Salvador's intro video reveals efforts to digitize obscure video game history, highlighting Pretzel Pete, a nearly forgotten 3D game noted in E3 1999 and PC Gamer. Archival challenges were tackled through a community effort for high-quality scans and the development of a new text-recognition tool by VGHF. This tool allows for seamless searching across magazines despite complex layouts. However, access to playable games is still restricted by DMCA, although organizations like VGHF compete to change these copyright limitations every few years.
Getting this kind of obscure information into a digitized, easily searchable form was 'a lot harder than it sounds', Salvador said.
VGHF Director of Technology Travis Brown spent months developing a specially designed text-recognition tool that 'handles even the toughest magazine pages with no problem'.
Unfortunately, the vast wealth of video game information on offer here does not include direct, playable access to retail video games due to DMCA limitations.
The VGHF and other organizations continue to challenge those copyright rules every three years, leaving some hope for future access to retail video games.
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