The Internet Archive Launches Its Console Living Room
The Internet Archive - known for the development of The Wayback Machine - this week revealed another initiative designed to ensure that we don’t forget the past. It’s known as the “Console Living Room,” and it’s designed to remind us all of an era when eight-bit games first made the transition from the cabinet to the couch. It was an age before Steam, before Cloud Computing, before MMORPGs, and, most importantly, before the Console Crash of the 80s.
“For a generation of children, the most exciting part of a Christmas morning was discovering a large box under the tree, ripping it apart, and looking at an exciting, colorful box promising endless video games. At home! Right in your living room!” explains Jason Scott of the Internet Archive.
Such a concept seems novel to modern-day gamers, who dwell in a games industry which is all about digital downloads. Platforms like Steam, Origin, Xbox Live, and the PlayStation Network are quickly surpassing brick-and-mortar stores as the primary source of digital entertainment, while the idea of a game that can be played in the living room is old hat. Decades ago, this definitely wasn’t the case.