<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Re: [game_preservation] A Triumph Of Game Preservation</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'><BR>
I think you’re right to be wary, Andrew, but fortunately I think the WCNews/Origin Museum are a great example of Henry’s pt-boats (if you’ll recall his analogy of academic battleships and collector/hobbyist pt-boats). They’re very serious about preserving these records for history, and to that end have put a lot of time into organizing the materials that they receive, and in talking with them it’s even possible that they will provide duplicate files to one or more archives.<BR>
<BR>
They have to make sure it’s alright with EA before doing so, but they understand the instability of digital records, and so I think this will indeed turn out to be a triumph in the long run. <BR>
<BR>
But man, I’m crossing my fingers about Mythic keeping the physical objects/hard copies too. That would be a shame if they threw anything away.<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
-- <BR>
Zach Vowell<BR>
Archivist, UT Videogame Archive<BR>
Center for American History<BR>
512.495.4405<BR>
<a href="http://www.utvideogamearchive.org">http://www.utvideogamearchive.org</a><BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
On 8/12/08 6:31 AM, "Andrew Armstrong" <andrew@aarmstrong.org> wrote:<BR>
<BR>
</SPAN></FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'>Certainly interesting but...fans? Hmm?<BR>
<BR>
While there are some brilliant fansites, I know as well as anyone else<BR>
that many just go offline at random times or have funding<BR>
problems/update problems :( - It'd be much more interesting if a museum<BR>
or archive got hold of the information, and was able to make use of it<BR>
or store it properly. After all, the Wing Commander range of games is no<BR>
small amount of information.<BR>
<BR>
Or maybe at some point the fans can send copies of that stuff to<BR>
somewhere more permanent. Still much better then nothing! Applauding<BR>
from the sidelines here, at least it isn't all just stored at EA Mythic.<BR>
I just hope Mythic don't just bin it all now, with the excuse being<BR>
someone else has it, hehe.<BR>
<BR>
Andrew<BR>
<BR>
Mike Melanson wrote:<BR>
> This will bring a tear to the eye of anyone interested in game<BR>
> preservation:<BR>
><BR>
> <a href="http://www.wcnews.com/articles/mythicarchiving/index.shtml">http://www.wcnews.com/articles/mythicarchiving/index.shtml</a><BR>
><BR>
> Executive summary: The highups at the game company that owns all the<BR>
> Wing Commander IP gave permission for a group of WC fanatics and to<BR>
> come on-site for an entire week and thoroughly catalog everything<BR>
> relating to the series.<BR>
><BR>
_______________________________________________<BR>
game_preservation mailing list<BR>
game_preservation@igda.org<BR>
<a href="http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation">http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation</a><BR>
<BR>
</SPAN></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'><BR>
</SPAN></FONT>
</BODY>
</HTML>