Big Category changes

[tripredacus]

Created Miscellaneous sub-cat in Merch for Merch that does not fit into any of the other categories.

[zappman]

As part of the "Big Category Changes:
Can we have a "Nintendo Virtual Boy" main category with the following sub categories?
"Nintendo Virtual Boy Consoles" renamed from "Virtual Boy Consoles"https://vgcollect.com/browse/vbhardware Note: This currently contains both Consoles and Accessories.
"Nintendo Virtual Boy Accessory" a new subcategory
"Nintendo Virtual Boy [JP]" renamed from "Virtual Boy [JP]" https://vgcollect.com/browse/virtualboyjp
"Nintendo Virtual Boy [NA]" renamed from "Virtual Boy [NA]" https://vgcollect.com/browse/virtualboy

[tripredacus]

Currently no changes are to be made (including comformity of naming) regarding the big categories for Sega, Nintendo, Xbox or Playstation sections. That comes from the top.

Virtual Boy Accessory sub-cat has been created

[zappman]

Currently no changes are to be made (including conformity of naming) regarding the big categories for Sega, Nintendo, Xbox or Playstation sections. That comes from the top.

Virtual Boy Accessory sub-cat has been created

Thanks for the Virtual Boy Accessory sub-cat , I understand.

Currently the "Nintendo Virtual Boy" is an oddity on the site, as it seems to be the only "Nintendo Console" that uses removable media, without it's own category.

I hope sometime in the future, when the people at the top think it is appropriate, the "Nintendo Virtual Boy" can have it's own category like all the other Nintendo Consoles.

[dhaabi]

Created Miscellaneous sub-cat in Merch for Merch that does not fit into any of the other categories.

850+ relevant items moved from Toys to Miscellaneous.

Item types moved to Miscellaneous:
- badges, patches, pins
- commemorative coins
- key rings/keychains
- limited edition "game" items
- personal accessories: jewelry, lanyard, wallet, watch, etc.
- playing cards
- stationery: calendar, notepad, pen, stickers, etc.
- general miscellaneous: air freshener, holiday ornament, live concert ticket, snowboard, etc.

Item types remaining in Toys:
- board games, card games, puzzles
- construction sets, model kits
- electronic toys
- figurines
- plush
- statues

[zappman]

Hello, as part of the "Big Category Changes" under "OUYA" can we get a "OUYA Accessory" category?

Then, I could move the following item(s) be into the "OUYA Accessory" category.
OUYA Wireless Controller https://vgcollect.com/item/43412

[tripredacus]

I will add that to my list.

Do not use this thread for category requests. Make requests at the regular thread.
https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,10192.0.html

[tripredacus]

Some smallish changes worth mentioning.

Philips Accessory/Console changed back to CD-i Accessory/Console. This had to be done because Philips and Magnavox both have various consoles in different families. As a result, Philips in2it gets its Console category back, and made new one for Philips Tele-Game Consoles. Unlike in2it, the Tele-Game has many different console released but it seems we only have 1 entry made so far.

Magnavox Odyssey/2 merged into one, but as previously mentioned, we can't have a Magnavox named cat for Accessory/Console, so it has been changed to Odyssey. Now all Odyssey consoles go into one place, which (apprently) includes their dedicated consoles which were already in the old Odyssey 1 section.

And I'd like to point out that currently because we have some categories for Computers and they are labelled to a manufacturer, technically it is allowed to make entries for x86/compatible systems in there. I think there is already a couple in the Commodore section. Eventually I will make a dedicated section for x86/IBM Compatibles and this is for a couple of reasons:
1. We already allowed computers that were micros
2. We already had a section for Apple II computers
3. We already had sections for other computers where gaming is not their primary function or reason for existing (let us not forget that Clive Sinclair hated the fact that the ZX Spectrum became known as a gaming computer when he made it for business)
4. All of the above was already in-place in the db before I came aboard.

So it is only my list (in the far future) to add the other mainstays of computing, IBM compatibles and Mac but not CP/M, Unix or Terminal systems (despite the fact the original video games ran on mainframes). So you won't be able to put a Cray onto your wishlist anytime soon. But if we are lucky, perhaps we can expand into PDAs or those types of portables since we now track PalmOS and PocketPC games. And perhaps even after that we can think about adding mobile phone categories.

These last few parts are all on my list, but my list if very large so no promises on a timetable.

[dhaabi]

But if we are lucky, perhaps we can expand into PDAs or those types of portables since we now track PalmOS and PocketPC games.

Just looking for some quick clarification on this since I've requested categories for pocket organizers with gaming capabilities that's been ignored twice. If I know it's something that can be implemented at a later time and not now, then I'll not mention again until then.

[tripredacus]

But if we are lucky, perhaps we can expand into PDAs or those types of portables since we now track PalmOS and PocketPC games.

Just looking for some quick clarification on this since I've requested categories for pocket organizers with gaming capabilities that's been ignored twice. If I know it's something that can be implemented at a later time and not now, then I'll not mention again until then.

I'm specifically referring to the hardware itself. I don't want to be adding those types of devices quite yet. Specifically computers or devices that were made for business but happened to have some games. And devices that have the capability to play games but have no software such as graphing calculators do not apply.

Games should always get a category as long as they are physical media, so no issue with those.

[tripredacus]

Apple Computers cat renamed to Apple
Apple II Accessory renamed to Apple Accessory
Apple II Computers renamed to Apple Computers

Macintosh systems can now be added to the Apple Computers sub-cat

New sub-cats in PC
1. Browser Games
This sub-cat is for games you can only play in a web browser including (but not limited to) :
- Flash
- Java/JS
- HTML5

But does not include any where the website is using an emulator to load ROMs, such as on Archive.org or any of those pirate sites that let you play console DOS games in the browser.

Description should indicate what type of game it is, Flash, Java, etc and what website it is on. Due to the nature of these types of games, some of them are not on public websites or can be downloaded and self hosted. In those cases, you do not need to put what website it is on, especially if it is a game that is hosted on a private/non-public website. Any game that runs Flash, do not put that it runs on Ruffle and there is no need to put on game entries that you can even use Ruffle (or other plug-ins) to run Flash applications.

People can choose which list they want to put these types of games onto, even Collection is appropriate in many instances. For example with a Flash game, you can get the package and install it on Apache and play it locally if you wanted to.

2. IBM Compatible PCs
This section is for actual computers but we are limiting what is tracked to the following:
- Can only be x86/amd64 based systems. No ARM, Itanium or other architectures.
- Must be a computer with an actual make and model that was sold at retail. As with everything else, no custom-built items, no generic entries.
- Entries are for the hardware only, so there cannot be OS descriptors used.

When adding European or Japanese computers, make sure that there isn't a category for that company already.
For example, the Commodore X386SX-LT has an entry in Commodore Computers and not the IBM Compatible sub-cat.

[dhaabi]

Browser Games
This sub-cat is for games you can only play in a web browser including (but not limited to) :
- Flash
- Java/JS
- HTML5

Description should indicate what type of game it is, Flash, Java, etc and what website it is on. Due to the nature of these types of games, some of them are not on public websites or can be downloaded and self hosted. In those cases, you do not need to put what website it is on, especially if it is a game that is hosted on a private/non-public website. Any game that runs Flash, do not put that it runs on Ruffle and there is no need to put on game entries that you can even use Ruffle (or other plug-ins) to run Flash applications.

How should we handle games which were, for instance, originally created for Flash but then recreated at a later time for HTML5? I've come across specific examples where the two versions of the same game have different names.

[tripredacus]

There is a lot of theft with these types of games. Code/assets stolen. Same games with different names, same games with same names and different authors, etc.

Follow my example and put the author (if known) in the description as it may be useful later when a name dupe appears.

I don't think it matters if something was Flash and then later became HTML5.

[dhaabi]

There is a lot of theft with these types of games. Code/assets stolen. Same games with different names, same games with same names and different authors, etc.

Follow my example and put the author (if known) in the description as it may be useful later when a name dupe appears.

I don't think it matters if something was Flash and then later became HTML5.

Just so there is an example for others to follow, I have submitted the two aforementioned games.
Grow Nano vol.2
Grow Sun Boy

[tripredacus]

To round out the coverage to support the things you can play games on, we have added a category under Mobile for Mobile Phones where entries for cell phones (iOS, Android, Windows or J2ME-based) can be created. This was a long requested feature and in the past I know staff had gone and deleted mobile phone entries.

AND a section under PDA for PDAs where PDA devices can be created. The types of PDA to put into here need to be related to the other sub-cats under PDA, which are Franklin Bookman, Palm, Pocket PC, Psion or any PDA that can play the Series 3 games and the Sharp-based PDAs that can use game cartridges. This was necessitated due to various PDA systems being released that included game cartridges/software that we didn't have the ability to put into the database.

Items added to your collection from these two categories should show up under "Mobile Devices" on the Collection Breakdown on your About page.

Now I know that you can play Doom on everything, but I think that this will be the extent of non-game specific hardware categories that we will create. The only true thing missing now is the ability to track custom computer builds, but unfortunately that can't be handled without programming in something unique to handle that, so that will have to be a project for future Jason.