[game_preservation] Digital Game Canon website (initial stages)

[Captain Commando]

Andrew,


>

> For some games like SMB3, we might also want to reference ports and

> remakes. For instance, SMB3 was remade in Super Mario All-Stars and Super

> Mario Advance 3 (and there are additional game levels available through the

> e-cards of course). While neither of these are the same as the original

> (SMA-S modifies the graphics, for instance) they are certainly all under the

> same umbrella and it's important to differentiate between them.

>

> Man, so many remakes. For a worse example, look at Doom! GBA, Mobile

> phones (countless varieties...) iPods, unofficial ports, fan made mods which

> work on basically anything...

>

> How do you suggest doing this? Perhaps a new page/section specifically for

> it? It can change later of course, but what would be a good subpage name?

> (maybe /ports ? or /releaseinfo ?)

>


For DOOM mods, I'd say pick a few notable ones and maybe a few un-notable
ones just for the sake of example. For instance, if a mod was referenced
(such as the Sailor Moon mod in Salen and Zimmerman), we should probably
have a copy of it somewhere in case somebody wants to look it up.

As for ports...there are so many different ports of some of these games that
it would be ridiculous to try and completely archive them all - that's what
a fan site is for...maybe. I think DOOM has been ported to practically
anything you could port DOOM to (and you can bet they'll make an Excel DOOM
here before too long) so at least stating that point would be good. Beyond
that, I wonder if you can say there is such a thing as the 'definitive DOOM'
or if there is really no such thing. Maybe the original version would be
more important than that one anyway, I don't know.



> Let me also clarify that we would be also archiving machinima, superplay,

> and speedrun videos involving these games, correct? Or if not on the site

> directly then at least referencing them as part of the large body of culture

> that the game is a part of.

>

> We'd hopefully at least link to IA material, and perhaps have it mirrored

> specifically at high bandwidth sites (since the IGDA site won't have the

> bandwidth for the material I presume), which will come later. Do you suggest

> they should be on a new "/culture" page? or should it stick to /media ?

> (both of which can have subpages for specifics like /speedruns etc.)

>


Videos made internal to the game (i.e. speedrun, superplay, example videos)
would probably go in /media. Machinima or video that comments about the game
rather than records gameplay for gameplay's sake would probably go in
/culture.

BTW, if we're doing /media, I would include the music files that were
recently decoded (say maybe 6 months ago?) that were not used inside the
game but are part of the source code.


>

> In regards to the reviews and critical analysis section, I am also

> thinking some form of peer review might be in order.

>

> Peer review of what? Do you mean we should organise the 5 people on the

> DGC for that entry to put forward critical analysis of the game? Or that it

> gets reviewed in some peer way by others? or that the actual reviews we link

> to be peer reviewed for importance?

>

> Like Mobygames, I will be (sigh) likely having scores appear (aggregates,

> like Metacritic etc. do), and possibly in the future "user reviews", is this

> a good idea?

>


I was thinking more commentary on texts that have been written on the game.
This is because a lot of people can write, but not all of them have the same
level of importance (though importance depends on what you're researching)
and some might have errors. Thus Dungeons and Dreamers should be referenced
as an important source document and then there would be a short commentary
on it. [not to say there aren't more or other important ones, of course!]

-DM


-- 
The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

"Until next time..."
Captain Commando
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