[Resource] – Internet Archive

This week’s handy resource is the Internet Archive.

Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.

But how can this be used in your game and stories?

The collection is divided up into several tabs –

1. Web
2. Texts
3. Video
4. Audio
5. Software
6. Images

Wth the exception of the web tab, each has featured links and categories within. You can narrow down your search from certain sources and languages. The web tab allows you to “Search the history of over 286 billion web pages on the Internet.”. So if you wanted to see what a certain site looked like when it first started, this is the place to go. For example – here what Ennead Games looked like on January 28th, 2011.

The major downside to a site like this, in my opinion, is that you have to have an idea of what you are searching for. Yes, you can browse it casually, but if you know something specific you are after, you’ll have a much better time using it. It doesn’t have everything, but in conjunction with a good search engine, it’s a handy resource that should be added to everyone’s toolbox.