[game_preservation] IGN is closing the Gamespy and Classicgaming networks

[Andrew Armstrong]

I'll really have to get into the web archiving stuff, get some crawlers 
running off my PC for things like this and get some hard drives to store 
it all on - for the Web Archive Team efforts I'd hope.

Start backing up those DB's now - ask that everyone gets their material 
into an offline location and, if they'd like, posted on the net or sent 
to us - I am hoping to get a collection for zipped up website content on 
the Internet Archive which is good for things like that which would 
bypass filters. There are several games basically only covered on 
Gamespy/Classicgaming - one good example, for instance, is Team Fortress 
Classic, which after getting nostalgic, really took me forever to find 
any information on, videos of, screenshots etc. except there.

Also, on a personal note - this is pretty bad from IGN (although at 
least it's with a warning), I doubt it'd save them too much money in the 
long run, rather then reusing the sites or attempting to improve them 
first. I am however surprised, in a way, it "took so long" since the 
mergers and other problems they have had with Gamespy. I'll also be 
looking to at some point in the future do a massive file download of 
important files on Fileplanet (I'll ask permission first, but as they 
don't own any of the files on there anyway, apart from possibly getting 
a premium account to help with it there's little need to) since they 
won't likely get any of that archived if they did decide to shut that 
part down, which I'd see happening at some point in the future if they 
move such stuff to IGN's main site.

Thanks for bringing it up, I'll try and get a news post up about it.

Andrew

Devin Monnens wrote:

> IGN has announced they will no longer be hosting the Gamespy and 

> Classicgaming networks (but that they will still keep Fileplanet 

> alive). I think they did this to cut costs in a season of bad economy 

> - but it's not like I enjoyed IGN anyway.

>

> However, this raises a problem. As some of you may know, I run a 

> Classicgaming domain, The Metroid Database, and so we've been talking 

> amongst ourselves about where the site will be going - and so is 

> everyone else who is running a site. Right now, I'm waiting to hear 

> back from Classicgaming to see where they are deciding to go, but I 

> just wanted to give you guys a heads-up that it's very possible some 

> of these sites will be going down for good, and that means the SIG has 

> an opportunity to make sure these pages get saved and archived.

>

> Again, this was literally announced last night, and so I don't know if 

> the Classicgaming guys even know what they'll be doing. If 

> Classicgaming will retain its own domain and pay for the hosted sites, 

> then that will be good. Otherwise, places will be moving elsewhere and 

> may be lost entirely.

>

> -Devin Monnens

>

> -- 

> Devin Monnens

> www.deserthat.com <http://www.deserthat.com>

>

> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>

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