AdamJT

Thanks to kurzih and Thanatos for the clarying the region issue slightly for me. I'm wondering if the database could automatically take into account these apparent scraping issues, where if there is "unregioned" images mixed with region specific ones, I'm told there is an issue for the end-user? (I usually have every Box cover downloaded for the sake of historical interest, but I suppose some aren't as cosmopolitan...) What I mean is, the average layman LB DB submitter can't be expected to know this complicated info about region tagging and scraping- I'm still struggling to understand it fully as a moderator. Is there anything that can be done as far as the coding of the DB web interface? If it's is a program breaking issue it probably shouldn't be up to the community to moderate potentially hundreds of thousands of DB entries Also, and I'm probably being a pain here but it would be great if there was a Retract/Edit option on DB submissions, for when people make a mistake or a typo, etc. If that's a possibility to code, it could save the moderators and submitters many headaches having to go through the same things twice. Sorry if this has been covered already, it's late and I'm in stuck in lockdown in Sydney with a 6-pack of beer for company

There has been a vast number of submissions lately relating to region tagging in screenshots, clear logos etc. There seems to be a war going on between at least a couple of individuals, with one removing region tagging from these images and another adding them back on! The argument seems to be that if a game was only released in Japan for instance, then region tagging is not required for screenshots etc, with the counter-argument being that region tagging of Japan for all pictures of a Japanese game helps to sort media content into the appropriate folders. Can we hash this out here in the forums rather than over in the database? If a game is Japanese and it has Japanese text, and it was only released in Japan- then what's the big deal in having all images region labelled as such? Or should we be trying to keep these images "clean" by having no region tagging where it's deemed unnecessary due to the fact that it was only ever released in one region? Thoughts?

I was literally about to post about this- great minds think alike! My issue is, it can be difficult to figure out what's best to do when a Mature rating is submitted for a game that came out before the current ESRB rating system- or maybe there's an 18+ PEGI rating for a game that wasn't released at all in North America (so never got rated by the ESRB, but has been rated by other agencies.) My question is whether it's more important to have games with "mature content" flagged as such, or have the ESRB ratings identical?

Found an interesting article about the effort to preserve disappearing Amiga games: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-12-03-your-amiga-games-are-likely-dying

OK another couple of questions: Does the WikipediaURL field need to be a Wikipedia address unequivocably? If there is no Wikipedia entry should a URL to another website be accepted? What kind of video should be accepted in the VideoURL field? A contributor linked to an extended youtube playthrough of the game, I assume this is not what we're looking for?

So I was recently surprised to be made a Moderator of the Games DB, and lacking a current set of Guidelines I just have a few questions: 1. Does the Games DB include (Or should it include), Game Mods (Doom wads for instance? I'd like to add some of the more 'legit' mods that are practically unique games of their own.) What is the policy on fan-made or non-commercial releases? 2. What about Collectors Editions vs Regular Editions, would these go in as seperate entries if they were released at different times with different artwork but essentially the same game? 3. Should overviews of games be a professionally written synopsis' (such as from the back of the box or from the website that sells the game)? What is acceptable as far as a description?

I collected my AimTrak from the post-office the other day & I've been messing around with it in MAME. So far it's been pretty good fun. There's been a few glitches but it seems like it's just the MAME emulator, and usually it's with games that have a different control config (i.e. machines with a joystick mounted gun controller). Getting the controller set up correctly in MAME for the various types of machines is probably the biggest obstacle (I find MAME Arcade makes it easier). You can also set it to emulate a joystick with the Ultimarc software but I haven't felt the need to bother with that yet. Most of the available games are in MAME, but there's a couple of Rail-shooters on Steam & possibly some Wii stuff through Dolphin. Apparently the Nes + SNES cores (and fingers-crossed PS1??) in RetroArch have light gun support, so the next step for me will be working that out... Thraxol - I couldn't tell you how it compares to a real arcade set-up... Maybe a little bit jittery? (though that could be the coffee lol). As far as compatibility though it's probably the best thing on the market.

Cheers Mute I did some more searching and managed to find them at a place called austinamusements.com.au I e-mailed them this afternoon to make sure, and they said they'd had a fair amount of trouble with customs themselves. Apparently having their orders held up for months, or being returned to sender in the UK. The ones they have now are in Australia, so they assured me there won't be any issues with delivery. Awesome!

Hi all, first time poster, long time Launchboxer. I wanted to get people's experience/opinions/advice on an issue I've run into as an arcade-shooter fan living in Australia, & also post this a caution to anyone in Aus who might be thinking of buying a light gun from overseas. I was about to spend approx. $170 AU on importing an AimTrak Lightgun from the US, having learned that they're the most compatible across a wide range of games & emulated platforms. Then I ran across some people online saying that they've had their arcade guns seized by Australian customs as 'Replica or Imitation Firearms'!? There are some rather strenuous gun laws in this country- & it seems to be that you can't even import a giant plastic thing in the rough shape of a gun without running the risk of getting into a whole lot of trouble, or at the very least losing your $170... Here's the issue https://www.border.gov.au/Busi/Impo/Proh/Firearms-and-weapons/imitation-firearms "Imitation Firearms are defined as a copy or reproduction or has the appearance of a firearm that could reasonably be taken to be a firearm. This can include goods such as ornaments and arcade or video game controllers. ... To import imitation firearms into Australia, police certification in the form of a B709A Form - Importation of Firearms – Police Confirmation and Certification Form is required. ... The original B709A Form must be presented to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection at the time of importation." I suppose I can understand it in the wake of 3d-printing, thanks to that guy who created printable weapons. But this is an awful lot of bureaucracy for a game-controller, it really comes down to it being misclassifed as an imitation firearm. Not many guns I've seen have a lead running out of the grip and a big red button on the side for launching special attack If you want to import an "Imitation Firearm" you have to get a permit/license from the police before hand, once you finally get the approval (good luck with that)... I think most people give up at this point. I did find a caveat however, (at least in NSW legislation not sure if it applies to the whole country) http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/act/1996/46/part1/sec4d (Ahem!) Firearms Act 1996 No 46, Part 1, Section 4D, Paragraph 4 states (phew!): "an imitation firearm does not include any such object that is produced and identified as a children’s toy." So I imagine that would be the way to get them in. Just say they're for the kids ;-)