Start a Cover/Instruction Scan Project?

[squall280]

I always wondered why there wasn't a feature on the site for looking through all the covers adn possibly instruxction scans of games. The is a Sega Master system site that does it and does so in a very neat and organized fashion. Is this somethign we could pull off here?

[Alianger]

I'd be interested in japanese manuals, they're in color and usually have nice artwork in them. There are other sites that do this well though, like replacementdocs.

[nathanallan]

I'd be interested, too and can scan what I have. So I can contribute!

[squall280]

well i don't know who would have to get it started but there probably will be certain restrictions like sizes and scan quality. i would like to see at least cover scans here on the site, seeing as instructions are available somewhere else. http://www.smspower.org/ has a very good scan musem for sega master system games and i think that is what direction this site should take for video game scans.

[nathanallan]

thecoverproject has some but hardly is Sega specific.

Not sure, but would covers in good shape be hard to find? They are here, the ones I come across are damaged in some way almost always.

[ninjabearhug]

I can see the benefit in manual scans but as far as cover scans go, I'm on the fence.

I know a few people now, 3 to be precise, who've been ripped off when buying SMS games. The sellers have printed rare cover variations for common PAL games and sold them as originals. I can see the benefit of having scans; preservation, research, etc, but there is also a downside.

I suppose if they were watermarked or something so buyers could spot the fakes then maybe.

I'd be willing to help out with a manual scan project too

[nathanallan]

I have no problem buying or selling a reprinted cover, but selling them as original is not part of my business practice. I make sure whoever buys a game from me knows what they are getting, and state everything up front and might even print it on the cover to make sure.

I wish everyone did this

[havok666]

Reprinted covers fall in the same category as former rental games. I've purchased a couple games which were described as original yet they had a colour photocopied insert done by some video store.

Anyways, I have plenty of manuals and inserts I could contribute but I think they should be water marked to avoid this kind of abuse. Especially if they will be in hi-res.

[Antony]

A cover gallery as a gallery (not replacement covers for print, more like a photo museum at a fair resolution, say 1500x1000) wouldn't be a bad thing if the bandwidth of the site allows it. The Master System site has this feature more like a museum, not to provide replacement artwork, nothing can replace the original when it comes to actually owning the plastic case with the cart/disc. I'd be willing to contribute some European PAL SMD/SCD scans of my own games.

[squall280]

well i woudl hope one of the administrtors woudl looking into a "museum" like system.

[The Coop]

I say if you're going to have scans, do them right. 300dpi for the covers and the manual PDFs. A museum is nice, but as has been pointed out, there are already a number of sites that have low-res and medium-res scans of this stuff. As such, adding another site like those doesn't seem worth the effort.

I know watermarks were brought up, but there's no such thing as a watermark that can't be removed or edited out. And if you make one that's ridiculously tough to get rid of, chances are, it's because you put it right in the middle of the artwork, and that pretty much negates the whole point of having the scans.

To make sure they're not abused, you could put them in a "Members only" section... someplace where you have to have a set amount of posts in order to go in (like what Abandonia does with their ISO cellar). Or better still, create a setup like Retromags, where you put the downloads on someplace like rapidshare or megaupload a short while after they're first posted on the main site, and offer paid premium accounts to download them right away from the site itself (visit their site to get a better look at how they do it). That should keep the bandwidth and costs down, and if a rapidshare/megaupload link goes dead, it would be easy enough for a mod or whomever to update it from a site staff-only forum/storage area.


Anyway, those are my thoughts on it. This has the potential to be very helpful for those of us missing covers and manuals. I know people are worried about eBay scammers using them for their auctions, but I think the positives outweigh the negatives with a project like this. And if setup properly, the cost to the site would be little outside of the time taken by users to make the scans.

[Baloo]

Nah, I don't think this would be a good idea. For one, it would take up a LOT of bandwith. And two, it just seems kind of pointless. Manuals are super easy to find, and most information needed in them are found on the internet elsewhere. It just seems kind of pointless.

And making it Members only would be really bad, we'd have a bunch of people registering and spamming up the forms just to get a certain numbers of posts, only to never be heard from again.

[Nunzio]

Much more realistically, I would like to see a resource of vector templates for all the Genesis, Mega Drive, Sega CD and Mega CD box variations. That way even if you can only get so-so resolution box art it won't look as bad on your shelf because you can replace everything that's not art with vector.

[Melf]

I would love to eventually have manual and box scans, without watermarks though. They'd be available for all the Genesis community, especially those who are missing them. Custom box templates would rule too.

[ThugsRook]

as big as the SEGA community is and as long as its been around, im very surprised that there isnt a COMPLETE database for all this stuff already.

ive been hunting for Manual scans in PDF format for years, they are hard to find! (besides replacementdocs.com)