GAME PRESERVATION THE DIGITAL ECLIPSE WAY
Rather than remastering and rebooting, sometimes it’s better to build around a game in order to enhance its legacy. Chris Kohler talks to MCV about how it’s done
Y
ou were an established journalist and author, so how did you come to be involved with Digital Eclipse?
I’ve known [head of studio] Mike Mika for going on 20 years now, but, basically, by the time that Digital Eclipse got started up again [in 2015] then Mike and I started talking about what if I were to end up over there; because while I was in the media for 25 years, one of my favourite things was to interview developers and write books or stories about the history of games. He was always into classic games and there was beginning to be a need for that kind of work at Digital Eclipses. Starting with Mega Man Legacy Collection, Digital Eclipse was ramping up its history-focused approach to reviving games. And so it was in 2020 that I was starting to look
for something new. My view of the media business was that it had become very difficult and it was only going to become more difficult. I had a choice,
42 | MCV/DEVELOP August/September 2024
which was either one day the media business was going to unceremoniously dump me out on my ass, or I could make the decision now to move into a role on my terms. [DE’s head of restoration and former Gamasutra
writer] Frank Cifaldi had shifted over to the Video Game History Foundation full-time, so there was a need for a journalist to come in and head up editorial operations. And so I was like, ‘Okay, great. Let’s do it’. That was kind of how that got started. I worked on Blizzard Arcade Collection in 2020. Then I did a little bit of writing on Space Jam: A New Legacy and got to write some funny lines for Bugs Bunny and LeBron James. Then the Disney Classic Games Collection. Things really got rolling with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Cowabunga Collection and Atari 50. Then it was on to The Making of Karateka and then Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
