[game_preservation] DLC and license expiration - Joystiq article

[Mceniry, Matthew]

I'd like to believe that these types of DLCs will be largely restricted based on licensing out of specific musical agreements, but I'm sure it will soon be expanded into other areas.  Although the fact that previous purchasers can still download the content makes it a bit easier than pulling the DLC absolutely.  Although EA and its Origin platform have already set this standard.  Games such as Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 2 can be played on Valve's Steam platform, but can no longer be purchased from the store as they are Origin exclusive.  These types of publisher "wars" will have a profound effect on where game data is and how it can be accessed.  

As much as digital game preservation is nearly unattainable in total, many of the Kickstarter projects have given me hope that there will still be a record of a game's history.  The constant updates that backers demand from a gaming company, after they give their money, can be used as documentation for the processes of the games' development.  It's not a complete record, but it is better than trying to save file cabinets of project data.

Matt McEniry

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Subject: game_preservation Digest, Vol 91, Issue 3

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Today's Topics:

   1. NEH Grant to Help Preserve Game Development	with Prom Week
      (Henry Lowood)
   2. Licensed games/DLC and expiration dates (Devin Monnens)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Tue, 09 Apr 2013 15:22:20 -0700
From: Henry Lowood <lowood at stanford.edu>
Subject: [game_preservation] NEH Grant to Help Preserve Game
	Development	with Prom Week
To: IGDA Game Preservation SIG <game_preservation at igda.org>
Message-ID: <5164949C.9090105 at stanford.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

All,
NEH Digital Humanities just announced a grant received by UCSC to develop a methodology for preserving the history of university-developed games.  The case study is Prom Week.  The project PI is Noah Wardrip-Fruin, with Eric Kaltman (who worked with me on the Cabrinety
Collection) working on the project.  Christy Caldwell in the UCSC and I are also on the project team.  A bit more here:
http://eis-blog.ucsc.edu/2013/04/eis-members-awarded-neh-grant-to-help-preserve-game-development-with-prom-week/
Best,
Henry

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



------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2013 08:04:50 -0400
From: Devin Monnens <dmonnens at gmail.com>
Subject: [game_preservation] Licensed games/DLC and expiration dates
To: IGDA Game Preservation SIG <game_preservation at igda.org>
Message-ID:
	<CAC-a2OLk5vX5iWajAVuFUFbUt-rc1gU6+-rCkDvGkSYa5QBqRA at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Joystiq just reported this:

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/09/rock-bands-first-metallica-dlc-pack-pulled-from-store-license/

I don't think licenses are as big a problem in other media as they are with
games. But there are a LOT of licensed games. There's been a lot of fan
support over the Duck Tales remake, for instance, but it's highly unlikely
Capcom will renew their license for the NES games so they can re-release
them on Wii Ware. (Then again, they're bringing back the Dungeons & Dragons
arcade games, so they must have had to pay licensing fees again somewhere
along the line...) While you can still go out and find copies of licensed
games (Duck Tales 2 might set you back $50 though), if you want the first
Metallica DLC pack for Rock Band, you have to find someone who already has
it. (Which is why digital is so scary.)

I think everyone here's been aware of this, but Metallica DLC is another
case study and an example of what is clearly the tip of the iceberg,
especially since it illustrates that not only are games affected, but so
can DLC.

-- 
Devin Monnens
www.deserthat.com

The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
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