Re: [Fwd: Gamasutra article]

[Bob <mantic@mbo.net>]

>> This is quite a different matter than your original work of authorship surviving, like A Tale Of Two Cities or something.  And as an author this concerns me, because if I put the effort into making the greatest story I can, then I want *that* story to be remembered, and not just a franchise.


	Printed text fiction is currently as disposable a medium as any of
these others; It seems that authors appearing in the last decade to
critical accliam are all out of print already.

	Just having a sales window of two years instead of two months would be
significant for a film or video game. And I am venturing that perhaps
some computer games may come to survive even more years. And with
production quality as high as it is now some works may well be around
decades from now -- although programming languages and hardware/OS
standards remain unstable a lot has been learned from the problems of
past games. I do not doubt that modern titles will survive growth and
change, if only via emulation (I can now run King of Chicago under
Windows using an Amiga emulater, even as the PC adaptation has been
unplayable for years).




>> [1] It's actually quite interesting to see how the original Superman
differed from our present day conception of him.  Superman wasn't as
strong
then as he is now!  He actually had to push and grunt and shove to get
something moving - which of course facilitated the animation drama.
Similarly, he couldn't brake a falling plane until the very last second.
If a pile of steel beams fell on him, he'd actually be out for a bit
before
rejoining the fray.  The bad guys could be halfway across town in a
motor
car by then.  Of course, Superman can always intervene at the very last
possible instant, just as the bullet is being fired he swoops down to
protect Lois!  Another cool dramatic device, they'd set up the shot to
look
like Lois is toast, only to have Superman come from very far away very
quickly to save her.

	Yes, I love that older image of Superman. He was more Man when he was
less Super; easier to identify with a hero who has to put some effort
into saving the world. I had hardbound collections of the early Action
Comics featuring Superman when I was a kid; two generations later. The
Fleischer cartoons have been revived on video and were available when I
was a kid on 8mm. The original works survived pretty well I think, if
only because of the franchise.