Game Designer Don Daglow Assists NCHEG As Historian And Consultant

Author: by Jenn Frank, Leigh Alexander

The National Center for the History of Electronic Games has turned to game design luminary and former Stormfront Studios president/CEO Don Daglow as its collections development consultant. He'll assist NCHEG in acquiring key objects and records that will document the early and ongoing history of the development of video games, says the organization, and he'll also represent the group at industry events and conferences. NCHEG, located in Rochester, New York's Strong National Museum of Play, claims it has the largest and most comprehensive public collection of games and historical items related to the industry in the U.S. As the Center's official website notes: "The Center defines electronic games broadly to include video games, computer games, console games, arcade games, handheld games, and toys that combine digital and traditional play. The Center’s collections - nearly 20,000 items and growing - are therefore broadly inclusive and encompass not only games and game platforms, but also a wide variety of other materials such as packaging, advertising, publications [and more]." Last year, the preservation initiative acquired 114 vintage arcade games that had toured with the Videotopia games exhibit. In 2008, Daglow and others were honored with a Technology & Engineering Emmy for their work on early graphical MMO Neverwinter Nights, and as his Wikipedia page notes, his storied history in the industry dates from a mainframe game, Baseball, in 1971, with other highlights including 1981's pioneering Intellivision sim title Utopia.