2007-10-05, 11:45
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?
PS! I have started a separate feature suggestion forum discussion thread for Game FanArt/Backdrops, see:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=43766
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?
PS! I have started a separate feature suggestion forum discussion thread for Game FanArt/Backdrops, see:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=43766