Oakland’s own video game archive, the M.A.D.E.
on November 22, 2016
The Museum of Digital Art and Entertainment, or the M.A.D.E., is a gateway to, and an archive for, video game history, showcasing consoles and games from gaming’s early days in the 1970’s to the present day. Not only does it showcase video game history, the museum also holds free classes such as beginner coding and game designing for participants of all ages.
Other museums have shown limited video game exhibits, while Stanford University has its own private video game archive. The M.A.D.E., however, is the first and only open video game-dedicated archive which allows visitors to play the games on display. On televisions that dot the floors of M.A.D.E., museum-goers can travel back in time and play on the Atari or the Sega Genesis console, then jump over to another TV to play the latest games on the Xbox or Playstation consoles.
Play the video above to learn more about the museum.
2 Comments
Oakland North welcomes comments from our readers, but we ask users to keep all discussion civil and on-topic. Comments post automatically without review from our staff, but we reserve the right to delete material that is libelous, a personal attack, or spam. We request that commenters consistently use the same login name. Comments from the same user posted under multiple aliases may be deleted. Oakland North assumes no liability for comments posted to the site and no endorsement is implied; commenters are solely responsible for their own content.
Oakland North
Oakland North is an online news service produced by students at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and covering Oakland, California. Our goals are to improve local coverage, innovate with digital media, and listen to you–about the issues that concern you and the reporting you’d like to see in your community. Please send news tips to: oaklandnorthstaff@gmail.com.
Places like the M.A.D.E. are so important for preserving gaming history and letting new generations experience where it all began. There’s something special about being able to play on original consoles and see how far game design has come. That same spirit of innovation lives on today in new ways—like creating games that not only entertain but also nurture faith and values. For families looking for meaningful screen time, a quality bible games app can offer that same sense of discovery while helping kids grow in character. It’s wonderful to see how gaming continues to evolve and find new purposes.
Oakland has long been home to grassroots preservation of gaming culture, and the M.A.D.E. archive represents a rare space where visitors can interact with video game history directly. In conversations about how games are built and preserved, modern development practices also matter. For example, professional teams often rely on scalable engineering workflows like those described here: https://gamestudio.n-ix.com/unreal-engine-programming/. The M.A.D.E. highlights how past and present gaming cultures connect through accessibility, education, and community-driven preservation of interactive media.