Talk:The Cutting Room Floor/Archive 1
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I'm not sure how many of you keep up with Jul (and you really should), but I recently made "officially public" the stats for TCRF. Fun things to do: Set the date group to weekly and see the growth. -- Xkeeper (talk) 15:03, 1 August 2010 (EDT)
Contents
- 1 Featured articles?
- 2 Editing together
- 3 OggHandler audio player issues
- 4 ROM policy
- 5 random thing
- 6 400 articles
- 7 Broken links on the main page.
- 8 redesign, again
- 9 Project Wonderful ads
- 10 Illegal to add here
- 11 Peripherals
- 12 Legend of Mana
- 13 Other wikis?
- 14 Early instead of Beta
- 15 Series templates
- 16 Pages on Bootleg Games?
- 17 Open Source Games?
- 18 Region/incompatibility/anti-piracy error screens
- 19 Codes (e.g. Action Replay)
- 20 What should I do?
- 21 Japanese release dates
- 22 Patches aren't working
- 23 Unlicensed games
- 24 Mojibake
- 25 Template:DidYouKnow
- 26 Turn all the red blue
- 27 Did You Know?
- 28 About X32/Sega-CD/64DD/BS-X/Turbo-CD/Wiiware/Jaguar-CD and the like
- 29 Acording to Wikipedia, We half-exist!
- 30 Nintendo E-Reader Category?
- 31 Did You Know Facts
Featured articles?
Has anybody put any thought into the Featured Articles idea? Having some "near finished" (or rather "full of content") pages as Featured would probably be a good idea, and also serve as a guideline for future pages. -- Xkeeper (talk) 06:18, 31 July 2010 (EDT)
- That'd be a good idea, yeah. What articles were you thinking about featuring? --GoldS 06:22, 31 July 2010 (EDT)
- For one, I think you and YK both deserve a trophy for that Link's Awakening page. From shit to hit in, what, a week?
- That was one of them. Super Mario World is another one. Pokemon Gold and Silver and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time are also high-quality pages. -- Xkeeper (talk) 06:28, 31 July 2010 (EDT)
- Really, I like the idea of "Featured" articles. It'd allow us to showcase the best pages on the wiki, while also helping to cement a standard for future articles; "This is how you do a page". As for some of my picks... King Arthur & the Knights of Justice, Lufia 2, Donkey Kong Country, and Super Mario RPG all seem to be well-written and organized pages with enough content to be worthy of "Featured" status. -YK 14:22, 31 July 2010 (EDT)
- Featured Articles sounds like a great idea. I'd also recommend a style guide, to establish some of the "invisible" rules- for example, the use of full titles; Metroid Prime 2: Echoes as opposed to Metroid Prime 2.--Afti 13:20, 1 August 2010 (EDT)
- I agree with that standard. The shorter/alternate names can be -- and *are* -- used as redirects, after all. -YK 15:25, 1 August 2010 (EDT)
Editing together
On a related note, it might also be a good idea to start "coordinated updating". I really like how the work on Link's Awakening went and think it could be put to use for some other pages that are... lacking.
In fact, it might be best to get these "skeletons" of pages at least to the point where methods of accessing whatever it is are known, so that we can come back to it later and not forget. There's a lot of "There are hidden graphics/levels/music" with no information on where these actually are, so doing any research on them is... hard. -- Xkeeper (talk) 06:28, 31 July 2010 (EDT)
OggHandler audio player issues
Remember when it didn't show up? That was OggHandler's fault. I've such added a Dirty Hack that replaces the video tag with the proper audio tag if the height is zero (which it is for audio). I just tested and player tools show up now, so it should be working for everyone using a modern browser. -- Xkeeper (talk) 20:54, 4 August 2010 (EDT)
ROM policy
What would be a good policy for ROMs? Normally I'd go down the "no ROMs period" route, but I'm thinking of going for "no commercially released ROMs"; so stuff like prototypes or unreleased games would be fair game.
Thoughts? -- Xkeeper (talk) 18:07, 13 August 2010 (EDT)
- I'm pretty sure we could host unreleased games, but prototypes ? Some prototypes are *very* close their final version (various Sonic ones, for example). I'm not sure if we can have that. Then again, I know nothing about this legal stuff, so. -- Sanky ~ talk 06:01, 14 August 2010 (EDT)
- All ROMs would be the same, from a legal standpoint, <pirateparty>(which should be "freely redistributable")</pirateparty> but we're approaching this from a "not getting sued and shut down" standpoint. I'd say prototypes should be decided case-by-case; Sega doesn't much care about them, so we could host those, but notoriously sue-happy companies we'd have to avoid.--Afti 13:59, 27 September 2010 (EDT)
- I haven't seen any protos getting taken down; to my knowledge neither drx of Hidden Palace fame, nor Evan of SNES Central has ever gotten one and they host a whole bunch of them. -- Xkeeper (talk) 14:00, 27 September 2010 (EDT)
- I'm talking about things like the leaked HL2 proto, which AFAIK Valve still gets pissy about.--Afti 14:05, 27 September 2010 (EDT)
- Something big like that is definitely better-left to other sites, but that's not to say we can't helpfully guide users to it with good ol' external links. -- Xkeeper (talk) 14:08, 27 September 2010 (EDT)
- ...Somehow I think that external links wouldn't be much better if we linked to something that was pissing the rights holder off. Again- case-by-case basis, "it's probably fine but ask an admin first" type policy.--Afti 14:10, 27 September 2010 (EDT)
- Something big like that is definitely better-left to other sites, but that's not to say we can't helpfully guide users to it with good ol' external links. -- Xkeeper (talk) 14:08, 27 September 2010 (EDT)
- I'm talking about things like the leaked HL2 proto, which AFAIK Valve still gets pissy about.--Afti 14:05, 27 September 2010 (EDT)
- I haven't seen any protos getting taken down; to my knowledge neither drx of Hidden Palace fame, nor Evan of SNES Central has ever gotten one and they host a whole bunch of them. -- Xkeeper (talk) 14:00, 27 September 2010 (EDT)
- All ROMs would be the same, from a legal standpoint, <pirateparty>(which should be "freely redistributable")</pirateparty> but we're approaching this from a "not getting sued and shut down" standpoint. I'd say prototypes should be decided case-by-case; Sega doesn't much care about them, so we could host those, but notoriously sue-happy companies we'd have to avoid.--Afti 13:59, 27 September 2010 (EDT)
random thing
Whoever made that needs to left-align the images. As it is they're kind of broken -- Xkeeper (talk) 05:20, 8 September 2010 (EDT)
400 articles
Just one more 100 to go... -- Xkeeper (talk) 23:24, 12 September 2010 (EDT)
Broken links on the main page.
Heh... Am I the only one who finds a bit of humorous irony in the fact that there are a whole mess of red links on the main page, right above a quip about "making all the red blue"? Especially considering we have categories for basically all the stuff listed there... someone should fix that, I'd think... -YK 02:48, 16 September 2010 (EDT)
redesign, again
SO while the current setup is pretty great and all I was having thoughts. Featured article on the left, then "Recent discoveries"/additions on the right. Quick way to jump to what's new, easily. Really, the whole right side of the page needs help badly. -- Xkeeper (talk) 00:27, 13 October 2010 (EDT)
(Also, whatever happened to that style guide?)
- As I said, I could write up a style guide. You never responded. "Recent Discoveries" sounds good; perhaps a spotlight for pages with lots of content that need presentation work, too?--Afti 01:01, 13 October 2010 (EDT)
Project Wonderful ads
These Project Wonderful ads are getting more and more inappropriate. An example would be the Wayward Sons ads. Wayward Sons is an adult entertainment comic that is not for kids and teenagers like some of us are (I know about this so-called Wayward Sons becuase I Googled it). If we want this to be a nice wiki, then we need to get rid of inapropriate ads. Thank you for your time.--Holyromanemperortatan 07:21, 4 November 2010 (EDT)
Yeah, they're gone now. Thanks for that!--Holyromanemperortatan 07:35, 4 November 2010 (EDT)
- What's so bad about sci-fi? It's nothing you cannot see on prime TV nowadays... I thought you meant "adult entertainment" in the big-booty curved-chested kinda way... --Tauwasser 10:38, 4 November 2010 (EDT)
Well, I Googled it, and this is an example of what you can find the comic website: http://waywardsons.keenspot.com/d/20101002.html Go to "Personality Profile" and you can see how it is a mature comic. --Holyromanemperortatan 15:40, 4 November 2010 (EDT)
I re-evaluated it and the site behind it and, while the ad itself was a bit risque, the comic itself really isn't. So... I reverted the prohibition and you can decide to block that specific image if you want. Sorry. -- Xkeeper (talk) 02:44, 5 November 2010 (EDT)
- I read through the whole comic after my last comment. It's really nothing explicit. at all and I'm glad it got re-evaluated. --Tauwasser 06:57, 8 November 2010 (EST)
Illegal to add here
Apparently you don't want people to add content? so it doesn't matter if the game has lots of stuff in it, if someone here doesn't like that game much you can't have any articles? And then you block the page so I can't undo your vandalism, maybe you should just set it to select people editing the games they want in their own section so some of us newcomers can actually contribute Lair of Rockwhales 10:57, 22 June 2011 (EDT)
- You added a placeholder page and discussion on an article page. You can contribute, but contribute. --Afti 12:27, 22 June 2011 (EDT)
- To elaborate, we don't want an empty page with nothing on it. It clutters the system and causes problems. If you want to add something, by all means, do so, but add it once you have something to put on the page.
- If you need a place to assemble it first, or play around, preview or use the Sandbox. An infodump is OK too if you have a lot of notes (though those usually go on Notes:... pages). Just not a blank "Nothing here yet" page. -- Xkeeper (talk) 12:32, 22 June 2011 (EDT)
- ...oh. Whoops. sorry. I can add the page with data, right?
Also, what's the deal with uploading images for the article of the beta stuff, what are rules on that? --Lair of Rockwhales 12:52, 22 June 2011 (EDT)- Yes, it's fine to recreate the article if you have content for it. As for images, Help:Image guidelines. Feel free to ask if you have questions. -- Xkeeper (talk) 12:55, 22 June 2011 (EDT)
- ...oh. Whoops. sorry. I can add the page with data, right?
Peripherals
Wondering what the policy on peripherals is. Does it need to be software content or hardware? There's a mounting device within the Classic Controller Pro suggesting analog L/R buttons were planned; was wondering if that'd fall under our bailiwick. --Afti 00:00, 23 June 2011 (EDT)
- Eh, I would personally say "no" right now. Opening the door to things other than video game software seems like kind of a slippery slope... --BMF54123 00:04, 23 June 2011 (EDT)
Legend of Mana
http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps/256525-legend-of-mana/faqs/8196 Has an extensive Debug room. Don't have the ability at this time to rip it. Wasn't sure if I should create a topic without any photos, so I'll leave it here in discussion. Children of Mana has debug items: http://mycheats.1up.com/list/cheat/3144167/children_of_mana/nintendo_ds
- Pages for both of these games have been created. Of course, feel free to add more details or elaboration. --Aoi 20:28, 6 November 2011 (EST)
Other wikis?
Shouldn't there be a template for games with their own, more informational wikis? --Nerfman100 17:42, 22 August 2011 (EDT)
Early instead of Beta
Can we please have a discussion why this disgrace is needed? The Pokemon Gold and Silver page I in part wrote looks like a mad house now. It's early all over the place... WTF!? Earlier than what? Release? Development? Christmas?
It just basically pisses me off that somebody goes through all the articles equipped with Ctrl+H to change every occurrence of "beta" to "early" no matter how unfitting. Maybe we should have actual definitions of terms used on here?
For instance, take the "Early Tileset" (which sounds like ass... now). It's a fucking early tileset with fucking early block data and so on. That just sounds so stupid and unprofessional. Personally, I think of some retard bozo saying "early :$" in a retarded voice every time I read the article now.
However, the content's not just unused. The content does not fit in with the rest of the production build as was released anymore. So this means it is unused, but not only unused, but also not functional. However, there are clear indicators that it was functional at one point. And that point was likely between the public beta testing at Spaceworld '97 and the production build. How does it get any more, or less for that matter, beta than that?
Describing everything as a "prototype" and "early" just rubs me seriously the wrong way. Every little shit here is a "prototype". There's prototype graphics, prototype text... you name it, we probably have it. However, the choice of prototype is actually a very bad choice. In software development, a prototype is usually something that would have a tangible function, i.e. not a smiley face in a tileset, not an unused door handle. So can we please have some clarity here? And maybe not have Gestapo rummaging through our articles Ctrl+H'ing away?
Also of concern is the ability to find the content. How often have you googled "<game name> early [tileset|door handle|smiley face]" versus actually googling "<game name> beta content"? Just a thought. Because I bet right now, while the pages we create over here have lots of content, the first hits for a typical user search for "<game name> beta lololo NAO" land them on bulbapedia, pokewiki and youtube. Right now And with the Pokémon page, that's true. We don't even score top twenty. Heck, the Pokémon Alpha Graphics restoration path that uses content from our article actually scores in the top twenty right now! And there is content from 2007 in the top ten right now! I think we can do better than that. --Tauwasser 22:08, 2 September 2011 (EDT)
Response
Maybe we should have actual definitions of terms used on here?
Sure! Here, let me copy the ones from a site that you may be familiar with.
- pre-alpha version: A development status given to a program or application that is usually not feature complete, and is not usually released to the public. Developers are usually still deciding on what features the program should have at this status. This status comes before the alpha version, and is the first status given to a program.
- alpha version: A development status that usually means the first feature complete version of a program or application, that is most likely unstable, but is useful to show what the product will do to, usually, a selected group. Sometimes this stage is referred to as a preview version. Sometimes no more features are added after this release, but bug fixes continue. This release comes after a pre-alpha version and before a beta version.
- beta version: A development status given to a program or application that contains most of the major features, but is not yet complete. Sometimes these versions are released only to a select group of people, or to the general public. The testers are usually expected to report any bugs they encounter or any changes they'd like to see before the final release. This is the second major stage of development following the alpha version, and comes before the release candidate.
- release candidate: A version of a program that is nearly ready for release but may still have a few bugs; the status between beta version and release version.
Because without proper information we cannot classify data that we unearth on a specific timeline, we use "early" (originated earlier than the final release). As you see above, beta is actually the completely wrong term to use in most cases, because a lot of the information we uncover is decidedly not mostly complete, but is often half-finished or otherwise under heavy development. While admittedly beta is heavily in use all over the internet, I liken it to particular slurs; while those terms are commonly used, they are incorrect and should have the proper terms replaced instead.
In regards to searching: I don't particularly care. I would rather we focus on beingaccurate and correct than highly-ranking; while the latter is nice, sacrificing the former for it is not a wise decision.
blah blah blah bulbapedia
Here is the first editing date from Bulbapedia's Main Page:
- (cur | prev) 04:16, 21 December 2004 Zhen Lin (Talk | contribs)
TCRF is, in comparison, very new. Even for "Jul", it took two years to show up on the top of the list of Google's rankings, and that was with a direct term.
In short, your arguments are bupkis. No bonus. -- Xkeeper (talk) 02:02, 3 September 2011 (EDT)
- Glad you re-inserted the rant and replied, so people in the future might understand what leads us to use the terms "early" and "prototype". There's also the fact that some developers don't even use the common terminology, or the common "requirements". For instance, I personally consider alpha an unplayable concept and beta, playable but incomplete. And I don't quite understand how you see the constant use of "early" to be sloppy, Tauwasser. And "beta"/"alpha" isn't replaced with "early" automatically and without second thoughts. {EspyoT} 08:16, 3 September 2011 (EDT)
@Xkeeper:
- You skipped the part where threads on RHDN created mere months if not weeks ago show up perfectly on google. Maybe it's just your server configuration or robots preferences, but I doubt it hardly takes the time you make it out to be. Furthermore, a fucking thread about content on this site scores higher than the actual content. Doesn't that put you to shame at least a bit?
- The wikipedia article is mostly original research, contradicts stuff taught at universities and is generally in bad shape. But I guess you wouldn't give two fucks, just like you cannot deal with opinions contradicting your own.
- Also, just to clarify: Early designates content that "originated earlier than the final release"? By this logic all content in a production ROM is in fact early content. Way to go, seriously.
- The example I provided and which I am most concerned about, the Pokemon article, actually does describe data that is a) mostly complete, b) was created after a playable beta at Spaceworld '97 and c) was certainly used in the latter development stages.
- I was talking about having exact definitions on here locally. So if your holy-grail Wikipedia article changes, these definitions will still be steadfast. This is especially concerning naming rules that are applied massively without thinking as has been portrayed in the Pokemon article.
- Your slur example does not compute. Dictionaries actually get updated regularly as speech adapts. Furthermore, to the casual reader, the general meaning is simply lost when using "early".
- "It's early content."
- "So it's beta content?"
- "No, it's early content!"
- "???"
- Nobody knows what the fuck that means without knowing what you want it to mean. Especially considering how your own definition of it is flawed, this is a major deal-breaker in these realms.
- I don't give a fuck about your Jewish lessons.
@Espyo:
- Please check out number 3 above to know why I think classifying any- and everything as early is just a misnomer, adds a level of semi-professionalism that is just not needed and actually contradicts the mission of this page. If qualified people on here declare content to be beta -- and I see content included in or after a public beta to be beta content -- then I believe adding regression here will simply misinform the casual reader.
- Also, please do check out the Pokemon article. It reads just like a Ctrl+H on the entire article concerning the replacement of "beta" with "early".
--Tauwasser 18:47, 3 September 2011 (EDT)
Ugh, here we go again. I don't really want to acknowledge your continued rants, but...
- A site's Google ranking is usually spread over the site. It's how PageRank works. RHDN has a high rank. Look it up some time, be amazed.
- Which Wikipedia article? Those are from Wiktionary and I find those definitions to be fairly common. For example, when Gmail went into public beta, it was for the most part feature-complete. There have been enhancements over time, but it was a fully usable Mail client from day one. The same goes for alphas -- the recent closed alpha of Battlefield 3, for example, was missing several features (Conquest mode, for one) and still has many new ones coming down the pipes, and presumably had a pre-alpha internally when they were building the engine and getting the basics down. Even if it is "original research", it still fits the models. (And when you think about it, isn't everything original research?)
- You know what I meant. Things that were cut earlier than the release. You can mince words, but in the end only you is fighting the war.
- What comment? Nothing on the page mentions Spaceworld '97 at all, and even then, a lot of the information is pure speculation. I would not necessarily say that just because it was a playable game means it is a playable beta (I have not seen footage of it and cannot judge).
- The content updates for things not about games directly has been on the to-do list for some time. Maybe instead of bitching about it all the time, you should help craft them. Haha.
- And much like the word "beta", its usage is misapplied and often wrong. For example, the "Beta Quest" in Ocarina of Time has nothing to do with unused content per se, it just fucks up the exits and removes the HUD. But hey, at least it's not "early quest"! (In this case, it would be appropriate to use "Cutscene mode" or something, because that is what they are -- alternate cutscene setups.)
I think I answered all of your questions again, though you will never be satisfied with any response. But you are banned. Please stop evading your block; you are no longer welcome here because you cannot contribute without being an asshole. -- Xkeeper (talk) 19:26, 3 September 2011 (EDT)
- to Tauwasser:
- The only part of your argument that actually holds weight is the one where "early" is being used for everything. Right now, yes the logic is any content made before the final release is "early;" we understand your point that people think early means early in development instead. However, given the choice between early (misleading) and beta (incorrect), "early" would be the best option for now.
- The real problem with "early" is we don't know when things happened. This is not a problem TCRF can solve alone; it would need to be done in cooperation with websites that either collect prototype ROMs and organize them (something both drx and myself have considered) or focus on cataloging game history (something which is ridiculously fractured/incomplete at the moment).
- The stuff I've found in the few Genesis games I've looked at are all unused or hidden; I've used those words as well. There are more options.
- Also if we just say "beta" everywhere, we wind up overusing "beta", and now we're back to the problem of overusing "early"!
- The rest of your argument was an argument, which was the reason why you had a block (oh and yes it was a block. It was a week-long block; you may not have been permabanned as you are now had you waited it out). You basically insulted YelseyKing, Xkeeper, and Espyo with your argument. There's nothing I can do about it. They can all deal with your opinions and suggestions, but not with smack-talk.
- RHDN is a long-established website with a colorful history. TCRF is still a ridiculously new one. I don't know how server configuration would have anything to do with Google search results, but OK!
- Xkeeper did not leave you links to the words on Wiktionary and nothing else; instead he copied the definitions at the time he accessed them here. I guess that leads to the conclusion that those definitions are the local ones he wants to use? I guess it makes sense, considering he runs this site!
- I thought of more earlier but I forgot so - Andlabs 20:00, 3 September 2011 (EDT)
- Don't you mean betalier?! (okay sorry that was terrible)
- I am perfectly fine with early/prototype/pre-release and I'm not going to start using BETA BETA BUTTER to describe all unused content because a) it looks utterly ridiculous, thanks to the idiots behind the aforementioned "Beta Quest" and other blatantly unofficial titles, and b) I stopped taking most of Tauwasser's suggestions seriously a long time ago. --BMF54123 21:09, 3 September 2011 (EDT)
Series templates
All right... I think it's high time we came to a conclusion about how to handle series templates... Some people seem to want to turn them into a wall of red links, including every single game in the entire expanded universe... but personally, I find that this looks ugly. I'd rather include only games we have pages for at present. It's not hard to add new games to these templates, and the sea of red links some templates have become is just an eyesore. Thoughts? -YK 16:10, 4 September 2011 (EDT)
- Red links give the feeling that we need help, and that there are stuff to do for that game. We, as a community, must do it! However, red links on pages that don't have any confirmed (or even speculated) unused content are just dumb. This happens in series templates, so I suppose we should remove the red links on the templates, if the game(s) in question doesn't have any unused content.
- In other words, suppose there's a link for Super Game 4 in the navbox, but it's red. If we know SG4 has unused content, but nobody checked it yet, the link should remain. If not, it's not doing anything there. {EspyoT} 19:12, 4 September 2011 (EDT)
- I agree with both YK and Espyo. There shouldn't be seas of red links on templates, but a few red links there wouldn't be so bad. I think there should be an implied "limit" on the number of reddies (I can call them what I want) on the templates. It wouldn't have to be a real limit, just a number of reddies certain users agree on. I'm pretty sure it would work out. :/ --Nerfman100 19:27, 4 September 2011 (EDT)
- I haven't taken a look at the templates, but could all of the game names (for the games that currently don't have pages) just be added as plain text (no links)? That way, there aren't any red links, the game names are still there, and all one has to do is create a link around a name if something's discovered for that game. :) --Aoi 20:28, 6 November 2011 (EST)
- Even better: link everything, but specifically color the redlinks so they look the same as plain text. -- Rereggie 20:37, 6 November 2011 (EST)
Pages on Bootleg Games?
I'm curious, is it allowed to create pages on unused content in bootleg games such as Somari, Bible Adventures, or Tetris (Tengen,NES)? --AttackedbyGlitch
- As long as they were commercially released, I'd say yes. Note we do have Action 52, for example. -- Liliana 19:46, 4 September 2011 (EDT)
Thanks for the quick response! Also, shouldn't Action 52 be a disambiguation page for the NES and Sega Genesis versions? It is now a disambiguation page. --AttackedbyGlitch
- Same as with the series templates, we don't need disambig pages unless we actually have pages for both versions. I changed the Action 52 disambig back to a redirect for now. -YK 23:53, 4 September 2011 (EDT)
Open Source Games?
Is it okay to document unused content in open-source games like Pingus, SuperTux or Secret Maryo Chronicles on TCRF? --AttackedbyGlitch
- The way I see it, there's a pretty solid reason as to why that's a bad idea. Suppose I'm a developer and I still work on that game. I see people posting info about unused stuff in my game, and, in the next version, I can either:
- Remove those things.
- Add even more unused stuff.
- The first option is obvious; some developers might not care about unused content left behind, but at times, they may want to minimize the game's size. The second option can be a faint call of attention from a small developer. The developer may see this as a game of sorts: "I hide it, you guys search for it!". We are meant to search for seriously unused stuff, not play an easter egg hunt with a dev. Of course, at times the unused content will remain in the game for eons.
- I say add an article on it, if you feel that it can be genuinely good. If it's about a small game, it only has 1 or 2 tiny unused things, the developer is always updating it, and he could potentially play the aforementioned easter-egg-hunt game, you're better off not making a page to begin with. {EspyoT} 17:23, 30 October 2011 (EDT)
- I oppose, but not for the reason Espyo mentioned, since commercial games do that too. However, open source games are so fucking numerous, and anyone who knows at least a bit of a programming language can create one. We really shouldn't open the door to that. -- Rereggie 18:42, 30 October 2011 (EDT)
- Quality control would be my primary concern here. We don't want to end up bogging down the wiki with unused crap from a bunch of terrible Flash or CnC games. --BMF54123 18:48, 30 October 2011 (EDT)
- I think if the game is notable, such as Pingus or SuperTux, it could be documented here, but if it's something that is almost unknown to the gaming community then I probably wouldn't document it here. --AttackedbyGlitch
- We already have some non-professional games on the site, at least... and as for works in progress, we even have a template for that, as I recall. So I don't know, I mean, yeah, we don't want to flood the Category:PC games with "lol i mad this crap yesterday and never finished it", but I don't necessarily think a *blanket* ban is the best solution either... --Nicole 18:56, 30 October 2011 (EDT)
- Yeah, we have an article on a small indie game like Cave Story, and we have an article on a bigger indie game that is still in development, Minecraft, that uses the {{Game in development}} template. But I think that what I first wrote sums it all up pretty well: If the article looks like it could be good, add it. If not, don't. {EspyoT} 19:07, 30 October 2011 (EDT)
- Quality control would be my primary concern here. We don't want to end up bogging down the wiki with unused crap from a bunch of terrible Flash or CnC games. --BMF54123 18:48, 30 October 2011 (EDT)
- I oppose, but not for the reason Espyo mentioned, since commercial games do that too. However, open source games are so fucking numerous, and anyone who knows at least a bit of a programming language can create one. We really shouldn't open the door to that. -- Rereggie 18:42, 30 October 2011 (EDT)
Region/incompatibility/anti-piracy error screens
All right, I think we need to come to a consensus about what to do with these. There's been a lot of talk about these screens here and on IRC, regarding whether they're needed or not. My stance is a neutral one: They aren't actually unused, it's just unlikely anyone will see them. However, we do tend to include things that are used, but very obscure. I wouldn't mind keeping them here, but I wouldn't miss them if we removed them, either. Discuss! -YK 21:28, 7 January 2012 (EST)
- While we do cover "unused content", that is simply a broad term. As I said in other places, the ultimate goal is to have a collection of interesting content, in the "unused" area of games. Come to think of it, with the right tools, almost nothing is unused. For instance, there's an unused level. If you use Action Replay, bam, that level suddenly becomes "used". By this I mean that we cover stuff that is unused for most people. Anti-piracy screens follow this description. Only 1 in like 1 thousand people will actually be greeted with the anti-piracy screens, and they'll go unused for the other players. As for the region differences, same thing. Some people own the game for years, played it for months, and yet, never knew that, on the other side of the world, people with the same game have a completely different experience in some portions of the game! I'd say that's interesting enough to include. Of course, stuff like "The text is in Japanese in the Japanese version, but English in the English version." is just obvious, but we don't include that to begin with because we use common sense here. All in all, I say keep them. They're not the core of our wiki, but they're still good, and mostly interesting things to have around. {EspyoT} 08:13, 8 January 2012 (EST)
- Personally I don't see why the typical region errors/device errors/etc should be included in articles. While there is the occasional example of an actually interesting anti-piracy scheme (Earthbound, for instance, among others,) most of them are just that - routine, generic error messages. It essentially boils down to "user does something wrong, software displays appropriate message", which is about as unremarkable as it gets. Devin 18:17, 8 January 2012 (EST)
- (Unless, of course, they are actually unused, which could happen, but usually isn't the case) Devin 18:20, 8 January 2012 (EST)
- Yes, but... "System doesn't support X or Y" isn't interesting, but I don't think we have many of those. {EspyoT} 18:46, 8 January 2012 (EST)
- I feel like there should be some standard of interestingness- like, my understanding is that most SNES games generally don't check for regions (since there was a physical difference), so when it does that might be worth noting... or even if a message just happens to be particularly amusing. :P And anti-piracy stuff in general I think is worth noting under the obscurity clause if nothing else- how many people really have an early 90's ROM copier or something? --Nicole 18:50, 8 January 2012 (EST)
- Yes, but... "System doesn't support X or Y" isn't interesting, but I don't think we have many of those. {EspyoT} 18:46, 8 January 2012 (EST)
My opinion:
- Leave out the generic "this game is not designed for (console)" messages, unless they do something unique and interesting. Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse is a perfect example.
- Leave out the generic "this game is not compatible with (accessory)" messages.
- Leave in anti-piracy measures. These were almost always unique between individual games, were often complex, and occasionally revealed things about the programmers' personalities (see: NASIR and his inflated ego). Konami's NES-era anti-piracy measures are particularly fun to read about, since they often changed gameplay in not-so-subtle ways, instead of outright crashing/refusing to start.
We should probably tackle the issue of compiler/devkit strings and the like eventually as well... --BMF54123 16:29, 9 January 2012 (EST)
Codes (e.g. Action Replay)
I'm not sure where to put this but since it Codes are used in almost every article i put it here. I was wondering if i (and other people) should work on converting the codes to work on in other regions. From: SamuelEarl666
What should I do?
Ok, I want to make an article about the Winter Jampack 99 versions of Toy Story 2 and Spyro 2, since they have many differences from the final versions. Do I make articles about those two games or do I make an article about Winter Jampack? ~ ExtremeSpyro
- Well, unless both are the exact same thing, you should create a proto page for each of them, like [[Proto:Toy_Story_2]] and [[Proto:Spyro_2]]. Check out other proto pages (like Proto:Dynamite Headdy) for examples on what to do. {EspyoT} 06:35, 10 April 2012 (EDT)
Thanks! I'm gonna make this one count. {ExtremeSpyroT}
Japanese release dates
Back when I was still working in MobyGames, we used several sites to find out release dates for Japanese games. One of them was GAME Data Room - this particular site has a ridiculous amount of information for most of the platforms covered by this wiki. The info there is pretty accurate. Other sites such as VGRebirth (when it was still working) also used it as a reference, so other editors should probably keep it bookmarked. ;) // Foxhack 15:34, 7 May 2012 (EDT)
- Aww sweet! Thanks! I don't think it'll be particularly useful in the near future for me, but it will be useful, period. This reminds me that maybe we should change Bob, and make it so that if a release date isn't specified, the page is categorized into Category:Pages with missing Japanese release dates, or European release dates, or whichever. Of course, that wouldn't happen if the editor specified that the game wasn't released in country X or Y. Anyway, the point is that that way we could find the pages with missing dates and quickly fix them, specially with that site you gave us. {EspyoT} 07:36, 8 May 2012 (EDT)
Patches aren't working
So a person from a board that I got some info from told me that the patch downloads don't seem to work. And um, he's right. The 7z archive in the Patch files category works, but the IPS files don't. What's up? Is this a MIME type issue? // Foxhack 21:57, 22 May 2012 (EDT)
Unlicensed games
Should a category be created for these types of games? --From: divingkataetheweirdo 12:21, 15 July 2012 (EDT)
Mojibake
I'm trying to rip the leftover source code from several unlicensed NES games, but when I try viewing/copying it, it becomes mojibaked. How can I fix this? --AttackedbyGlitch 12:44, 17 July 2012 (EDT)
- You can try either MadEdit or Notepad++ 5.8.5 and newer, then test to see which encoding works (could be either Big5 or GB). One could also try changing the system locale, but this isn't recommended. --From: divingkataetheweirdo 12:54, 17 July 2012 (EDT)
Template:DidYouKnow
Template:DidYouKnow should have a space under it on the main page. --AttackedbyGlitch 11:17, 27 August 2012 (EDT)
Turn all the red blue
We have that text on the bottom that reminds us of that tip from Link's Awakening. Thing is, I thought the community decided long ago that persistent red links shouldn't exist here. So... (Oh, and if someone removes it, while you're there, re-add a link to the content to expand page, somewhere.) {EspyoT} 07:33, 2 September 2012 (EDT)
Did You Know?
What happened to the "Did You Know?" template? I become concerned when things disappear. --SpongeBat1 17:45, 3 September 2012 (EDT)
- Down and to the right. --Dragonsbrethren 18:25, 3 September 2012 (EDT)
You know there should be a link to all the pages used in the did you know section, much like the featured articles.--EveryBVideos 08:35, 7 September 2012 (EDT)
- The titles would look better italicized, too. {EspyoT} 07:25, 8 September 2012 (EDT)
- Done. -WarioBarker 23:02, 9 September 2012 (EDT)
About X32/Sega-CD/64DD/BS-X/Turbo-CD/Wiiware/Jaguar-CD and the like
Shouldn't the add-ons / DLC titles be put as subcategories under their respective mother consoles? I mean, most of them have very few titles actually released for the market (9 for the 64DD!), and even fewer with unused content, but they don't look in most of the cases different from regular titles for the mother console.
Making them sub-categories would make searching for the games a lot easier since they are in the same place. Just saying.Montas1992 06:46, 22 September 2012 (EDT)
Acording to Wikipedia, We half-exist!
Maybe some of us can briefly describe TCRF on Wikipedia? Since we are just a Red-Link on Wikipedia, maybe we can get more people of this, and more people to help us? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cutting_Room_Floor , 3rd Thing on bottom) Chaossy - The Computer Geek 13:38, 5 November 2012 (EST)
- Neat, but to be honest, what's said on the disambig page is roughly all there is to say about us. Unless we have the site's history and such. {EspyoT} 07:28, 6 November 2012 (EST)
- Yeah...Chaossy - The Computer Geek 07:51, 6 November 2012 (EST)
Nintendo E-Reader Category?
Shouldn't we add a category for GBA and GameCube games with used and/or hidden E-reader support? Since we have already a category for Super Game Boy games, we might add it as an additional system, much like with the multiplatform PC/Xbox360/PS3 games. And there are lots of them on the wiki:
- Pikmin 2
- Pokémon Coliseum
- All of the GBA Pokémon games
- Super Mario Advance 4
- Megaman Zero 3
- Megaman EXE
How about it? Montas1992 14:39, 14 November 2012 (EST)
Did You Know Facts
How do you add more facts to the did you know section? I imagine you make a page somewhere but I don't see where. I wouldn't mind making a few blurbs for some games with interesting facts. Kinda getting boring seeing the same ones all the time.--MathUser 14:41, 3 February 2013 (EST)
- There's a template used on the homepage called DidYouKnow, which contains all the facts used on the homepage. Just about anyone can add facts they feel are interesting. --From: divingkataetheweirdo 14:45, 3 February 2013 (EST)
On a related note how do we nominate pages to be featured? Because I think Mafia II is worthy of a spot. ~~ AK47Productions
- I'd say that with the wall of text people would probably not find it very interesting. Its definitely not as good as the other featured articles in my opinion. SamuelEarl666 03:30, 4 February 2013 (EST)
- There's a lot of content there, but honestly, the page isn't really up to the same standards as the rest of our featured articles. It's somewhat badly organized and has a number of grammatical issues and typos. Sorry. :\ --BMF54123 03:45, 4 February 2013 (EST)
May I please read the webpage? I really don't care for your pandering to the corporate hallmark entity. --PharosAM
- May I please put this in my signature on some forum somewhere. --Hiccup 09:23, 7 July 2013 (EDT)