TheGamesDB.net - Open Video Game Database (wiki-based, register and contribute)

wimpy · 2010-07-01 22:29

For me, that seems like a good link between the 4 big ratings systems.

jas8340 · 2010-07-03 15:44

Updates:

Website

Added functionality to associate a rating with a game. The ratings drop down is driven by the selected region on the Game Edit/Add page.
Rearranged the View pages for Games, Companies, and Platforms to accommodate a ratings image.
Added a "Developer" field to the Game pages that pulls from the Companies table.
Added a "Media Type" field to the Platform pages.

API

Added Rating Search request.
Added Rating Detail request.
Modified Game Detail request to include a Developer element.
Modified Game Detail request to include a Rating element.
Modified Game Search request to no longer contain a Genre or Publisher element.
Modified Platform Detail request to include a MediaType element.

I still need to add API Methods to retrieve Rating Boards and the Master Ratings.

jas8340 · 2010-07-17 02:33

I'm going to be fairly busy with work and school for the next two or so weeks. I'll have some more developments on the site then. In the meantime, are there any other suggestions or comments?

jas8340 · 2010-08-27 14:33

Alright, I'm back. I apologize that took way long than I expected. I'm planning on resuming development today and hopefully start importing data soon.

jas8340 · 2010-08-29 03:54

Alright, I just imported all 32x games based on the export text file from http://www.ressurectionxtras.net. The process was a little ugly but it worked. I'll going to work on tweaking the process and then I'll try with another system.

bionic1234 · 2010-08-29 12:55

jas8340 Wrote:...I would like to clarify that the design of the site is not set in stone. The data entered in the site has been mainly test data. I could really use some help in determining that level of game information to provide. This include description fields, screen shots, trailers, etc...

Wondering if a spot for trailers will be added?

Another field that I'd like to request is a Players field for each game. For example;
1 player
2 player
2 player - cooperative
Multi-player (ie; more than 2)
Multi-player - cooperative

malte · 2010-08-29 19:37

Nice to see that this project is not dead.

It was a pain to read this xtras format but finally I got it working. If you are familiar with python you could have a look at the importer of my Rom Browser script (http://code.google.com/p/romcollectionbr...ources/lib). You will need descriptionparser.py, pyparsing.py and a working parserConfig.xml. An example how to invoke the parser can be found in temptests.py (actually commented out). After invoking the parser you will get a dictionary with all game related properties and just have to write your own code to get the data into your DB. If you are interested I could separate it as a little project for you.

I already have some exports that are known to be working with my parser. You can get them here: http://romcollectionbrowser.googlecode.c...medesc.zip (parserConfig.xml is included).

And one feature request:
Will you add the crc value as key to your API?

Regards,
malte

jas8340 · 2010-08-30 14:31

Sweet! I'll have to take a look at your python scripts. What are the crc values used for? I noticed that some games have more than one crc values.

Edit:
Also, what about these values for the players field:

One Player
Two Player Alternating
Two Player VS
Two Player Co-op
Two Player VS and Co-op
Multiplayer VS
Multiplayer Co-op
Multiplayer VS and Co-op
Multiplayer Only

All of the Two and Multiplayer modes (with the exception of Multiplayer Only) assume the game has a a one player mode as well. I can add some instructional text to the site that explains that and cite examples of each.

malte · 2010-08-30 17:18

Crc values are the checksums of the rom files. So all people will have the same crc value for the same file no matter if they rename the file or what system they are on. There are different crc values for one game because there exist different versions of the same game. Sometimes it is more reliable to use crc values because you don't have to take care of file naming and you can use game titles that are not allowed as filenames (length restriction on xbox or unallowed characters on all systems). If you search for one game and even if you find it at hundred different places you will only have a hand full of different crc values but a lot more different file names.

Thats why it would be handy to use it as an alternative key in your API.

malte · 2010-08-30 17:27

Regarding the code only this should be interesting for you (the commented part in temptests.py):

Code:

print "start parsing"

BASE_RESOURCE_PATH = os.path.join( os.getcwd())

sys.path.append( os.path.join( BASE_RESOURCE_PATH, "pyparsing" ) )

from descriptionparser import *

descParser = DescriptionParser()

descFile = "F:\\Emulatoren\\data\\Synopsis\\SNES.txt"

parseInstruction = "F:\\Emulatoren\\data\\Synopsis\\parserConfig.xml"

results = descParser.parseDescription(descFile, parseInstruction, '')

for result in results:

        print result.asDict()

print len(results)

You just need to download descriptionparser.py and pyparsing.py and should be able to run the above code. I think you can also do something like "result.asXml()" if you like this more. But I have to check the pyparsing API for this.

wimpy Fan Posts: 318 Joined: Nov 2009 Reputation: 2 Location: Porsgrunn, Norway	2010-07-01 22:29 Post: #31 For me, that seems like a good link between the 4 big ratings systems. www.emuxtras.net \| EFnet #EmuXtras
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jas8340 TheVideoGameDatabase.com Admin Posts: 37 Joined: Aug 2008 Reputation: 0 Location: Tallahassee, FL	2010-07-17 02:33 Post: #33 I'm going to be fairly busy with work and school for the next two or so weeks. I'll have some more developments on the site then. In the meantime, are there any other suggestions or comments? http://thevideogamedb.com - Site Creator and Admin
	find quote

jas8340 TheVideoGameDatabase.com Admin Posts: 37 Joined: Aug 2008 Reputation: 0 Location: Tallahassee, FL	2010-08-27 14:33 Post: #34 Alright, I'm back. I apologize that took way long than I expected. I'm planning on resuming development today and hopefully start importing data soon. http://thevideogamedb.com - Site Creator and Admin
	find quote

jas8340 TheVideoGameDatabase.com Admin Posts: 37 Joined: Aug 2008 Reputation: 0 Location: Tallahassee, FL	2010-08-29 03:54 Post: #35 Alright, I just imported all 32x games based on the export text file from http://www.ressurectionxtras.net. The process was a little ugly but it worked. I'll going to work on tweaking the process and then I'll try with another system. http://thevideogamedb.com - Site Creator and Admin
	find quote