Those looking for signs of games breaking into mainstream acceptance have one more landmark event to celebrate today. The Calgary Herald reports that the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada will be adding a video game collection to its research library. The new collection aims to open in March 2011, and will include classic Atari games alongside significant PC releases and even modern Wii titles. The report states that it will work like any other piece in the library, allowing students to check out games for research or play them in closed media rooms.
Jerremie Clyde, a university librarian, aims to make the games another piece of accepted artistic media like film. “We’re getting a generation of faculty and graduate students who grew up with video games as part of their media landscape,” said Clyde. “There’s a whole new generation of academics coming in who have been playing video games their whole life.”
For only half a percent of the library’s collection budget, the collection will be used for a variety of studies, including easier entry into the games industry for interested graduates. “Video games are a fairly sophisticated media form,” Clyde said, “so people will be treating them the same as books or film documentaries. I’m surprised it hasn’t happened sooner.”
