FistyDollars

Okay, I get that. What I'm also saying is that since a lot of Famicom Disk System games are currently listed as NES games, rather than have to re-add games for the Famicom Disk System and separately flag the NES entries for deletion, will there be an option to submit a change of platform for a game? The same issue has been popping up for DOS games that are still listed under Windows, because it used to be PC (which counted both as the same platform), so it seems like it would be a big time-saver.

So I've got a submission in the mod queue to add a game to the Famicom Disk System, but there's currently an entry for it under NES. I know we're not counting Famicom and NES as different, as per the Guidelines, but what's the consensus on Famicom Disk System? I mean, they're basically NES games on a floppy with slightly different sound hardware. What I'm asking is, should I approve adding this to Famicom Disk System, or can there be an option to submit a change of platform? I imagine there are quite a few FDS games categorized under NES right now.

There have been a LOT of these being uploaded for the NES recently, and I've been rejecting anything that's not the actual original printed box art, but claims it is. It's one thing to clean up some scuffs and coloration in Photoshop, but these are just straight up second attempts at creating the same image manually, and that's not what came with the games. Can't wait for moderator comments to be a thing.

Considering you can already do audio over HDMI, I'm all for eliminating unnecessary plugs (especially if it means being able to slim down phones a little bit more.) What I'm not looking forward to is being pushed $30 adapters that cost $.05 to manufacture.

Honestly I don't think we should be dealing with the headaches that videos would bring right now. I like the option that exists; to have individual users download them from EmuMovies if they personally feel like paying for them. (Even from a moderation standpoint it just sounds like it'd be a HUGE pain.) And as said earlier, there are DEFINITELY NOT, IN NO WAY, torrents that you can find for those. DEFINITELY NOT. NOPE. DON'T GO LOOKING NOW. NUH-UH.

Jeez, I feel silly...I've beaten SotN, and i still assumed it was Alucard. Yeesh. Just to be safe though, let's all blame Konami for this.

M-6502 said and a BIG thanks to Donarumo for adding the "export to LaunchBox" feature. Wait, you can DO that? I have the eXoDOS collection and I didn't notice he'd updated Meagre...ugh, I've been manually adding games this whole time...

Is it you that's been uploading all the NES stuff? Because if so, fantastic work!

Will there be a way for us to change the names of Developers/Publishers or flag them for deletion? There are a lot of variations/misspellings in the database that make it really hard to search properly (a result of mass importing TheGamesDB), and it'd be good to be able to tidy that up a bit.

Freestate said I don't agree with 12. What's the point with nudity again on this days? Forgive me if i don't understand but i'm really bored with keeping close always to US prerrogatives with nudity. Blood, destruction and magnum guns are permited but we have to censorship a boob? Parental advisor for this cases, not censorship. Personally I think we should have any entries with "adult content" flagged as such, and an option to show that sort of thing be built in to either Launchbox or your Launchbox Games Database account. I really don't like the idea of censoring box art on principle, but that's just my opinion.

I assumed as much; could we have that clarified in the Moderator Guidelines?

I wish I could say I was surprised, but Amazon has been systematically turning Prime from "a neat benefit you can get if you want", to "practically mandatory". Remember $25 Super Saver Shipping? Then again, considering they weren't profitable for a VERY long time, this could be their way of doing that.

Are watermarked images banned? Because I've come across a couple submissions with MobyGames watermarks at the bottom and rejected them (don't need MobyGames to get annoyed with us.)

I thought that if there was any confusion about what the official name of a game should be, we would go with whatever Wikipedia had it listed as. Case in point, A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobonia doesn't have the "David Crane's" prefix to it on the official Wiki entry here, whereas Sid Meier's Pirates! does.

If none of this works for you, it might be worth trying out Bizhawk , it's a TG16/CD emulator that was custom coded for accuracy/TAS and works great in conjunction with LaunchBox.

SentaiBrad said What if there was a list of preferred front images? So you set it up as a top 5 or w/e. 1. Front Box Art / Flyers 2. Screenshot 3. ... 4. ... Etc. When a game has Front Box Art and Flyers, then that is used, when a game doesn't have that, then it goes down the list until It finds an image. This would obviously work vice versa, so if you prefer Screenshots then that is used unless a game doesn't have it, then it uses the Front Box Art? Maybe not exactly like that, it would need to be more comprehensive, but then at the very least you get a solution for users who want to use alternate art, but also hopefully have less gaps in art. Thoughts? I really like this idea

Jason Carr said Thank you much @kmoney2315. Yeah, the images really bug me too. I went through the effort to add in and replace every single available flyer, but was disappointed to see that many just don't exist at this point. I'm gonna look to see what types of images we might be able to use to fill in the blanks. Personally I've been using title screens. It's not perfect for every game, but then again, neither are flyers. I wish there was an option during MAME rom importing where you could select what you'd want as the "front" image, as I'm sure some people would prefer cabinets, or what have you.

DOS76 said How different are the ratings and could we figure out what a certain rating in PEGI would be equivalent with an ESRB rating and still be able to fill in the data. Or maybe like an Asterisk to signify that it is PEGI without having to have a 2nd rating system taking up space in the data. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_European_Game_Information#Age_ratings The ages are similar but different enough that I don't know if they'd correspond directly in a meaningful way. Plus, a PEGI 18 rating doesn't carry the same impact an AO rating does from the ESRB.

Drybonz said With the changes in DOS game importing, should games, such as GoG, that were originally DOS but install PC style now show under the DOS or PC section in LB? So this is something I've been concerned with ever since we've abandoned the (necessary) system restrictions of TheGamesDB. Overspecification. For example, we've now split up the NES into the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Famicom, and the Famicom Disk System. I like that we can finally distinguish various Japanese versions of games using metadata (having to rename them individually and reassign images was monotonous and didn't always work correctly), but at the same time, do we really need to split them up? I'd rather browse all my NES games at once then have to remember to click on the correct version of what is essentially the same platform. Same thing with Turbografx-16 and the TurboDuo/Turbografx-CD. Or DOS and "PC", which I guess arbitrarily means anything on Windows. DOS was integrated into the core of Windows for a long time after DOS-only games were being released, so where do we draw the line, and how? What about Sega Genesis and it's add-ons? Why isn't there a separate section for the Nintendo 64DD? (I mean, in part that's because the emulation doesn't exist for it, but we've got Playstation 4 and Xbox One sections, so what does that mean?) In another thread, https://www.launchbox-app.com/forum/features/how-can-be-contribute-to-the-launchbox-games-database/page-4#p13986 , @CADScott mentioned the need for differentiating between MSX versions. What about Arcade systems? It's arguably the broadest category imaginable, consisting of countless pieces of hardware that are considered the same platform only because they were meant to be played in public! Do we differentiate between CPS-1, CPS-2, etc.? Do we make duplicate entries in the database? *deep breath* I guess what I'm saying is, I think we need an option to, when setting up a platform on LaunchBox, check off any hardware we want to lump together as the same platform, and have the appropriate metadata get pulled. Otherwise, I see a lot of division coming as to what goes where. /rant Sorry, but that's been bugging me since we left TheGamesDB.

That's what I was thinking as well. I just want to make sure we're addressing this kind of thing now, before it's all set in stone.

DOS76 said Sorry if I'm being anal about this but ESRB ratings question user has submitted Everyone but the box shows K+A (Kids + Adults) which is technically everyone how are we going about this do we want to match what the box art conveys or just approve K+A as E In the ESRB Wikipedia article it says that K+A changed to E, so I assumed we'd be doing that. What about games that were retroactively rated by the ESRB (for Virtual Console, GOG or other re-releases?) I assume we'd apply the rating even though the rating didn't exist when the game was released? And what about games that have only been PEGI rated?

DOS76 said Here is an issue I've come across The game Microcosm for Amiga CD32 trying to moderate the release date I found results on Wikipedia, Giant Bomb and IGN. Both Wikipedia and Giant Bomb list the games more lumped together with all the systems that they were released and they offer an initial release date but from reading the text it sounds like the game was released at different times on different platforms but not that can be verified. IGN has it listed as being released in 1994. Yeah, I moderated that one today myself. On the Wikipedia article for the game, if you click [show] next to Release Date(s), a drop-down field shows the release dates for various platforms, and it has Microcosm with a generic 1994 release date for Amiga CD32.

SentaiBrad said Jason posted what is available and what will be soon. Deletion is currently not available, nor is add. That's what I get for not paying attention

Can we (and if so, how) flag an entry for deletion if it never existed on the platform at all; i.e. Iron Soldier 2, which is listed as an Atari 7800 game, but only came out for Jaguar? Also, what level of "game" are we allowing in the database? ROM hacks, homebrew, etc.? I'm all for them, I just worry about the can of worms they could open up.

Drybonz said I've been working on re-making the snapshot art for the older MAME games that have black and white "official" art with better pics with the full bezels and overlays, etc... Is that something that I could upload? Also, would there be any interest in this? I'll attach an example. So this brings up an issue that's been bugging me for a while with MAME integration into LaunchBox, and now especially with the Launchbox Games Database. What exactly should we be using as "box" art for Arcade games? Because cabinets aren't ideal given that there's a huge variety of them, and flyers can vary wildly and might not even have the name of the game visible enough to distinguish it when shrunken down. I'm looking over the database right now, and it's (kind of) a mess. Should we decide to only use title screens? Or could we have an option for the users to decide what type of artwork they want to have constitute "box" art. For that matter (and maybe this is getting off topic) could there be an option in general for people who want title screens as box art on other consoles? I know this may seem nit-picky, but it's honestly why, after trying to add my arcade games to LaunchBox, I removed them. There's no semblance of order. And yes, I realize this was due entirely to the metadata being imported from the necessary evil that was TheGamesDB. I'm just thinking that if we're starting fresh over here, we could try to nip this in the bud.