So, all of the platform information you’ve requested for each game is in fact there. For the PS3 games the platform is Play Station Network (PS3). This is the correct platform for those games as they are all only available as PSN downloads and not as physical releases. This is how they are distinguished in the database.
As for the 3DS games the same applies. They are listed as 3DSWare because they are digital downloads and not physical games.
Star Fox 64 for 3DS is on Grouvee here:
The GBA versions of the Super Mario games are actually distinctly different from the NES versions, and they were not simply ported but subtlety changed with additional elements added. They are all listed as follows:
Similarly the GBA A Link to the Past is more than a simple port and the database entry can be found here:
I understand all of this and I’ll just wait for Giant Bomb to make the changes. They’ve ditched digital platforms for the current gen. of consoles and are planning to get rid of them in older gens as well, but according to the forums, are waiting for a huge overhaul to the entire wiki before changes are made. This explains the inconsistency in listings on the site.
As for the others mentioned, they do seem to be randomly adding re-releases to a game’s main page, although I don’t know if they’ve settled on what the rules are. It appears that an HD overhaul and minor gameplay and feature additions aren’t always factoring in.
It’s fine, the more I investigated, the more I realized it’s probably best for Giant Bomb to figure this stuff out. I just hope it leads to further streamlining, rather than everything being chopped up into different listings.
Yeah, it’s pretty confusing at this point. I’ve thought about merging all of the digital platforms into the physical versions on our side too. I think it makes more sense in the end.
The re-release stuff is a nightmare in my opinion. I think they should get their own page honestly. I get why Giant Bomb doesn’t want to do that though. As far as a wiki is concerned, an HD re-release should probably just be a section underneath the original game. When you’re talking about a database for collectors, it should be a separate entry.
I really wish I had time to build my own database with an API honestly. I’ve said it a few times, but I own the domains opengamesdb.com and .org. It’d be cool to build those up and use them on Grouvee.
I completely understand. This is actually something that I think both @Peter and I have discussed off and on in past. The separation between digital and physical for platforms like PS3 simply fragments things and muddies up tracking your collection. It would be great to merge them down to one platform. However, as long as there is chance that GiantBomb will push a new game with the tag Play Station Network (PS3) instead of PS3, it is difficult to initiate that merge. At least if the desire is to do it once rather than multiple times.
As for the distinction between which releases get their own entry versus get lumped into an existing database entry, this is a minor pain. There seems to be a lack consistency in how this is handled at GiantBomb, and I find that we’ve had to manage that a bit once the games enter Grouvee’s database. I know I have. The lack of consistency there has to be corrected here, and there are likely plenty of entries that still require review on this end. It’s unclear why some updated versions of games warrant their own entry while others don’t. Sometimes you can guess at the reason, but other times it’s quite mystifying.
It would be great if GiantBomb did clean up some of this on their end. Since their database feeds into Grouvee, it’s hard to system wide changes here without it being upended by GiantBomb and new entries at a later date.
I should add that we can totally add those platforms to each game. The problem with that is the question of where it ends. I’ve thought about it in past but the scope of work is probably too large. I agree with Peter, that it makes the most sense to merge them altogether.
for the phys vs digital copy thing: could it be possible and maybe easiest to just let GB do its thing but have some kinda toggle display options for each user to ‘temporarily’ lump say digital and phys platofrms together? I would imagine a lot of people would lump em in most pragmatic fashion. it would just be cosmetic but things would display in a way that would (hopefully) make more sense. it wouldnt be database edits and would hopefully be easy to do. maybe a ‘toggle filter choice option’ would be the best route for a few of these things. a pseudo ‘double entry system’ for 3DSware 3ds’ might cover it.
i’d also love to have a feature where if a page doesnt have a platform, let a user force a ‘PC’ cause that’s all i care about. maybe just make it so that what grouvee pulls from GB is just a ‘guidance’ and allow users to tell a game whatever platform they want (even if it doesnt exist)
i like keeping track of releases on games i plan to play them on. I can then go to filter view for wishlist:
shoot em up → PC Engine,
or Sega Saturn JRPG
PC-> Rts (you get the idea) it’s great.
I know you asked for this several months ago, but I finally put up all statuses on a game’s page. So if you wanted to see that the only person who has ever posted a status for King’s Quest VI is me, you could go to the game’s page, and scroll down to the bottom where it says All Status Updates.
It’s actually pretty cool on some of the games to see where there have been lots of discussion.
Also, @bmo posts a bunch of cool pictures and trailers, and now it’s a lot easier to find them. For instance, check out Mass Effect Andromeda:
Zelda Breath of the Wild:
I should probably paginate them, but they load fast, and I think it’s cool to see them all on one page right now.
I just noticed this out in the wild. I think it’s excellent. the status update update thing on game pages is perfect. Some pages really did need this. The really popular games now have very long pages and it can be tough to scroll down to the status section. you could do a side by side layout or have quick-jump buttons with the #status (such as the link you posted). Either way i think it’s a huge improvement. it’s nice to see who is playing what and see other people outside of the main feed.
It is kind of a pain to scroll a long way. Do you think tabs would be a better way to deal with it? There’s getting to be so much stuff on a game page, and it is a little confusing.
I’ve been thinking of organizing it in tabs in this order: user data (your review, shelf, statuses, etc.), user reviews, user statuses, releases, DLC (when I get this in the database).
I’ve held off on tabs for a while since I normally don’t like them, but I do think it could help organize stuff where people can find it a little better.
Do you have a mock up of a page with tabs? I’m curious to see how it would look. I’ve never been a big fan of tabs. I know they make managing multiple items easier but I’ve never found it elegant. I think tabs feel like a compromise solution in a lot of scenarios. Not that I have a better solution, mind you.
What about a toggle or selector similar to what you’ve implemented for posts and status updates on the main page? Something that will allow us to toggle between showing everything vs only displaying certain data.
tabs sounds like it could be nice. I think for the most part it would be easier to click and flip through two public tabs of reviews<-> statuses at the very least without cause for too much concern it sounds like you are playing with some ideas on getting user data to float to the top. i think whatever gives personal user activity priority (and still looks nice) and works for mobile users would be the winner. if you could just have the old style up at the top and two tabbed public sections on the bottom (“what rest of grouvee says about Game.Name”) it maybe be easiest to implement.
i can imagine a few things you could do displaying content with tabs that is a bit more involved (but could look cool) that could use filters to make distinction between games like the witcher 3 and ‘game only 0-3 people have played’ pop games would be segragated more, with individual user account priority, obscure games could easily just be lumped together (or at least more so)
but yeah, tabs could be nice on a lot of places maybe. so i’d encourage playing with it. i’m not really into web stuff but i can’t really recall it being used too much in web sites. still sounds good to me.
Wouldn’t adding pagination to All Status Update / Reviews help with that? It might be inevitable as the site grows. Tabs is a great idea, but it’s a temporary fix. If there’s 100 to 500 Status Updates on a single page, that’s still a lot of content on a page I’d think.
P.S. I’m a nooblet so it’s possible some of the bigger games have this and I’ve just straight up missed it. So preemptive whoopsie if so.
Is it possible to add custom columns to shelves? Sometimes there’s an additional piece of data I want to catalog and if it doesn’t fit in the existing fields there’s no way for me to do it.
(English is not my native language)
Hello,
At first I want to say that this site is great. I was looking for something like this for quite a long time I would really appreciate an edit button for game informations. Some games are missing numbers in the title (e.g. Crayon Shin-Chan: Ora to Wanpaku Gokko dazo. It’s the second game. The sequel have a number so this one should too). Some games are missing covers (e.g. Atelier Rorona Plus: The Alchemist of Arland). Some games like Home Alone don’t have all platforms added. And there is a lot of games that don’t have the release date. It would be great if we can update information like this. Or maybe there is an option and I just can’t find it?
hi, loving the site. i have one request: will it ever be possible for other people to see in my shelf the specified platform for each game, appearing next to the title, just as i can?
I’ve been a Grouvee member for over 4 years now, and only today I noticed these forums I want to start out by saying: Grouvee is an amazing and super useful tool! Thanks @peter for building it! Before I joined, I was on the verge of building something like this myself (I’m a software engineer by trade), but after doing some “market” research, I discovered Grouvee. The initial reason of wanting something like Grouvee in the first place, is because I kept buying games in sales only to discover I already owned that game on another platform.
Grouvee has saved me money, and is great overall, so I took a Gold subscription today. Thanks!
If you ever need some extra hands to help with coding, I’d be happy to volunteer! I have a lot of experience with Python (and many other languages, I’m somewhat of a polyglot). To get an idea of what I have worked on, open source wise: DandyDev (Daan Debie) · GitHub
Anyways, one last question: how do people here deal with games that get reissued as part of a collection? I’m asking because I bought Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection yesterday and want to be able to track the progress of the individual games in that collection. But according to Grouvee, Uncharted 1, 2 and 3 don’t exist on PS4.
How would you solve that?
it sounds like you are playing with some ideas on getting user data to float to the top. i think whatever gives personal user activity priority (and still looks nice) and works for mobile users would be the winner. if you could just have the old style up at the top and two tabbed public sections on the bottom (“what rest of grouvee says about 
I would really appreciate an edit button for game informations. Some games are missing numbers in the title (e.g. Crayon Shin-Chan: Ora to Wanpaku Gokko dazo. It’s the second game. The sequel have a number so this one should too). Some games are missing covers (e.g. Atelier Rorona Plus: The Alchemist of Arland). Some games like Home Alone don’t have all platforms added. And there is a lot of games that don’t have the release date. It would be great if we can update information like this. Or maybe there is an option and I just can’t find it?
I want to start out by saying: Grouvee is an amazing and super useful tool! Thanks