Games library (with database), and extend scraper interpeter/engine to include games?
#1
Lightbulb 
I though that since I also request that the scraper parser interpeter/engine be extended to include music and weather then I might as well be bold enough to request that it also be extended to include games.

Using several different websites the the source for the first metadata scraper(s) XML for the games, like; thevideogamedb.com, EmuXtras (emuxtras.net), allgame.com (All Game Guide) and/or gamefaqs.com (GameFAQs) and/or giantbomb.com (Giant Bomb), MobyGames (mobygames.com), nesguide.com, and SNESguide

Also video game trailers could be scraped from gametrailers.com, and/or eurogamer.net (EuroGamer), Dtrailer.com, and/or GameSpot.com as a bonus, (similar to how XBMC already scrape movie trailers via the AMT plugin), and additional bonuses would be game rankings from gamerankings.com, and game reviews, ratings, and comments from metacritic.com and gamespot.com or similar sites.

Add to that a dedicated "Games" section to XBMC GUI (which includes emulator ROM listings) with a library mode (tied to a SQL database) for filtering and searching.

allgame is a new website from AMG (All Media Guide), the company that also makes allmusic and allmovie. The allgame website and database is still in the BETA phase but looks to be very mature.

An alternative site to scrape for game meta data is gamefaqs.com which like allgame also support many game-console platforms as well as PC games.

The Xbox games list can be found here on allgame.com:
http://www.allgame.com/cg/agg.dll?p=agg&sql=5:26052~T1
and here on gamefaqs.com:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/xbox/

Example (Halo 2 for the Xbox) on allgame.com:
http://www.allgame.com/cg/agg.dll?p=agg&sql=1:41176
and here on gamefaqs.com:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/xbox/home/562116.html

Additional information available for that entry:
http://www.allgame.com/cg/agg.dll?p=agg&sql=1:41176~T5
http://www.allgame.com/cg/agg.dll?p=agg&sql=1:41176~T2
http://www.allgame.com/cg/agg.dll?p=agg&sql=1:41176~T3

Metadata information provided are:
Title
Synopsis (plot)
Cover Poster
Screenshots (thumbnails and large pictures)
Platform
AMG Rating
ESRB Rating
Genre
Styles
Developer
Publisher
Release Date
AMG Game ID (only for internal database use)
Similar Games (not sure if this would be of any interest to XBMC)

Lists and (SQL) search are also available for practically all other game platforms released in the last 20-years.

Also game-trailers (URL's to streaming video) which can be gotten from one or several third-party websites.


What do you think? Good idea? Any comments on suggestions about this 'games library' concept? Huh


PS! I have started a separate feature suggestion forum discussion thread for Game FanArt/Backdrops, see:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=43766
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#2
i can say that i have no interest for games at all. i would ofc be willing to lend a hand to whomever else might like to take on this endevour (regarding the scrapers..)
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#3
The creators of allmusic.com now have a movie and videogame database sites as well the game site is in beta, is it possible to have a videogame database in xbmc with the media info view (since there is a description for each game at the site) for those who have a lot of games.

Here is an example
http://www.allgame.com/cg/agg.dll?p=agg&sql=1:50443

Info they have for the games:
Title
Platform
AMG Rating
ESRB Rating
Genre
Styles
Developer
Publisher
Date
etc...
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#4
Its a good idea but I think you will find from the dev point of view there will be little interest since most of the actual coders don't really play games much / at all anymore
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#5
ive already done the scrapers for allmusic/allmovie/allgame feel free to patch the code to allow for music/games scraper xmls
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#6
This site opens up a lot of really kickass possiblities. I'm at work right now and the corporate proxy blocks my access to that site Sad Anyways, this would actually be pretty easy from a dev point of view, because the code is like 90% done already. The first step would be to get the scapers in place and add the additional stuff in the Programs database. Once thats done then the skin engine would need to be updated to make the additional info available for display. Somehow using this stuff with emulators / ROMs would be amazing.
Catchy Signature Here
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#7
Nuts... would be a sweet idea. A Media center that has detailed information (or the ability to aquire it) for ALL the media it makes use of....
Image
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#8
I like the idea too.

Also like the idea of having individual files for scrapers.. sort of like plugins so that they could be maintainned, hosted and shared easily.
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#9
has there been any more progress on this feature? as i understand mediaportal allready is able to scrape allgame - i think the feature would be really great, even if it is technically limited to the xbox games on hd (emulator support would be wicked though)

there is a wealth of info on the page such as reviews or control info
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#10
Sad 
No programmer has volunteered, so no. I put it up as a Google Summer of Code project suggestion though.
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#11
Question 
C-Quel Wrote:ive already done the scrapers for allmusic/allmovie/allgame feel free to patch the code to allow for music/games scraper xmls
@C-Quel, can you maybe upload your AllGame scraper to our SourceForge tracker just in case it would help spark interest in someone else who might be willing to extend XBMC extend the scraper interpeter/engine to support this? Pretty please with sugar on top...

Rolleyes
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Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.
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#12
if i still have it yes mate ill have a poke around shortly
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#13
Lightbulb 
I know there is already a plugin to lunch games and emulators just wounding why we cant have a games section since we already have movies,pictures and music the only thing left in the htpc would be a games section.

These are just suggestions

My idea is something like this

-able to lunch emulators and pc games
-have a library mode from where it can list things like platform/console,number of players,genre etc

those are the basic futures then we could add much more to make awsomeCool

-able to setup emulators within xbmc globally and per game basis.example some emulators need a option on for some games to work.So you dont have to have a mouse and keyboard to change things Smile

-able to setup your controls globally per console and per game

-scrap info,screenshot,cover art,fan art,cheat codes,guides a site might not exist for this but i am sure we could figure out something.

-how about xbmc can detect a psx and other disc based games when you insert it into your cd/dvd drive and load up the correct emulator.

one thing that would be awesome but i think it might be just to hard an ability to have a menu pop up in game from where u can edit settings,save/load states,change controlls,see cheat codes and exit back to xbmc. even in game guide so if you get stuck you can read what to do while ingame Smile example of ingame menusConfusedteam and xfire so its possible but i don't know how hard it would be to make something like that.

i found a plug in for a different media player app that has some of these futures its called mygames here is some screen shots of how it looks just for examples.

Image

In game menu
Image

i dot like the way it looks but i bet the skinners here could come up with something amazing.

this screenshot looks better
Image


i don't write good so i hope you understand what i am trying to say

thanks
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#14
I like this idea
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#15
Lots of cool ideas, but I think you are asking for too much. A My Games library (separate from 'My Programs') would be nice, but it doesn't need a ton of features.
All you need is to scrape info about the game, a thumb for the cover, fanart if available, maybe a screenshot if available, and the ability to launch games directly for emulators that support it.

That's the maximum I think anyone could expect...

A quick google search revealed no good source to scrape this information from, so really this wouldn't be so great anyways.

Me thinks the launcher plugin will work for now, once team xbmc gets the programs section back working we can worry about a separate games section.
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Games library (with database), and extend scraper interpeter/engine to include games?1