第1884期:Group Aims to Save ‘Critically Endangered’ Video Games

A non-profit group that studies the history of video games estimates that about 87 percent of classic games have been lost over time. The estimate was recently published in a study by the Video Game History Foundation. The foundation aims to “preserve, celebrate and teach” the history of video games. It also leads public events to raise awareness about historical classic games. The study suggests most classic video games are currently completely unavailable to people who want to buy them. This makes such games “critically endangered,” the organization said.

一个研究视频游戏历史的非营利组织估计，随着时间的推移，大约 87% 的经典游戏已经丢失。这一估计最近发表在视频游戏历史基金会的一项研究中。 该基金会旨在“保护、庆祝和传授”电子游戏的历史。 它还举办公共活动来提高人们对历史经典游戏的认识。研究表明，大多数经典视频游戏目前完全无法供想要购买的人购买。 该组织表示，这使得此类游戏“极度濒危”。

Other areas of pop culture – such as films, books and music – faced similar problems. But it is still easy to find those products in stores or on the internet. For example, there are many online video services that show classic movies. And major music services like Apple Music, Google Play, Pandora and Spotify offer huge collections of old music favorites. It is much harder, however, to find places that sell classic video games. For the study, the Video Game History Foundation examined the availability of all video games released before 2010. That is around the time game makers began to sell their products digitally. Earlier than 2010, game makers usually sold physical copies of games.

流行文化的其他领域——例如电影、书籍和音乐——也面临着类似的问题。 但在商店或互联网上仍然很容易找到这些产品。 例如，有许多播放经典电影的在线视频服务。 Apple Music、Google Play、Pandora 和 Spotify 等主要音乐服务提供了大量的旧音乐收藏。然而，找到销售经典视频游戏的地方要困难得多。 在这项研究中，视频游戏历史基金会检查了 2010 年之前发布的所有视频游戏的可用性。那是游戏制造商开始以数字方式销售其产品的时间。 2010年之前，游戏厂商通常销售游戏的实体副本。

The non-profit group says it used a list of 1,500 video games provided by the online information website MobyGames. The research showed that just 13 percent of those games are currently available to buy in the marketplace. The foundation noted that the only classic games currently widely available are ones that have been re-released. This means fans of popular classic video games like Super Mario Bros., Pac-Man and Donkey Kong – which were popular in the 1980s – can still be purchased. But hundreds of others cannot.

该非营利组织表示，它使用了在线信息网站 MobyGames 提供的 1,500 款视频游戏列表。 研究表明，目前这些游戏中只有 13% 可以在市场上购买。该基金会指出，目前唯一广泛使用的经典游戏是重新发行的游戏。 这意味着 20 世纪 80 年代流行的《超级马里奥兄弟》、《吃豆人》和《大金刚》等流行经典视频游戏的粉丝仍然可以购买。 但还有数百人不能。

Researchers involved in the study identified the ways fans can currently get classic games. These include searching for and buying collectible games and old hardware, called consoles. People can also travel to libraries that might lend classic games. In addition, some classic games can be downloaded online, but this method might violate copyright laws. In a statement, the Video Game History Foundation states that “anyone should be able to easily explore, research and play classic video games” in the same way they can enjoy classic books, music and movies.

参与这项研究的研究人员确定了粉丝目前获得经典游戏的方式。 其中包括搜索和购买可收藏的游戏和旧硬件（称为游戏机）。 人们还可以前往可能借阅经典游戏的图书馆。 此外，一些经典游戏可以在线下载，但这种方法可能违反版权法。视频游戏历史基金会在一份声明中表示，“任何人都应该能够轻松探索、研究和玩经典视频游戏”，就像享受经典书籍、音乐和电影一样。