[game_preservation] [August SIG] So much stuff posted up!

[Andrew Armstrong]

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 <http://www.igda.org/wiki/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 
<http://www.igda.org/wiki/Memorials/Randy_Pausch> (Professor), and 
Melissa Batten <http://www.igda.org/wiki/Memorials/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which are now outdated, and in fact were always incomplete.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 
<http://www.igda.org/wiki/Game_Preservation_SIG/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 <http://www.tnmoc.org/> 
(which I visited recently 
<http://aarmstrong.org/journal/2008/07/27/the-national-museum-of-computing>). 
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 <http://www.archive.org/details/gamevideos>, 
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 
<http://www.archive.org/details/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).
<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/interview_with.html>
10 things everyone should know about Space Invaders
<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/10_things_every.html>Interview 
with Benoît Sokal 
<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/interview_with.html>
Discworld Game Remakes 
<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/discworld_game.html>
The First Video Game Sequel with modding? 
<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/the_first_video.html>
Henry Lowood on Machinima and the History of Digital Games 
<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/henry_lowood_on.html>
The Importance Of History In The Excellence Of Video Games 
<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/the_importance.html>
Stanford Workshop: "Preserving Knowledge in Virtual Worlds" 
<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/stanford_worksh.html>
GOG from CD-Projekt to Offer Classic Games 
<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/gog_from_cdproj.html>
SomethingAwful Game Articles 
<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/somethingawful.html>
Defender...in a Favicon 
<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/defenderin_a_fa.html>
The Good and Bad of Sport Videogames 
<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/the_good_and_ba.html>
Making Tennis For Two On Modern Hardware 
<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/making_tennis_f.html>
Journal Starting "Historical Studies of Digital Entertainment Media" 
<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/journal_startin.html>
The World of Western RPGs 
<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/08/the_world_of_we.html>
Word Play: The Evolution of Game Journalism 
<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/08/word_play_the_e.html>
The History of Video Games: The First Video Game?... 
<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/08/the_history_of_4.html>
A History of Gaming Platforms: Atari 8-Bit Computers 
<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/08/_a_history_of_g_2.html>
Simon Turns 30: The History of the Toy and Gaming's First Grudge 
<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/08/simon_turns_30.html>
Game Mag Weaseling: Where to begin? 
<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/08/game_mag_weasel.html>
Introducing the Stephen M. Cabrinety Collection Blog 
<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/08/introducing_the.html>
"Lost Server Connection": The Last Minutes of a Virtual World 
<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/08/lost_server_con.html>
**
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 <http://www.websitetoolbox.com/mb/brainygamer> 
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
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