New Addition - Including A Suggestion!

[thefunk007]

Hi All,
Firstly just wanted to say that I think this type of website/resource is really helpful for collectors such as myself. My sole collection of games is on the PC format and this is where my suggestion is going to come in.
I imagine many people have already requested this information but is it possible to have a section on collectors/limited/special editions for PC games?
I am more than happy to contribute to help building this up and think many people would benefit from sharing release dates of PC editions as well as other consoles.
I sure most of you aware not usually as many special/limited/collectors editions make it to the PC but there is still a load that do and it would be fantastic to have this in one place.
Anyhow it’s just a thought but don’t think it would require a massive amount more work to implement and would enhance an already great site/resource.
Many thanks,
Lea

[twistedsymphony]

first of all welcome to CE.o :)

We've discussed PC releases before.

Right now all of the database updates as well as news releases are handled by me. This isn't my only website either, I run a few other sites (larger than this one even), and I work full time and also have a life out side of all this too. :)

I only cover Consoles simply because that's what I collect personally, I have a strong interest in it, and while it's a lot of work, for the most part it's not overwhelming to keep up with.

we did have one member a while back who really wanted us to add PC games, though discussion we determined that they're on a whole a LOT more difficult to track because there are many many more versions of releases than there are with consoles. Since consoles have to go through an approval process for licensing and PC games don't you end up having 4 or 5 versions of a PC "special edition" for every 1 on a console. (I believe the Witcher alone had 35 different variations of the CE in Europe). Cheap games that get repackaged every year with slightly different pack-ins are almost impossible to accurately track. This makes it much much more difficult to track, and it's not something I'm personally interested in dedicating my time to. Obviously most AAA titles that have cross-over with consoles, like Fallout 3, or Oblivion are easier to track since they simply mimic the console releases, but where do you draw the line?

After looking at the various aspects I did agree to make modifications to the database to incorporate PC releases on the condition that this member took care of keeping it up to date, however when I asked him for a list of releases and release data that I could use to help make the changes he fell off the face of the earth and I haven't seen him since. :lol:

I'd love to have this site grow and cover PC, and portable CEs or maybe even special edition movie releases and the like, but I don't even have time to fully explore the features related to console collecting that I'd like to never-mind expanding into a new media type.

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I welcome PC collectors to sign up on the forum, if there are simple things I can do to aid and encourage the fostering of that community I'd be more than happy to work with you but adding PC releases to the database is quite simply an undertaking thats more work than everything I've done to build this site so far.

If cataloging and building a database around PC CEs is something you're serious about, a good first step would be to start making a list of releases including all the additional data needed for a database (original MSRP, release date, which OS, which language, what was included, which region was that version available in, etc.) the easy part is building the software to handle it... the hard part is collecting the data to put in it and keeping it up to date. but I can't build a database without first some sample to data to go by.

[thefunk007]

Thanks for the reply Twistedsymphony.

I understand your own time constraints and am happy to start building up a database as per your suggestions. Before I start this task can you tell me whether the info in the brackets is the sole information needed?

I can start to build the database pretty quickly?

Many thanks,
Lea

[twistedsymphony]

the way the console database is setup now anything with a unique UPC code would be a separate entry in the database.

I track the following information
-Game title as it's written on the box
-edition as it's written on the box
-franchise the game belongs to
-console (or in the case of PC releases, the OS it's designed to run on)
-region (for consoles this is PAL/NTSC/NTSC-J/etc. for PCs this might just be the release country or continent)
-UPC #
-release MSRP in the currency of the release region
-release date for the given region
-a description of the CE content
-Content rating (ESRB for North America, BBFC for the UK, PEGI for europe, USK for Germany, OLFC for Austrailia and New Zealand, CERO for Japan)

Not currently tracked but I have plans to add it to the database:
-case type (Steelbook/DigiPak/Tin/Box/slip-cover, etc.)
-publisher

[Skoolstah]

Welcome! :)
I could probably throw in a few CEs I've accumulated over the years if you guys want.