We now recognize the late Yasujiro Ozu as one of Japan's finest film directors, but his early works are lost to history, victims of a time when cinema was seen as disposable entertainment and not an art form worth saving. Joseph Redon doesn't want the same thing to happen to video games.
"You wouldn't classify opera as 'old music.' It's classical music. Video games are the same. These titles are classics and should be valued as such. Even a lousy game hints at how the medium evolved so we must preserve everything, not just the best sellers."
A network engineer by trade, he has a broad smile and a way of speaking that's as measured and methodical as a clean line of code. When the French native moved to Tokyo in 2000 to research and archive retro Japanese PC titles he was shocked to find collections left to languish within an inclusive community. He wormed his way inside through online auctions and forums to contact others who shared his passion. In 2011, he established the Game Preservation Society, an NPO to save gaming from the landfill of pop culture.