An information resource and documentation site compiling research for home console ports of arcade games. The scope of this site tries to stay focused on consoles that were powerful enough to render a near arcade perfect port of the arcade original.

I have many ideas. With each idea I am striving to mold a unique entity. Allocating new domains to each idea would be quite costly. So I created a website that could serve as a parent site to many of the mini-site projects I often come up with. XRZ87 as a name is short, simple, and unique.

This site will host technology based art projects and game based research mini-sites:

• PORT-FX! (2012)
• TYACDEVS (soon...)
• VG Reality Check (soon...)

Online Forever Project, aka OF Project is a movement towards preserving the network software for early game consoles. As technology continues to evolve, being able to still experience games online helps to frame the early years of online console gaming. The activities behind the project have been ongoing for years, but only just recently are we starting to release the results of our research efforts.

A key goal of OF Project is not only to restore and preserve network functionality, but also to prevent users from being placed in the same position they were in when game publishers originally managed the servers. As such, all software developed or acquired in relation to OF Project will be released to the public. Players deserve the right to network these games without the restrictions of a central authority. This becomes ever more important when considering the topic of Historical Digital Preservation.

Launched in April of 2003, OnlineConsoles has served as a central resource for networking classic video game systems. It is currently the #1 resource on the net for Dreamcast Online related information, and has strived to maintain its topical focus despite industry shifts. It is comprised of 3 seperate web communities, each covering 1 of 3 consoles to first take advantage of TCP/IP networking functions for online play. The site is still going strong today, with new players each day becoming involved with these consoles online for the first time.

Highlights:

• 450,000+ page views a month
• #1 search listing for "Dreamcast Online" - 9+ years running (Google, Bing, Yahoo)
• Referenced in the book O'REILLY "Gaming Hacks 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools".

Technology:

• HTML5/CSS3
• "F" Pattern interface
• H2 Text for block titles re-appears on CSS disable for SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
• Graceful degradation including HTML5 Shiv for Legacy Browser support
• Table-less structure (div's for layout, tables used for data display only)

OnlineConsoles is a shining example of how colorful and appealing front end design can help encourage consistent traffic for a niche community.

I wanted to start a website which allowed other dj's to sell their mixtapes on consignment over the internet. So I built a music community around this which ran from 1999 through roughly 2004.

Before starting this site I was frequently going to underground warehouse parties as well as djing. It was a great website to be involved with at the time. However, the underground music scene as I knew it then would come to a grinding hault. Cities (starting with Chicago) started cracking down on illegal warehouse events. While they were breeding grounds for various illicet activities, they were also epicenters for experiencing music on a cultural level that differed so greatly from the mainstream commercial machine. You had so many people getting into djing, in so many diverse genres of music.

This site ran well for about a year, but after the widespread crackdown on underground events in Chicago, people began moving on. So I changed the site to focus specifically on Drum & Bass, and ran an Internet Radio Station for a few years. It had a decent listener base, but due to rampant stream ripping of the station, and frustrations with where the community was headed, I decided it was time to close the site down.

This site was a very important stepping stone for me, as it would pave the way for OnlineConsoles. A site that not only was a success in and of itself, but would lay the seeds for my involvment in Media Archivism.

One last remnant of MixedCulture still exists: the IRC channel (#mixedculture) on EFnet. It is generally comprised of old members of the site, who still idle in the channel despite the site being long gone.

Defining the lifecycle of internet connected player experiences.

Covers the complications of early LCD technology in relationship to realtime interactive devices such as video game consoles.