Video Games in Japan : Past, Present and Future – The Past : Game Over ? – How to preserve Video Game Culture and why it is important to do so

Japan is known as a leading country in the culture of Video Games, but it was only in May 2010 that the Agency for Cultural Affairs in Japan started making preparations for a Video Game archive, in association with the National Diet Library. These developments raise some important questions - given that there has been much criticism of Video Games as potentially harmful things, some people would wish to ask 'Why we should archive them?'. Have Video Games in fact taken root in Japanese and other societies to such an extent that they need to be recognised as a form of culture that is something approaching equivalent to Cinema or Literature? More practically, how can an archive of Video Game culture be made and what should be archived? Consoles? Softwares? Game Magazines? Finally, how should the Video Games industry, government and academia work together within this archiving project?

The Japan Foundation have invited Prof Akira Baba from the University of Tokyo - the chairperson of the committee on Video Games within the Media art archiving project of the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs - to take part in a lecture event alongside Prof James Newman from the University of Bath, who is leading a similar initiative here in the UK. They will examine the current situation and issues that are arising from these efforts to create Video Game Archives in Japan and in the UK.

There will be a prize-draw during the evening to win tickets to attend the Hyper Japan event, which takes place from 24th-26th February.

This event has been supported by ANA.