The Brits have opened a video game historical archive at the National Media Museum in Bradford.  This is a Good Thing.

The nature of our industry has made it far too easy for us to “fire and forget” products in the past with the result being the loss of awareness of the history of great games that have been released over the years. Furtive and legally difficult efforts have been made to preserve the availability of so-called “abandonware” and the success of handheld devices has given added life to older games that get ported to things like the DS, but even then all that’s being saved is the data.

What makes efforts like this archive helpful is the addition of context.

Without understanding where something came from or why it looks, feels and behaves the way it does makes it hard to appreciate the significance of many older games. How can you explain the significance of text-based MUDs to a kid whose first online gaming experience was a graphically intensive shooter on XBox Live? You need a narrative. What was the world like when these games came out? What sort of impact did it have on players? On developers? On future game makers?

People tend to try and compare what we do to movies, which I don’t think is correct. We’re a lot more like music. I was talking with Barnett a few days ago and he mentioned something that struck me as very true. Anyone who loves games – as with people who love music – almost certainly has a “season” in their past where that love was first established and fortified. What you experienced during that “season” is lodged forever in a priveleged part of your mind and psyche and – while you’ll continue to seek out and enjoy new games (or music) for the rest of your life – you’ll always have a disproportionate affection for the things you LOVED during that specific time in your life.

For most of us, that happens when we’re young. I distinctly remember rushing over to my best friend’s house in the Winter of 1993 to try and grab DOOM off of the U. Madison FTP server the day it was officially released. And then, of course, failing to do so and desperately trying to get onto a local BBS that had it available. I have fond memories of weekends spent playing through old Sierra adventure games with my friends – taking turns at the keyboard while the rest of the group shouted suggestions and demands. I remember playing the original Civilization for the first time, then losing the next six months of my life to it. I’ve enjoyed hundreds – maybe even thousands – of games since then, but the games I played in those formative years mean the most to me on a core, emotional level.

It’s hard to communicate what old games meant to people simply by porting them to a phone. You need to offer the human side of it as well to capture the full narrative and history of where we as an industry came from. I hope we see more of this sort of thing in the years to come because the work of the early generations of game developers deserves to be preserved and remembered not simply in screenshots and emulation, but also in stories and in the collective consciousness of new generations of gamers.

So, in a fit of lunacy, I decided to opt out of my standard costume of “zombie wearing whatever Josh had on at work that day” this year.  Instead, I’m going as a medieval Plague Doctor. I figure it’s a pretty “Warhammery” sort of costume already, but I’m going to ramp that up with a belt full of random totems and potions and such (so far, I’ve got a cross made of “Sigmar’s Bones” and a wax-sealed jar with a witch’s toe inside… oh, and a dead rat).

This is the image I’m working off of:

It gets REALLY hot in the mask (and I may want to let the paint dry a bit more before trying it on again… fuuumes…), but I’m pleased with how it worked out.

The hat’s not quite right, but I think the floppy look of it is somewhat creepier. I don’t like how bunchy the robe is, so I’m going to look into getting a 5′x5′ square of leather (or pleather or some such) to make a bib/cassock type deal. I need to do something with my hands also. Probably weird gloves and skull rings or some such.

Anywho, I’ve got two days to finish the damn thing for use at Paul’s party. Pictures of the final deal to follow at some point.

Heads up, you readerish types – this month’s issue of Massive Gamer is chocked full of WAR.

They’re a fairly new publication put together by a great, energetic team that’s always fun to talk to.  So, if you haven’t checked them out yet, now’s a great time to start!

Added bonus: They have possibly the handsome-ist picture of the Hickman that’s ever been printed.

Barnett’s been getting us all to try out “World of Goo” recently.  It’s an inspired, joyful little thing that’s definitely MORE than worth your time.  The demo is tiny and you get a glorious array of weird and wonderful levels in it, so you should take some time to check it out.

And if you like it, you need to drop a few bucks and buy the full version.  Cool, indy games need love.  Lots of love.

That is all.

Apparently, the rumors of public-access to E3 ’09 were false.   

Instead, the show will be bigger than last year, but smaller by a full order of magnitude than when the event mattered.  And with no access for the general public. 

I can’t say I understand this decision at all.