Release Year field for PSP UMD Videos

[SilverBow]

For consistency, I would appreciate a ruling regarding the Release Year field for PSP UMD Videos. I recently had some rejections which are listed below. First of all, these are MOVIES. Which information makes more sense: the NA release date of the movie or the useless release date of the UMD? If this was a DVD movie collection, the answer would be obvious. While cleaning/adding to this section, I noticed some original creators understood this concept by adding the year the movie's theatrical release.

Rejections (Since their rejection and for even greater accuracy, I amended a couple of dates to reflect only the NA release year.):

    Ghost in the Shell (1996)
    Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
    The Dark Crystal (1982)
    Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2001)
    Predator (1987)
    Men in Black (1997)

Furthermore, many movies are remakes with the same title. If the year is the arbitrary UMD date, how do we distinguish which movie it is, other than resorting to adding the year into the title?

Kindest regards,
'Grumpy' SilverBow

[desocietas]

I think the year should be the release of the UMD. The same film may have come out one year but may have various editions on DVD (widescreen, director's cut, enhanced edition, etc.) with a different year for those prints.

Using the proper release date will make it easier for identification (this happens with books, too, to help identify if it's first print or not).

For games with re-release (like "greatest hits" and such), we always use the release of the that edition, not the date of the original game, if that gives any perspective.

[SilverBow]

I think the year should be the release of the UMD. The same film may have come out one year but may have various editions on DVD (widescreen, director's cut, enhanced edition, etc.) with a different year for those prints.

Using the proper release date will make it easier for identification (this happens with books, too, to help identify if it's first print or not).

For games with re-release (like "greatest hits" and such), we always use the release of the that edition, not the date of the original game, if that gives any perspective.

Respectfully, I'm only talking about movies here and not about a collection of DVD release dates. Every movie has only one official year of release associated with it in the USA. It's one of the unique identifiers attributable to a movie. Sure, there are re-releases of some movies such as extended or director's cuts, but they too have a unique release year associated with them. A UMD's release date is sort of useless when you have the barcode, and in most cases, an ISBN associated with them. For example, if you want, I can send you many lists, each comprised of at least 20 UMD Videos, that were released on the SAME DAY! This was not uncommon, and it is certainly not a good identifier.

[mastafafik]

I think the year should be the release of the UMD. The same film may have come out one year but may have various editions on DVD (widescreen, director's cut, enhanced edition, etc.) with a different year for those prints.

Using the proper release date will make it easier for identification (this happens with books, too, to help identify if it's first print or not).

For games with re-release (like "greatest hits" and such), we always use the release of the that edition, not the date of the original game, if that gives any perspective.

I agree.
In my opinion "release date" regarding movies, in our database should be the release date of the movie on UMD, not the premiere of the movie itself. For example the release date for Alien is 05-25-1979, and there was no PSP on that time , so the proper release date for the Alien UMD should be 02-07-2006.

[desocietas]

Silverbow, I can see what you're saying, especially with a movie that might've had a reboot.

Maybe the description field?

Mastafafik, any thoughts? I know with rebooted games like Tomb Raider, they'll sometimes add the year in the title within some other databases to indicate the reboot, but I know we handle it differently.

A note in the description? It's a very specific case by case situation of course...

Perhaps the text on the back of the box will be indicative enough for folks?

[karyann]

I understand your idea.

However, if we want to stay consistent with the rest of the database, the year should be the year that the UMD was released. Other listings do not track the original release of the contents, but rather the release of the item itself. For instance, the listing for The Legend of Zelda on the Wii U e-shop is the date that the digital version was released on the e-shop, and not the release date of the original NES version.

So, for consistency, UMD movies would follow the same pattern.

[SilverBow]

I understand your idea.

However, if we want to stay consistent with the rest of the database, the year should be the year that the UMD was released. Other listings do not track the original release of the contents, but rather the release of the item itself. For instance, the listing for The Legend of Zelda on the Wii U e-shop is the date that the digital version was released on the e-shop, and not the release date of the original NES version.

So, for consistency, UMD movies would follow the same pattern.

Everyone uses the examples of games management, but that's comparing apples to oranges. These are not games, game accessories, consoles, but just MOVIES. That means I'll have to go back and re-edit some titles & include the release year in the title for the ones which had re-makes. Otherwise, a browser may not know which movie the UMD consists of. If we don't do this and someone wants to purchase a copy, they may not get the version they were expecting. I repeat, for MOVIES, the UMD release date is useless information since many groups of 25 or more were released on the same day! I don't understand the resistance to good ideas!

Kindest regards and continue with your diligent and much needed over watch. I appreciate your efforts, but on this issue, I know that I'm right.

[pacpix]

The only reason UMD Videos are in the database to begin with is that they are played on a PSP.  The primary purpose of the database is to track video games, not movies.  Two admins have already stated to use the UMD release date in this thread, and three more including myself have agreed to this as well in a private staff discussion thread.  I understand that you disagree with this release date structure, but as far as I'm concerned a verdict has been reached on this issue. 

[SilverBow]

Fair enough. Case closed, and I appreciate everyone's input. I'll be happy to amend those titles which have had remakes so there won't be any confusion. That will be good for every UMD owner or prospective owner. Sorry for all the trouble, but I thought I had made a good case for a sensible change.

[desocietas]

Hey, I appreciate your interest in wanting to improve the site's database. After all, it's all user-created and maintained, so these talks are good to have

I can totally see what you're saying, but yeah, in the end, this site is for cataloguing games. We'd be in drowning in debates were we to be precise about our swag section, for instance, haha 

[SilverBow]

Hey, I appreciate your interest in wanting to improve the site's database. After all, it's all user-created and maintained, so these talks are good to have

I can totally see what you're saying, but yeah, in the end, this site is for cataloguing games. We'd be in drowning in debates were we to be precise about our swag section, for instance, haha 

Thank you. I'm just hoping that I didn't make any enemies. Actually, I'm a very quiet person and don't like posting. 

[badATchaos]

Feel free to put the original release date in the description field.

[desocietas]

Hey, I appreciate your interest in wanting to improve the site's database. After all, it's all user-created and maintained, so these talks are good to have

I can totally see what you're saying, but yeah, in the end, this site is for cataloguing games. We'd be in drowning in debates were we to be precise about our swag section, for instance, haha 

Thank you. I'm just hoping that I didn't make any enemies. Actually, I'm a very quiet person and don't like posting. 

Definitely no enemy of mine I'm a big fan of consistency and clarity and ease-of-use for things like databases (I work at a library), so it's great to hear from other users about what makes the most sense to them.

The internet being so text-based, it's easy to accidentally assume the wrong kind of tone coming from the other person.  There are also presumptions made if there are typos, grammatical issues, etc., but the other great thing about the internet is that we have users from all over the world with all kinds of backgrounds and skills.

Haha, I'll stop going off on this tanget - I've been in various meetings all day, so I'm still in the "chatty" mood of talking up every detail 

[tripredacus]

Furthermore, many movies are remakes with the same title. If the year is the arbitrary UMD date, how do we distinguish which movie it is, other than resorting to adding the year into the title?

Box art, item number and barcode.

[SilverBow]

Furthermore, many movies are remakes with the same title. If the year is the arbitrary UMD date, how do we distinguish which movie it is, other than resorting to adding the year into the title?

Box art, item number and barcode.

You're somewhat right if that information is there. I've had to input a lot of that myself, and I'm still not finished. Before I started, most only had the title, artwork and nothing else. It will still remain a problem when someone is not knowledgeable enough to distinguish between different movies with the same title. There are dozens of those ambiguities in the UMD video universe. Some of these movies came out 35+ years ago and have had recent remakes. Youngish people may not be aware of this when they go to purchase a particular movie. As a matter of fact, there are a few UMD releases of both the original movie and the remake. Without doing additional research, you don't know which is which.

I developed my own databases many years ago for my various collections (games, movies, music, books). So, none of this really affects me adversely. I'm just trying to lend my expertise in the most helpful way. Anyway, I think I've said enough on this subject.