[game_preservation] Dreamcast Archival

[Mike Melanson]

> While it is wise to consider copyright issues and be cautious, one

> should also consider that, historically, most companies do not have

> the foresight or resources to archive their materials and I would go

> so far as to say it's not a priority. This has proven to be the case

> with all forms of media - and in relation to video games, Atari's

> incompetence comes to mind. While I obviously cannot speak for SEGA, I

> imagine (and hope) they have something in place as far as archiving


Check this out:

http://blogs.sega.com/usa/2008/08/07/the-sega-game-archive/

Though it doesn't instill a lot of confidence when the text states that no
one can account for how the archive came to exist, or who is officially in
charge of maintaining it. Makes you think that if Sega gets into deep
financial trouble and just ceases to exist one day, that room will just
vanish and no one will know what happened to it.


> their work. The other side of this is, smaller publishers most likely

> do not have the resources for a proper archive, and therefore the

> original code, pre-production art, etc. could or will get

> lost/destroyed over time. Individuals who take the initiative to

> archive historical content turn out to be valuable assets later down

> the line. Personally, I wouldn't let copyright issues stand in the way

> of that. A perfect validation for this is the recent disaster in

> Japan. Sure SEGA might have an expansive archive documenting

> everything they've ever produced, but what if it had all been

> destroyed by those earthquakes and floods?

>

> Regardless of the above, optical discs are definitely not a suitable

> storage medium and they will deteriorate to the point of becoming

> unreadable. Data should be migrated from them and kept on hard drives

> for long term storage.


I've been thinking about archival for awhile:

http://multimedia.cx/eggs/archivists-burden/

For a few reasons: I have around 1000 games; what else am I going to do
with them? Play them all? :) Also, I have a sizable collection of unusual,
minor games that were likely the only games published by certain game
houses. I might possess the only record that said game ever existed.
Someone might care one day.

--
    -Mike Melanson