GameDB News Roundup 02/2015

Let's take another look at new developments within the video game database landscape.

The biggest news this cycle made IGDB, who launched the first version of their API. An API offers standardized access for fetching all kinds of data from a database, so they can be used elsewhere, and is therefore an important thing to have. This first IGDB API offers access to game data, companies, people, franchises, and platforms, which seems quite comprehensive so far. There's also the possibility for game shops to integrate their game products to the price comparison feature of IGDB.

In other news, the IGDB became a bit more social with the addition of a basic "friends" feature, and a revamped "Karma Hunter" page, which is the one-stop shop for people looking for things to contribute.

MobyGames is feeding its Twitter account with a "Cover Of The Day" for quite some time now. If you own such an account, it's a good follow with many good memories or new-found gems.

Since the last Roundup, some new platforms found their way into the MobyGames database. They're finally documenting interactive DVDs now, the Timex Sinclair 2068, and some of the virtual machines for Interactive Fiction like Infocom's Z-Machine, although the discussion for the latter seems to suggest that these might be changed to game groups or a general VM platform in the future.

Furthermore, some interesting discussions took place there: one is about the corner case of documenting game creation kits and the example games that come with them, another one called "MobyPain" is about the current state of the MobyGames contribution process. And a rather new discussion seeks to identify the biggest holes (besides the inevitable ones like Browser games, or Steam releases) within the MG database.

Last, but not least, the Moby people lifted an ancient rule of the site and now allow complete sets of media scans also for game releases, where the media only differ by a number (say "1 of N" or similar).

On August, 1st, VideoGameGeek celebrated their fifth birthday by doing a myriad of community events. Nice to see such a lively community!

The Video Game Museum posted a slew of updates with new game endings for many platforms, amongst them PlayStation, SuperNES, Gamecube, Wii, Turbografx-16, and Neo Geo CD.

The OGDB updated its search engine with a quick barcode search, where entering a EAN / JAN / UPC finds the respective release. This is a useful feature for a quick check whether a release is already in the database or not.

And last, but in no way least, Giant Bomb celebrated their seventh birthday, which is also a nice anniversary!

Database projects we are monitoring  (constantly adding):
Archive.vg
C64 Games
Games Database
Gaming-History
Giant Bomb
Great Game Database (GGDB)
Hall of Light
Internet Game Database (IGDB)
Killer List of Videogames (KLOV)
Lemon64
LemonAmiga
MobyGames
Online Games Datenbank (OGDB)
RetroCollect
TheLegacy
Universal Videogame List (UVL)
VideoGameGeek
Video Game Museum