NES creator signs on to help The Strong chronicle video game history

The Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, New York is teaming up with Japan's Ritsumeikan University and former Nintendo hardware designer Masayuki Uemara to share knowledge, resources and staff in a joint effort to better preserve and exhibit the history of the video game industry.

Uemara now serves as program chair for the Center for Games Studies and Art Research at Ritsumeikan, which does work that's much in line with the game preservation efforts of the Strong's International Center for the History of Electronic Games.

"This partnership allows researchers and scholars in both the United States and Japan to learn from one another about how best to study and preserve the many contributions video games have had to our shared cultural heritage,” stated Uemura in a press release confirming the team-up. “Together, we can also help tell the story of the Japanese video game industry to guests of The Strong."

As part of the partnership, the Strong aims to host a Nintendo Entertainment System historical exhibit later this year to mark the iconic console's 30th anniversary (in North America) that will feature physical artifacts, playable games and interviews with Uemara himself, who led the Nintendo design teams that developed (among other things) both the NES and the SNES.