Unreleased Duke Nukem Code Found At Library Of Congress

The Library of Congress is where everything of historical or cultural value is archived. This includes books, films, sheet music, historical artifacts, and even video games.

Games usually arrive at the library in the form of retail or test copies. Library of Congress technician Dave Gibson, however, found something even more special – the source code for an unreleased PSP game, Duke Nukem: Critical Mass.

Successful access to the Sony file formats allowed Gibson and Packard Campus software developer Matt Derby to view the game’s 3D models and textures, and even listen to its audio.

The most important find, however, was the ASCII text in the loot.bin folder, which could allow the Library to examine future preservation methods for video games.