We have some news that we would like to share. We at the Game Preservation Society work every day to preserve endangered data. But recently there has been some effort put into the renewing our website so we can provide access to people around the world.

Preservation work is very plain, and we have received feedback from many, saying that they don’t really know what we are doing and what sort of organization we are. To solve that, we and our volunteer staff have given our website a makeover so that it can serve as the front desk for our organization, allowing people from all over the world to participate in our efforts.

We focused on not just how it looks and how easy it is to navigate, but also the number of languages (currently 5), to allow access for as many people as possible. Furthermore, we have optimized viewing on mobile devices as well as strengthening security so that anyone can donate with ease and without risk. Donation by credit cards has also been implemented due to high demand.

You can now check out what we have been up to recently, or read past articles from the homepage, so you can have a better idea of what you are supporting if you decide to do so.

A new year is upon us here at the Game Preservation Society, thanks in no small part to our patrons’ constant support.

It’s been six years since we started our organization. In that time, we’ve remained steadfast in our focus of archiving video games as cultural history so that the medium’s past won’t be lost to future generations. The work is by no means easy, but our dedication is paying off dividends. Last year saw us not only receive media attention for our efforts, but we also received lots of support and help with our activities, for which we’re extremely grateful.

Preparations are underway to properly unveil our archive to the public, much of it dedicated to 1980’s Japanese PC games, and it’s my hope that we’ll be able to do so sometime this year. As I write this, we’re working on organizing a huge trove of archival materials and creating an interface that’ll enable everyone to access those items in an easy and intuitive manner. Continued management of archival materials, as well as maintaining quality control of preserved materials are also expected to remain a difficult, but critical part of our work.

Nevertheless, it’s worth reiterating that we’re not doing this simply out of pure nostalgia that we have for older Japanese games. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Instead, our work at the Game Preservation Society is intended to help fuel legitimate research into game history and hopefully help bring about its inception as a legitimate academic field in the future. We therefore consider it nothing less than our very duty to be able to preserve these primary sources and share access to them with the public so that their place in history won’t be forgotten.

With everybody’s help, I’m confident that vision can be realized, but in the meantime, there are concrete steps that we should take along the way to ensure we reach that point. For those of you already working with us as our supporters, keep trying to think of ways that you, as an individual can help to preserve games, their history, and their culture, as we start another year at the Game Preservation Society. One important way you can always help is by spreading awareness and information about our society and what we do. There are always more people that can be reached and your help in those efforts is always greatly appreciated.

Indeed, the Game Preservation Society is what it is today thanks the generous help of many talented individuals. Your contributions allow us to achieve many things. Beyond keeping us supplied in our preservation and archival work, your contributions ensure we’re properly equipped and logistically prepared to negotiate with government bodies and ultimately make this project grow bigger and even better as time goes on.

Having said that, for those of you who understand the importance of our work and wish to help out financially, you may make a contribution at the following address:

https://www.gamepres.org/en/support/

Finally, a 30 minute documentary about our efforts was released in English last year in conjunction with NHK World. For those of you who are interested in learning more about what we do in our day-to-day work, especially in terms of how we handle and process games, our work environment, and our archival space, you can view the documentary at the link below.

https://www.gamepres.org/en/media/

I look forward to working with you over the course of 2017 to help keep Japanese video game history and culture alive. May this year prove to be a good, productive one for us all.

Thanks for reading,

Joseph Redon

Translated by Thomas James