Here's another interesting but entirely random press release we got a copy of the other day, and it's about game preservation, yay:

"Computer games have commonly been thought of as entirely disposable objects, but a Victoria University researcher says that they are in fact an important part of New Zealand's visual cultural history. Dr Melanie Swalwell, a Lecturer in the School of English, Film, Theatre, & Media Studies, has published her research findings in a unique form in the online journal Vectors: Journal of Culture and Technology in a Dynamic Vernacular."

Unfortunately, we've found that the 'part game and part exploration' is entirely confusing, but apparently, you can "hear excerpts from interviews, see photographs taken during the course of her research, and access historic advertising, news stories and photographs from the "Golden Age" of New Zealand videogaming."

Particularly interesting, though: "Due in part to strict import licensing restrictions which made it difficult to import videogames in the early years, people designed and built their own systems, locally. Consoles like the Sportronic, the Fountain Programmable Video System, and the entirely New Zealand-made arcade game "Malzak", are unique internationally. These were home-grown creations, New Zealand's answer to Atari, if you like." Dude, Malzak! Excellent. Here's another URL to access the exhibit, and here's the original release.