| You climb the finely chiseled stone steps and swing open the heavy oaken door to the Museum. You take a few steps inside...
Directly to your right, a bulletin board spells out the latest news: |
Status of fundraising drive to scan issues 101+ of CGW: $435 / $750, as of 22 Aug 2010
Want to contribute? Whether the money comes from your success in bingo games or from under your mattress, we're not fussy. Everything is accepted. Donate via PayPal to: cgwmuseum@gmail.com (Suggested amount: $25) |
|
| 20 February 2010
| |
Fundraising to scan issues past 100 |
Hi everyone! One of the most frequently asked questions that I receive is with regards to the availability of full scans of issues past 100. There are essentially two main reasons why these are not on the site: - All issues past 100 have a glued binding. There is really no way to properly scan these issues without taking apart the binding, and therefore damaging the magazines in the process. I only have one of every issue, and I'm not ready to cut them up.
- Page counts go through the roof. Few issues have less than 200 pages, some have up to 500 pages! Most issues from 1-100 had between 60-80 pages. There's a very significant amount of work involved to scan so many pages, and it's just not realistic to do so with my old flatbed scanner
But...! There is hope. Late last year, I was contacted by someone looking to donate his set of magazines, for the cost of shipping. These happen to cover most issues between 100 and 200. This solves problem #1.
Also late last year, a friend of mine showed me the capabilities of the Fujitsu ScanSnap, essentially an automatic page scanner which is the perfect solution for scanning so many pages: it's fast, gives good quality, automatically feeds pages, and scans both sides of a page during the same pass. With this scanner, the amount of work involved to create the scans is manageable. This solves problem #2.
Of course, this introduces problem #3: paying for shipping and a ScanSnap. Which is where you come in. If I can raise $750 ($500 for the scanner, $250 for shipping the magazines - they're heavy and I'm in Canada), I will start scanning issues past 100. Good deal? I think so, it's only about $25 per person if only 30 people donate (which is less than the number of people who have asked for issues past 100!). So consider this to be the start of the CGW Museum fundraising campaign. Donations can be sent via PayPal to: cgwmuseum@gmail.com. I'll update the status of fundraising regularly.
Oh, and if instead someone has a ScanSnap S1500 to donate, that'd be OK too! |
23 August 2009
| |
Softline! |
Hello everyone... yes, it has been a while since the last update. This update isn't strictly related to CGW, but I think anyone who is interested in vintage computer gaming will appreciate it! The Museum is now hosting the entire run (16 issues) of Softline magazine, scanned and processed with the same care as all the CGW issues. And yes, these issues are also text-searchable... what did you expect? :-)
For those who are not familiar, Softline was a spinoff of Softalk, dedicated to computer gaming and other recreational pursuits. The magazine was published from September 1981 to April 1984. The style is different than CGW - Softline focuses a lot on the personalities involved in gaming, including a number of interviews with programmers and profiles of companies. It's a great complement to CGW.
You can find the Softline issues in the Galleries section of the Museum. The index has also been updated, and now includes the 540 000+ words from Softline. Please note that to include Softline on the site, the filenames for CGW issues have now changed.
Any DVDs sent out by the Museum will now include CGW, CGF, and Softline. |
2 January 2009
| |
Happy New Year |
Best wishes from the CGW Museum to everyone, for a happy and prosperous 2009. Unfortunately there weren't many updates to the site in 2008, but that kind of comes with the territory - it's not easy to find new material when covering a publication that's no longer in print! Which, sadly, is 100% the case now, given that CGW's successor, Games for Windows: The Official Magazine, went out of print - the last issue was dated April/May 2008.
Still, the CGW Museum has continued to provide visitors with the first 100 CGW issues in digitized and indexed format, and judging from the number of visitors, the site is more popular than ever. Thanks to everyone who has dropped by, and particularly to those who have taken the time to send me an e-mail. So what am I looking to do for 2009? Hopefully getting some contributions from former CGW staff. And I'm hoping to interview Jeff Green (who, if you haven't heard, left Ziff Davis a few months back). If you've written for CGW or were involved with CGW in the past, and would like to contribute something to the Museum, please get in touch - I'm looking for your input!
|
|
| Up ahead, passages in all directions lead to dimly lit galleries. From where you stand, you can
still distinguish the framed magazines that you think may hold some of the secrets of the early days of computer gaming. From the first time you could play roulette at home, to the introduction of online gaming.
A stack of freshly printed newsletters sits in a neat pile on a shelf to your left. You also notice a few
older ones nearby, no doubt discarded by previous guests.
Further down towards the entrance to the galleries, you can see, and hear, an animated group of visitors talking and bartering.
Closer to you, the attendant's booth is currently empty, but a hastily scribbled note stuck on the glass invites you to pick up a flyer for more information
regarding the Museum. Directly next to the booth, a leather-bound guestbook lies open on a low table.
Giving it a quick glance, you already recognize some of the names!
|
|
