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26 November 2006 So... what now?
An excellent question. With the release of the CGW Archive, my most ambitious project is now complete, and the first 100 issues of CGW are freely available (and have hopefully been widely downloaded!). Is the Museum still relevant? It sure is - and the end of CGW's 25 year run makes it even more so. Here's what I intend to do:

  • Slightly re-position the focus of the site, on the entire 25 years of CGW, but keeping a special emphasis on the first 100 issues

  • Attempt to get exclusive perspective and inside information on the CGW years, from former staff members and contributors such as Scorpia, Charles Ardai, M. Evan Brooks, and Johnny Wilson, among others

  • Try to find unpublished articles, reviews, or artwork

  • Add cover scans for issues 101-268

Any other suggestions are most welcome. As for scans of issues beyond 100, well, not likely, but you never know... (and much more likely if anyone else is willing to help!)
16 October 2006 The missing index
One of my favourite features of the CGW Archive is the fact that all the issues are text-searchable. Adobe Acrobat allows the creation of a global index (catalog) file, which lets the reader make a search through all the issues. This makes it really convenient to locate information about a favourite game, specific article, or anything else that's of particular interest (for example, I can tell you that there are 1247 references to Ultima, in 99 issues of CGW/CGF!). Furthermore, what's fantastic is that you can use Acrobat's advanced search capabilities to make as complex a search as required.

If you've had a chance to look through the CGW Archive on FileFront, you may have noticed that the index file is, as of yet, not available for download. One solution is to create your own index, if you have the correct version of Acrobat. A better solution is to download the index file here! The index is a 17.3 megabyte ZIP file. Simply, unzip the file to the directory in which you store your CGW issues, ensuring that full path names are used. A subdirectory called CGW will be created, which contains two IDX files. As well, a file called CGW.PDX will be created in the main directory. Opening that file will load the index. Note: I'm not sure how this will work out if you're not running Windows. I'm also not sure of how things will work if you don't have all the issues downloaded.

On another note, if you enjoy the CGW Archive, please send some thanks to the CGW staff at Ziff Davis, by posting on the CGW message board on the 1up.com site, or by sending an e-mail to your favourite CGW staff member, such as editor-in-chief Jeff Green. The conventional expectation with regards to fan-based projects is that they will not come to fruition, and that it's much easier for large corporations to do nothing instead of doing something. In this case, the opposite happened, and for the sake of future fan-based projects (and also because it's really great of Ziff Davis to allow this!), I think it's important to let them know this is appreciated.
14 October 2006 Announcing the Computer Gaming World Archive, a CGW Museum production published by Ziff Davis
October 14, 2006 - The CGW Museum, in cooperation with Ziff Davis, is pleased to announce the immediate availability of the Computer Gaming World Archive (CGW Archive). Nearly 2 years in the making, the CGW Archive is a digital collection of the first 100 issues of CGW, as well as the 2 Computer Game Forum (CGF) issues, the short-lived spinoff published in the Fall and Winter of 1987. Each issue has been carefully scanned, image edited, processed through Optical Character Recognition (OCR), proofread, and saved under .PDF format, enabling the creation of a 3+ million word searchable global index. Looking for the magazine's first reference to Might and Magic? Or how about CGW's peek at Ultima: Escape From Mt. Drash (yes, there is such a thing)? Nothing's easier, and searches can be as complex as Adobe Acrobat allows. In addition, for those who prefer to simply read cover-to-cover, articles and features have been bookmarked and every "Continued on" or "Continued from" notice has been linked to aid in the navigation of multi-page articles.

With a total of 7438 pages, the CGW Archive covers 11 years of gaming, from November 1981 to November 1992. Also available online are cover scans of the 168 other issues of CGW. The archive is freely available on Ziff Davis' FileFront website, and in the future, issues will also be available on the CGW Museum site.

The CGW Archive - http://cgw.filefront.com

This press release is totally fake, but the contents are completely accurate.
13 October 2006 Celebrating CGW - Week 6
The final issue of CGW should be hitting the newstands by the middle of next week. A sneak preview of the cover is available here! To conclude the CGW Museum's 6 week celebration, we go way, way back... 25 years back, in fact, to November 1981. Available on the internet for the first time is the issue that started it all: CGW Issue 1.1.

Right-click and save target to download:

CGW Issue #1.1 (14.3 megabytes)
CGW Issue #3.2 (20.1 megabytes)
CGW Issue #39 (23.9 megabytes)
CGW Issue #50 (22.7 megabytes)
CGW Issue #69 (27.8 megabytes)
CGW Issue #82 (33.6 megabytes)
7 October 2006 Celebrating CGW - Week 5
What's white, measures 8 x 11 inches, and features a 3-fingered alien? Why, it's CGW issue 3.2, of course! This 52-page issue (March-April 1983) contained an overview of the Zork series, a review of Ultima II, tactics for The Cosmic Balance, and a feature on the Mockingboard for the Apple II. And I won't mention it again, but... something about some nice ads. Now we're talking!

Right-click and save target to download:

CGW Issue #3.2 (20.1 megabytes)
CGW Issue #39 (23.9 megabytes)
CGW Issue #50 (22.7 megabytes)
CGW Issue #69 (27.8 megabytes)
CGW Issue #82 (33.6 megabytes)
30 September 2006 Celebrating CGW - Week 4
Only a few more weeks until the release of the final issue of CGW - it should be a great one! Meanwhile, continuing our celebration of CGW, this week's issue is #39, from August-September 1987. Download it to read reviews of Phantasie III and Uninvited, designer's notes on Defender of the Crown, a Summer 1987 C.E.S. report, and a company profile on Infocom. Did I mention great ads, too?

Right-click and save target to download:

CGW Issue #39 (23.9 megabytes)
CGW Issue #50 (22.7 megabytes)
CGW Issue #69 (27.8 megabytes)
CGW Issue #82 (33.6 megabytes)
22 September 2006 Celebrating CGW - Week 3
A milestone issue for this week: the August 1988 issue of CGW was the 50th published. Along with an article on the history of CGW and one on the history of computer games, the issue included reviews of Questron II, JET, Stellar Crusade, and Seven Spirits of Ra. Oh, and great ads, too: "Wasteland: Hot. Mean. Radioactive." Great stuff!

Right-click and save target to download:

CGW Issue #50 (22.7 megabytes)
CGW Issue #69 (27.8 megabytes)
CGW Issue #82 (33.6 megabytes)
16 September 2006 Celebrating CGW - Week 2
Continuing our feature celebration of CGW, this week's issue is now available: #69 from March 1990. A fantastic issue which includes a sneak preview of Ultima VI, hints and tips for The Colonel's Bequest and Knights of Legend, reviews of Windwalker and F-16 Combat Pilot, and a winter C.E.S. report. And as always... great ads for Hero's Quest, David Wolf: Secret Agent, Red Storm Rising, and more.

Right-click and save target to download:

CGW Issue #69 (27.8 megabytes)
CGW Issue #82 (33.6 megabytes)
8 September 2006 Celebrating CGW
I can confirm that the November issue of CGW will be the final issue for the magazine, 25 years month-for-month after the publication of the first issue. It should be a great issue, so I highly recommend you pick yourself up a copy... or two... when it comes out!

In the spirit of celebrating CGW, I will post selected CGW issues on the site, one a week until the final issue comes out. These issues have been scanned, image processed, optically recognized (OCRed), and saved as .PDF files, which have been linked and bookmarked for ease of navigation. Since they have been run through the OCR, the contents are fully searchable! I'd appreciate your comments on the final product. Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0 or newer required.

The first issue to be posted is #82 (May 1991). Highlights: A Might and Magic III preview. Reviews of Elvira, The Immortal, Covert Action and Spirit of Excalibur. Hints for Bane of the Cosmic Forge. Great ads. And much more!

The file is just over 33 megabytes - a fast connection is therefore required. Right-click and save target to download:

CGW Issue #82 (33.6 megabytes)
17 August 2006 End of the line for CGW
I found out today that CGW will be cancelled, or rather re-branded, in the next few months. According to the info I have, the October issue will probably be the last, and the magazine will resurface as "Games for Windows: The Official Magazine" in November or December. Most of the current CGW staff should stay on board. An interesting note: November will, or would have, month for month, marked the 25th anniversary of CGW.

The Ziff Davis press release can be found here.
5 August 2006 Scanned!
7438 pages later, it's my great privilege (but mostly relief!) to announce that the first 100 issues of Computer Gaming World and the 2 Computer Game Forum issues have been scanned in their entirety. My scanner is also very relieved at this.

While this is an important milestone, there is still lots of work to be done: image processing, OCR, and PDF navigability improvements have to be made. I need Omnipage Pro 15 and Adobe Acrobat 7 - does anyone have a copy they'd like to donate to the Museum?

Keep reading for more updates!
9 June 2006 Visit the GUE!
The Gallery of Undiscovered Entities, or GUE, is a recently opened sister site to the CGW Museum. The main objective of the site is to provide information on lesser known games and software publishers of the late 1970s and early 1980s, and to preserve, as best as possible, the original game data. Interested? Direct your browser to gue.vintagegaming.org!
30 April 2006 Two new Tales
I've added two new features to the Tales gallery, provided by Charles Ardai. The first is entitled Bicentennial Man and appeared in CGW's 200th issue in 2001. Five sidebars are also included, not all of which appeared in the original article.

The second feature is a collection of quotes from Charles' articles throughout the years. Some of these were used in CGW's 200th issue - many weren't. You could find these yourself by going through the individual articles... or you could look at the compilation here. From the funny to the introspective, they are well worth the read.
8 April 2006 Finally, an update!
I can't believe it's been almost a year since the last update! I'm sure some of you have been wondering just what was happening with the Museum. Well, I'm happy to report that I'm now back home and reunited with my CGW collection. I'm very much committed to the Museum, and I've been trying to get new material since the last update. The good news is that I've reached a number of former CGW employees who are interested in making a contribution to the site - unfortunately, most people are busy and understandably, writing an article for the Museum is not their top priority!

Currently, my top priority with the Museum is to complete scanning every CGW issue up to 100. Roughly 50% of the pages have been scanned so far, so things are definitely progressing. What this means though is that it's not likely that I'll be updating the site until all pages are scanned, or until I received a contribution from someone else. I'm hoping this will happen soon, but it is out of my control. In the meantime, do you have a contribution to make to the site?


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