[game_preservation] Frank Cifaldi's preservation article on 1Up

[Frank Cifaldi]

Don't get me started on release dates. I'm starting a series for 1UP where I
look back at what was happening 20 years ago every month, and game release
dates (outside of the aforementioned Nintendo database) are extremely hard
to come by. I've thought about contacting stores myself, I wonder if Toys R
Us would be willing to provide that sort of information?

Oh and thanks for the kind words on the article. Obviously it's only
touching on one very specific aspect of game preservation, but I'd still
argue it's the most important part to focus on right now due to a
combination of being rare, volatile, and information-dense. Hopefully I got
that point across in the text.

On Sat, Jan 9, 2010 at 2:43 PM, Andrew Armstrong <andrew at aarmstrong.org>wrote:


> Cool, nice website, thanks for pointing it out :) that kind of information

> (along with the dumps and so forth) as Frank has said needs mirroring.

> Perhaps some nearby archive would be willing to help in that regard. Nice

> work by Matt and Curt! :)

>

> Don't we just know companies don't have archives - but they also don't have

> the working relationship to start archives or actually preserve any material

> they have in the future. :( We should seek to change that whenever possible,

> but it costs money of course...

>

> Release dates are basic information you'd hope they keep records of

> (shipping accounts, store release dates, marketing posters would all have it

> right?). I think we'd find more reliable information going to the shops and

> stores and asking them sometimes, in fact it's something I'd not mind trying

> on stores in the UK. I'm sure they keep release date information better then

> manufacturers/producers of things do.

>

> Andrew

>

>

> On 09/01/2010 22:05, Martin Goldberg wrote:

>

>> Well, I can say on the Atari related front there's a number of people

>> making efforts to those route.  Matt Reichert is probably the most

>> well known and active - http://atariprotos.com/.  He routinely dumps

>> and archives protos, unreleased games, and such and is someone I'd

>> consider an expert in those regards.

>>

>> There's also my partner Curt Vendel, who has the largest Atari related

>> archive including mainframe backups, engineering schematics, internal

>> documentation, protos, source code, artwork, etc.  In fact the current

>> Atari has him on retainer for resources whenever they need it.  He

>> just provided all the cabinet artwork and other related resources for

>> the Atari games in Microsoft's just announced virtual game room.

>>

>> That brings to mind another issue with regards to preservation - when

>> you're talking about older companies and brands, a lot of them simply

>> don't have the proper archives or their own material either,

>> regardless of 3rd party.

>>

>> A related historical example - I remember a recent research spat

>> getting down the actual US release date of Super Mario Bros.  The

>> current Nintendo (where almost nobody is left form the "old days" had

>> it listed as 1985 and a US launch title.  This contradicted direct

>> interviews with Minoru Arakawa, Howard Lincoln, and Howard Phillips

>> were they stated it was not ready for the New York test market launch.

>>  I worked my way through NOA (both through the PR dept. and tech.

>> support) and nobody could give me an answer for the discrepancy other

>> than "that's what's listed here in the databse".  Apparently they have

>> a company wide database where they defer to for any historical

>> information.

>>

>>

>> Marty

>>

>> On Sat, Jan 9, 2010 at 2:28 PM, Andrew Armstrong<andrew at aarmstrong.org>

>>  wrote:

>>

>>

>>> I think (and I don't want to second guess him, he's on this list I think)

>>> but it's the scope and size of the institution, and the rigor of

>>> preserving

>>> the materials, and the fact that almost no game company actively

>>> preserves

>>> anything they make with a 3rd party, whereas film places I bet have

>>> agreements for providing a copy of their films when they are released

>>> into

>>> the archives properly, as well as the archives having copies of their

>>> digital and non-digital film stocks as necessary.

>>>

>>> I also think the game archives are a lot smaller, just the way it is

>>> really,

>>> and without a large amount of money there's not much that could change

>>> that.

>>>

>>> Andrew

>>>

>>> On 09/01/2010 20:09, Devin Monnens wrote:

>>>

>>> Well here's a question then: what exactly do we need to get to the level

>>> of

>>> a UCLA or ASIFA preservation and archive group? Stanford and UT Austin

>>> are

>>> getting there (as is the LoC), but what types of resources and

>>> recognition

>>> do we need? I also suppose, how does this compare with film archival

>>> after

>>> the first 30-40 of the medium (which is about where we're at in terms of

>>> commercial games).

>>> I mean, you look at commercial films (1890 is a good benchmark) and 25

>>> years

>>> into that there was Birth of a Nation (1914) and then you compare that

>>> with

>>> games, we have Super Mario 64 (1996) (and in terms of narrative,

>>> say...Planescape and MGS? And hey, at least none of these are viewed as

>>> racist today!). You know, I think that's a pretty good comparison, but I

>>> think we could do a little better for making games that explore history

>>> and

>>> culture (kind of hard since games are made to entertain, part of the

>>> reason

>>> why I say Shigeru Miyamoto is more the Buster Keaton of videogames rather

>>> than the Spielberg).

>>>

>>> On Sat, Jan 9, 2010 at 12:26 PM, Andrew Armstrong<andrew at aarmstrong.org>

>>> wrote:

>>>

>>>

>>>> "As much as I wish this weren't true, widely distributing an unreleased

>>>> game in pirated form over the Internet is the only method of

>>>> preservation

>>>> that I trust, at least for now. There is no equivalent of, say, a UCLA

>>>> Film

>>>> &  Television Archive or an ASIFA-Hollywood for videogames. Certainly we

>>>> have

>>>> the beginnings of equivalent institutions -- the archives at Stanford

>>>> and UT

>>>> Austin for example are off to tremendous starts -- but the resources and

>>>> industry recognition just aren't there yet, at least to my

>>>> satisfaction."

>>>>

>>>> A shame this is basically true still - there just isn't the resources

>>>> around, and the standards and concentrated effort just sadly isn't

>>>> present,

>>>> at least as far as I know! (if it is present but hidden, that's just as

>>>> bad!)

>>>>

>>>> Interesting reasons laid down to justify it, although I don't think

>>>> anyone

>>>> here would need convincing. :)

>>>>

>>>> Andrew

>>>>

>>>> On 09/01/2010 16:45, Devin Monnens wrote:

>>>>

>>>> Nobody's reported on this here, but there's an article on backing up

>>>> beta

>>>> and unreleased games.

>>>> http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3177520

>>>>

>>>> --

>>>> Devin Monnens

>>>> www.deserthat.com

>>>>

>>>> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

>>>>

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>>>>

>>>>

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>>>>

>>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> --

>>> Devin Monnens

>>> www.deserthat.com

>>>

>>> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

>>>

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>>>

>>>

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>>>

>>>

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