“There’s a huge amount to be learned” – how the pioneering years of gaming are being preserved for a new generation in a corner of south London
Kingston University’s free Archive of Retro Computing exhibition in south London is presenting more than 65 historic computers and consoles, tracing gaming and home computing from the mid-1970s to more recent machines. Led by computer science course leader Paul Neve, the collection aims to preserve a formative period of technology and help new audiences understand the systems that shaped modern gaming.
Neve began collecting after helping exhibit a large haul of equipment recovered from an engineer’s house in 2004, then expanded it with machines he had wanted as a child. The archive now contains roughly 70 to 80 systems, including Sinclair and Commodore computers, PS1 and PS2 consoles, the original Xbox, Dreamcast, Fairchild Channel F and Vectrex. The display reflects both familiar British home-computing history and rarer “unicorn” hardware.
- Kingston University is exhibiting over 65 retro computers and consoles.
- The archive preserves gaming technology from the 1970s onwards.
- Its creator built the collection from personal passion and rescued history.