The Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) has just launched Early Access to its digital library, a unique resource for journalists, YouTubers and video game enthusiasts. This ambitious project aims to preserve and make accessible a wide variety of historical documents related to the video games industry.

Since its creation in 2017, the Video Game History Foundation has been working to digitise and archive magazines, press kits, CD-ROMs, videos and other essential documents, which are often difficult to access or threatened with disappearance. Thanks to this new platform, users can now explore these resources freely via an advanced search, making it possible to find games, publishers or even game styles.

From its launch, the library offers six major collections, including :

• The guides and documents for the first twelve editions of E3.
• An exclusive collection of FromSoftware promotional material.
• Over 100 CD-ROMs of artwork and press releases from the GamePro archives.
• Over 100 hours of behind-the-scenes footage of Cyan's development of Myst.
• The archives of Mark Flitman, former producer at Konami and Acclaim.
• A selection of rare magazines and other period media.

For the time being, all the documents are in English. It is not yet certain that French-language archives will be added to the collection, but we can remain optimistic in view of the many resources held by certain enthusiasts, notably Recalbox users, and the French footprint in the world of video games.

Phil Salvador, who initiated the project, is urging archive holders to get in touch with the Video Game History Foundation:

"On the internet, magazines often tend to be either a bunch of PDFs on a torrent, or a very large collection that is only available in person or is locked away. While we have a lot of respect for all those who make documents available, we want to give researchers a structure. I hope that this will encourage people who have access to rare and interesting documents to give priority to open access and to find a way of organising it so that it is useful to users." He saids for Time Extension.

Access to this library is free, but those who wish to support the project and ensure its development can do so via Patreon.

With this initiative, the Video Game History Foundation hopes to encourage the preservation of videogame heritage and encourage studios and collectors to share their archives with the community.

Photos: Video Game History Foundation