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PC games database

By Enguzrad, in Gaming in general

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Enguzrad   

Enguzrad
Posted (edited)

So, does anyone know a good database for PC games?
I am talking about a site which has more than just DOS games or the new releases, ideally it should have also some more obscure titles of the Windows games era around the year 2000. And of course, a good enough search filters to be able to find something you don't remember the name of - stuff like selecting genre, theme, possible years of release... the more the better (explanations of used terms would be also nice).

 

My quick search of the internet found:

  • https://www.igdb.com/                                 has less known Windows games                        filters close to satisfactory
  • https://www.mobygames.com/                  has less known Windows games                        filters not good enough
  • http://www.vgchartz.com/                           has less known Windows games                        filters not good enough 
  • https://www.arcade-history.com/              has less known Windows games                        primitive searching
  • https://thegamesdb.net/                              mostly the better known Windows games      terrible searching
  • https://glitchwave.com/                                it has Windows games                                           filters not good enough
  • https://gamesdb.launchbox-app.com/     it has Windows games                                           terrible searching
  • https://thevideogamesdb.com/                 it has Windows games                                            terrible searching
  • https://spong.com/                                         it has Windows games                                            terrible searching
  • http://www.retrocollect.com/                    consoles only                                                             filters not good enough
  • https://vgdb.io/                                               consoles only                                                             filters not good enough
  • http://www.rfgeneration.com/                   consoles only                                                             filters not good enough
  • https://www.gametdb.com/                        some consoles only                                                 terrible searching

 

https://vgcollect.com/                                         not really a database but you can browse known games, looks like there is no search
https://gameopedia.com/                                   paid product, very little information on the website but 95k games sounds impressive

 

I didn't list sites which does not focus on databasing games themselves but keeps data from games (such as music) or focus on certain items appearing in games (such as cars). Though I will mention https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ which has good potential for listing obscure games but again, filters do not keep up.

 

Spoiler

Also out of topic, why is creating new topic worse than before? There was no option for displaying the result before submitting, so I assumed the space between columns will look exactly the same, but they didn't...
Adding a format option for tables would be nice.

 

Edited by Enguzrad
Fixing the formatting - wasted effort, looks different in different browsers. (see edit history)

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ekket   

ekket
Posted

(I've also quickly added a preview option to the editor, along with the table format. I don't think it works that well, but I'm not seeing an alternative for CKEditor 4.)

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BTGBullseye   

BTGBullseye
Posted

Wait, are you just looking for a database of game info, or somewhere that sells/hosts the games?

Don't insult me. I have trained professionals to do that.

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Enguzrad   

Enguzrad
Posted
3 hours ago, ekket said:

Actually, Ross does have plans for a PC game index site. He is still looking for volunteers regarding that, IIRC (contact him at [email protected]).

Given the quality of those I found, it might be worthwile to make another one.
Maybe I'll join up.

3 hours ago, ekket said:

(I've also quickly added a preview option to the editor, along with the table format. I don't think it works that well, but I'm not seeing an alternative for CKEditor 4.)

That was fast, thanks.

6 minutes ago, BTGBullseye said:

Wait, are you just looking for a database of game info, or somewhere that sells/hosts the games?

Only for info about the game. Just some basic data like what I listed in topic, some screenshots and maybe a music sample. The kind of stuff which helps you find a game you don't remember the name of. The ideal database here would be freely usable online, with extensive search options.
Pretty much like most of the sites I mentioned, just better.

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ekket   

ekket
Posted (edited)

Another thing: the PC game index site will most likely be on this very website, so you should let us know about the search functionality here.

Edited by ekket
Missed a word (see edit history)

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Enguzrad   

Enguzrad
Posted
1 hour ago, BTGBullseye said:

Sounds like you're looking for a Wiki on games...

Not really. Wiki would be a collection of various information about some subject. I'm looking just for a list of games with some identifiable information to filter them by.

2 hours ago, ekket said:

Another thing: the PC game index site will most likely be on this very website, so you should let us know about the search functionality here.

 

Ok. I can put together what I would expect from good database.

 

Every game entry should have these informations (as accurate as possible):

  • Title
  • Release date
  • Genres and subgenres (can be more than one, possibly hiearchical - primary genre and secondary genres)
  • Themes (fantasy, sci-fi...)
  • Platform (what it was released for)

 

Additionaly you could have other information such as:

  • Who released it, who made it
  • Where was it released
  • game modes (single player, multi player...)
  • perspective (3d person, topdown ...)
  • graphics (3d, 2d render, pixelart...)
  • keywords (zombies, tanks, whatever...)

 

Example:
Original War
released 15. June 2001, in Europe, USA, Japan ..., by Virgin Interactive (developed by Altar Interactive) on Win 95/98
primary genre: strategy (subgenre real-time strategy), secondary genres: RPG (though today most games have RPG elements..)
Themes: prehistoric, near future
singleplayer, multiplayer, with isometric view and 2d rendered graphics
keywords: time travel, americans, russians, arabs, apemen, aliens, customizable vehicles, undepletable resources...


Now what the search functionality should do:

  • Search should be able to filter based on any of the utilized information.
  • You should be able to search without specifying game title.
  • Search should be able to filter on any combination of criteria. Such as filter by release inbetween these two years, include only these genres, display all but these genres, include/exclude keywords, search for title in format "Dark*", pretty much anything you can think of, the more the merrier.
  • For each found entry give ability to display screenshot and/or box art, so you can just browse the results without clicking on them to see the images - for use case of "I played something as a kid, can't describe what but I'll know it when I see it."
  • Explain therminology you are using. Everyone sees something different under the term "RPG". You can't adapt to user's idea of it, so database should explain how it understands it.


I also hope for keeping up some level of quality. Even on igdb I saw mislabeled games. It will be also important to set up the genre system in such a way so that you can cover any combination of genres and that you can distinguish between them well. Given the RPG, the only definition which works for it would be "focus on character progression". I know that when you say RPG many people think of decisions and consequences and roleplaying, but you can have that in a pure shooter as well. Pure video game RPG is based around getting stronger (through leveling and equipment).

 

Anyway, that should cover most of it. Then its just about cataloging every game known to man :).

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Meelis13   

Meelis13
Posted

uh, sounds like you are looking for... wikipedia.

And yes, im serious. Granted, it focuses on bigger releases, but compared to most lists ive seen, its most comprehensive when it comes to having both old AND new games. Drawback is that tables between years dont have same info

Jack O'Neill: "You know Teal'c, if we dont find a way out of this soon, im gonna lose it. Lose it... it means go crazy. nuts. insane. bonzo. no longer in possession of ones faculties. 3 fries short of a happy meal. WACKO!!!!!!!!"

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Enguzrad   

Enguzrad
Posted
13 hours ago, Meelis13 said:

uh, sounds like you are looking for... wikipedia.

And yes, im serious. Granted, it focuses on bigger releases, but compared to most lists ive seen, its most comprehensive when it comes to having both old AND new games. Drawback is that tables between years dont have same info

Ok, I took a deeper look on that and while wikipedia does have substantial amount of video game pages, the search engine is not suited for what I would need.
It allows searching in categories and subcategories but the amount searched is limited, it is hard to search for more than one thing and get good results not to mention it searches the whole page, it doesn't categorize. So a sci-fi shooter might mention words "fantasy strategy" for some reason and it would end up in your result.
Also pages often lack screenshots which forces me to search for them separately.

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BTGBullseye   

BTGBullseye
Posted

Yeah, that's just because Wikipedia doesn't find that to be a noteworthy category system. It's not that it can't do it, just that it's not a popular method.

Don't insult me. I have trained professionals to do that.

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Laziness   

Laziness
Posted
On 11/25/2018 at 10:09 PM, Enguzrad said:

Not really. Wiki would be a collection of various information about some subject. I'm looking just for a list of games with some identifiable information to filter them by.

Ok. I can put together what I would expect from good database.

 

Every game entry should have these informations (as accurate as possible):

  • Title
  • Release date
  • Genres and subgenres (can be more than one, possibly hiearchical - primary genre and secondary genres)
  • Themes (fantasy, sci-fi...)
  • Platform (what it was released for)

 

Additionaly you could have other information such as:

  • Who released it, who made it
  • Where was it released
  • game modes (single player, multi player...)
  • perspective (3d person, topdown ...)
  • graphics (3d, 2d render, pixelart...)
  • keywords (zombies, tanks, whatever...)

 

Example:
Original War
released 15. June 2001, in Europe, USA, Japan ..., by Virgin Interactive (developed by Altar Interactive) on Win 95/98
primary genre: strategy (subgenre real-time strategy), secondary genres: RPG (though today most games have RPG elements..)
Themes: prehistoric, near future
singleplayer, multiplayer, with isometric view and 2d rendered graphics
keywords: time travel, americans, russians, arabs, apemen, aliens, customizable vehicles, undepletable resources...


Now what the search functionality should do:

  • Search should be able to filter based on any of the utilized information.
  • You should be able to search without specifying game title.
  • Search should be able to filter on any combination of criteria. Such as filter by release inbetween these two years, include only these genres, display all but these genres, include/exclude keywords, search for title in format "Dark*", pretty much anything you can think of, the more the merrier.
  • For each found entry give ability to display screenshot and/or box art, so you can just browse the results without clicking on them to see the images - for use case of "I played something as a kid, can't describe what but I'll know it when I see it."
  • Explain therminology you are using. Everyone sees something different under the term "RPG". You can't adapt to user's idea of it, so database should explain how it understands it.


I also hope for keeping up some level of quality. Even on igdb I saw mislabeled games. It will be also important to set up the genre system in such a way so that you can cover any combination of genres and that you can distinguish between them well. Given the RPG, the only definition which works for it would be "focus on character progression". I know that when you say RPG many people think of decisions and consequences and roleplaying, but you can have that in a pure shooter as well. Pure video game RPG is based around getting stronger (through leveling and equipment).

 

Anyway, that should cover most of it. Then its just about cataloging every game known to man :).

Universal Videogames List may be what you're looking for. https://www.uvlist.net/

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