As part of their quest to preserve historic video games using blockchain technology, a crew of on-chain ninjas has etched an emulator for the beloved Nintendo 64 (N64) home video game console on the Bitcoin network.
A advancement in their company’s continuing “Pizza Ninjas” project was disclosed by Trevor Owens, CEO of Ninjalerts, a portfolio tracker for Bitcoin Ordinals. According to Owens, their developers used the Ordinals protocol to encrypt the N64 emulator on Bitcoin. According to the CEO, this is a component of their mission to protect “critically endangered games.”
Although copyright concerns may arise when games are placed on a blockchain, Owens reassured the community that this initiative is being carried out lawfully. The CEO of Ninjalerts clarified that no games are being placed under copyright on-chain. Rather, they are selecting and inscription of games that are in the public domain. Owens continued, saying:
“We aim to further the discussion about classic games with preservationists and hope that the community can work together to find a legal way to put the critically endangered games on-chain.”
Ninjalert has already attempted to preserve games using the Bitcoin network. Bitcoin was engraved with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) emulator on January 8 by the Ninjalerts team. In addition to maintaining games, the initiative aimed to improve the technical standards for Bitcoin Ordinals projects.
A few weeks later, another person attempted to use Ordinals to inscribe a video game on-chain. Following Ninjalerts, on January 23rd, a developer using by the alias “Mini Doge” inscribed the first-person shooter game Doom, reminiscent of the 1990s, on the Dogecoin blockchain via the Ordinals protocol. By doing this, users can access the Dogecoin network and play the traditional game for free.
Owens thinks that the practice of adding games to chains will continue. That strikes me as incredibly awesome, and I really believe that this trend will continue. Games are an important component of the cultural history that people wish to maintain. The CEO did, however, advise the community not to violate copyright laws. According to Owens, they support figuring out how to legally keep the games on-chain.
Owens added that anyone can post any kind of material on the blockchain because it is permissionless. He said that once anything is on the blockchain, it might be hard for the owners of intellectual property to take it down. Observing the IP holders’ reactions will be intriguing. Once this data is uploaded to the blockchain, especially on Bitcoin, it is probably hard to remove.
Owens emphasized the significance of conserving gaming history by citing a research that indicated almost 90% of vintage games published before 2010 are in danger of being lost or destroyed. The CEO of Ninjalerts linked video games to businesses and music, stating that they are valuable cultural components that should be preserved.
“On Bitcoin, there is no better place to immortalize the data if we care about preserving history and culture,” Owens continued.
