Submissions - Platform

[Secret Squirrel]

Current Guidelines

List the platforms for all games represented on the album. Multiple platforms can be selected by using control-click.

For original soundtracks, please only select the platform that the music comes from, even if the game appeared on multiple platforms. (e.g. Don't select NES for the new Final Fantasy 3 DS soundtrack.)


Changelog




Technical Changes to Implement




Proposed Changes for Discussion


New platforms for anime - Film, TV, Video

[Secret Squirrel]

I think our platform guidelines are fine, but I wanted to discuss whether we need an equivalent for anime, likely something like (Film, Television, Video).

[Cedille]

I know this may sound like a controversial suggestion..., but honestly, I've long thought that the platform field could be merged with the product field. I feel adding the platform as a suffix of each game would work better, especially when an album contains music from many games. Just my opinion, of course.

[Secret Squirrel]

That's really not so controversial. Ultimately, I think that's how we'll be able to handle platforms via the product tables, but we have a long way to go to reach that point.

[Myrkul]

For animation, i see 3 different genres:
Films
OAV
Series

For games, everything seems fine..
I don't know if you guys are really interested in the following changes:

Slot Machines: maybe we could do two distinctions, 1 for Pachislot, 1 for Pachinko.
As gameplay for both "slot machines" are quite different.
Now i understand if you find it "too complicated" as most people does not know much about these machines.

[Secret Squirrel]

Do Pachislot and Pachinko cover everything that Slot Machines covered? I wonder if there are albums for Western slot machines.

[Dag]

OVA / film / series (rather than just "TV", there are internet-released series) for anime would be nice. Other suggestions:

- Clarifications/guidelines about albums of games with ports (for other platforms).
I would *not* list ports ever, only the platform(s) the album was intended for. The current FF3 NES / DS example is misleading since the games are different.

Take The Last Remnant (http://vgmdb.net/album/10601), an Xbox 360 game (the album has its music). Later a PC port came, and there may be an unreleased PS3 port. But we have "Xbox360, PC, PS3"... Misleading and unuseful... it's like listing "virtual console". (this has been done mostly for older albums though).
If a game (ex. Bayonetta) is released for two systems at the same time, it's ok to list both (Xbox 360, PS3).

Similarly another thing to point out, Bayonetta has some old Outrun tracks and such, but are intended (and used!) for Bayonetta, no sense listing Outrun/arcade as the platform.


- Trimming/reordering of the list.
The list drives me nuts. PS2? Sure, find it near +60 systems. So let's remove or put the less useful ones at the bottom. Gizmondo... wut? or the euro-pcs (amiga, spectrum...) unlikely to be used anymore. Some could be condensed into just "Others". I'd rather have simply "slot machine", Google the game if you must know.

Maybe "smartphone" for iPhone/HTC/n-gage/etc could be added if "Mobile" isn't enough.


List of the less relevant systems:

Amstrad GX4000 [0 games]
Apple Pippin [0]
Atari 2600 [only ports?]
Atari 5200 [1]
Atari 7800 [1]
Atari Lynx [1]
Atari XEGS [0]
Casio Loopy [0]
Commodore MAX Machine [0]
Nintendo Virtual Boy [0]
Nokia N-Gage [1]
Pioneer LaserActive [0]
Playdia [0]
Tapwave Zodiac [0]
Tiger Gizmondo [0]
Watara Supervision [0]

Microsoft MSX -> MSX (rename: heresy, Microsoft didn't really make or own it)
Microsoft MSX2 -> MSX2 (rename)
SNK Neo-Geo CDZ -> remove (minor HW revision of the NG CD, no exclusive games)
SNES (Super Famicom) -> Nintendo SNES (Super Famicom) (rename, just so it's listed near other Nintendo systems)
Sega Nomad [0] -> remove (portable variation of Sega Genesis)

[Myrkul]

Do Pachislot and Pachinko cover everything that Slot Machines covered? I wonder if there are albums for Western slot machines.
Good question.. i don't think so but i am not sure 100%
I don't think there's a single official album for "western slot machines"..

The oldest slot machines "music" releases are from Sankyo, and most of them are old style pachinko.
Compilation albums would need both pachinko & pachislot.. so it's maybe not so usefull.

Was just wondering about these since official releases are getting more frequent.


EDIT: 100% agree with the post above from Dag. (on every point)

[Secret Squirrel]

We do already say not to list the platform for ports:
For original soundtracks, please only select the platform that the music comes from, even if the game appeared on multiple platforms. (e.g. Don't select NES for the new Final Fantasy 3 DS soundtrack.)

It could be emphasized more clearly though.

Anyway, I got rid of the Sega Nomad and the SNK Neo-Geo CDZ. What does everyone else think about removing or combining some of the others?

[Cedille]

Wouldn't it be possible to put the console we frequently select above the list and then arrange the rest in alphabetical order? I prefer it over reducing the number of consoles.

The problem is I think there is only a fine line between being a port and being one of so-called multi-platform releases. Should we list multiple platforms only when the game is released for those consoles around the same time and remove Xbox 360 from FFXIII because the Xbox 360 version of FFXIII was a port and was released months later? But I think in most development processes of a multi-platform games the PS3 version is virtually a port. Also, what if a game was supposed to be simultaneously released for both PS3 and Xbox 360 from the very first announcement, but one of the two was eventually delayed? (I think Last Remnant is exactly that, although it's close to being canceled). I think it's one way to avoid getting deeper into this, and allow submitters select the platform of a later release, as long as it sounds the same as on the first console and doesn't bring confusion and redundancy (Virtual Console, PlayStation Network or Mobile Phone). We can select PSX for this album (http://vgmdb.net/album/1854) because the PSX port had a streamed soundtrack (unlike the later FFV and FFVI ports), but I'm not sure if it's welcomed.

[Dag]

Well, recent/multiplatform games are trickier, but I just don't think TLR OST (2008 album) should have TLR PS3 (+2010 game).

We do already say not to list the platform for portsI think the example is misleading, FF3 DS is a complete remake/new game with arranged music. Now if the example was FF4 SNES / PSX (emulated port with the same music) then sure.

[Cedille]

What platform should we select for a iPhone/iPod Touch game? (with iPod Touch, "Mobile" may not be the best choice, I suppose). I remember a recently accepted edit went with "others" for iOS.

[Myrkul]

Maybe we should add a few platforms:

Apple platforms: iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch (altogether)
Flash/Web Games
Microsoft Kinect
(Playstation 3 Move ?)


And removing a few that still have 0 entries (and probably will never have)

Amstrad GX4000
Apple Pippin
Atari XEGS
Casio Loopy
Commodore Max Machine
Nintendo Virtual Boy
Pioneer LaserActive
Tapwave Zodiac
Tiger Gizmondo
Watara Supervision

[Blitz Lunar]

virtual boy having zero entries surprises me... i anticipate that there'll be releases with virtual boy songs in future, and - who knows - maybe those other systems as well. what's the harm in keeping them?

[Secret Squirrel]

I agree on removing these ones:

Amstrad GX4000
Apple Pippin
Atari XEGS
Casio Loopy
Commodore Max Machine
Pioneer LaserActive
Tapwave Zodiac
Tiger Gizmondo
Watara Supervision

I dont' think we should add Kinnect or PS3 Move, as those systems are still basically Xbox360s and PS3s (unless there is something about the technology that I'm not understanding.)

We currently have Mobile Phone, so if we add Apple (I*), do we need to add Android and other devices?

Flash/Web should also probably be added.

[CHz]

I dont' think we should add Kinnect or PS3 Move, as those systems are still basically Xbox360s and PS3s (unless there is something about the technology that I'm not understanding.)
I agree. They're really just add-on input devices to the systems. Granted, really really damn fancy ones, but still just input devices. We don't differentiate between the Wii games that require the nunchuk and those that don't.


We currently have Mobile Phone, so if we add Apple (I*), do we need to add Android and other devices?
iOS is the name of the common operating system, so I'd go with that for the title. The iPod Touch and iPad aren't mobile phones, so it's not really right to dump games in there. Likewise, Android can run on devices that aren't phones (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_Tab), so I'd recommend adding that too if we split iOS out.

The alternative, cop-out solution would be to call the category just "Mobile." :) But I think splitting is probably better. I admittedly am not well versed in the mobile device universe, so this may be opening a can of worms.

[Cedille]

Btw, are we going to see PlayOnline as a product, if "Flash/Web" is added?

[Secret Squirrel]

Btw, are we going to see PlayOnline as a product, if "Flash/Web" is added?

Wouldn't that fall under "Web"?

[Cedille]

It does. I just wonder if we add "Web" as a platform, we will start seeing something like PlayOnline as a product, besides browser games. PlayOnline doesn't belong to Game category, of course,

http://vgmdb.net/album/18160 (the last track is from PlayOnline).

[Secret Squirrel]

So, it looks like we should take out the ones mentioned above and add these:

IOS
Android
Flash/Web

[Secret Squirrel]

Removed:
Amstrad GX4000
Apple Pippin
Atari XEGS
Casio Loopy
Commodore Max Machine
Pioneer LaserActive
Tapwave Zodiac
Tiger Gizmondo
Watara Supervision

Added:

Apple IOS
Google Android
Web/Flash

[Cedille]

Shouldn't "I" be low case? Seems like it's consistently written as iOS (although Apple licensed the "IOS" trademark as well).

Anyway, if the point of this field is to specify the release (e.g. this soundtrack contains the GBA version sound, not PSX), the best we can do is to wait for the implementation of release linking.

[Secret Squirrel]

Yeah, I'm not an Apple expert (except the edible kind), so I've changed it to iOS.

I suppose this field could become obsolete with release linking.

[Cedille]

We need Nintendo 3DS (http://vgmdb.net/album/24162).

[Secret Squirrel]

I've added the Nintendo 3DS to the platform list.

[Secret Squirrel]

Preparing to add:
Movie
Series
OVA
However, isn't OVA redundant with Movie? It's basically a movie that is distributed directly to video (dvd nowadays) instead of being release in a theater or shown on television. If we make that distinction, we might have to do the same for web releases, so maybe it's better to stick with (Movie, Series).

[Datschge]

OVA is pretty much the same as direct-to-video (which I'd use as the term as it's less ambiguous) afaik but can be either stand alone (Movie) or consist of several parts (Series). Both terms would be diluted if direct-to-video is omitted as currently Movie implicates that it's shown in cinema or some special broadcast first, and Series are usually shown on TV or similar serial broadcasting methods.

[Dag]

The distinction is given by the publisher themselves (not a fan thing), so I think the 3 terms have their place here.

I see it like this more or less:
- Series: low budget, ~25min, ~13+ episodes, for TV/general public. (ex: 13 eps (http://vgmdb.net/product/542))
- OVA/OAV: medium budget, ~30m-1h, 3~6 eps (sometimes 1 full movie but less common), tipically direct-to-video (may include riskier stuff). (ex: 4 eps (http://vgmdb.net/product/539))
- Movie/film: high budget, +1:30h, usually theatrical release/general public. (ex: 1 (http://vgmdb.net/product/559))

I don't think how they are broadcasted matters really, just the publisher's intention. Some examples.
- studio makes a series, nobody wants to broadcast it on TV, they sell it via DVD or put it on the web > still "series" (IIRC this has happened in Japan).
- In the US most TV series are sold direct-to-video/DVD > still "series".
- A few OVAs are published, later a TV broadcasts them > still "OVAs".
- Some products have both standalone (1 ep) OVAs and movie releases labelled as such, ex (http://vgmdb.net/album/22485).

[Secret Squirrel]

Ok, i've added (Series, Movie, Direct-to-Video).

Another thing we need to do is come up with an abbreviation for every product.

[Phonograph]

why not using what you can see on obi?

maybe not TV Anime/Animation (for series)
but at least OVA sounds more natural than Direct-to-Video (thing I've never seen written on obi)

[Gigablah]

Or just Original Video, if you don't want the "animation" bit.

Or abbreviate everything: OVA / D2V.

[Phonograph]

the thing you could make is:
when you choose animation (for example), only animation choices appears in the platforms menu (same with game)

but in that case, that platform menu should be inactive and active after choosing the classification option

edit: also, related albums should only show albums related to the products classification
because having a mix between game and animation when the album is for anime (when there is one classification, for more classification choices, the related albums section could be remade later)

[Gigablah]

Something that was brought up in chat: Both movies and series can be in OVA / D2V format.

But still, we're not going for an elaborate taxonomy here, so we might as well just follow whatever established format other sites have come up with. By the way, ANN has the following categories: TV Series, Movie, OAV, ONA (???) and Omnibus.

[Secret Squirrel]

Yeah, my fear is that OVA is redundant. It still seems like it is just an alternate distribution method for a series or movie, aside from Dag's explanation that the budgets and scopes generally lie in between those two.

I think we are going to see more commercial web releases in the future, and those could also run the gamut between movie and series in format. However, ANN has the OVA category, so it might be an important distinction. Anyway, I renamed this back to OVA.

the thing you could make is:
when you choose animation (for example), only animation choices appears in the platforms menu (same with game)

We definitely should do this.

[Phonograph]

... Omnibus.

that category can be forgotten or franchised (I think it's like that one (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=430))

[Cedille]

It's possible that we have to divide "PC-88" into variations. The later consoles had upgraded sound chips, and for retro game soundtracks , it's sometimes explicitly mentioned from which consoles an album is recorded.

Sorcerian was released over multiple PC-88 consoles (PC-88SR, PC-88VA) for instance and soundtracks from both consoles have been released (even until today...).

[Secret Squirrel]

How many different sound variations are there for the PC-88?

We may have a similar issue with PCs back in the old days, when there were different sound cards (Roland, Adlib, SB) that all produced different sounds. Although, there weren't many PC-game soundtracks released in those days.

[Cedille]

How many different sound variations are there for the PC-88?Although, there weren't many PC-game soundtracks released in those days.

I have zero knowledge on this and perhaps somebody else deep in retro game music community (e.g. hoot) could clarify it better, but according to my brief research, two sound chips were basically used for the PC-88 series, with some optional sound cards. So perhaps if we're to add a PC-88 variation without making our listbox chaotic, dividing it two 2 categories is reasonable. My suggestion is NEC PC-88(OPN), NEC PC-88(OPNA) (alternative is NEC PC-88(YM2203), NEC PC-88(YM2608)). We can hold off addition until we look into soundtrack of the days more finely, of course. Not sure how many there would be, besides Sorcerian.

[Fearin]

Does the PC reference cover most OS's like Mac, Linux, Windows, etc?