[game_preservation] Game Database question

[Jim Leonard]

On 3/14/2010 3:55 PM, Jan Baart wrote:

> Mobygames basically ignores the concept of

> game versions and just throws it all into one kettle.


Considering I designed MobyGames to do exactly the opposite, I'm curious 
what you mean.  The main screens certainly try to summarize all 
platforms so that comparisons can be made at a glance, but the specific 
information is under the hood and is accessible.  Are you talking about 
different platforms for the same game?  (For example, Jones in the Fast 
Lane has a DOS version as well as a Windows 3.x version, and each are 
listed as a platform)  Or do you mean different releases of the same 
game?  If the latter, then different revisions of a game can be noted 
along with their version, date, and comments (see 
http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/kings-quest-v-absence-makes-the-heart-go-yonder/release-info 
for an example)

As for your differentiation between EGA vs. VGA as a "release", both 
were included in the packaging (see 
http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/kings-quest-v-absence-makes-the-heart-go-yonder/cover-art/gameCoverId,43069/ 
) so I'm not sure why those should be categorized as different releases.

One of the problems I saw in the late 1990s was that game listings were 
dominated more by pirate group releases and not actual proper publisher 
releases.  As less and less people have access to the original as years 
go by, this only gets worse.  Both of your examples point to a 
pirate-centric view.  I'm not calling you a pirate, btw -- *I* was 
certainly a raging pirate in the 1980s, I ran the first abandonware site 
sent a cease and desist letter by the (then) IDSA, and I still crack and 
release stuff I can get my hands on today that doesn't seem to have made 
it into the wild.  But despite my love of reverse-engineering and my 
desire to preserve history, categorizing games based on what pirate 
groups distributed doesn't seem very sound.


> What I'm basically wondering is this. Do you guys think of these as

> different games or just versions of games? After all, as food for

> thought, these often differ more than ports from one system to another

> and such ports always get separate entries in game databases.


I'll illustrate my beliefs with the most difficult example I can think 
of:  Jones in the Fast Lane.  That game had two package releases:

	- DOS, floppy, 3.5" and 5.25", EGA and VGA
	- CDROM talkie edition with Windows 3.1 and DOS binaries

I would call these two different platforms, with two "versions" per 
platform.  That's not 100% accurate since the DOS and Windows CDROM 
edition are in the same package, but it's close enough for the purposes 
of our discussion.

A different example is comparing Heart of China to King's Quest V. 
Heart of China was published in two separate packages, one EGA/CGA and 
another VGA.  KQV was a single package with both sets of disks.  So I 
would say that Heart of China is two different (publisher) releases, 
while KQV is one release despite having two sets of disks in it.

The bigger problem you pose is:  How different does a game have to get 
on different platforms before it's not the same game?  When we built 
MobyGames' platform support, we made sure to make things easily 
comparable, because I find it historically fascinating to see how a game 
was re-implemented on various platforms.  Take Elite as an example, and 
poke through http://www.mobygames.com/game/elite/screenshots for some 
interesting comparisons.  It's interesting to see how it was altered for 
the limitations of the platform it was destined for (apple II has 
wireframe only, etc.) but it's obvious it's the same game.

Now, take "Tomb Raider" for the Gameboy: 
http://www.mobygames.com/game/gameboy-color/tomb-raider_/screenshots/gameShotId,256516/ 
  Despite the common name and character art, it is clearly not a port of 
the original; it is more inspired by it.  So it shouldn't be included 
with the main, consolidated entry, and it isn't.

The Elite example illustrates why MobyGames needs more volunteers -- the 
original Elite was for the BBC Micro which, despite the many platforms 
that *are* listed, isn't yet a supported platform in MobyGames.
-- 
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org)            http://www.oldskool.org/
Help our electronic games project:           http://www.mobygames.com/
Or check out some trippy MindCandy at     http://www.mindcandydvd.com/
A child borne of the home computer wars: http://trixter.wordpress.com/