Yes, Game Libratory = Library + Laboratory. And yes, games - meaning everything from those historical ancient emulated DOS PC games to low cost edu-tainment products to the latest PS3, XBOX 360, and Wii games… It’s really something that all our current libraries are missing, and there aren’t nearly enough (if any) great labs organizing the history of gaming as it flies by us - in such a way that people could someday check them out like microfiche and catch up on some games of the past that are no longer accessible other than to a few who snatch them up from ebay or at a garage sale! Also, imagine how much history there is in simply watching people play these various games, and seeing how the usability and interactions have evolved over time… and when you someday tell your kids, “back in my day, we used a JOYSTICK”… well you can drag them down to the Game Libratory to experience some historical gaming first hand.

So, when this brainchild of NOTCOT friends (from the pre-notcot the site even existing days), Daniel Rehn, Derek Lomas, and Jeremy Douglass, who hooked up with the Software Studies Initiative, Center for Research in Computing and the Arts (CRCA) at Calit2, UC San Diego, launched, it was literally just an idea that is quickly growing out of the tiny lounge space they received from CRCA. They have been accumulating some incredible collections from donors (and shopping on ebay) and contributing their own gaming resources… and students and researchers internationally have been eagerly joining in to explore previously unavailable research opportunities! So while the space is quickly filling up, and they’re hopefully expanding to a new home soon - i convinced Daniel to let me take a few shots of things that intrigued me, from their set up, to some of the many crazy gadgets i’d never seen before! So take a peek on the next page ~ and if you’re not sure what to do with all your games and systems, but don’t want to simply sell them off to anyone… the Game Libratory is a good home for them to take their place in gaming history!

p.s.
things to look forward to? How about across game comparisons of the ways characters die? Or comparisons of the evolution of button mashing across controllers? And don’t you think the future Game Libratory needs to have Toledano’s Video Game Faces mixed with gorgeous screenshots framed on their walls?

Tags: games - technology - video game