The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) has announced plans to begin collecting Australian-made video games for archival preservation. This new initiative was officially announced for the opening of Game Masters: The Exhibition.
“This is a new frontier for archives around the world. The NFSA collection reflects the cultural diversity and breadth of experience of Australians, and it is constantly evolving just like our creative industries,” director Jan Muller said.
The Australian video game development history is long and full of memorable, even classic games. The first eight games to be collected and preserved cross all platforms, from cassette tape to mobile devices and virtual reality headsets:
- The Hobbit (Beam Software, 1982)
- Halloween Harry (Interactive Binary Illusions/Sub Zero Software, 1985/1993)
- Shadowrun (Beam Software, 1993)
- L.A. Noire (Team Bondi, 2011)
- Submerged (Uppercut Games, 2015)
- Hollow Knight (Team Cherry, 2017)
- Florence (Mountains, 2018)
- Espire 1: VR Operative (Digital Lode, 2019)
The Game Masters: The Exhibition opened at Canberra, Australia, and is open for public until 9.3.2020. The exhibition is an interactive journey through five decades of video game history, offering both a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process behind the world’s most popular characters and franchises, and a chance to play them. The exhibition is divided into three sections: Arcade Heroes, Game Changers and Indies.
More information: https://www.nfsa.gov.au/events/game-masters-exhibition
More information: https://www.nfsa.gov.au/
