The Video Recreation Historical past Basis (VGHF), nonprofit group devoted to the preservation and celebration of the historical past of video video games, has formally launched the VGHF Digital Library.
The archive is at present in early entry and open to anybody within the research of video recreation historical past without cost at library.gamehistory.org. You’ll be able to take a look at the launch video on YouTube.
Researchers, players and most people may have entry to greater than 30,000 curated recordsdata (with tons extra to come back) of trade ephemera straight from the VGHF’s bodily assortment, together with greater than 1500 full-text searchable out-of-print video recreation magazines, never-before-seen recreation growth property, art work, promotional supplies, and extra gaming relics.
That makes it one of many largest repositories of recreation trade historical past on the earth. Anybody with a necessity or curiosity for studying extra about how gaming has advanced is inspired to bookmark and entry the wealth of knowledge and distinctive bodily assertion items spanning greater than 50 years.
“We’ve been engaged on this challenge since we based the Video Recreation Historical past Basis in 2017, so we’re extraordinarily proud to start out offering entry to our digital library and proceed our mission to make video recreation historical past accessible to anybody,” mentioned Frank Cifaldi, founding father of the Video Recreation Historical past Basis, in an announcement. “We imagine that with the precise instruments, anybody is usually a video recreation historian, and we are able to’t wait to see what new tales our archive conjures up. We additionally hope this conjures up these within the video recreation trade to think about the significance of preserving their work and contributing to initiatives like ours.”
The VGHF Library is designed as a singular vacation spot and analysis device, permitting customers to seek for particular video games, authors, publishers, and different metadata throughout public and beforehand inner supplies.
It looks as if a really attention-grabbing place the place recreation followers might spend hours going by the bodily and digital archives. You’ll be able to test it out:
- Wish to discover a chronological record of mentions of your favourite recreation?
- See what designers used for reference when designing basic video games primarily based on properties like Batman, Sonic the Hedgehog, the Myst sequence, and extra?
- Search by basic magazines akin to Recreation Informer, GamePro, Subsequent Technology, PSM and extra?
- Or possibly dig into video footage from the present flooring of E3 2000?
The VGHF Library additionally hosts extra difficult digital supplies, like classic artwork property and knowledge despatched to magazines to be used of their publications, or viewing web sites and displays as they had been initially seen.
Different highlights of the VGHF Library embrace:
- Guidebooks and ephemera from recreation occasions, together with searchable directories and maps from the primary 12 years of the Digital Leisure Expo (E3).
- An in depth worldwide assortment of From Software program promotional supplies, collected by citizen archivist Kris Urquhart, with a blessing from FromSoftware to donate them to the library.
- 100 CDs of artwork and press releases from GamePro’s journal archive.
- Over 100 hours of footage from the manufacturing of the Myst sequence, together with never-before-seen interviews with the Cyan workforce.
- The Mark Flitman papers, a treasure trove of paperwork collected over the course of Flitman’s profession at video recreation publishers like Konami, Acclaim, Atari, and extra.
“On the Video Recreation Historical past Basis, we predict one of the best ways to review recreation historical past is to have entry to the uncooked supplies,” mentioned Phil Salvador, library director on the VGHF, in an announcement. “Our imaginative and prescient has all the time been to open our collections to everybody, whoever and wherever you’re, and after years of labor, as we speak we’re taking step one in the direction of that open digital future. We sincerely assume this device goes to vary how individuals research video recreation historical past. We can’t wait to see what historians, researchers, authors, YouTubers, followers, and everybody in-between will uncover.”
The VGHF Library is a strong, one-of-a-kind useful resource, and its devoted workforce is dedicated to repeatedly updating the options and providing for years to come back. Neighborhood members can observe the basis on BlueSky, observe the weblog, or gamehistory.org. Recreation builders who want to contribute their supplies to the library can attain out to information@gamehistory.org.
The inspiration is a 501(c)3 non-profit group, based in 2017 by gaming veteran Frank Cifaldi. A former recreation journalist, Cifaldi began the VGHF with a bodily area in Emeryville, California and has continued to construct extra assets together with the Digital Library which launched in January 2025.
