[game_preservation] Monthly update coming...soon

[Andrew Armstrong]

There is very little on the comparison of old games. A lot of things 
are, like you said, just "Making Of", not "What happened when it was 
actually made and released" - there is usually a little "why" in making 
of's but not much.

Andrew

Devin Monnens wrote:

> Actually, what I meant was that as far as I'm concerned the story 

> behind Spacewar! has been told already so I often expect very little 

> from history pieces beyond the Leonard Herman article (which was in 

> Supercade). I feel most histories tend to simply be chronicles of how 

> something was made or ultimately a list of works (Steve Kent's book is 

> more interesting in the origins chapters not from what is being said 

> but who is saying it and more importantly /how /they're saying it). 

> Because gamers often have no memory or recollection of the past (as in 

> 'anything they haven't played'), it's very common for information to 

> suddenly appear and be presented as 'brand new!!!' when people have 

> actually known about it for years (often without regard for those 

> sources). Nostalgia articles, if they're good, capitalize on the 

> memories of gamers by revisiting them and hopefully providing 

> something new (though often in the way of valorizing the game).

>

> I tend to think more in-depth history is about asking questions and 

> giving us new ways of interpreting the past. So I would see a 

> comparison of Spacewar! and Pong as doing something new rather than 

> just retelling old stories.

>

> Then again, my interests have made me somewhat pessimistic and 

> eccentric. I'm afraid that has turned me into something of a salty critic.

>

> -Devin

>

> On Wed, May 6, 2009 at 2:50 PM, Henry Lowood <lowood at stanford.edu 

> <mailto:lowood at stanford.edu>> wrote:

>

>     Ouch, that hurt, Devin!  I just completed an article for IEEE

>     Annals in the History of Computing on the relationship between

>     Spacewar! and Pong.   Actually, there isn't much out there on

>     Spacewar!  A helpful piece in Edge recently was the piece by

>     Leonard Herman (though, look hard for the attibution) on Ted Dabney.

>

>     Henry

>

>     Devin Monnens wrote:

>>     Edge has a Making of Spacewar article? Is that original or is it

>>     just a republication of the one in Supercade? That article has

>>     been around in various forms for awhile, and of course there's

>>     the old Stone article. I can't imagine there would be anything

>>     new to say about Spacewar in a gaming mag that hasn't been said

>>     already... That said, I still think there's more to say about

>>     Spacewar, but it ultimately involves more research (hence my

>>     interest in game software on mainframe computers :)

>>

>>     -Devin

>>

>>     On Wed, May 6, 2009 at 9:55 AM, Andrew Armstrong

>>     <andrew at aarmstrong.org <mailto:andrew at aarmstrong.org>> wrote:

>>

>>         Yeah, some of those articles and others - such as Edge's

>>         "Making of...Spacewar!" need to get added to the magical

>>         database I'm creating, heh (well, that I'm still designing).

>>         I don't want to post much more in the way of "articles on old

>>         games" on the blog as I proposed before, unless someone is

>>         able to help find them :)

>>

>>         Actually, it is worth discussing the games/articles on the

>>         mailing list though. I should post up some of the more

>>         interesting ones.

>>

>>         Andrew

>>

>>         Devin Monnens wrote:

>>>         Well, it's end of the semester here, so things are kind of

>>>         crazy. I did notice though there was an article on Rogue on

>>>         Gamasutra:

>>>

>>>         http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4013/the_history_of_rogue_have__you_.php

>>>

>>>         -Devin

>>>

>>>         On Wed, May 6, 2009 at 2:39 AM, Andrew Armstrong

>>>         <andrew at aarmstrong.org <mailto:andrew at aarmstrong.org>> wrote:

>>>

>>>             The IGDA wiki is down, thus I've not been able to do the

>>>             monthly roundup. Sorry about this!

>>>

>>>             Remember though, there's plenty to discuss with the

>>>             projects. We're kind of understaffed, it appears, since

>>>             most don't have any active interest right now, or in

>>>             fact any disinterest even. It seems I'll have to go out

>>>             and find new members for some of them or start them myself.

>>>

>>>             Andrew

>>>             _______________________________________________

>>>             game_preservation mailing list

>>>             game_preservation at igda.org

>>>             <mailto:game_preservation at igda.org>

>>>             http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>         -- 

>>>         Devin Monnens

>>>         www.deserthat.com <http://www.deserthat.com>

>>>

>>>         The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

>>>         ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>>>         _______________________________________________

>>>         game_preservation mailing list game_preservation at igda.org

>>>         <mailto:game_preservation at igda.org>

>>>         http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation

>>

>>         _______________________________________________

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>>

>>

>>

>>

>>     -- 

>>     Devin Monnens

>>     www.deserthat.com <http://www.deserthat.com>

>>

>>     The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

>>     ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>>     _______________________________________________ game_preservation

>>     mailing list game_preservation at igda.org

>>     <mailto:game_preservation at igda.org>

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>

>     -- 

>     Henry Lowood

>     Curator for History of Science & Technology Collections;

>          Film & Media Collections

>     HRG, Green Library

>     557 Escondido Mall, Stanford University Libraries

>     Stanford CA 94305-6004 USA

>     http://www.stanford.edu/~lowood <http://www.stanford.edu/%7Elowood>

>     lowood at stanford.edu <mailto:lowood at stanford.edu>; 650-723-4602

>         

>

>

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>

>

>

>

> -- 

> Devin Monnens

> www.deserthat.com <http://www.deserthat.com>

>

> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>

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>   

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