Wii!

Yesterday we received our first item purchased (as opposed to donated) for the gaming archive: A Nintendo Wii. Spent about 30 minutes this afternoon hooking it up to make sure that it all works—it's a rough job, but somebody has to do it!

Progress Update

I've been pretty busy working on the game archive over the past week. Some highlights:

• Got the collection fund set up and started ordering games. I've ordered over 40 games so far, including games for PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, and Windows. Hopefully we'll have stuff through the acquisitions-cataloging-labeling pipeline in time for fall semester.
  
• Found a source for a Wii so sent in that order as well.
• Also ordered a handful of all-in-one retro game systems, such as the Atari Flashback 2.
  
• Set up some budgeting spreadsheets using Apple's Numbers program (I've used Excel many times but have never quite grokked it; where as Numbers seems to grok me!) and am keeping track of donations and purchases using Gamepedia.
• Had a very productive meeting with a faculty member from the Screen Arts department who is their 'video game person,' along with their departmental librarian. We hope to be able to support the needs of her course on gaming culture and are starting to think about bigger plans.
• Met with Eli Neiburger from Ann Arbor District Library and had a very fruitful discussion and brainstormed possible joint programming ideas.
• Met with library IT support to talk about equipment needs.

Still on track to soft open in late August, assuming everything goes well (knock on wood!)

Game Controller History

Interface design librarian extraordinaire Suz sent me a link to this awesome Game Console Controller Family Tree, where you can see how controlelrs for game consoles have evolved over the years.