This time on Bite-Sized Game History… Pong takes flight, Mother 3’s hype train leaves the station, and Nintendo’s battle with ROM hosting sites is yet another blow to game preservation.
There are a lot of great video game historians on Twitter, and they manage to unearth some amazing artifacts in 280 characters or less. Video Game Canon’s newest column, Bite-Sized Game History, will aim to collect some of the best stuff I find in my timeline.
This time on Best-Sized Game History… Pong takes flight, Mother 3‘s hype train leaves the station, and Nintendo’s battle with ROM hosting sites is yet another blow to game preservation.
When it first began, the Internet Archive collected millions of webpages in an effort to create an historical map charting the growth of the World Wide Web.
More recently, they’ve become just as well known for their massive digitization projects that provide in-browser access to games and software previously released for consoles such as the Atari 2600, the Odyssey 2, and the Sega Genesis, as well as computer platforms like MS-DOS and Windows 3.1.
But today, the Internet Archive may have outdone itself with the launch of the Apple Macintosh Software Library.
Players can transport themselves back to the 80s with the Apple Macintosh Software Library, and many of us will be able to relive our school days with the system’s monochromatic GUI. The Apple Macintosh Software Library currently offers dozens of options for in-browser play including fan favorites such as Lode Runner, Brickles, and Dark Castle.
If you’re interested in learning more about this software collection, Jason Scott of the Internet Archive has published a nice overview at the Internet Archive Blog.
