[game_preservation] Selecting and preserving video games, both text and context

[Henry Lowood]

Henry,

You've received some responses on the game side of your project 
presentation.  I have a comment on the premise.   It is the case that 
much old film stock can be played on recent projectors, but it is NOT 
the case that all film stock can be played on all projectors.   I'm not 
just talking about differences between 8mm, 16mm, 35mm, 70mm, but also 
the more germane problem of different data formats on film, such as the 
various digital film formats, various data stripes on Dolby film, etc.  
In fact, there are many digital film formats and they are not all 
compatible, a problem that you can probably document with reference to 
presentation by the AMPAS archivist in recent years.

I do agree with what is really your basic premise: Games are more 
difficult to preserve than linear media.

However, I think this is primarily due to the difference between 
interactive multi-media and linear media.  Interactivity is also tied to 
the hardware problem, of course, as with control devices (keyboards, 
mice, joysticks).  True, displays are an issue, but there the issue is 
similar for film (viewing in a theater is different from viewing on an 
iPhone).

Henry

On 10/27/2011 6:52 PM, Henry Borchers wrote:

>

> Hello IGDA,

>

> It's been a while since there has been much activity on here and I 

> hope people still follow this listserv.

>

> I am in the last part of my overly delayed master's thesis and I need 

> to add an additional case study. I hope someone on here can help me out.

>

> I am writing about the preservation of video games in terms of their 

> textual and contextual components. One of the things that I am arguing 

> is that because the text of video games (the games themselves) are so 

> intertwined with their video game context (the consoles and 

> computers), both are integral to proper preservation. 35mm movie film 

> has had the same playback device for a century and old nitrate prints 

> can run through modern projectors but the texts of video games are 

> tied to the constantly changing video game console contexts. It is for 

> this reason that traditional strategies of print, painting, and film 

> conservation are ill-suited for video games.

>

> If you are part of a video game collection, could you please help me 

> out and comment on or be willing to talk to me about how you go about 

> selecting and preserving video games, both text and context? Most 

> websites of video game archives do not go into depth on these aspects.

>

> Thank you,

>

> Henry Borchers

>

> University of Amsterdam,

>

>

>

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-- 
Henry Lowood
Curator for History of Science&  Technology Collections;
   Film&  Media Collections
HRG, Green Library, 557 Escondido Mall
Stanford University Libraries, Stanford CA 94305-6004
650-723-4602; lowood at stanford.edu; http://www.stanford.edu/~lowood

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