[game_preservation] iPhone Game Preservation

[Mike Melanson]

Andrew Armstrong wrote:

> I think the iPhone has plenty of things that need preserving - not just 

> games mind you - along with other more open and more closed platforms. 

> The mobile space has barely been scratched regarding preservation AFAIK, 

> basically because it's impossible to actually get the original files for 

> those platforms (tough luck trying to get backups usually), or get them 

> at any reasonable non-contract price on a device which will last more 

> then a few years (without any way of revocation of software from the 

> original parties!), and also phones ware out so fast compared to other 

> hardware, without a way to transfer material between them easily usually 

> - SD cards luckily help I guess with this :)


Preserving iPhone apps once they're downloaded is not that difficult. I 
have already effectively preserved everything I have purchased and 
downloaded. The apps are downloaded individually to my computer and I 
can easily view their location in the filesystem and copy them elsewhere 
for backup. They're just standard ZIP files with .ipa extensions. The 
contents can be anything but often contain standard media assets 
(JPG/PNG image files, CAF audio files, MP4 media files).

-- 
     -Mike Melanson