iPod fan's project is trying to preserve click-wheel games

A group of dedicated iPod fans has initiated a project to preserve classic iPod click-wheel games. This will ensure their availability for the upcoming generations. This initiative comes as Apple 's older iPod models and their associated games face obsolescence. According to a report by AppleInsider, the project started when an iPod enthusiast known as Quix , discovered a loophole in Apple's digital rights management (DRM) protection that allows for manual backups of iPod games .

This method was used to back up 19 clickwheel games, and in collaboration with another enthusiast, Olsro , the iPod Clickwheel Games Preservation Project was born on Discord.

As per the report, Olsro created a "communitarian virtual machine that anyone can use to sync auth[orized] click-wheel games into their iPod" using the Qemu emulator. This virtual machine uses the Qemu emulator, enabling users to "authorise" and upload their click-wheel games. Since these games cannot be re-downloaded from Apple, user backups are crucial for preserving them.


How users can contribute to the project


Anyone with functioning .IPG (iPod Game) files can now safeguard them from potential iPod failures, provided they hadn’t already backed up the games to a Mac or PC. While the new project website doesn’t offer a way to play the games without a click-wheel iPod, it does make the games shareable to those devices.

A total of 54 iPod click-wheel games were developed and initially sold for $7.49 each through the iTunes Store . Companies like Electronic Arts, Sega, and Square Enix partnered with Apple to adapt popular games for click-wheel controls.

Among the titles released were "Sonic the Hedgehog," "Pokemon," pinball emulator "Multiball," "Asphalt 4: Elite Racing," "Ms. Pac-Man," "Real Soccer 2009," and more. The preservation project has currently collected 42 out of the 54 original games.

Apple discontinued the sale of these games in 2011, removing them from iTunes. However, it still allows users to re-authorise their previously purchased games on their iPods.
This re-authorisation capability is crucial for the preservation project, enabling games to be shared with users who own functional click-wheel iPods. Apple could potentially disable the re-authorisation server at any point, which Olsro, the project lead, says would effectively end the project.

“We don’t know how much time we have left to complete [the preservation of all 54 games], so there’s no time to lose,” Olsro posted on Reddit. Those interested in contributing their games to the project can contact Olsro via the Discord username "inurayama."