[game_preservation] Game preservation videos?

[Jim Leonard]

Andrew Armstrong wrote:

> Just an idea, but does it have any merit? (Quick yes or no would do ;) I 

> was just wondering). If someone has done or started this already, got 

> any links or sources?


I know of no such resource, although at MobyGames we have toyed with the 
idea of allowing video submissions (in fact, we've had the technology in 
place for almost a year).  The obvious problem, for us anyway, is that 
video files take up space and bandwidth, and we're not made of money. 
So until the cost issue can be resolved, we probably won't implement it.

The problem with any such video archive is that inevitably the 
submissions are of such a bad quality that it could hardly be considered 
archival.  www.archive.org is the only resource I know of that is doing 
video *correctly* (you can submit 720x480/576 MPEG-2 and they will keep 
it, make it available, and derive smaller mpeg-4 versions for 
web/ipod/etc.).

A quick search of www.archive.org shows some submissions; I did one that 
was part speedrun, part example: 
http://www.archive.org/details/PunchOutArcadeSpeedrun
You'll notice that no attempt at resizing was made (the odd aspect ratio 
of the gamefield was preserved) and I used the leftover space to show 
what the cabinet looked like, some trivia, etc.  Ideally, I'd like any 
such archive to adhere to some of these standards in order to be truly 
useful.

Then again, I have unreasonably high standards ;-)
-- 
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org)            http://www.oldskool.org/
Help our electronic games project:           http://www.mobygames.com/
Or check out some trippy MindCandy at     http://www.mindcandydvd.com/
A child borne of the home computer wars: http://trixter.wordpress.com/