Join M.A.D.D. today! It's not what you think.

If anyone reads my blog (which I highly doubt) and you own ANY one-of-a-kind software on CD or DVD, do yourself a big favor and back it up FREQUENTLY.

I pulled out an unreleased PS1 NTSC prototype game the other week to preview for the PlayStation Museum. Loaded it into the debugging station....

Black screen.

Doesn't boot. Ok, this disc hasn't been used more than twice in the many years that it existed. The CDR has no scratches whatsoever. I know it works. I personally played it years ago. I tip the debugging station on it's side, upside down,....no matter what yoga-like position I put it in, the freakin thing doesn't boot. Now I'm concerned. I put it in the PC hoping I can recover it. No go. The PC doesn't like it, can't even do a directory. I used various readers and nothing likes it. Oh shit. This is one of the protos that I didn't put on a preservation schedule yet. Now I'm MAD.

The main mission of The PlayStation Museum is to PRESERVE data, especially one-of-a-kind, so that it can exist for generations for historical purposes. I'm distraught at this time.

This particular game that was lost did have a retail release in Europe so the damage done isn't as big as a prototype which was never released anywhere (ie. Baldur's Gate, Madden 96, ...etc). We are currently obtaining a retail version at this time. However, The PlayStation Museum will be stating our preservation policy publicly in hopes that people think about it for themselves. A popular CDR faq states that a CDR (depending on the dye) have been proven to last between 5 - 25 years. The museum has been backing up on CDRs and we are addressing whether or not that is safe. We are seeking consultation from IGDA and possibly contacting the George Eastman House (they preserve film) to ideas.

In light of this recent incident, I am urging anyone who has important PS1 data such as unreleased demos, unreleased games, or even source code to join:

M.A.D.D. - Museum Against Deteriorating Data

Backup your data frequently. If you are a collector and think if you wait 10 - 15 years and sell your PS1 protos for mega bucks, think again. Chances are very high that at least some of those protos will be unusable by that time, especially since most are on cheap CDRs. Collectors will find out the hard way that PS1 CDRs don't last as long as Atari 2600 or NES cartridges.

GO ON A SCHEDULED BACK UP PLAN TODAY.

The above incident is not isolated either. Last year the museum was approached with a Batteship proto which was full of errors. Countless nights went on and nothing could be done. Luckily with some help and luck, we were able to locate a backup CCS file and necessary files to rebuild it from scratch. This turned out to be a success preservation story, but it shouldn't have been that way. The master disc should have been on a backup plan.

Holiday cards have finally been sent out - size doesn't matter

This year I sent out the most holiday cards on behalf of the PlayStation Museum as compared to previous years. I hand wrote all the addresses and comments on the cards. I really have to figure out how to computerize this for next year.

If you have been intimately involved with the PlayStation 1 and would like a holiday greeting, please visit the museum. Email the webmaster your mailing address (or myself in this blog) and explain in a sentence how you were involved with the PlayStation. Your contact information will remain strictly confidential and you will receive a holiday greeting hand written by yours truly.

I am a firm believer that SIZE DOESN'T MATTER! For the most part, all the cards that were sent were the same size. Because I combined a 'Thank you' within the holiday greeting, a few executives received larger sizes. (Again, many thanks to Phil Harrison, President of Sony Worldwide Studios, and Jamie Macdonald, VP of SCE Worldwide Studios Europe)

I would like to extend congratulations to Jack Tretton who is promoted to President of Sony Computer Entertainment America and Kaz Hirai who is promoted to President of Sony Computer Entertainment. Ken Kutaragi, the Father of the PlayStation, is taking chairman responbilities according to public sources. I have not been intimately involved with the situation, but it appears to be good decisions. Mr. Hirai has done an excellent job with SCEA. I think it is a normal progression for him to return to Tokyo and run SCE. Jack has more than proved to be an excellent candidate to run SCEA.

This week I was in contact with a confidential source who worked in the game industry. We talked about some unreleased games that were in the works and about past projects. He/she was reminiscing stories and exeperiences of years past. Our email conversation was very interesting. It felt more like I was sitting at a bar drinking a beer with this invididual and discussing funny things that happened to us. My eyes bugged out when I was informed of some cancelled projects. I personally don't understand some of these cancelled PlayStation projects, the few I have seen and played would have surely been instant hits.

One topic that was brought up was developers getting credit for work on a game. For the most part, all European PlayStation games list the developer on the back cover of the jewel case. This is protocol as specified in the SCEE procedures manual (note: I'm 90% sure, I would have to pull out the manual which is in storage). In the US, a lot of releases don't state the developer on the back cover of the jewel case, nor in the manual, nor even on the boot-up screen of the game. Do developers really care about credits?? I can recall reading an article (don't know from where) about a developer stating disappointment when the publisher takes all of the credit for a game. As a gamer, I thought the developer just wanted their name out there. After talking to this individual, I realize that there is more to it. There's a story of a developer demanding that their name appear in the game. The publisher and developer argued about it and finally the publisher caved in. The publisher couldn't understand why (at the time) for this stubborness. The publisher did in fact invest so much money into the project and even sent programmers to help complete the project timely. In hindsight, this was fully understandable. If the game turns out to be a hit, the developer can shop around for other potential publishers who may pay more for the development team or the current publisher will have to pay more to retain them. (Sounds like free agency in the NFL)

Lastly, I need to get this off my chest. Burger King has been running commercials for X-Box 360 KING GAMES non-stop. I don't own an Xbox, but I have to say these games look genius. I have been hearing that they are even enjoyable. I just may go out and get a BK meal just to get the games. The games were developed by the Philip and Andrew Oliver company Blitz Games. The Oliver Twins are responsible for Firo & Klawd (European and Japanese PS1 game) and Titan A.E. (unreleased US PS1 game). They were the masters behind the Dizzy game series famous on the Amiga and C64 (...etc). [Note: I won't hold it against them, but they assisted in developing Creature Shock Special Edition for PS1. A good friend of the museum also worked on the game.] I digress. I hope Sony does something similar with McDonalds, Taco Bell, orPizza Hut and give out PS3 games cheap. Imagine buying Criminal Crackdown or Dark Guns at McDonalds for $3.99. I would pay for that.