Messages

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Video Game Database Discussion / Re: Bubsy 3D edit

« on: October 28, 2025, 08:14:23 pm »

Your Box Text edit was rejected in error. If it's submitted again, it will be approved. If there are other instances where you need to contest an edit rejection or report something wrong, it's best to post in the dedicated Error Listings and Rejected Edits topic.

And I'll also mention that it's good practice to leave fields empty if information can't be confirmed, which is something that happens most often with release date information. Although GameFAQs reports that the ESRB E rating variant as having been released sometime in 1998, so it would be fine to supply that information if you're wanting to.

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Modern Video Games / Re: Limited Run Games Showcase 2025 discussion/predictions/wishes

« on: October 28, 2025, 08:07:01 pm »

eh which is it? these 2 dont add up to the same time at all.

paccific would be 17 hours from now while eastern would be 15

09:00 PST is the same time as 12:00 EST. As of this post's writing, the event is scheduled to take place in roughly sixteen hours.

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Video Game Database Discussion / Re: Question regarding WWE '13 company logo cover variants

« on: October 28, 2025, 02:59:41 pm »

Looks like the PS3 version may need to be fixed as well...

https://vgcollect.com/item/39878

You're right. Unlike with 33152, though, Wayback Machine has not archived the entry page for 39878. So, we must instead look at the oldest entry information available to us which, in this case, relates to the Release Date fields. What this means is that I've updated 39878 by replacing the front art while adding the (THQ) entry name descriptor, just as before. And again, I've also submitted a variant entry for the 2K Sports version, which is here.

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Site Feedback / Re: Managed to add an empty item

« on: October 28, 2025, 08:48:23 am »

i keep doing this as well. idk how to fix it

If you've already determined that the reason doesn't relate to file size or image format, then it may be an issue related to site stability. Since you've posted this, others have submitted entries just fine, though.

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General / Re: October 2025 - Recently added to collection/recently purchased

« on: October 27, 2025, 01:00:50 pm »

I decided to visit the final day of a massive community used book sale where all that was required to pay was a $5 entry fee. I unexpectedly found four strategy guides there, though I'll probably only hold onto one. The other items were from a used media store.

PC
The Witcher

Strategy Guide
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
Assassin's Creed III
Resident Evil 6
Second Life: The Official Guide

Wii
DreamWorks Kung Fu Panda
Offroad Extreme! Special Edition
Rapala's Fishing Frenzy

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Video Game Database Discussion / Re: Tom Sawyer no Bouken

« on: October 27, 2025, 10:56:48 am »

There's nothing wrong at all with the entry you created, and you're correct that this is the first entry to represent this specific item. The database will always be growing, and it's by no means fully populated even for some of the more popular platforms since every piece of information is user-supplied. Thanks for contributing what I'd consider a higher quality entry than ones that most other new members tend to submit!

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Video Game Database Discussion / Re: Question regarding WWE '13 company logo cover variants

« on: October 26, 2025, 07:52:02 pm »

First, the existing entry in question is 33152, which I'm linking for others to see. If we look at the earliest information available to us through tools like Wayback Machine, we can see that this entry's original front art actually featured the THQ logo. So, this entry should reflect that variant only and not have mixed information as it currently does.

So, what I've done is update 33152 by replacing the front art and supplying the (THQ) entry name descriptor. You may need to clear your browser cache to view the image update. I've also submitted a variant entry for the 2K Sports version, which is here.

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General / Re: Halo is going multiplat...end of an era

« on: October 25, 2025, 06:56:51 pm »

The new Vampire Bloodlines 2 game intrigues me a lot, but a lot of folks again are whinging about it and saying it sucks. Is it me, or is there a pattern here?

I think it's maybe not entirely just the industry itself that has a problem, I think gamers are a very fickle bunch who don't know what they want, or when they want it. Which is why all we get now are re-makes. They predictably reward sameness and shun risk, and I've seen it time after time. It can't be that it's really that hard for an underdog team to put together an ambitions new game, but almost every time it ends in bad reviews and financial failure.

Not that it's overly important, but I will mention that Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 is generally regarded as a bad game for good reason and is, at minimum, a game that few fans of the original game wanted in its current design. It's a game based on the TTRPG, but its RPG mechanics have been considerably lessened for a sub-par experience. That is bad enough alone, but coupled with a fair amount of content that's barred behind an additional paywall and its initial price point, they come together in a way that warrants a much deserved negative reaction from the franchise's fans.

You're not wrong that the issues within the industry are two-sided. When players have a limited budget to play, or even the option to play hundreds of games at the whims of subscription models, they'll play and pay for what they know they like. It's no different from publishers who play it safe: force developers to design a game with trends they know are successful to presumably ensure their game's success.

It's still ashame that nothing approximating the final build of the game is ever on the disc from any major publisher, not even thoroughly bug tested. That's the version we get to own down the line.

That's a bad generalization and something that's mostly a known concern with certain publishing companies like Bethesda and Electronic Arts. Meanwhile, companies like Capcom, Koch Media, Sega, Square Enix, and even Take-Two Interactive generally provide an offline-friendly printed disc or cartridge. Of course, there are few publishers who operate perfectly in this regard, but some certainly acknowledge consumer needs more than others.

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General / Re: Halo is going multiplat...end of an era

« on: October 25, 2025, 10:13:12 am »

This isn't shocking. First was Forza, then Gears of War. What few franchise exclusives Microsoft ever had that they built for themselves is gone, and that's been known what was to happen since their long-term goals are to get GamePass on as many platforms as possible.

Most disc based games are glorified CD keys now.

Obligatory DoesItPlay mention.

I'm with you on wanting the industry to crash, and I mean crash hard! I want pretty much all AAA studios to go bankrupt and the industry to become mostly unprofitable so big money interests, investors, and large corporations remove their claws from it since it will no longer be a source they can use to fuel their never ending greed. I realize this isn't likely going to happen, but you have to figure something has got to give.

Like you said yourself, this is very unlikely to happen as long as there are people, even if their numbers are few, who are willing to pay for diminished returns while being exploited. For instance, there has been backlash against content subscription models (in general, not just with gaming) with some percentage of people forgoing it. But if prices can be increased high enough to combat fewer subscribers, then the company in question still profits. How long they're able to profit, though, is the question worth asking. How long are people willing to pay for a sub-par product?

Also, I find it worth commenting on that you champion the thought of AAA gaming failing. While indie gaming will always exist and would be what's left in the industry were large companies to abandon it, that seems be of little interest to you based on past discussions. Until people's expectations change that's often met (or attempted to be met) by high-budget AAA games, the industry can't correct itself. This is what most indie and anything beneath AAA gaming has figured out, or at least held onto. Not every record-breaking hit needs to have a budget in the tens of millions (or more) to be successful, and I'd argue that no game needs that kind of overinflated budget that skews toward the higher end that's been reported for some titles. Above all, gameplay should be a project's focus; fortunately that's something that indie and lower-budget gaming knows and regularly excels at providing.

People have been crying out to end the console wars, but competition breeds innovation. Without competition everyone will stagnate. I honestly just want the industry to crash. Every major AAA studio to fold, get gutted, and sadly the cycle will start all over again. Smaller to medium size indie studios will buy up franchises and start out small and form more major corporations.

I am not saying this with any defense, but what you've mentioned is how capitalism is designed to function.

I'm so sick of every developer squandering all of their time and resources chasing that ever elusive multi-player hit that ain't gonna happen. It used to be most games were a single player campaign, with a multi-player mode as an afterthought. Now it's reversed, multi-player focused games with maybe a single player adaptation of a game that was built for multi-player. It's getting so old.

In this specific instance regarding the remake for Halo: Combat Evolved, the game will actually not offer an online multiplayer mode while instead focusing on the single-player campaign just as the original game previously did. I suppose that could change and be added as a post-release update, but I doubt that for whatever reason.

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General / Re: VGCollect 2025 Secret Santa!

« on: October 21, 2025, 11:22:28 am »

Gifts wrapped. Note written. Swag added. Box sealed.

Wow, you are on it!

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Video Game Database Discussion / Re: Error Listings and Rejected Edits 2025

« on: October 19, 2025, 08:51:24 am »

https://vgcollect.com/item/286857
This is the title on the cover and spine: The Unauthorized Strategy Guide to the Magic: The Gathering Card Game

Should this item even be in the database since it's a guide for the physical card game and isn't video game related?

I didn't think to consider that this item may not relate to a video game, though that seems to be the case based on the little information I've gathered. SilverBow will need to provide more information on the matter, so I'll reach out.

286857 has been removed upon SilverBow confirming the item is not related to any video game.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: October 14, 2025, 09:32:15 pm »

Lots of Silent Hill going on in this year's challenge! Love it! 

And it keeps on going.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: October 14, 2025, 09:31:23 pm »

61. Silent Hill f || PlayStation 5 || 10.03.2025



For nearly three full years, I've been curious to know what sort of direction the Silent Hill franchise would take with its first original and premium entry since 2012 after having largely been dormant for over a decade. Fortunately, Silent Hill f's release comes at a time that's perfect for someone like me who's only just recently completed every previous main installment.

First, it's critical to discuss f's identity. Of course, the game's most overt difference from the games before it is its 1960s Japan setting. And while this itself is a rather stark change, it is not the change I consider to be most significant. Instead, that change would be that the game is set in a town that is the protagonist's home. No, it's not some unfamiliar place or a home she's revisiting after having long been away from it, and it's not a town with any connection to Silent Hill either. And while the town of Ebisugaoka is certainly not Silent Hill, the game establishes connections between the two: coal mines, a town that's segregated from the city by bridge, a fog-laden mountain landscape that even covers the lower foothills, and religious beliefs steeped in folklore that contrasts the beliefs held by The Order. Despite the major shift in setting, there is more that's similar between the two towns than meets the eye. On a more fundamental level, why the psychological horrors that are to be experienced by Hinako exist in such a way is best explained by the game preceding f that many will assuredly overlook and not play, that being Silent Hill: The Short Experience.

To be forthright, f's writing is arguably the most transparent among its peers. Observant players will find hints to this theme all throughout the game whether it be through narrative, monster design and behavior, or environmental storytelling. However, this is not to suggest that I'm critical of the value it provides. Above all else, f's story revolves around gender roles. As the protagonist, Hinako as a young woman dares to question and defy societal gender expectations. She is called, or thought to be called, a traitor on numerous occasions even by her peers. And throughout her nightmarish journey, she grapples with what womanhood is exactly and what it means to sacrifice one's self for the patriarchal order. Despite her aversion to what's commonly accepted, she finds herself not only experiencing but submitting to what she's been avoiding all this time but on an unparalleled level that only psychological terrors can unleash. And since this thought does relate to writing, I'll bring attention to the game's endings. Or, rather, how they're earned. For some reason, the developers found it best for an incomplete ending to the narrative be experienced for all first completed playthroughs. To earn more fulfilling ones, subsequent playthroughs are required while simultaneously completing certain requirement goals.

Visually, the game looks fine and is not something I take issue with. In the game's opening hours especially, meandering through this small mountain town with its rising and lowering elevation and the small spaces between its clustered homes is enjoyable. It's a town that was designed far before urban planning regulations were enforced, so city design has an organic presentation and sense of space. At all points throughout the game, it's visually expressed as a forlorn, failing town that's seen better days long ago since before the war. I especially enjoyed the details in smaller environmental assets such as broken-down household appliances and alcohol bottles littering the perimeter of homes. And by contrast, f's otherworld environment takes on the setting of an ancient shrine. It's not particularly scary as it omits much of the surface-level horror elements with its visual design, but it does utilize darkness and often more intense combat sequences to help promote a greater sense of vulnerability.

Regarding the game's combat, I feel as if my opinion toward it is skewed largely because of the combat difficulty setting I elected to choose at the start. On the day of the game's release prior to any patch updates, what is traditionally considered the "Hard" difficulty setting was referred to as Balanced; in time, this was changed. Despite the lower level Story difficulty option even mentioning that it is the "traditional Silent Hill difficulty," I dismissed it due to its placement among options and chose Balanced. However, Story difficulty certainly should be the option most players choose as the game directs, as what was once named Balanced mode is anything but. With that said, it is difficult to properly assess my thoughts based on this fault since even at this moment, I've not seen how combat is like for the Story-focused experience.

Nevertheless, I believe I can still make judgment toward the game's combat. With how it's designed, the game's combat feel far too complicated for a survival horror game. Throughout general play, players must manage several different elements beyond straightforward attacks that include a Focus meter which doubly serves as the blocking function when certain weapon types are equipped, a Sanity meter that coincides with the Focus meter while also acting as a form of health, weapon durability depletion, and the window of opportunity to successfully evade and even parry enemy attacks. To say that there's no shortage of systems to monitor is an understatement, and combat's design makes the game far more action-focused than it needs to be. There's no merit in declaring that combat is objectively good or bad because it's neither of the two but instead mixed. Although, I will mention that the complex systems do add something toward elevating the sense of being vulnerable against the monsters awaiting you and, in a sense, do instill a greater emphasis on survival. Having first played through the game on a higher difficulty setting than is intended for a more tailored experience, what I can say from such position is that combat on Hard difficulty absolutely requires players to be well-versed in combat's design or overly patient upon failed attempt after failed attempt. Ignoring or being ignorant of any one individual combat element to the larger system will unquestionably make one's play experience more strenuous. And of course, despite it not always being possible or the best means of action, evading enemies altogether is (sometimes) a possibility.

And still, there is more relating to combat worth discussing. Unlike the majority of previous series titles, f restricts players with a limited inventory capacity, albeit one that can be upgraded over time through various means. Interestingly, the amount of items able to be stacked atop one another in one slot is also finite. For instance, acquiring more than three bandages will carry over to a second slot that allows for a combined total of six. As a result, players are routinely needing to parse through their inventory to see what's truly needed and what can be discarded. However, fully discarding items isn't actually what's done. Instead, items may be offered to shrine in return for Faith points which act as a form of currency. Also at these shrines, these points may be redeemed for stat upgrades or equippable charms gained randomly akin to gachapon. Needless to say, there is a lot of moving parts to combat and play style. Meanwhile, I'll also mention the visual effects that are present throughout combat. Enemies light up prior to when they may be counterattacked. A whooshing animation plays in slow motion upon the impact of a successful heavy attack. Like previously mentioned, these aspects diminish the presented horror elements. And while this last aspect is an outlier to the aforementioned, it's definitely worth mentioning that, arguably for the better, f is a game that's fully reliant on melee combat: there are no guns or other ranged weapons at the player's disposal. But I won't deny that combat feels overtly foreign as a result of some creative decisions toward the end of the game where battle gameplay evolves.

I'll preface this final section that, like with most things, horror is subjective. With that understanding, I consider f as a game that does not induce much fear. In fact, it may be the least scary game in the franchise—it's certainly a contender, anyway. Part of this is due to the game's emphasis on combat, whereas another part is that Japanese horror is far more subdued than western horror. However, I actually was anticipating this reduced fear prior to playing based on the latter which, to me personally, is not that scary despite myself still enjoying Japanese horror. But there are other factors at play too, such as the first boss having a specific attack with the corresponding "dodge this!" scripted dialogue. While psychological horror is still a hallmark of f, I feel as if much of the horror passed to players is translated through disgust and unease through body horror imagery that's, to be fair, also usually present within the series. But I feel as if it's taken to a slightly more intense level in this installment.

Throughout my time playing, my opinion of Silent Hill f transformed from being mildly disappointed to mildly satisfied. There are certain design choices I perhaps would have more greatly preferred to be opposite to what was finalized, but the game ultimately exists as a worthy entry in the series—a full-fledged entry that's the first of its kind in thirteen years. If this sort of quality continues, then there are good things to expect from the franchise going forward. At this point, I'm being more a backseat spectator to a second playthrough to reach a more satisfying conclusion, though I'm sure there will be times when I do play for myself. And as I've mentioned before elsewhere, I do believe that, in this moment, f now exists as the franchise's most divisive game entry.

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Video Game Database Discussion / Re: Error Listings and Rejected Edits 2025

« on: October 14, 2025, 09:19:15 am »

https://vgcollect.com/item/286857
This is the title on the cover and spine: The Unauthorized Strategy Guide to the Magic: The Gathering Card Game

Should this item even be in the database since it's a guide for the physical card game and isn't video game related?

I didn't think to consider that this item may not relate to a video game, though that seems to be the case based on the little information I've gathered. SilverBow will need to provide more information on the matter, so I'll reach out.

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Video Game Database Discussion / Re: Error Listings and Rejected Edits 2025

« on: October 14, 2025, 09:16:04 am »

Is it only required here because they are both on Steam?  I'm just a little confused because there are so many games out there with the same name.

In this instance, a descriptor is required for each of the two entries because they share the same base name and are in the same category. And because of the current limitations of the database, it's irrelevant that they're entries for two totally different items—the rules still apply. Until there's ever a change in how the database is designed, that's how we're to handle these kinds of situations. A more egregious example is below:
Maze (2019)
Maze (2020)
Maze (2021)
Maze (2024)
Maze (2025)