Gaming Preservation with Jason Scott!

Started by slider1983, Jan 22, 2025, 12:49 PM

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slider1983

GOG put out a recent video and Kiwi's arch villain Jason Scott made an appearance in it! Never knew what he looked like so this was interesting:


The video itself feels a little hollow especially on GOG and Scott's side.

- why are companies focusing on physical preservation when digital only games that get delisted are far more at risk?

- why is Jason Scott dressed up like a human boardgame?

- also why is GOG talking about preserving games when they should already have been doing this for years?

Anyway, considering since I know the infamous Scott from here I thought people would like to watch this.

kitsunebi

Quote from: slider1983 on Jan 22, 2025, 12:49 PM- also why is GOG talking about preserving games when they should already have been doing this for years?

I'm not going to watch this video, but I'm going to assume that what they're talking about is their recent GOG Preservation Program.  GOG has been selling old games for years, but they aren't actually guaranteed to work on all modern systems (granted, they have a money-back-guarantee if you happen to buy a game you can't get working).

Their recent program certifies games ("Good Old Games") which are guaranteed to run properly on modern systems, and will receive tech support to keep them running properly in the future.  They currently only have 102 games that meet the criteria of this program, though more will obviously be added.

Whether physical or digital, preserving games made for PCs isn't just a matter of making a perfect copy available.  It's got to actually RUN without needing to use legacy hardware or force the user to install a virtual machine.  Games in their program are guaranteed to work without jumping through any hoops.

slider1983

I'm well aware of most of this but my point is why they weren't doing it already? Since their inception their rule has always been to provide complete materials for all their games, something they have been failing to do in more recent years. It seems like a weird virtue signalling manoeuvre since all that stuff is part of what GOG is supposed to do anyway. If the games I bought haven't been guaranteed to run then they haven't been very transparent about that. What the video highlights more than anything is what they've been failing to do which has been brought up previously by a few GOG members.








slider1983

I also learned in the past week Jason Scott isn't the head of IA. I was under the impression he was.

Kiwi

Quote from: slider1983 on Jan 27, 2025, 11:53 AMI also learned in the past week Jason Scott isn't the head of IA. I was under the impression he was.

He isn't the head of IA. He's just a site ripping Muppet!!

kitsunebi

Quote from: slider1983 on Jan 27, 2025, 11:52 AMI'm well aware of most of this but my point is why they weren't doing it already? Since their inception their rule has always been to provide complete materials for all their games, something they have been failing to do in more recent years. It seems like a weird virtue signalling manoeuvre since all that stuff is part of what GOG is supposed to do anyway. If the games I bought haven't been guaranteed to run then they haven't been very transparent about that. What the video highlights more than anything is what they've been failing to do which has been brought up previously by a few GOG members.

I think you're selling it a bit short.  GOG's new program is the only option in existence I'm aware of that is promising now-and-forever support of a purchased game.  No (PC) game bought at retail or on Steam or wherever else is 100% guaranteed to run not just now, but years in the future on yet-to-exist hardware/operating systems.  Most games get tech support for a year or two until they're off the market, at which point if some new Windows update renders them unplayable, you're just S.O.L. 

Games running off of DOSBOX are pretty well set, and I imagine GOG doesn't have much to do with keeping those running properly.  But the Windows stuff, especially earlier iterations like games designed for Win95/98, require much more effort on their part, and may require whatever programs they're running under to be completely rewritten from time to time as hardware/OSes evolve.  They're promising to spend the time and money keeping these games running in the future despite whatever change may bring, which again, is something no other retailer or developer is going to do.

kitsunebi

#6
Quote from: Kiwi on Jan 27, 2025, 05:55 PMHe isn't the head of IA. He's just a site ripping Muppet!!
He's also a documentary filmmaker.  His 8-episode series on the history of the dial-up BBS is quite highly rated, though if I were to ever watch one, I think I'd be more interested in "Get Lamp," his documentary feature on text adventures.

Though more to Kiwi's liking, I imagine, would be his acting credit as "Nazi" in a movie called Solvent.  ;D

slider1983

Quote from: Kiwi on Jan 27, 2025, 05:55 PMHe isn't the head of IA. He's just a site ripping Muppet!!
So this video was released around the same time:


I don't care for Hbomberguy but not sure what he's doing there. Anyway, while they say here that their scans come from two other magazine websites can anyone confirm if scans from the Jason Scott raid made their way to the VGH website?

kitsunebi

Quote from: slider1983 on Feb 03, 2025, 02:08 PMI don't care for Hbomberguy but not sure what he's doing there. Anyway, while they say here that their scans come from two other magazine websites can anyone confirm if scans from the Jason Scott raid made their way to the VGH website?

VGHF works together with Retromags for all of their English-language stuff, and Gaming Alexandria for their Japanese stuff.

slider1983

Quote from: kitsunebi on Feb 03, 2025, 09:27 PMVGHF works together with Retromags for all of their English-language stuff, and Gaming Alexandria for their Japanese stuff.
I was asking since Jason Scott supplies VGHF with magazine scans or has in the past.

kitsunebi

Quote from: slider1983 on Feb 10, 2025, 03:31 PM
Quote from: kitsunebi on Feb 03, 2025, 09:27 PMVGHF works together with Retromags for all of their English-language stuff, and Gaming Alexandria for their Japanese stuff.
I was asking since Jason Scott supplies VGHF with magazine scans or has in the past.
I was wrong about Gaming Alexandria.  Looks like all their scans available currently are marked either "provided by Retromags" or "obtained from the Internet Archive."  Though I suppose something obtained from the Internet Archive could have originated elsewhere.

Jason Scott can't supply anyone with magazine scans if he hasn't scanned any magazines.  People at the VGHF are capable of downloading things from the Internet Archive themselves if they want to and don't need Jason Scott to be involved.

slider1983

Quote from: kitsunebi on Feb 10, 2025, 03:47 PMJason Scott can't supply anyone with magazine scans if he hasn't scanned any magazines.  People at the VGHF are capable of downloading things from the Internet Archive themselves if they want to and don't need Jason Scott to be involved.
Really? I'm a bit confused now. I remember a year or so ago Frank Cifaldi had previously gave out a shout on Twitter/X Jason Scott for helping with scanned material from Internet Archive. Maybe it was about something else?

Kiwi

Quote from: slider1983 on Feb 18, 2025, 02:33 PM
Quote from: kitsunebi on Feb 10, 2025, 03:47 PMJason Scott can't supply anyone with magazine scans if he hasn't scanned any magazines.  People at the VGHF are capable of downloading things from the Internet Archive themselves if they want to and don't need Jason Scott to be involved.
Really? I'm a bit confused now. I remember a year or so ago Frank Cifaldi had previously gave out a shout on Twitter/X Jason Scott for helping with scanned material from Internet Archive. Maybe it was about something else?

You clearly don't get what kitsunebi is alluding to.

Jason Scott AFAIK has NEVER personally scanned anything. He's just a leeching asshat who happens to be their head leeching honcho.

He MAY have passed files from Internet Archive onto VGHF but they are simply someone else's scans that were uploaded to Internet Archive in the first place (with or without the original scanners permission) and VGHF could download the exact same file off the website without his involvement anyway.

Best guess is he wants to make it look like Internet Archive is the source of the files in question when anyone who has been ripped off by their nefarious site scraping schemes knows the real truth only too well ...