The Video Game History Foundation will open a digital version of its research library

The Video Game History Foundation set up shop back in 2017 and offers a gigantic collection of gaming-related archival materials, from magazines to art books and even source code. Previously, you’d have to make the trek to Oakland, California to peruse the archive, but that changes soon. The VGHF just announced a digital library that will offer remote access.

These tools will be made available to researchers, academics and garden-variety gaming enthusiasts like the rest of us. The library will offer access to the collection “for free from anywhere in the world.” There’s a video that shows the archive in action, hosted by library director Phil Salvador.

The VGHF has an eventual goal of digitizing the entire archive, but this is a massive undertaking. It’ll be a while before the whole collection is digitized, as this stuff takes time. Just ask any museum curator. The organization has already been at it for two years, but some of that was spent designing the search technology and interface platform. The library is expected to launch sometime next year and will likely release with a sampling of the catalog. 

Once completed, however, …read more