If you look at filmmaking, a remaster and remake are two clearly distinct things. A remaster is just a high quality rerelease, while a remake is a completely new production and interpretation of the same basic story or script.

The kinds of game remakes this article talks about are somewhere in between, which can be awkward. The redrawn graphics frequently interfere with gameplay in subtle ways, as Brian Moriarty’s example from Loom. And while they can make a classic more approachable to a contemporary audience, they are usually limited to new graphics, which can make the untouched aspects of the design seem even more quaint.

I think it could be interesting to see more actual remakes in games; take the most memorable aspects of an existing game (story, characters, core gameplay ideas, etc) and see where modern game technology and design ideas can take them. At least for story driven games, this seems to be pretty uncommon.