Shopping Guide
On Jan. 18, 2013, a video game event was held at Shigureden in Arashiyama, Kyoto. The event, called the “International Conference for Game Preservation”, was sponsored by the Ritsumeikan University Center for Game Studies and the Consortium for Information Society in Kyoto. The conference featured a gathering of minds from Japan, America, and Great Britain tackling the issue of preserving video games. Themed around “video games and the culture that surrounds them”, the conference discussed the cultural significance of preserving games and their economic impact on the world. The event was free but was limited to the first 100 people.
In recent years, the cultural side of anime, manga, and games both in pop culture and as their own subculture has been gaining attention. Works from these categories being adopted into art galleries and museums is no rarity. However, at the same time that these subcultures are basking in the spotlight, an issue of concern has surfaced. That issue being that up until now, nothing has been done to preserve these subcultures. As such, past works, raw data, and documents are being rapidly lost.
This is especially evident in the realm of games, where appropriate hardware is needed for different software. A project to archive games is currently being implemented in Japan to combat this growing concern. The project is a joint effort by the Sangakukan Renkei Project and the Game Archive Project. The project is also actively supported by the Ritsumeikan University Center for Game Studies. The “International Conference for Game Preservation” is but one step in the plan to preserve game culture.
Conference Details:
http://www.rcgs.jp/ (Japanese)
Source:
http://animeanime.jp/article/2012/12/24/12487.html (Japanese)
