The Video Game History Foundation Opens Its Digital Vault & It’s Glorious
If you’ve ever wished for a time machine to explore gaming’s past, the Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) has the next best thing. As promised, the non-profit has flung open the virtual doors to its digital library, now available in early access—assuming the website doesn’t buckle under the sheer weight of nostalgia-seekers crashing the servers.
This treasure trove isn’t just some cobbled-together fan archive; it’s a meticulously curated collection of over 30,000 files, including more than 1,500 out-of-print magazines that are fully text-searchable. That’s right—you can finally look up every absurd ‘90s gaming rumour without digging through yellowed pages in your parents’ attic.
The early access version already boasts some absolute gems, including:
- A stack of “guidebooks and ephemera” from the first 12 years of E3, which is perfect for reminiscing about the days when the event actually mattered.
- An international collection of FromSoftware promotional material, generously donated with the studio’s blessing, is a rare display of warmth from the minds behind Dark Souls.
- We have 100 CD-ROMs worth of artwork and press releases from GamePro magazine, ensuring that those gaudy ‘90s layouts will never be forgotten.
- Over 100 hours of behind-the-scenes footage from the making of the Myst series, for anyone curious about how pre-rendered islands turned into an entire genre.
- The ‘Mark Flitman papers’—a goldmine of documents from his days at Konami, Acclaim, Atari, and other legendary studios, offering a peek behind the curtain of gaming’s formative years.
The VGHF, founded in 2017 by historian and game preservationist Frank Cifaldi, has spent years hoarding and digitising gaming history. Now, it’s inviting the world to take a peek. Of course, this massive undertaking doesn’t fund itself; the foundation relies on donations to keep the archive growing.
“Thanks to your support, we’ve built a powerful tool for video game history research,” the VGHF said last week. “We can’t wait for you to get your first look at what we’ve been up to.”
So, if you’re eager to relive gaming’s past or just want to browse through a stack of GamePro covers without digging through a flea market, the VGHF digital library is ready—just be patient with those timeouts.
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