The MADE

This initial campaign is designed to fund the creation of a small starter museum location in the San Francisco Bay Area for The MADE's existing collection of works. The fundraising campaign will extend until April 18, and already the project is 7% funded. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/themade/the-museum-of-art-and-digital-entertainment

The MADE is a 501c(3) non-profit museum dedicated to the preservation of videogames, and the presentation of games as art. Planned exhibits will include rare videogame prototypes, conceptual art from the creation of games, and numerous playable examples of historic and artistic works in the media of videogames.

"There are already world-class videogame museums in New York, Germany, and Italy. It's time we got started building such an establishment here, in the San Francisco Bay Area," said Alex Handy, director of The MADE. "Despite the claims of some, videogames are undeniably art. We are dedicated to showing the reality of game development. We want to showcase the artists and designers who create games, and explain the processes behind their creation in a manner the general public can understand."

Henry Lowood, Curator for History of Science & Technology Collections at Stanford University Libraries and founding member of The MADE's board of directors, said that "Digital games without a doubt have become one of the central creative media available for entertainment, art and other forms of expression. So much so that contemporary cultural history is difficult to talk about without including digital games. As a result, not only will the history of this medium be lost if we do not preserve the history of digital games, but there is more at stake: we will be unable to provide a complete cultural history of our times.”

In order to spur on Kickstarter donations, The MADE will be giving away copies of PC games, donated by Kalypso Media, including 3 signed copies of the newly released Dungeons. Additionally, a signed, sealed copy of Pathways Into Darkness for Power Macintosh is on offer to the top donor. Pathways into Darkness was one of Bungie Studio’s earliest game releases.

“We are thrilled to be able to contribute to this great chronicle of the expansive history of video games,” said Mario Kroll, Vice President of Kalypso Media USA. “While comparatively young, the video game industry has evolved very quickly and dramatically, becoming a full-fledged art form. I can think of no better cause to support than The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment, helping all of us remember and honor our inspiration, professional heritage and an industry that has made it possible to do what we truly love.”

"This is going to be a long process, so we’re starting small," said Alex Handy. “Our current priorities are securing a safe space near public transit for the creation of this museum. Given a location, we have an almost infinite supply of ideas to realize. We plan to hold classes, talks, demo scene events, 48-hour game development jams, and LAN parties. Though our initial space will be small, a focus on the community will enable us to build an organization that will be able to chronicle the artistry of videogames for generations to come."

The MADE will be exhibiting at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco at the Moscone Center, in booth 2040, March 2, 3, and 4. Interviews with the founders and staff are available upon request.

About The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment (MADE)

Founded in 2010, The MADE was created by Alex Handy, a videogame journalist and technological archaeologist based in Oakland California. Mr. Handy unearthed an 25-year-old parcel of long lost Atari 2600 and Colecovision games at a flea market in that city, spurring his creation of the Museum. The MADE's initial advisory board is made up of respected videogame journalists, artists, and historians. The initial advisory board includes Simon Carless, Brandon Sheffield, Frank Cifaldi, Jason Whong, Andrew Jimanez, Chris Baker, Chris Kohler, Peter Cohen, Wil O’Neal, George Jones, Darren Gladstone, Thierry "Scooter" Nguyen, and Sellam A. Ismail. The MADE is an IRS recognized 501c(3) not-for-profit organization. It’s EIN number is 26-4570976 .

About Kalypso Media

Founded in 2006 in Germany by industry veterans Simon Hellwig and Stefan Marcinek, Kalypso Media is a global, independent developer, marketer and publisher of interactive entertainment software that employs nearly 100 video game industry experts world-wide.

Along with Headquarters in Worms, Germany, the company has offices in the United Kingdom and the United States.  Kalypso Media also enjoys very strong global digital distribution through its Kalypso Media Digital Ltd. subsidiary, and owns three development studios – Realmforge Studios GmbH, Gaming Minds Studios GmbH and Noumena Studios GmbH -- and works with multiple leading independent developers.

Kalypso Media recently released the critically acclaimed best-seller Tropico 3 for Xbox 360 and PC, DarkStar One – Broken Alliance for Xbox 360, Disciples III: Renaissance, Patrician IV: Conquest by Trade and Dungeons for Windows PC. Upcoming titles include The First Templar, Tropico 4 and Jagged Alliance: Back in Action. Further information about Kalypso Media is available at http://www.kalypsomedia.com.

About Kickstarter.com

Kickstarter is a new way to fund creative projects. It was founded upon the beliefs that a good idea, communicated well, can spread fast and wide, and that a large group of people can be a tremendous source of money and encouragement. Kickstarter is powered by a unique all-or-nothing funding method where projects must be fully-funded or no money changes hands. http://www.kickstarter.com/

Contacts:

Alex Handy

Director, The MADE

510-282-4840   alex@themade.org

The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment (The MADE)

http://blog.themade.org

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/themade/the-museum-of-art-and-digital-entertainment