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(#564): Introduction and Categories

(#623): Game Genres

(#125): Release Dates

(#498): Updating

(#521): Ending and Sources

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The game database is a wondrous tool. At the time of writing, there are nearly 7,500 games in the database across 25 different platforms, ranging from the SNES to the Playstation to the Gamegear to the PCFX.

However, with great power comes great responsibility. Many of the games in the database are missing box arts, developer names, release dates, and much more. It’s up to each and every member on Vgchartz to update games and help the site grow.

And that’s why I’m making this guide.

Many people add their favorite games but forget to add these details. Every new game without information is just more work to be done in the database. The members of Vgchartz must reverse this process.

Introduction and Categories:

(#564)

The best way to learn is through examples. So, I’ve found an example of a game that can best demonstrate my guide.

My selected game is Yu-Gi-Oh: Forbidden Memories, for the Playstation.

Yu-Gi-Oh: Forbidden Memories’ game page can be found here:

http://vgchartz.com/games/game.php?id=6547

Now, next to Summary, in the middle of the page, is large blue lettering the words “edit info”. Clicking this leads to the Game Info page. Now, I won’t be updating the game, as it would be confusing in the example. So, I’ll just leave it be and show you what you should update.

The game is missing 10 categories. These categories are:

Japanese Name (if different to American): This is simple. This is the Japanese name of the game still spelled with the English alphabet.

Japanese Name (Japanese Characters): This is the game’s Japanese name translated into Japanese characters. This would likely require a language translator for anyone outside of Japan.

American Publisher: The company that published this game for release in the American market.

Japanese Publisher: The company that published this game for release in the Japanese market.

European Publisher: The company that published this game for release in the European market.

Developer: Obviously, the company that developed the game. This would be obvious for some games and not so obvious for others. Don’t rely on prior knowledge; you might mistake the publisher for the developer! Look it up on a reliable source first, such as Gamespot, IGN, Gamefaqs, or another popular videogames site.

Game Genres:

(#623)

Action: This is probably the most common genre of games, it’s very non-descript.

Adventure: Games that take you to different locations in a spanning journey. A good example of this sort of game would be the Zelda series.

Fighter: Fighting games can vary greatly, but they mostly consist of two players in a closed battle, pulling off combos in order to knock their opponents out. The most notable series in the genre are Street Fighter, Tekken, Soul Calibur, and Virtua Fighter.

FPS: This would be any shooter game played from a first person view. Notable series in this genre are the Halo series, the Half Life series, and the Tom Clancy series.

Platform: There is no one definition for this genre, unless you count Mario as a definition.

Puzzle: Games that feature puzzles and challenges that make you think. Tetris would be the perfect example of this genre.

Racer: Usually featuring cars, but also including motorcycles, boats, and big rigs, these games put you in the position of the driver and have you compete against other drives in a race to the finish line. Notable series include F Zero, Forza, Gran Turismo, Need for Speed, and Mario Kart.

RPG: Put quite simply, RPGs are games wherein you try to improve your character through adventuring and/or fighting monsters.

Shooter: Any type of shooter that’s not first person. Most often these are third person shooters, but could be other types of shooters, such as Rail Shooters.

Sim: Sim is for Simulation. The most notable example of this genre is The Sims.

Sports: Any type of game that’s based off of real sports such as Football/Soccer, Baseball, Tennis, or Basketball. Madden is the most well known series in this genre.

Strategy: Games which require deep strategy and thought. In Strategy games, you’ll often have many different units, each being able to fight or gather resources, but none having much real significance. Good examples of this genre would be Advance Wars and Age of Empires.

Release Dates:

(#125)

Now, for release dates.

The Game Info will ask you for when the game was released in America, Japan, or Europe.

The left column will ask you for the year the game was released.

The middle column will ask you for what month in the year the game was released.

The right column will ask for what day in that month the game was released.

Example of this: 1995/7/24

Each date will have to be specified for each region. If you don’t the release date for a specific region, click on the “Unknown” box next to the release dates, otherwise the release dates will show as 1/1/1986 on the Game Page.

Updating:

(#498)

So, now, I’ll update each field with information from trusty Gamefaqs.

Japanese Name (if different to American): Yu-Gi-Oh! Shin Duel Monsters

Japanese Name (Japanese Characters): 遊戯王！シンデュエルモンスターズ

(Note: I used Google Translator. If anyone has a better translation, PM me)

American Publisher: Konami

Japanese Publisher: Konami

European Publisher: Konami

Developer: KCEJ

Genre: Other

American Release Date: 2002/3/20

Japanese Release Date: 1999/12/09

European Release Date: 2002/12/22

Game Summary:

-Credits to Wikipedia-

Game Summary: Yu-Gi-Oh Forbidden Memories, known in Japan as Yu-Gi-Oh! Shin Duel Monsters (遊戯王真デュエルモンスターズ封印されし記憶) is a video game based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga and anime series.

Ending and Sources:

(#521)

Hopefully, you’ve learned at least a little something about updating games. I’ve tried to make this guide as simple as possible so everyone can understand it.

Now, update some games dernit!

Good sources:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/

http://www.ign.com/

http://www.gamespy.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://www.gamerankings.com/

...

...

...

Now that the sticky is finished, people can post.

You've updated a lot too, but I can't mention every single person!

Now the ugliness is done. The banned are unbanned, the whiners are not whining anymore, and I can edit whatever dumb stuff I can wrote when I was drunk.

Isn't life grand?

?????

It's not all that complicated.

It's a sticky. On how to update games.

Speaking of updating, the original post needs a bit of work.

I single handedly made the greatest contribution of all time to the games database.

http://vgchartz.com/games/game.php?id=7186

“Thou shalt not insulteth the Rigeth.”

~ Oscar Wilde on Rigism


Good pointers though Montana.

Thank you.

I mean you try asking a simple order, you know, when you're a mod and all, after your best friend just came over to your house for no reason and started smoking Pot which was really annoying because it smelled bad and then having twesterm sass you about random stuff and not knowing what's going on.