Suggestions: Import Differentiation, Custom Sort, UPC

Since the day I joined this site I've been in support of the proper sorting. I've never seen a site that sorts with "the," "a," or "an" as the beginning of the title. It's my only real complaint with this site.

The personal custom sort has been huge on my wish list. For example, I would like to sort "The Lost World" in between Jurassic Park 1 and 3, or "The Road Warrior" between Mad Max 1 and 3. This would be a personal sort for each individual user and not a global method of sorting.

Lastly, since I'm already posting a wish list. Are there still any plans for TV movies to be moved to the movie section? I know it's been talked about but I haven't heard anything in months.

Most games are released in multiple regions, which presents a few problems when trying to find and list the correct version. Searching for God Hand, for example, pulls up three different entries, and the only way to differentiate them is to look for the ESRB/PEGI/CERO logos, or open three browser tabs/windows and take a wild guess. A lot of sites group all the entries together to try and make this easier, but that also doesn't work very well, as many games differ wildly between regional versions. Something like Sengoku Basara, for example, was released here as Devil Kings. It features a story and characters that differ from the Japanese release, as it was specially tailored for the U.S. market. So, "Sengoku Basara" has no *real* U.S. equivalent, just as "Devil Kings" has no *real* Japanese equivalent. Even if they were to share the same ISBN, they are not the same game.

The is a merge function for moderators to merge games together, I have done that for God Hand. Games like Sengoku Basara/Devil Kings wouldn't or shouldn't be merged. If you are interested in helping with this let me know.

Could something be implemented that also separates entries by region code, country of origin, and the title used in that region, even if the ASIN and/or ISBN are identical, and indicates that info in the initial search results?

There are no games with identical ASINS in the database, it's not possible. the 3 versions of God Hand were UK edition (uk ASIN) US edition (us asin) and one that had been entered manually which had a blank asin.

When viewing a collection, could we maybe have a way to save the "sort" selection we choose, and make that the default for ourselves and/or viewers?

I will probably add this in the future.

Titles that start with things like "The" or "A" shouldn't by sorted under "T" or "A" - i.e. "The Legend of Dragoon" should appear under "L." Better yet, maybe something similar to what LibraryThing has going on, where you can type in whatever title you want to suit your nitpicky preferences and it doesn't modify the main entry on the site database, just how it appears in your collection.

I would like to change this but can't think of an easy way of doing it yet. I will do this eventually.

Lastly, since I'm already posting a wish list. Are there still any plans for TV movies to be moved to the movie section? I know it's been talked about but I haven't heard anything in months.

Yes hopefully soon.

As the moderator primarily in charge of game merging, let me add my thoughts.

Yes, I merge games with same content. So if its original US, UK, NTSC or PAL, Greatest Hits, Platinum Hits, Ubisoft re-issue or Player's Choice, it doesnt matter. If its the same game, its the same entry and gets merged. Even many 'Game of the Year' releases are simply re-issues, but others (such as Oblivion Game of the Year edition) is actually a compilation of the game plus two expansion packs.

On subject of compilations, they are and will remain separate entries. Gold Packs, Platinum Packs, Diamond Packs, multi-game bundles.


The concerns and issues I've come across are the following:

- Amazon is not that accurate. You can't go by their entries all the time, as they sometimes have spelling mistakes, wrong platforms, and duplicate entries in their own database.

- There are many custom entries in Listal database. Some were primary entries, and after a merge, it inherits the primary's items, including lack of ASIN, UPC and EAN numbers, as well as manufacturer info.

- In some cases where the PAL version is different, or the Japanese Import is different (in many cases, the japanese games are different), rather than confuse people by having two identical entries in the database, I've been adding [JP Import] to the title or some cases [PAL]. Also, I dont think I merged a single JP Import entry into common items, as usually they are unique games not released to North American market.

- Useless shit that gets automatically brought in from Amazon.com, such as keychains, posters, faceplates for consoles and t-shirts, i've been renaming them to (junk). Console accessories, arcade sticks, strategy guides, controllers and cheat discs are part of gamers collections, and are left alone.


The truth is, since amazon is not a perfect database, and since listal is littered with amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, as well as tons of custom entries, we can't rely on perfect system with ISBN and ASIN numbers. So I think we should rather concentrate on merging all same entries to better know what your friends and peers rate, reviews and suggest. If you want a true collection index, buy Game Collector software from collectorz.com, which allows you to scan barcodes of your games and link them that way.

I do like the suggestion of seeing more info on all 'versions' listed in the game entry, such as country, release date, format (NTSC or PAL) rather than just small thumbnail and ASIN code.

I like how the system works now, but would like to see the following:

- Rather than 'Manufaturer', include editable 'Publisher' and 'Developer' sections to the game entry

- Add 'ESBN Rating' entry for E, T, M, etc... (varies by country, and doesnt apply to older games, so make this just optional field

- Allow entering only month/year, or even just year of release, rather than exact date. Many old games' release dates are very vague

- Some US/UK titles have very different names (i.e. Fahrenheit / Indigo Prophecy). Add provision for this for merged entries, maybe by inclusion of keywords?

- Keywords would also be very useful for some titles like SimCity (add 'Sim City' as keyword, in case people spell it that way), or F.E.A.R. (add 'FEAR' as keyword) to be able to find it thru searching.

- A way for anyone to 'suggest a merge' and that suggestion will be emailed to merging moderators to either approve or deny.

* Force proper naming conventions
Titles that start with things like "The" or "A" shouldn't by sorted under "T" or "A" - i.e. "The Legend of Dragoon" should appear under "L."

I personally hate how some people have re-named the titles to move 'the' or 'a' to the back, like an example 'Vanishing, The'

Wouldnt it be simpler to make the alphabetic search algorithm ignore 'the' and 'a' and other keywords from the results?

But honestly, it never bothered me, because I never was much of an alpha-sorter. I tend to love sorting by category (thru use of tags), by release dates, by platforms, by actors/directors, or by popularity/rating. Alpha sorting seems the most useless way to sort.