[game_preservation] [Monthly SIG Roundup] December 2009

[Andrew Armstrong]

The IGDA site is still being sorted. This means, yes, it is functional 
to join our group <http://www.igda.org/preservation>, but the speed of 
the forums and site is still a little wanting. We also don't have a 
functional blog RSS feed, since it appears to go to the (single) general 
IGDA one, so the blog posts <http://www.igda.org/og/archives/3872> 
(which need the old site's re-importing) are hard to get by themselves.


      Preservation SIG November/December 2009 Work

I'm late posting this so, well, we have some action from December 
mainly. The first thing, from November, is that the American Journal of 
Play <http://www.americanjournalofplay.org/> published the SIG white 
paper "Before It's Too Late: A Digital Game Preservation White Paper 
<http://wiki.igda.org/Game_Preservation_SIG/White_Paper/Before_It%27s_Too_Late:_A_Digital_Game_Preservation_White_Paper>", 
which is great. Hopefully it'll be a good read for those subscribed to it.

Secondly, the IGDA Memorials <http://wiki.igda.org/Memorials> project 
has been updated to, with many new entries from recently and past 
deceased, some with biographies (although we are still looking for 
entries for most). There were also minor edits applied (incorporating 
feedback over /The Great Dana Sisters/ being an instant classic for 
instance). Under the hood me and Devin are getting more organised, 
knowing what needs some work and what is complete internally - if you 
know of anyone who is missing from the project, or if any information is 
incorrect, please contact memorials - at - igda.org

Finally, there is Devin Monnens sending out a survey 
<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-December/001535.html> 
related to the Videogame Museums, Archives, Displays and Collections 
<http://wiki.igda.org/Game_Preservation_SIG/Videogame_Museums,_Archives,_Displays_and_Collections> 
project (which I really should have renamed ages ago into something less 
of a mouthful!). If you know of one not listed, contacted, or want to 
provide information yourself, please email him, this is a great project 
to get off the ground since we're in a position to provide the 
information in one location.

If you are interested in helping the SIG work you can handily volunteer 
for some projects <http://www.igda.org/wiki/Game_Preservation_SIG>, or 
create your own if something is missing!


      Future Work for December 2009

I didn't get around to re-evaluating the projects, however this is 
something I do intend to do. The ongoing work by Devin will continue on 
his survey, and we will aim to complete more memorials when we have time.


      Mailing List Discussions

If you've not joined our mailing list 
<http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation>, please do 
so. We've never tried using our forums it seems :) we stick to 
old-fangled email. This will eventually change when the IGDA site has 
some replacement for it, which won't be anytime soon.

November 
<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-November/thread.html> 
had discussions about free game preservation 
<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-November/001473.html> 
(Internet Archive collection hopefully coming at some point!), and few 
listings of memorials (Leland P. Cook, Jr. 
<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-November/001481.html>, 
Armin Gessert 
<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-November/001469.html>, 
Don Ivan Punchatz 
<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-November/001461.html>), 
with good discussion on the biography aspect for Armin Gessert, and what 
it means to be an "instant classic" (oxymoronic statement? overused? not 
applicable here in any case? probably was all 3, so it got changed!).

There was some technical discussions on MP3's 
<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-November/001483.html> 
and MAME's decapping project 
<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-November/001487.html>. 
Finally there was a new exhibit at Austin Airport 
<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-November/001462.html> 
and some Retro Half-Life 2 machinima 
<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-November/001482.html> 
posted :) Thanks to all who contribute! a cookie for you all!

I'll get to Decembers posts in January, with a more timely newsletter. ;)


      Preservation SIG Blog Updates / Links

/Have I missed anything this month? Then email it in to 
preservation_news @ igda.org !/

    * Memorials for Don Ivan Punchatz, Leland P. Cook Jr. and Robert
      Holdstock
      <http://www.igda.org/preservation/memorials-don-ivan-punchatz-leland-p-cook-jr-and-robert-holdstock>

    * Memorials for Scott Heckenlively and Armin Gessert
      <http://www.igda.org/preservation/memorials-scott-heckenlively-and-armin-gessert>

    * Videogame Archive Exhibit Opens at the Austin Airport
      <http://www.igda.org/preservation/videogame-archive-exhibit-opens-austin-airport>



      Final Thoughts

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year at this turn of the decade 
(which no doubt us historians will likely have to call the "naughties", 
*shudder*), or if you don't celebrate either I hope you have better 
weather then the UK! :)

Andrew Armstrong

IGDA Game Preservation SIG Site/Blog editor

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