VGBounceHouse work-in-progress

[VGBounceHouse]

Hey VG, your two scans are now officially on the site. If you want ot create a New Release post for them, go ahead. If not, I can do it tomorrow night.

Was all set, opened two windows so I could copy the format before noticing "You cannot start a new topic" lol

[E-Day]

I will take care of the post them

[E-Day]

Good news, VG. You have been promoted to Team Member. If your scan is under 200MB, you can now upload directly on the site.

[marktrade]

Good news, VG. You have been promoted to Team Member. If your scan is under 200MB, you can now upload directly on the site.

That means you're also able to go through the database and mark the issues you plan to scan as "acquired." I go through the database often to check for what we're missing so whenever you have a chance to do that I think it would help!

[Sean697]

Also when you get around to that EGM 65 that you scanned. If you want to post that on your sight to preview. I acquired that for scanning right before you posted you scanned it. I have a pristine copy that frankly is amazing from bill Marioman auction. It seems to have all the inserts. Anyway. I can compare my physical copy to your scan and if you are missing anything I can provide scans for you to add in. And as I have the issue in hand I can give a good judgment on the color correction etc. (I know this may be awile as you are editing the older stuff first.)

[VGBounceHouse]

My EGM 65 is in really good shape but I wouldn't call it mint. I plan to get to it next weekend but in case you can see some problems here are two samples which I added to the temporary page at http://vgpavilion.com/mags/1994/12/egm/

As for going through the database marktrade, I'd love to do that, but with over 600 mags on hand and no clear strategy of the order I'm gonna tackle things, do I help or hurt others by doing that?

[marktrade]

As for going through the database marktrade, I'd love to do that, but with over 600 mags on hand and no clear strategy of the order I'm gonna tackle things, do I help or hurt others by doing that?

I only see it helping. Marking something acquired doesn't mean others can't scan it. Even new scans of already-preserved magazines are welcome. How would it hurt anyone?

[Sean697]

Maybe you could just mark stuff your planning to scan within the next few months. You don't have to check off everything. It helps when someone, like me, is actively purchasing stuff for the site. To know that someone is going to scan it in the immediate future. So they don't buy it. Or he scanning the same issue at the same time. The work in progress threads also give people an idea what they are working on.

[marktrade]

Maybe you could just mark stuff your planning to scan within the next few months. You don't have to check off everything. It helps when someone, like me, is actively purchasing stuff for the site. To know that someone is going to scan it in the immediate future. So they don't buy it. Or he scanning the same issue at the same time. The work in progress threads also give people an idea what they are working on.

If it's in your scanning queue for the near future I would mark the status as "scanning."

[RetroDefense]

Like Sean697, I've been watching some auctions for preservation purposes and think it would be very helpful if everything already owned & planned for preservation is flagged as "Acquired." Whether in an immediate scan queue or not. Too many acquired magazines can always be shipped and outsourced to other scanners with the time and resources, after all. I'd much rather know I'm spending funds on issues the site absolutely doesn't have access to.

The only exception would be acquired issues you know won't provide an adequate scan - either damaged, missing pages, won't be debound, etc. In which case, I'd leave these as "Missing" in the hope better copies can be acquired in the future.

I believe PhillyMan is working on a formal request system, VGBounceHouse, where visitors can request certain issues be preserved. This may help you decide a strategy for your impressive backlog.

[VGBounceHouse]

That's my concern RetroDefense, the possibility that someone will back off getting their own copy and contributing their own scan while I sit on a mountain of issues. I have most of my collection in a database, including markers for condition and ownership of duplicates. I'm also trying to deal with the multiple covers situation and use of embedded shipping labels that obscure covers that otherwise show more information when they were bought at the newsstand.

I am in the process of double-checking my collection as I board, bag and box all of it and will be putting up an index at my site at some point next week or early the following week. When I have a link I'll put it up and you guys can tell me if I should go through Retromags and mark things as acquired based on that.

[VGBounceHouse]

Ok, I've gone through all of the pre-1990 issues I've marked in my first-pass database and marked them as Acquired (or Editing for a few I've mentioned in this thread). This covers Computer Gaming World (only one issue), Electronic Fun, Electronic Games, Joystik, Video Games, Video Games & Computer Entertainment and Videogaming Illustrated.

[marktrade]

Ok, I've gone through all of the pre-1990 issues I've marked in my first-pass database and marked them as Acquired (or Editing for a few I've mentioned in this thread). This covers Computer Gaming World (only one issue), Electronic Fun, Electronic Games, Joystik, Video Games, Video Games & Computer Entertainment and Videogaming Illustrated.

That's extremely helpful!

[VGBounceHouse]

I can finally announce my project, Videogame Pavilion. Today is the soft launch which means it is fairly feature-incomplete. However you can get a sense of my take on videogame magazine preservation:

http://vgpavilion.com

I will be "web-izing" all the magazines I archive and cross-linking all of the products in the hopes of providing another way for fans to enjoy the history of gaming while also serving the needs of researchers and historians. You'll find pages dedicated to photos and screenshots and other media strewn throughout the issues with an emphasis on interactivity including mobile swipe and pinch-zoom.

The launch features two issues:

Vidiot, Issue 1, Sep/Oct 1982: http://vgpavilion.com/mags/1982/09/vidiot/

Video Games, Issue 3, December 1982: http://vgpavilion.com/mags/1982/12/vg/

I'll be back on scanning and editing this week. Next up is Electronic Games from December 1982. I hope to have the archive prepared for RetroMags by the end of the weekend at the latest. Leaving a note here for myself to remember to include the RetroMags site image in the archive.

[Phillyman]

Very nice!

[VGBounceHouse]

I had hoped to upload Electronic Games December 1982 tonight but it looks like I have to scan the whole thing again. My childhood copy had a major tear in the back cover (and I had filled out the survey which would take a lot of editing) so I had sought out another copy. I managed to get two, and between all three copies I had everything covered but... testing images I had already edited against the newest near-mint copy I got from eBay revealed mine had significantly more yellowing. While the 136 pages I had already prepared look great and are easily readable, there is far more texture in the pages compared to a few sample scans I took from the more recent acquisition. So it looks like I'll be busy tonight and tomorrow to ensure I have it ready before the end of the weekend.

I'm gonna take a short break here, I have a few of magazines that aren't in the database that I'd like to scan the covers from and create topics to discuss how to proceed.

[VGBounceHouse]

I have added to two of the threads in the Database forum and created a new topic for Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games.

I have an issue of Flux in hand and three of the way including Issue 1 which has a very different cover than the database.

Time to get back to re-scanning Electronic Games, hope to have it ready tomorrow night.

[VGBounceHouse]

Well that sucked lol

After re-editing every page (and wasting far too much time trying to clean up some top-of-page yellowing) my relase is finally ready:

Electonic Games, Issue 10, December 1982

http://www.retromags.com/magazines/category/usa/electronic-games-1981/electronic-games-issue-10#.VjuHHLerSCo

I have placed the upload as before and even remembered the RetroMags image this time, so I'll leave the rest in E-Day's very capable hands to add whatever download to use and changing the status to preserved.

As always the 300dpi & PDF versions are also available:

http://vgpavilion.com/mags/1982/12/eg/

I even edited the PDF to maintain the proper page numbers in spite of the insert.

Because of my need to set a template page size and stick to it (except fold-outs) there are a bunch of additional images representing facing-page layouts this issue. While not linked on the site at the moment I hope to have them on the Pages link by the end of the day. Right now the page at my site is mostly just holding the space, I'm going to finish another preservation for RetroMags before moving on to article extraction and the other stuff I'm working on.

I plan to do Electronic Fun with Computers & Games, December 1982, which someone else has marked as Editing for some time, as it fits in with my December 1982 theme. If that archive will soon be available from someone else I will work on a different issue and come back to that one for myself at a later time.

[Areala]

I have added to two of the threads in the Database forum and created a new topic for Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games.

I have an issue of Flux in hand and three of the way including Issue 1 which has a very different cover than the database.

Time to get back to re-scanning Electronic Games, hope to have it ready tomorrow night.

There's at least one issue of Flux I know of that is mis-labeled on the cover as to what number the issue is (issue #4 with Lady Death, Shi, and Vampirella on the cover says #1 up in the corner, but that's wrong). Flux also issued multiple covers of the magazine, so subscribers got a magazine with one cover, and newsstand buyers got a different cover, because this wasn't complicated enough to begin with...

http://community.retromags.com/gallery/category/119-flux/

You can see in the gallery we have both variants for issues 4 and 5.

Bottom line: check the indicia on the table of contents against whatever's printed on the cover, and if you've got an alt. #1 cover, then SWEET!!

Hope that helps.

*huggles*

Areala

[RetroDefense]

Thanks for preserving more golden age mags, VGBounceHouse! Imo it's the most important era to be archived here at Retromags as the 'net wasn't much of a thing back then.

[VGBounceHouse]

Ok everyone, I've got a story to tell for Electronic Fun with Computers & Game, December 1982. Feel free to skip to the TL;DR

Many of the magazines I had on hand already from the first console war were bought at the newsstand and then left laying around the house. I had no thoughts of preservation as a teenager so no care was taken. Most of these issues are in good shape, very little damage to the covers, and complete. However I have come to notice a different amount of page yellowing across this part of my collection. I recently re-did my Electronic Games, December 1982, as a copy I bought off eBay to replace the damaged back cover of my copy had significantly less yellowing (mostly only the tops of pages). The issue of Video Games from the same year and month had next to no yellowing. Yet Electronic Fun is heavily affected around all edges. This magazine used a different paper stock which also caused bleed-through on some pages which I could clean up for the most part, but really couldn't do anything about the yellowing without impacting images on the edges of the pages.

Since my preservation project is focused on the content above a pristine copy of the original pages and layout this works for me despite my wishing I had a better copy. Someone had already marked this issue as "Editing" in the database but significant time has passed so I don't know how their work will compare. I understand RetroMags supports uploading newer projects and mine could easily be replaced when and if a better scan becomes available but I thought it was worth taking a look at what I had done before submitting it as I'd hate for people to grab the issue and have a lesser opinion of this site. My copy in CBR format per RetroMags guidelines is here:

http://vgpavilion.com/mags/1982/12/ef/Electronic-Fun-Issue-002-Dec-1982.cbr

As always I am building a page on my own site which has both a 300dpi CBR and a text-searchable PDF. The page is here (though it's just a placeholder, only the download links are relevant at the moment):

http://vgpavilion.com/mags/1982/12/ef/

The ultimate goal of having physical and digital copies of all videogame-related magazines is one I wholeheartedly support. However I have my own mission of "modernizing" the content to make it more accessible for both videogame fans, academics and researchers, making the contents of the magazines a top priority. Working toward a full launch of my site meant making certain choices to design the layout and how to deal with related information so that people could approach magazine content from a variety of angles, not just the raw pages. I chose December 1982 as a solid pick for the first console war since there is less information on this time period on the web, and videogame history books I have read seem light on this period leading to thin and often incorrect coverage.

Because of my needs I may approach these preservation projects slightly differently. I straighten pages using baseline text rather than page edges. I repair gaps between facing pages in an attempt to recreate the designer's intended layout. In this issue I am particularly proud of this one:

I also try to clean up printing errors (such as those line discolored circles plates sometimes left behind before the advent of desktop publishing) and normalizing page widths. These choices fit my own needs but I'm sure not everyone is looking for the same end result so I don't want my editing choices to reflect poorly on RetroMags when preparing a final archive that meets this site's guidelines.

I will be moving on to Videogaming Illustrated, December 1982, which has already been preserved here, but which I need to fit my own site's launch needs. As with this issue I will offer my version up to the community for feedback in comparison to the current one here. Ultimately I hope to get back to "new" issues for this site after I get some more work done on my own site and will be sure to do issues not available here. I will stick with issues from the era of the first console war, but will try to pick the closest-to-mint issues on hand rather than just the next one in the pile.

TL;DR

My copy has far more page yellowing than I expected. I'm not sure if it's worth sharing here given that someone already marked the issue as being in "Editing". Check it out if you have the chance and let me know.

[VGBounceHouse]

There's at least one issue of Flux I know of that is mis-labeled on the cover as to what number the issue is (issue #4 with Lady Death, Shi, and Vampirella on the cover says #1 up in the corner, but that's wrong). Flux also issued multiple covers of the magazine, so subscribers got a magazine with one cover, and newsstand buyers got a different cover, because this wasn't complicated enough to begin with...

http://community.retromags.com/gallery/category/119-flux/

You can see in the gallery we have both variants for issues 4 and 5.

Bottom line: check the indicia on the table of contents against whatever's printed on the cover, and if you've got an alt. #1 cover, then SWEET!!

Hope that helps.

*huggles*

Areala

I should have checked the gallery before I bought the issue because sure enough, there it is. So the copy I got sold as #1 is actually Issue 4 and I see two people have uploaded the cover:

Like one of the uploads implies through naming this was the "Direct Market Edition" presumably sold to comic book shops rather than regular newsstands. This copy is also the same dimensions as a comic book rather than a magazine like the one I already had on hand. Oh well!

[Areala]

Yeah, one of those uploaders was me. Not sure who the other one was, though I suppose I could go look. But I'm lazy, so... *giggle*

*huggles*
Areala

[VGBounceHouse]

Ok, I finished my version of Videogaming Illustrated, Issue 3, December 1982. I think it is a significant improvement over the current version but please take a look and let me know if I should contribute it. The RetroMags-formatted version of the CBR is here:

http://vgpavilion.com/mags/1982/12/vi/Videogaming-Illustrated-Issue-003-Dec-1982.cbr

As always my 300dpi archive and text-searchable PDF versions are on the issue's main page at my site:

http://vgpavilion.com/mags/1982/12/vi/

None of the other links on that page are active. I have another magazine to do for RetroMags before getting back to my site's content.

As there have been no comments regarding my Electronic Fun scan mentioned above I take we'll wait for whoever marked the issue as being in Editing rather than me uploading my version?

[Areala]

I say go ahead and upload it. If it's been in Editing that long, I'd consider it an abandoned project.

*huggles*
Areala