#preservation
#preservation
by Omar (@neo_graphyte)
Konami has announced the cancellation of Silent Hills, the ephemeral new entry in their horror franchise. With it came the takedown of P.T. from the Playstation Store, the removal of the ability to redownload the game for previous owners, and blowback against users attempting to sell PS4s with copies of the game on eBay.
Recently, NBA2K14 had its servers taken down by its publisher. While this is standard business practice for older games, especially sports titles, this one was especially notable because 2K14 was built around online play. Not only were multiplayer options removed, but players’ career modes, characters and single player progress was wiped as well.
In April 2015, the Entertainment Software Association declared that attempts to preserve abandoned games, even by archivists or museums, was illegal, calling it too close to piracy or hacking.
Digital worlds are disappearing. Our history is being erased.