Topics

121

Video Game Database Discussion / Style discussion: toys and figures

« on: April 18, 2016, 06:34:14 pm »

When dealing with naming toys, a proper name should consist of the following:
- Top-level brand
- Subline Imprint (if it exists)
- Figure number (if it exists)
- Figure name (as it appears on the packaging)
- Release country

Examples:
http://vgcollect.com/item/72437
"Mass Effect 3 Play Arts Kai: Garrus Vakarian [Action Figure] by Square Enix"
Correct name is:
Play Arts Kai: Mass Effect 3 - Garrus Vakarian [JP]
reference image: http://www.tomopop.com/ul/27664-tomopop-review-play-arts-kai-garrus-vakarian/IMG_7583-620x.jpg

http://vgcollect.com/item/87523
"PLAY ARTS Kai BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT Arkham Knight PVC pre-painted action figure"
Correct name is:
Play Arts Kai: Batman: Arkham Knight - No. 3 Arkham Knight [JP]
Reference image: http://ep.yimg.com/ay/dragonballzcentral/batman-arkham-knight-play-arts-kai-arkham-knight-11-action-figure-square-enix-2.jpg

Additional information, if needed, should be put into the Description field.

Note that Play Arts Kai is what is known as a multi-property brand, and as a top level brand it does not maintain a naming convention as some others ones do, for example: Revoltech.

If you need help in determining how to properly name a toy to be put in the database, feel free to ask. 

122

Video Game Database Discussion / Mother 3 - Game Boy Advance [NA] release type

« on: April 12, 2016, 06:45:52 pm »

Mother 3: Game Boy Advance [NA]
http://vgcollect.com/item/49106

Currently set as Homebrew, is this appropriate?

Here is an [EU] version:
http://vgcollect.com/item/101255

Both of these would be a fan translation, and it seems to me that neither Homebrew nor Unreleased options are adequate.
Or it may be that while the Edit page says "Unreleased (but official)" and the actual page just would say "Unreleased" is what is mixing me up.

What do you guys think about this?

123

Video Game Database Discussion / Strategy Guides and Books and Barcodes and Item Numbers

« on: March 10, 2016, 07:21:33 pm »

Currently the Style Guide has this to say about barcodes:

UPCs are used across the U.S., Canada, and a few other countries. They're twelve digits long. Enter the numbers only, without spaces or dashes.
EANs are used in Europe and South America and are thirteen digits long. Enter the numbers only, no spaces or dashes.
ISBN codes are normally used on books and other products. These can be 10 or 13 digits long. If an item does not have a UPC, then enter the ISBN code, with dashes.
Some products (like Electronic Arts games) may have both an ISBN and a UPC code. In those cases, only use the UPC code.

This thread is to discuss how we should be entering information specifically regarding books as they do not always fit into these rules.
Let's take this as an example.
Star Trek Starfleet Command Volume II: Empires At War - BradyGames Official Strategy Guide
http://vgcollect.com/item/75311

DB Entry currently has the ISBN-13 (9780744000221) in the Barcode field.
Actual item has an ISBN-10 which is 074400022X.
And it also has a barcode which is 752073000226.
This book was sold in US, Canada and UK.

Second example.
Star Wars: Dark Forces - Official Player's Guide
http://vgcollect.com/item/63005
DB entry currently has the ISBN-10 (1-57280-022-4) in the Item Number field.
Actual item has an ISBN-13 which is 9781572800229.
This book was sold in US and Canada.

Based on our current guide, this is how these should be done.
Star Trek: UPC in barcode field, Item Number field blank, ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 put into Description field.
Star Wars:

The Style Guide does not take ISBN numbers into account when it comes to books. In a situation where a UPC does not exist, such as the Star Wars book, one of the ISBN numbers should be used in its place, and the other should be put into the description. However, it must be determined (where in the case of a book) which ISBN is the one we favor having in the Barcode field.

In both cases, the Item Number field should remain empty.

This is my interpretation on how to currently handle this, but I am posting it here to open it up for discussion.

124

Video Game Database Discussion / Release Country TLD Master List

« on: February 07, 2016, 02:41:30 pm »

TLD cheat sheet.
Region codes:
[EU] Europe
[NA] North America

Country codes:
[AE] United Arab Emirates
[AR] Argentina
[AT] Austria
[AU] Australia
[BA] Bosnia
[BE] Belgium
[BG] Bulgaria
[BR] Brazil
[CA] Canada
[CH] Switzerland
[CN] China
[CZ] Czech Republic
[DE] Germany
[DK] Denmark
[EE] Estonia
[EG] Egypt
[ES] Spain
[FI] Finland
[FR] France
[GR] Greece
[HK] Hong Kong
[HU] Hungary
[ID] Indonesia
[IE] Ireland
[IL] Israel
[IN] India
[IT] Italy
[JP] Japan
[KR] South Korea
[KZ] Kazakhstan
[LT] Lithuania
[MX] Mexico
[MY] Malaysia
[NL] Netherlands
[NO] Norway
[PH] Philippines
[PL] Poland
[PT] Portugal
[QA] Qatar
[RS] Serbia
[RU] Russia
[SA] Saudi Arabia
[SE] Sweden
[SG] Singapore
[SK] Slovakia
[TH] Thailand
[TR] Turkey
[TW] Taiwan
[UA] Ukraine
[UK] England/Great Britain/United Kingdom
[US] United States
[ZA] South Africa

Never use a TLD in an item title where the item is in a category that has the same TLD in its name.
Examples:
- don't have ITEM NAME [EU] in CATEGORY [EU]
- don't have ITEM NAME [US] in CATEGORY [NA]

125

Video Game Database Discussion / Old stock photos DO exist!

« on: January 22, 2016, 11:22:57 am »

Going through the Game Gear section, we can now see that stock photos, or weird/incorrect hybrid photos for boxed games apparently DO exist. Of the games already in the database with photos of game releases that apparently do not exist (only time will tell) have included such games like Battletoads, Jurassic Park, Lost World and a couple others.

Here is an example. Pac-Attack on game gear:
http://vgcollect.com/item/8840

EDIT submitted, so if you see this thread later, here is the original pic that was in the db.


A cursory glance, one thing sticks out here. The namco logo is black. Here is what an actual scan of Pac-Attack looks like:


Logo is a different color, and the VRC Rating box is a different color. 4 lines of text instead of 3. There's a reason for this. The original image in the vgcollect database is a Genesis box with the system logo replaced!


So if you are doing any db work, looking at dupes, etc. Keep this in mind that weird stock photos do exist online. It would be nice to know the source of these images.

126

Video Game Database Discussion / Style Guide suggestion for UK/BBFC games

« on: January 12, 2016, 10:56:42 am »

Request that for UK Rated games that use [UK] suffix on item entry titles.

Not this (BBFC Suffix)
http://vgcollect.com/item/79837

Or this (no suffix)
http://vgcollect.com/item/59106

Since the category itself is [EU] there is no reason to specify any child entry as [EU] but BBFC games should have [UK] in similar ways to use other country codes for localized games released in Europe.

127

Video Game Database Discussion / TPX VGCOLLECT R&D LIST

« on: January 08, 2016, 11:32:23 am »

I will use this topic to track my progress of database work. Feedback welcome.

Currently working on Sega categories.

Completed List
--------------
Dreamcast [EU]
Dreamcast [JP]
Dreamcast [US]
Game Gear [EU]
Game Gear [JP]
Game Gear Accessory (official)
Game Gear Hardware - all region console releases added.
Game Gear [NA]
Game Gear [BR)

In-Progress or requiring confirmation/research

Sega Genesis [NA] Lotus Turbo Challenge
http://vgcollect.com/item/10292
There may exist a version without the Head to Head logo. Need confirmation as to whether that logo is printed on the insert, a label on the insert or a label on the box, before adding the variation to the database.

Game Gear Hardware [JP]
- Game Gear Red edit waiting for approval
http://vgcollect.com/item/23813

Game Gear Hardware [US]
- Game Gear [NA] (14502) has wrong front and back images. Needs to be merged with The Core System (94476) or vice-versa, retaining the box front image already on 94476.
http://vgcollect.com/item/14502
http://vgcollect.com/item/94476

No images for these:
Sega Game Gear Attack Pack
http://vgcollect.com/item/95148
Sega Game Gear Puzzle Pack
http://vgcollect.com/item/95149
Sega Game Gear Rescue Pack
http://vgcollect.com/item/95150

Helpful hint (perhaps a User's Guide can be made for the site at some point) regarding loose consoles. As most know, Consoles were not actually released on their own and came in the box. And there were a lot of different releases that essentially had the same thing in it. Using this example, if you had acquired a Game Gear loose and/or do not know which release it came in, it is safe to choose any that came with that model, or to choose one of the entries where the console came by itself.

128

Video Game Database Discussion / Sega Game Gear problem

« on: December 31, 2015, 12:29:49 pm »

There is a problem with Sega Game Gear US console entries.

Sega Game Gear (NA) http://vgcollect.com/item/83230
At the time of posting it has this name and is just a picture of the standard Sega Game Gear. I had submitted and edit to turn this entry into the first boxed release. There are 23 in collections.

Majesco Sega Game Gear http://vgcollect.com/item/36310
has correct picture (although should be on Cart Image not Box Front)
There are 32 in collections.

Here's the problem.
Sega Game Gear [NA] http://vgcollect.com/item/14502
There are 309 in collections.
Box image is the Majesco release.
Cart image is the Sega release.

1. So the problem here is if the edit for 83230 goes through, it will be the first release Game Gear in 1991.
2. 36310 should be named Sega Game Gear - The Core System, and have the box front and back pics from 14502.
What to do about 14502? If 1 and 2 are done, then 14502 would become a listing error or dupe. But a dupe of what?

Only reason to bring this up is due to the large amount in collections. Since the regular Sega Game Gear came in one of 9 different retail releases, there is no way to know. I suspect most of these people have gotten the system loose and don't care about which release their system came in.

Perhaps people who own 14502 can be merged into one of this entry?
http://vgcollect.com/item/94476

Note: all other US releases have been added to the database already.

129

Site Feedback / Amazon links on Digital games

« on: December 24, 2015, 12:49:21 pm »

SKU matching is not working correctly for Digital game categories. For example this one:
http://vgcollect.com/item/63921

It is showing the prices for the physical release prices for Amazon and directly links to that release type. Ideally, if it should link to Amazon at all, it should be getting the info for the digital version. If no digital version exists on Amazon, then it shouldn't link to anything.

130

Site Feedback / Message of the Day suggestion

« on: December 17, 2015, 12:24:31 pm »

Had an idea about a message of the day type thing. Maybe on the home page or somewhere. A "On this day in X year" where X is random (or whatever) you can randomly showcase a game that was released on today's date in that year.

131

Site Feedback / Ability to browse official vs homebrew/unofficial

« on: December 16, 2015, 10:53:07 am »

Is there a way to view a category to only show official games?

A visual example, when viewing the Vectrex category you see homebrew games in the list.
http://vgcollect.com/browse/vectrex

It is this way for other categories as well.

132

Site Feedback / Rename Submit New Item button

« on: November 28, 2015, 02:48:53 pm »

It may help combat people entering duplicates by making it clear the "Submit New Item" button is for adding an item to the database, rather than the collection. I could see this being confusing for new members.

133

Video Game Database Discussion / The Rejected Edits thread

« on: November 26, 2015, 10:24:11 am »

Playstation 3 [NA]
MLB 12: The Show http://vgcollect.com/item/25183
Image on file is stock photo. A release with 3 lines under the ESRB rating does not exist. Tried to replace image but was rejected.

134

Site Feedback / ") not being accepted in item name.

« on: October 10, 2015, 07:48:56 pm »

I made this entry:
http://vgcollect.com/item/90571

I added the name as:
Atari 2600 Action Pack for Windows - Activision Classics (3.5")
It shows up as
Atari 2600 Action Pack for Windows - Activision Classics (3.5

135

Video Game Database Discussion / UPC conundrum (Ultimate Spider-man)

« on: August 01, 2015, 05:48:18 pm »

Ultimate Spider-man PS2 has a UPC in the database as 047875809291
http://vgcollect.com/item/15869

The one I have has a UPC of 047875808935.
Looking up the one that is on the item record shows that it apparently came from a K-Mart computer. It is also the listed UPC on the Mobygames entry.

I have an edit in on the front box art. Here is the back artwork for now
http://www.mobygames.com/game/ultimate-spider-man/cover-art/gameCoverId,131307/

So does this game actually exist with this UPC or is our entry wrong?