News Gamers Struggle to Preserve Past

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"The history of the industry is disappearing before our feet, and that's not cool," said Jason Della Rocca of the International Game Developers Association, a group for game-industry workers.

Della Rocca and other game-preservation buffs point to a number of reasons why the issue is important.

Academics are already seeking to study early games as the awakening of a potent new art form. Future developers will want to see how earlier designers approached play and mechanics -- and solved complex problems using limited technology.

Gamers, like most of those attending this weekend's confab in Vegas, will appreciate the games' simplicity and retro appeal.

"Every time I'm here on the floor of the Classic Gaming Expo, I'm transported back to the time when I was in high school and A Flock of Seagulls was playing in the background and I was playing Missile Command on a black-and-white TV set," said expo organizer Joe Santulli. "That was heaven."

But would-be preservers of classic games say they battle both time and, often, the game industry itself.

There likely will come a time when old coin-op games or consoles simply won't work -- especially since there are few institutions with museum-like resources now dedicated to preserving them.

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