Noted North Texas video gamer gains international press attention

Denton's Patrick Scott Patterson's discovery of unreleased Nintendo prototypes puts his preservation efforts on world stage
DENTON, Texas - Dec. 13, 2016 - PRLog -- Since 1981, Patrick Scott Patterson has had an endless passion for all things video games. Eventually, the 41-year-old North Texas native's love for high tech fun would turn into his profession. He has spent the past several years travelling the country to speak at events such as San Diego Comic-Con and SXSW and appear in films such as Nintendo Quest and The New 8-Bit Heroes.

Among Patterson's video gaming exploits is the desire to obtain and preserve various items of historic significance to the history of the industry. Earlier this fall, one of his hunts turned up three video games that never saw the light of day. Over the past week, those finds have gained him international press attention.

The rediscovered prototype games included Heavy Weight Hockey for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Mall Rats for the Sega Genesis. But it was Akira for the Nintendo Game Boy that set the world on fire. Based on the classic Anime film, Patterson's YouTube demonstration of the never-released game gained press from Yahoo!, Engadget, Kotaku, IGN, Nerdist and outlets based in Japan, Brazil, France, Italy and more.

"It's crazy to think things like this were sitting in an attic for decades," Patterson said. "It's scary to think what would have come of them had I not taken up a search for this kind of stuff. This is the lost history of the video game industry we're talking about here."

It's all part of Patterson's larger efforts to find and archive items of note from all eras of video game history. So far, his work has turned up not only rare games and prototypes, but important magazines, promotional materials and even the trademark to gaming's first-ever pro group, the U.S. National Video Game Team. According to Patterson, these efforts are part of something long overdue.

"While the video game industry has continued to grow and become pop culture, there's been this long-time error in judgement that treats old video game items as something to be disposed of," he added. "People gather and protect artifacts from baseball history, film history, art, music and so on, but while all that was going on, most video gaming stuff was being tossed out. I do all I can to get my hands on it before that happens."

Patterson's finds are often used to educate youth on the history of the gaming industry, including a recent seminar at Emily Fowler Library in Denton. In fact, the Metroplex's ties to video game history are of special note to him and his ongoing efforts.

"The Dallas / Fort Worth area has had companies that made games for the classic Nintendo and early computers," he noted. "This is where Dave & Busters started and where Babbages - which is part of GameStop now - began. I know there's more stuff like this out there, and I while I hope to find it, my desire is to see it preserved and archived somewhere, even if I don't have the honor of doing it myself."

To check out Patterson's prototype demonstrations, go to the following link - https://youtu.be/Z9JwxAnGv2Q



More on his efforts can be seen on his website at PatrickScottPatterson.com and via his Verified Twitter account @OriginalPSP.  He is available to speak on his efforts to any interested media anywhere in the North Texas area.

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