[emergencevector]

Interesting. I do volunteer work at a videogame museum and I was just about to propose a system for preserving videogame art assets and enabling presenting them outside the context of the original game. There is a problem with the content of old games being lost due to only existing in idiosyncratic formats in hardware ROMs. Also, it poses a curatorial challenge to present the visual art at the end of a game with a 50 hour play time.

I guess the industry doesn't want us to do that!

(Disclosure: I work with the Oakland museum mentioned.)

[anigbrowl]

Serious question: how often do you approach the publisher and ask for their help with this? Have you developed an administrative system that could present these requests in a standardized and actionable way to the publishers' legal departments, or just the technical system?

[emergencevector]

As far as help goes, we actually don't need technical help. (I won't expand on this, of course.) It is mostly a matter of getting permission. As far as an administrative system for asking, there isn't such a system. My understanding is that permission comes most reliably through personal contacts with company insiders. Asking legal departments is usually counterproductive -- after all, if you worked in a legal department, what motivation would there be for you to say anything but "no?" Saying "yes" has all the possible downsides and no apparent upside.