[game_preservation] Dreamcast Archival

[Devin Monnens]

Andrew,

You statement sounds a little like the Software Preservation Society's
Kryoflux method. Care to elaborate a little?

I think you can technically back up some of this stuff as a personal copy,
but that's never really been tested in court as far as I'm aware (just look
at the MPAA with regards to CD copy for personal use and their refusal to
make a clear statement on the subject).

The only statement I have to make on Dreamcast is that some of the optical
discs have been reported to start fading (and actually, I think 3DO stuff is
more cheaply made - I know I can see completely through some of my
discs...). Optical media archival isn't as pressing a concern as magnetic
disk media, but the outcomes of magnetic disk preservation will have two
effects.

1. The outcomes of magnetic disk preservation will have a strong impact on
how companies react to game preservation; SPS and other preservation groups
use black boxes, but the walls of the institution are not strong enough to
prevent copyright infringement fears. Essentially, it will color the legal
solution and process of hammering one out.

2. The extent to which magnetic disk media gets preserved will provide a
case study for archival of later media formats, including how much gets
preserved and how it gets preserved.

With regards to studying how discs work...(say file structure, date files
were created, etc), I don't know if simply putting a Dreamcast disc into
your system and then reading the file format would be considered a copyright
violation, even though that's a necessary means for conducting said
research.

On Tue, May 24, 2011 at 1:23 PM, Mike Melanson <mike at multimedia.cx> wrote:


> > 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

>

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>




-- 
Devin Monnens
www.deserthat.com

The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
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