July 02, 2009

[Monthly SIG Roundup] July 2009

The SIG will have their first white paper presented at DiGRA, which Dan Pinchbeck is still organising and has posted news on, although I've been too busy to work on anything additional for the SIG and no one has other contributions this month.

Preservation SIG Juny 2009 Work

I've been busy, so apart from some planning haven't got anything to put forward as work. The SIG hasn't got any other ongoing projects right now, but if you are interested, at all, in preservation to help us with our projects (and if you think something is missing, please tell us).

Future Work for July 2009

All our projects need to get going really!

Mailing List Discussions

If you've not joined our mailing list, please do so. We've never tried using our forums it seems :) we stick to old-fangled email. This will eventually change when the IGDA site changes over - although those wanting email can still get it.

June had mainly discussions on the the SIG paper at DiGRA. We'll sort the paper being presented, and I'll be down for the panel in October.

Devin also has kept us updated of some very neat items - the making of Earthworm Jim, 1Up on Michael Jackson, and Unseen 64 Call for Art.

Preservation SIG Blog Updates / Links

Have I missed anything this month? Then email it in to preservation_news @ igda.org !

I'm afraid there's been nothing presented my way, or anything I've seen, to post about regarding the state of game preservation.

Final Thoughts

Hopefully I'll get my spare time sorted to work on some of the projects. I want to try and finish or at least get going one per month. Please, however, if you're interested in helping just put some work into the information on the wiki would really help :)

Andrew Armstrong

IGDA Game Preservation SIG Site/Blog editor

Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 02:46 AM | Comments (0)

June 01, 2009

[Monthly SIG Roundup] June 2009

Not much activity this month from our SIG, although we've discussed the IGDA's own backup situation and that will be investigated in the future.

Preservation SIG May 2009 Work

No work as far as I'm aware this month apart from me working on backend material for the Bibliography project - make sure if you are interested, at all, in preservation to help us with our projects if you're interested (and if you think something is missing, please tell us).

There was however some bits of news and discussion, check it out below.

Future Work for June 2009

I have still got to contact the Japanese collection of material, and projects still need leads and work started on them. I hope that by the end of June, which at least in the UK is around the same time as all the Universities ending the final semester, people will be around with a bit more time :)

Mailing List Discussions

If you've not joined our mailing list, please do so. We've never tried using our forums it seems :) we stick to old-fangled email. This will eventually change when the IGDA site changes over - although those wanting email can still get it.

May had mainly discussions on the IGDA's backup situation. Many of the topics discussed in early may were mentioned in the last newsletter such as Encarta dying. After the update, we have Old printers and trueSpace having stopped support.

There was an interesting discussion touching on aspects of preserving non-physical games - download, MMO and others. A very tough part of the work that is going on.

Finally, there is a discussion on the news that IGN is shutting down their hosting, for all but FilePlanet and IGN.com it appears. We'll obviously see more shortly.

Preservation SIG Blog Updates / Links

Have I missed anything this month? Then email it in to preservation_news @ igda.org !

A few items of news this month:

Final Thoughts

I've got a list of things the length of my arm to follow up, so less time spent writing this the better. Adios!

Andrew Armstrong

IGDA Game Preservation SIG Site/Blog editor

Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 08:58 AM | Comments (0)

May 31, 2009

IGN Hosted Sites - Classic Gaming/Gamespy Networks Shutting Down

IGN is shutting down the hosting of all their hosted sites on August 31st 2009. Devin brought up the news, the sites affected appear to be all the XXX.gamespy.com sites ("Planet" sites), all the XXX.classicgaming.gamespy.com sites, xxx.ign.com sites ("Vault" sites) and possibly others. FilePlanet and IGN.com remains, and presumably the main Gamespy site and services/branding too.

Rehosting is offered by Konfiskated Technologies Network, although I urge anyone reading this who has access to data that IGN hosts to send it our way so we can preserve it somewhere, and to crawl your sites or the sites you want to save now, download any files, and make backups immediately as well as inform readers that it will disappear for good. A lot of crawling will need to be done since no doubt many of the sites are not maintained often, the Archive Team might be called into action once I have a chance to gather more information on what will be shut down permanently.

Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 03:48 PM | Comments (0)

May 12, 2009

[Monthly SIG Roundup] May 2009

In the previous month we're trying to restart some of the projects the SIG wants to run. Hopefully anyone who is interested can get involved!

Preservation SIG April 2009 Work

The projects listed on our front wiki page have been put forward on the mailing list to get volunteers and interested people involved. Sadly, if there is no action on some fronts the projects will indefinitely lie dormant. If you know of anyone outside the SIG who is interested in videogame preservation and can lend a hand, please invite them!

The Memorials project has had a few updates, both to the layout and to the people added to our records. We are looking for biography writers, and also any missing entries, so please email memorials -at- igda -dot- org to suggest anything.

Devin Monnens has also started setting up Facebook and LinkedIn pages/groups, we'll advertise the links once they're up and running :)

Future Work for May 2009

Apart from being late doing the roundup (with a mixture of a server issue for a week at the start of May and me being busy), so actually this is mid-may, there are still things to finish. Among them I intend to finally get the last museum I actively know collecting a major amount of videogame material which is situated in Japan, and then hope to publish the list and start on gathering more detailed information about the museums soon.

The projects also need some active work put into them, but this is up to the individual project leads. I can help organise things, so give me a shout if you're too busy to get specifically started or need some help.

Any unassigned projects also need leads, and all the projects do need more help (since no project has more then one person working on it!). Please see the main page for basic information and the mailing list discussions below:


Mailing List Discussions


If you've not joined our mailing list, please do so. We've never tried using our forums it seems :) we stick to old-fangled email. This will eventually change when the IGDA site changes over - although those wanting email can still get it.

April had discussions on online DRM, Soviet Game Museum, Geocities going under, TV emulation and a massive UK Ebay auction.

SIG stuff - GDC roundtable notes, Bibliography Project, Improving the News area, Facebook / LinkedIn pages, and finally a discussion on Our Membership - importantly on who we want to join up in the future.

Preservation SIG Blog Updates / Links

Have I missed anything this month? Then email it in to preservation_news @ igda.org !

With me working on the Bibliography project, intended to replace the "Linkblog" of old, and the fact this means that there can be automatically generated, cross-referenced and accurately sourced articles and stories means the current blog will only post preservation-related news.

I have, however, fallen behind on this, meaning not much added this month, including internal SIG news. I have no idea what the readership of the blog is like, but I want to improve this over the coming months - by posting SIG project news, and news about emulation, preservation projects and museums, and so forth. I'm going to be visiting the Urbis in Manchester tonight for the opening of a videogame history and play exhibit, which is one of the types of article I hope to link from the blog.

Once the bibliography is up, I'll code up some RSS feed for it, but also make a function to be able to linkdump a ton of interesting entries people enter that are flagged up as good to publish (being relatively new).

Final Thoughts >

With so many recent videogame companies closing their door, it appears history and game preservation isn't really near anyones minds at the moment. It's a tad shameful that the only bits of of 3dRealms own material is being released by people looking for new jobs rather then by the company itself (or letting it be preserved!) - showing they had been working, not just doing nothing on the infamously long Duke Nukem Forever project. This is one of the best reasons to preserve unfinished and incomplete projects, and document the closing of companies in more detail. Maybe in the future we'll be able to provide more direct assistance in doing this across the world!

Andrew Armstrong

IGDA Game Preservation SIG Site/Blog editor

Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 03:27 AM | Comments (0)

April 07, 2009

[Memorials] Frank Herman, Kentaro Haneda

New memorials we've recently started for developers Kentaro Haneda and Frank Herman, who died in 1997 and last week respectively.

Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 02:21 PM | Comments (0)

April 02, 2009

[Monthly SIG Roundup] April 2009

GDC has come and gone, with our white paper now released, go read it!

Preservation SIG March 2009 Work

The white paper "Before It's Too Late: A Digital Game Preservation White Paper" was finished, and is available in several flavours: DOC, ODT, PDF, Lulu Copies

March also hosted, of course, the Game Developers Conference. I have put up my notes and created the relevant project placeholder links on the wiki. Tell me or Henry if you are interested in any of the projects, or have a suggestion for an area to cover!

Finally, the panel submission for DiGRA has been put forward by Dan, so we'll hear news on if that is successful or not in the coming months.

Future Work for April 2009

My work will include cleaning up ready for new projects and pages, but the SIG as a whole can contribute to the flow of ideas for new and old projects and information to work on. Hopefully this month I will get started into a bibliography website for putting various resources related to videogames.

Mailing List Discussions

If you've not joined our mailing list, please do so. We've never tried using our forums it seems :) we stick to old-fangled email. This will eventually change when the IGDA site changes over - although those wanting email can still get it.

March had discussions on the laments of young gamers not knowing about arcades, Google's book digitising project, Henry Lowood appearing on a podcast focusing an episode on the history of videogames called A Life Well Wasted, and a short discussion on preserving websites.

Other minor stuff - there was our GDC flyer made up by Henry, and some neat article finds - Fallouts design document and the first(?) lightgun with additional discussion on the museum that hosts it.

Finally, the white paper was released! Feedback very welcome!

Preservation SIG Blog Updates / Links

Have I missed anything this month? Then email it in to preservation_news @ igda.org !

The format of the news will likely change in the future. Without help I am falling behind on the actual useful stuff to report on for preservationists, historians and the like (no one emails me any news, luckily I guess!). I'll probably post useful news immediately, on techniques, events (both ones you attend, and big events like something shutting down!), preservation/history projects and SIG items. I will be working on the Bibliography project for more or less interesting historical or game history articles, where I will likely point a feed from for more regular "Updates of articles related to game preservation and history that you might be interested in reading", whew!


Final Thoughts

Hope anyone who went to GDC had a good time, and those that didn't don't feel left out. The roundtable was definitely more a general discussion and not focused much on SIG work except for suggestions on what to do :)

Andrew Armstrong

IGDA Game Preservation SIG Site/Blog editor

Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 03:19 PM | Comments (0)

March 01, 2009

[Monthly SIG Roundup] March 2009

White paper work has gone on strongly and GDC is looming!

Preservation SIG February 2009 Work

The white paper "Before It's Too Late: A Digital Game Preservation White Paper" is now nearly complete, there is some more editing to do and printing to take care of before GDC. Good work all who has contributed to it! we'll release a digital copy to the SIG and public when we can :)

The SIG also has a logo, finally. I finished up the design, and is shown proudly on our wiki page. I'll be sure to get it on future content, new IGDA site pages, and whatever else I can.

At the Internet Archive we have two major changes - contributions to the videogame footage collection from Satakore.com, a Sega site.

Secondly, we have been working on the new section for game patches. This is currently having bits and pieces added to it (so I can get up to speed on the kind of thing which is a good idea to do for items - patch notes, etc.). Help would be welcome, so if anyone has a large collection of patches, especially for older titles, getting them to me or uploading them would be a great help. Contact me or Simon (simon -at- archive -dot- org) to offer help.

We also have had some interest for starting up the Oral Histories project for real, at least in collaboration with existing efforts in the area - Dean O’Donnell from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The collectors information project might also get some help from Stuart Feldhamer, thank you both!

Finally, Dan Pinchbeck from Portsmouth University has got some preservation panel work to be offered to DiGRA, one item will be the white paper, and some other related research of course. The actual event is at Brunel University, West London 1st - 4th of September 2009, a date for your diaries if you're in the UK.

Future Work for March 2009

Major items to get done in March include preparing for GDC. We'll make sure to advertise when the extra meeting session will be, the roundtable has been confirmed to be Friday (March 27, 2009), 2:30pm — 3:30pm. Catch us there if possible!

I personally am also going to report on Byte-Back next weekend, and finally play some more old videogames. I certainly don't do enough in that regard!

Mailing List Discussions

If you've not joined our mailing list, please do so. We've never tried using our forums it seems :) we stick to old-fangled email.

This month we have discussions on an extra GDC meeting, the aforementioned collectors project and oral histories, as well as a lot around KEEP.

There is also sad discussion on HOTU (Home of the Underdogs) shutting down, and an interesting discussion started on preserving analogue media correctly. Contributions to the latter discussion welcomed this month!

Preservation SIG Blog Updates / Links

Have I missed anything this month? Then email it in to preservation_news @ igda.org !

Note: this month I've been terribly lax. I've got 300+ things just in my RSS feeds to check out, so expect more news on the blog next month.


Final Thoughts


Hopefully we'll see some of the SIG gather at GDC :) should be fun!

Andrew Armstrong

IGDA Game Preservation SIG Site/Blog editor

Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 02:05 PM | Comments (0)

February 16, 2009

I'm Back!

Yeah, I've been offline with computer issues. Fear not! Now is resolved by the classic way of reinstalling your entire PC.

We could do with more blog editors, to alleviate this problem, to filter the gooey, succulent, tasty news of the computer archive community. Contact me at preservation_news -at- igda -dot- org if you're interested.

I'll be on a flurry of news now though, so expect some "old news", whatever that is, to appear, and I'll be more on track sorting this out now!

Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 10:18 AM | Comments (0)

February 01, 2009

[Monthly SIG Roundup] February 2009

Spring cleaning with agusto, January is over. We've got new members and a slightly cleaned up set of projects this month, and some good news for the coming month.

January 2009 Work

Our white paper "Before It's Too Late: A Digital Game Preservation White Paper" is now in the editing phase. Anyone who signed up for proofreading might get a shot at it this month, and it is planned to be released along with a 1 sided summary at GDC. If you want to proofread, please contact us.

I also have updated ("spring cleaned") the main pages of the SIG: the main page, and updates to the projects and resources pages. Are we missing something? Please email in. :)

We also have a nearly finished SIG icon. Here is the latest design, which I've only got one major thing left to do on (improve the "shine"), and create versions suitable for lower then 64x64 resolution which it currently is in. Once finished I'll be using it for future newsletters, pages, themes, etc.

From the memorials project we have new memorials for Erick S. Dyke (d 10-11-2008), Gene Smith (d 2002-07-14) and Fukio Mitsuji (d 2008-12-11) (who was confirmed, very sadly, as having died). We still need major help with this project, from submissions from the past, or manpower to edit pages, write biographies or research people. Please contact Devin at memorials -at- igda -dot- org to help!

The Contributions project also has updates, from more European and American institutions / organisations which are up for accepting physical donations of work. Soon I'll get into gear advocating this, as the project is nearly complete (enough for a v1.0 release at least).

For our Internet Archive work, I've added a few more videos to collections - Consolevania Wave 1 and Consolevania Christmas Carol, a sad end to Consolevania, so go watch! I also went out and found a few contributors, so thanks to Captain Duck for his Dwarf Fortress tutorials (a game that must be in some way remembered in video form! :) ), and a few more people who are aiming to upload things this month.

The Let's Play collection also has a lot of new ones, thanks to Baldurk, including GUN, Psychonauts, Misadventures of Tron Bonne, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Mega Man 3, Earthworm Jim 2, Mega Man 2 and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

The Videogame Replays collection also got a few new Longplays from Monty Mole, Gradius 2, Super Mario Bros 2 and Mortal Kombat 2. The Virtual Worlds collection also has a new video titled A New Platform - Sirikata, about Stanfords new open source platform.

Finally, we've got permission to add new collections related Videogames in other areas. Currently we are experimenting with Videogame Patches, which was discussed on our mailing list a fair few months ago - so watch this space for future developments. If anyone feels they can contribute to any area we are working on with files or volunteer manpower, please contact me or Simon! (simon -at- archive -dot- org)

Future Work for February 2009

I'll be concentrating on any new Internet Archive collections, but I am still wanting feedback on what to do about 3 languishing projects; Digital Game Canon, Collectors Information and Oral Histories. There is also a need to revamp the Resources and Projects listings somehow, I need feedback on all of these if possible, especially if someone wants to help with any of it (no experience in the area necessary!)

Mailing List

If you've not joined our mailing list, please do so. We've never tried using our forums it seems :) we stick to old-fangled email.

Lots of discussions started this month, not many finished. Discussions on Wikipedia, Spring Cleaning, Mobygames and KLOV / Metadatabase,

A possible new project were raised in the form of citation/catalogue standards, and discussions of the existing projects as noted above as problematic Oral Histories, Digital Game Canon and Collectors Information which all need input.

Finally, welcome to new members on the mailing list. Let yourself be known, because eventually the mailing list will disappear to be replaced by a similar function on the new IGDA website format - meaning you'll need free accounts, and we'll know who you are then anyway! :P

Preservation SIG Blog Updates / Links

Have I missed anything this month? Then email it in to preservation_news @ igda.org !


Final Thoughts


Hope you have had a nice spring clean of your office, home, desk, or at least your coffee cup. Please remember to contribute back your thoughts on our projects and work, there is no requirement to work on them if you offer words of advice, criticism or any kind of comment.

Andrew Armstrong

IGDA Game Preservation SIG Site/Blog editor

Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 03:03 PM | Comments (0)

December 01, 2008

[Monthly SIG Roundup] December 2008

December has us rolling along with the white paper, and the GDC Preservation SIG round table announced, hooray!

Preservation SIG Updates

Our first white paper titled "Before It's Too Late: A Digital Game Preservation White Paper" has been started, we're still looking for contributions, especially on the topic of case studies where the lack of preservation has hurt developers. Opinions on the white paper are also welcome, if something seems missing.

The Internet Archive has a new collection of Let's Play videos with help from the Let's Play Archive - thanks to baldurk the site admin for his generous help. There are many up already, so check them out :)

Other Internet Archive uploads I've done have centred on the vast array of intros and cutscene files from games. Age of Empires II, Assassins Creed, Battlefield 2, Call of Duty 4, Call of Duty: United Offensive and Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior. Yes, most of these are pretty new games (ones I had easy access too) - so if you have any more intros, cutscenes or in-game footage that isn't in the archive already, please contact us so we can get it online :)

December Preservation SIG Work

We've got the white paper ongoing, and I also intend to finish updating some of the memorials pages which we've left for a few months due to work. If you know of any missing memorials not in our collection we'd love to hear from you at memorials -at- igda.org

Finally, I hope with my sorting of the IA's videogame collections icons, I can also do something about the SIG's lack of one. We've now got a very nice Memorials icon so it'd be a shame if the SIG as a whole doesn't have one. Ideas welcome and I'll post up any prototypes (is that the right artistic term?) if I do some.

Mailing List Discussions

If you've not joined our mailing list, please do so. We've never tried using our forums it seems :) we stick to old-fangled email. In November we have had discussions on the aforementioned case study white paper research, some notes on Google shutting down lively, a brand new Memorials icon and also some ideas for a SIG icon (which still needs doing as I've noted above), and also my visit to the National Videogame Archive.

Preservation SIG Blog Updates / Links

Have I missed anything this month? Then email it in to preservation_news @ igda.org !

I'm afraid as of making this newsletter something is up on the IGDA.org site, and I can't access the Preservation Blog front page. I'll update the wiki entry with the November entries as soon as I can access it.

Final Thoughts

White paper work is ongoing, wish us luck doing it before our set deadline :) and Happy Christmas from your site/blog editor!

Ho ho ho!

Andrew Armstrong

IGDA Game Preservation SIG Site/Blog editor

Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 08:02 AM | Comments (0)

November 04, 2008

Preservation SIG UK National Videogame Archive Visit

I today visited the National Videogame Archive in the UK, which has just started very recently. I wrote up a report on my site, since I otherwise wouldn't have been able to put up pictures (as you might have noted if you read this).

An interesting visit - I might have an interview up at some point with him too, although that will go on the more relevant Vintage Computing & Gaming site, since, of course, here can't host pictures, and my site isn't well suited to interview content since it's my personal site.

If anyone has anything you think I'd be interested in reporting in or interviewing (even if it is yourself) email preservation_news -at- igda.org

Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 04:34 PM | Comments (0)

November 03, 2008

[Monthly SIG Updates] November 2008

November 2008

November sees the start of the White Paper effort, GDC being announced and some more news posted. The UK's NVA was also launched with a gusto, but I hope to have a report later this month about that. A bit late this time, I was at GameCity when November started - next month I won't be so tardy :)

Preservation SIG Updates

We've started the White Paper behind the scenes, although if you want to help write it before our January deadline - or even just to help proofread it when it's complete (where you get a sneak peek at it of course :) ) then give me a shout.

I've not uploaded much to the Internet Archive this month because of some events (like GameCity), but I did manage to get up some quick bits - Red Alert Sizzle adverts and more impressively the long The Witcher Making Of movies (over 2 hours of the stuff).

November Preservation SIG Work

The White Paper has started, but we could use some help on the Memorials section if anyone can lend a hand writing anything more. There have been some backlog and a few we've missed adding recently too which I hope to sort this month.

Mailing List Discussions

If you've not joined our mailing list, please do so. We've never tried using our forums it seems :) we stick to old-fangled email. We have had discussions on Older Versions of Programs (leading into patches), XBLA delistings and the Games for Arts Sake collection being announced. Finally, some discussion on being a proofreader by spending some small amount of time in January helping us would be great :)

Preservation SIG Blog Updates / Links

Have I missed anything this month? Then email it in to preservation_news @ igda.org !


Final Thoughts


I'll be sorting my PC so won't be uploading a lot of material to the archive, but while I have a lot of previews/trailers and cutscene files to upload and some remaining interviews, I've uploaded a lot of my useful documentary content. If anyone knows of any source material for interviews, documentaries and "making of's", it'd be great to have them on the archive!

Thanks all,

Andrew Armstrong

IGDA Game Preservation SIG Site/Blog editor

Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 12:47 PM | Comments (0)

October 08, 2008

Contacting the Preservation SIG Newsdesk

Have you got something to add to our site news? I keep an eye on RSS feeds and news, but I miss an awful lot of videogame history material. How, however, you can contact our elite team of newsdesk people by emailing preservation_news - at - igda.org !

If and when the IGDA site gets updated, we should be all nice and shiny, making this a much nicer place to actually get news too. Yay!

Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 03:24 PM | Comments (0)

October 01, 2008

[Monthly SIG Updates] October 2008

October has been a month of back-end work for me and others. Someone started the Whitepaper brainstorm, which I've yet to add mine and Devin's comments too. We'll hopefully see it updated more this month!

Preservation SIG Updates

In September the main update will have been the Contributions/Donations page (I might rename it shortly), encompassing a grand total of 6 (yes, six!) different organisations who might be willing to accept your old videogame material, especially developer items. I'm trying to search further afield (such as Asia, the rest of Europe, and so forth) - if you can translate any language into English and be a go-between, or know of any possible archive or museum outside of the USA and the UK, please please contact us since this is really something I'd like to complete this century!

Secondly, the Whitepaper has got off to a start - and yes, I've not had the time just yet to update it with my contributions or Devin's who have sent it to me, but I'll try and get that done this month. Henry said he'll have a look at it too, so hopefully we'll get going somewhere. If anyone has any off hand contributions to make, add them to our mailing list.

Thirdly, the Memorials project has an entry for Laura_Geneder.

On the Internet Archive front, I've uploaded some interesting bits and pieces, as has the Virtual Worlds project. See new interviews (such as pre-current generation console launch interviews with the big 3, and WillTV for some Will Wright philosophy) and videogame footage (the entire collection of Pure Pwnage, the Red Alert Cutscenes and other bits and pieces).

October Preservation SIG Work

The whitepaper still needs brainstorming. Anyone who has a thought to add, please do so. I'm still working out how best to update the information lists we have, and might resort to doing it on a proper database rather then the wiki. In addition, if I can get further museums added for the contributions page we'll try and get it launched at some point as a resource point for advocacy!

Mailing List Discussions

If you've not joined our mailing list, please do so. We've never tried using our forums it seems :) we stick to old-fangled email. September has been pretty dead, apart from Devin posting up a proposed entry for the new IGDA Journal which he requests comments for. It's a worthwhile project, so put your input in while you can.

Preservation SIG Blog Updates / Links

Note: Have I missed anything? Then email it in. I really should get a "Preservation newsdesk" email setup, there's a lot more I simply don't know about which I keep missing. If anyone wants to help with the blog, you can become a blog editor by contacting us! This is all the updates not included in the previous newsletter (most recent first):


Final Thoughts

A lot of work needs doing on the whitepaper, and possibly it'd be nice to get more members even just posting on our mailing list - someone did join this month, hooray! Perhaps we can double that figure next month.

Also; I will attempt to do some actual journalism regarding the various museums and archives I can visit in the UK, certainly to add the information to the wiki but also interview those involved if possible. We'll see if I can get around to that this month.

Thanks all,

Andrew Armstrong

IGDA Game Preservation SIG Site/Blog editor

Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 10:50 AM | Comments (0)

September 01, 2008

[Monthly SIG Updates] September 2008

With September the 1st comes a new monthly roundup. There's been bits and pieces of activity, some interesting articles and other odds and ends.

Preservation SIG Updates

First off, the Whitepaper effort has been launched by Henry! This has had exactly no contributors yet, so make sure to get on the mailing list or wiki to add your thoughts. Anything, from basic information, ideas and resource links to paper titles, core concepts and examples of why videogame preservation is needed are all welcome. Please send this out to anyone who might be interested in editing or writing for the paper, or who can contribute some information to it. I'll be adding up some basic information this month, hopefully encouraging others :)

The memorial project has had a new entry for Dave Pridie who died in 2001, contributed by Christopher Bretz.

The Contributions page, where museums and archives will be listed who can accept material from game developers, has now been started. There are 3 listed locations, including our own member's Zach Vowell's UT archive and two UK computer museums. I am planning to email more, but if anyone knows some in person and can gather some information for this list in the form that already exists in these examples, it'd be very welcome! (And if anyone can speak Japanese, there is likely a few in Japan I'd love to add, so give me a shout if you can help translate!)

Finally I've been more organised in uploading a good amount of videos to the Internet Archive. Among the uploades are several years of E3 footage before it "changed" by Andrew Mehta, for 2004, 2005 and 2006, as well as the partially finished documentary on videogames - What's Next for Videogames?. As noted last month, I have uploaded half of Pure Pwnage. In addition, the "Meet The" Team Fortress 2 videos from Valve are uploaded. There are a few more interviews from Kikizo, and a few odd previews too bringing up the Previews collection to a nice round 2,200 videos.

September Preservation SIG Work

The contributions and whitepaper sections need attention and I need to finish templates to update the resources and projects listings - hopefully once more organised, should be more up to date. The Memorials project is ongoing.

Anyone who wants to lend a hand or has any ideas for further project work post on our mailing list.

Mailing List Discussions

If you've not joined our mailing list, please do so. We've never tried using our forums it seems :) we stick to old-fangled email. Recently there's been discussions on the Wing Commander IP preservation, the interview of Joe Santulli (collector, see link below), and on Recreating old development environments after a Megaman 9 interview came online. Read the past discussions for August here.

Preservation SIG Blog Updates / Links

Note: Have I missed anything? Then email it in. I really should get a "Preservation newsdesk" email setup, there's a lot more I simply don't know about which I keep missing. This is all the August updates not included in the previous newsletter:

Final Thoughts

The Whitepaper has officially started, so I hope we all can contribute a few words to its content, else you'll get another annoying note next month about it not having much done on it :) in any case, hope the end of Summer has been good!

Thanks all,

Andrew Armstrong

IGDA Game Preservation SIG Site/Blog editor

Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 01:43 PM | Comments (0)

August 05, 2008

Call to Action: Game Preservation SIG White Paper brainstorming!

Henry has summarised the start of the White Paper effort we intend to get done this year. Read on for his words...

1) The discussion about methods for collaborating pretty much bogged down. (I will reserve comment on the odds of a successful conclusion on any topic to discussion of meta-issues.) We do have a group of volunteers to work as a kind of committee for the project, plus we have the entire group. So, let's just get started.

2) In that spirit, I have set up a "White paper brainstorm" page.

Have a look, and get busy! And if you do contribute, please consider adding yourself to the contributors page, which will then identify our de facto editorial committee.

3) IGDA has just opened up a fund for internal funding or projects. In the next weeks, I will submit a proposal for a modest level of funds to produce a print version of the white paper. If we are both good and lucky, we may have this to distribute at GDC 2009. If not, well, we'll find a way to get it out there.

4) Keep in mind: This first paper is a "call to arms" effort. It will focus on goals, benefits, reasons for worrying about this. We need passionate and compelling arguments, good examples of positive efforts and painful losses, etc. We can get into solutions with a second white paper on practices, which perhaps we could finish for GDC 2010. However, if somebody would like to get us started now on the second text, no reason not to -- just set up a page for brainstorming!

5) Feel free to muck around with the wiki pages I set up for us to get started. That's what a wiki is for!

Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 05:23 PM | Comments (0)

SIG Monthly Update: August 2008

So the month of August rolls around. This is late coming due to posting a ton of new blog links from me missing a week of content, but I wanted to try out the monthly progress reports/articles posted links. Helps me at least keep myself on track! :)

Preservation SIG Updates
If anyone remembers, the Memorials project was launched more officially in June. This has lead to a total of exactly no one emailing Devin about it as far as I'm aware (boo!) however, we're working on it ourselves (yay!). Contributions welcome, there's a lot of Biographies to do. People who died in July added to the project are Randy Pausch (Professor), and Melissa Batten (Xbox 360 Developer). Both are rather sad cases - Randy for his inevitable death from cancer, and Melissa because of it being a murder-suicide by her husband.


I have been working on plans to update the SIG's information lists - which are now outdated, and in fact were always incomplete. Starting afresh is the Contributions page, where museums and archives will be listed who can accept material. I personally am working on emailing who I can, and in am in contact in person with the UK National Museum of Computing (which I visited recently). Contributions to this section or knowledge of any computer museums welcome - I have only two USA museums to contact at the moment, there must be more! :)

Finally, as an aside project, I am gearing up my uploading efforts at the Internet Archive, despite my internet connection here being absolutely terrible for uploads. I'm uploading more Kikizo and Fileshack material in bits and pieces, and also the online gamer show Pure Pwnage, which is easier since Wikipedia provides a nice description of the content :) - Henry and his Standford groupies are doing some work in the Virtual Worlds section too!


I might also be onto getting some older E3 videos/documentary stuff up from someone who might be interested, we'll see - the E3 of yesteryear isn't going to come back so soon, so it'll be interesting to put that material up. There will also be some effort if I run out of everything else to start uploading trailers and promo material. I'll link to anything interesting, and try and root out some strange stuff for the collection.

August Preservation SIG Work

I have no idea how Henry is doing for workload - so I don't expect the whitepaper will get started yet. I personally will try and finish in as much as I can the contributions section before tackling the projects & resources pages. Not much else to note that's of any interest, maybe you guys are up to something good this month?

I'm also currently reading "The A-Zof Cool Computer Games" - giving me the thought to review it's contents for an updated "Resources" section. You might well be asked for book lists, reviews or anything else in the future once I get some templates up. I am sure many of you have shelves of the annuals of time, it might be time to dust them off for a little while if I can't find them online to index on our site! :)

Preservation SIG Blog Updates / Links

Note: Have I missed anything? Then email it in. I really should get a "Preservation newsdesk" email setup, there's a lot more I simply don't know about which I keep missing. This is everything from July (the August stuff is really from July or the very start of August).

10 things everyone should know about Space InvadersInterview with Benoît Sokal
Discworld Game Remakes
The First Video Game Sequel with modding?
Henry Lowood on Machinima and the History of Digital Games
The Importance Of History In The Excellence Of Video Games
Stanford Workshop: “Preserving Knowledge in Virtual Worlds”
GOG from CD-Projekt to Offer Classic Games
SomethingAwful Game Articles
Defender...in a Favicon
The Good and Bad of Sport Videogames
Making Tennis For Two On Modern Hardware
Journal Starting "Historical Studies of Digital Entertainment Media"
The World of Western RPGs
Word Play: The Evolution of Game Journalism
The History of Video Games: The First Video Game?...
A History of Gaming Platforms: Atari 8-Bit Computers
Simon Turns 30: The History of the Toy and Gaming's First Grudge
Game Mag Weaseling: Where to begin?
Introducing the Stephen M. Cabrinety Collection Blog
"Lost Server Connection": The Last Minutes of a Virtual World

Simon did suggest pictures - I must start doing this, despite the fact this version of Movable Type is rubbish for it (ie; there's no way to upload pictures ;) ). The new IGDA site is not going to be here quick - it's being redone, although I'm not sure I can divulge in what software, and there is no timeline.

Final Thoughts

The Vintage Game Club started up last month, with Grim Fandango. Mine keeps crashing, I'll have to tinker with it more, but the intro sure has me in the mood for more despite the agonising cries of "illogical puzzles". They're not doing a "Game a month" but instead seeing what works, and who knows what will be done in the future? Might be worth keeping an eye out on.


This is also a trial. I'll stick this on the wiki, and all comments are welcome on format/content.

Thanks all,

Andrew Armstrong
IGDA Game Preservation SIG Site/Blog editor

Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 03:49 PM | Comments (0)

November 10, 2007

Digital Game Canon 2007 presentations and audio online

Thanks to Henry Lowood (SIG Head) and Simon Carless (CMP media) we've been able to get the slides and audio of the Digital Game Canon 2007 presentation online, along with a transcript and online versions of the slides. This was done at the Game Developers Conference 2007, and you can find more information on the project at the IGDA wiki.

Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 03:08 PM | Comments (0)

September 18, 2007

SIG News now moved here

Quick item; I've put the news previously on the IGDA wiki onto this blog, and if anyone has any past news relevant to the SIG I am happy to add that too.

Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 05:03 PM | Comments (0)

September 12, 2007

IGDA Game Perservation Blog now in operation!

While the Game Preservation SIG has been working over all the years it has operated, the site here has sadly been not updated with its progress and work (not good for recording history of its own happenings!)

I'm now working on this blog and the IGDA wiki, so feel free to email me (andrew at aarmstrong.org) or Henry Lowood (preservation_sig at igda.org) any news, editorials, information, history or anything else that IGDA members might appreciate.

I myself will be hopefully updating this with any news from members, about IGDA and other game preservation projects, and on items that are being sorted for the Internet Archive - which is expanding, so if you have any videogame industry related videos, now might be a good time to archive them for anyone to download (thanks to Simon Carless the head curator for his work in this area!)

Hopefully I'll also be able to sort interviews with those doing the preservation work itself, from game archive repositories to game history sites, and others.

Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 04:00 PM | Comments (0)