the Amiga, regardless of quality or value. This project has also helped out and can help out developers who have lost the masters forever, as these IPFs are basically all masters, and not purely copies.

Edited by 1 at 22/10/08 @ 15:06
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Cappy #21 3 years ago

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Looks like I had an Amiga game or two on the SPS wanted list, sadly I think they were chucked out.
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Eraysor #22 3 years ago

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Genius idea.
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hello_fi #23 3 years ago

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Gears of War 2 should be the first game on this list
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LazyDan #24 3 years ago

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Dizzy games, Rainbow Islands, Skool Daze
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zoidberg #25 3 years ago

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Jill Of The Jungle!
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kangarootoo #26 3 years ago

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Maybe I am misunderstanding the concept behind this, but in this modern age of the internet pretty much everything is saved by the very fact that distribution is trivial. There is no reason to ever lose another episode of Dr Who (unfortunately) because someone somewhere is bound to have a copy.

Or is the idea that an actual DVD gets stored somewhere? Does it matter whether the game is in its original box? I need clarification (and I can't be bothered to seek it out for myself).
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JohnnyWashnGo #27 3 years ago

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Save each and every one of them - they are, after all, works of art.

Ideally, every company should open source every game that they have ever made and put the code into an online sunversion repository, along with the build scripts to recreate them from scratch
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Vin #28 3 years ago

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Golden idea.

Every one of you should sign up.
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Xerx3s #29 3 years ago

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mobygames.com

No need for this.
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rumrum4444 #30 3 years ago

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Target renegade !!

.
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Ninja_Tino #31 3 years ago

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The Legend of Zelda. This is pretty silly. The list is huge.
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gallow #32 3 years ago

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Everything by the Gollop brothers.
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SeesThroughAll #33 3 years ago

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Want to save videogames?

Don't buy a Wii then.

/hides
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neilka #34 3 years ago

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My Pet Dolphin 2
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oxymoron #35 3 years ago

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Will Rock!
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Stuz359 #36 3 years ago

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Postal. Nah just kidding
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Barry619 #37 3 years ago

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Broken Sword!
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videogangs #38 3 years ago

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The Repton series on the BBC Micro. Great games.

__________

Bloody hell i had a copy of repton, completely forgot about that one lol.
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Olemak #39 3 years ago

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Will they include savegames?

System Shock, the original, for me.
Oh and Syndicate. And Lemmings, heh.
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wayneh #40 3 years ago

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Elite an absolute classic
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SpyroViper #41 3 years ago

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I do hope the only games that will be saved are GOOD retro games. Super Mario bros, Sonic The Hedgehog, COD4, etc would be good choices.

Just don't save the newer games that are absolute pants, Tabula Rasa for instance was a load of c**k.
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kangarootoo #42 3 years ago

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I second Broken Sword.

All the Monkey Island and LA Indiana Jones games, obviously. You could probably chuck Loom in the same sack too.

That Hunter game on the Amiga (3D sandbox gaming about 10 years before GTS3 came along... AND it had a hovercraft).

And Rupert and the Ice Castle on the C64... errrrr.... I mean.... Zak Gunship and the Tits of Doom. Yeah, thats what I meant to say. Ahaha ha hmm.
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ChrisOTR #43 3 years ago

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Serious answer... Save the early Ultimas! Seminal.

Even more serious answer... Don't worry about saving old games - collectors will see to that. It's the recent DRMed discs/games you want to worry about - they'll work fine years after the companies that made them go under. OH NO, WAIT! THEY'LL BE USELESS. And if the Jetsons decide to circumvent the DRM, they'll be criminals (in the US, at least...)

Oh, and yes to System Shock (1, not 2).

Edited by 2 at 23/10/08 @ 10:54
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canIdoyabombsforya #44 3 years ago

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With some of the very rare and unique old shit that turns up from 100s of years ago, Im not too worried about video games getting preserved. More and more games are turning up hence ebay prices dropping over the years, I remember so called rare Amiga games going for �20 in 2002, now they're two a penny.
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p00ntang #45 3 years ago

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Bruce Lee and Thrust for the commodore 64
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