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Andrew Borman

Andrew Borman

@borman.bsky.social

3.3K followers 270 following 1.1K posts

Director of Digital Preservation at The Strong National Museum of Play. Video games.

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Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · Nov 18

Today Saturday did a great piece on The Strong over the weekend. Never gets old to see it all on TV! I think it is a great introduction to what we do. www.today.com/video/inside...

Inside the museum displaying the new Toy Hall of Fame inductees

Three classic toys were inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame which is located inside The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York. NBC’s Joe Fryer reports for TODAY.

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 19h

I just feel like there’s much more we can do to give those games a chance in a way that makes sense for everyone.

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 23h

Yeah it’s a hard one to really nail down what in particular is becoming obsolete. But even then, I don’t think that needs to be the case, at least any more or less than film.

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 23h

Back to better news, there were some other fun games last night worth seeing.

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 1d

Of course, expanding audiences isn’t a bad thing, but even beyond the work of companies like Digital Eclipse, I don’t think we’ve exhausted methods of celebrating and encouraging ways of “remembering the games” and not just the IP.

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 1d

I feel like there’s much we can do to at least slow the rate of obsolescence, in whatever context he actually meant it in. We’ve seen value in old hardware, if that is the meaning. We obviously still see value in the games.

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 1d

Even with this context, I disagree that games inherently become obsolete. bsky.app/profile/eras...

Erasu @erasu.bsky.social · 1d

So this is just legitimate ragebait. The context was specifically about expanding the Nintendo IPs and the Nintendo Museum where they can see and use old hardware. Here's the question and answer

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 1d

It's certainly not going to be as easy. But playing a game is also only part of the battle.

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 1d

My hope is that this ends up being mistranslated or out of context, and we can all go back to being grumpy about everything else.

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 1d

If there is any advantage of old games, is that they aren't the same fire hazard hazard as nitrate, though not without risks. But modern games with cell phones? Is that a nitrate equivalent?

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 1d

The emulation is proof that the documentation is correct. We can't predict the future of computing, the current version of MAME probably won't work in the future as is. But the documentation is what will persist and allow for preservation long beyond the emulation itself.

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 1d

MAME is one of the greatest documentation projects of all time for that reason.

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 1d

I literally just was on a panel about game preservation in Chicago 45 minutes ago. The response is simple: not only is the characterization about games and preservation untrue, but it also dismisses the incredible work of film archivists.

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 1d

And proper version control. And metadata. And standards. And etc. It's the IT conundrum, if you do your job well, people won't think you are necessary. To all the film archivists, we recognize your work and it's importance. You make it happen.

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 1d

But only because the film industry does have extensive archives. It's still a big and complex process, but they have accepted it as being valuable.

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 1d

The arcade version is on my mental list of games to get

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 1d

But we do have the Dreamcast version at the museum!

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 1d

Alright, Carmen.

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 1d

Chicago unfortunately!

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 1d

Or what's on the other side

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 1d

Some people would be more interested in what's next to it though

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 1d

Don't think so

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 1d

We did beat this though!

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 1d

Unreleased!

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 1d

Ah well

Andrew Borman @borman.bsky.social · 1d

If we do our jobs well, there's a good chance no one will really know who we are in the future. Doing this work is an acceptance, and celebration, of that fact, in my opinion anyway.