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Phillyman's Work In Progress...


Phillyman

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So hey, before you guys go crazy uploading tons of new GamePros, can we re-open the discussion about the numbering system?

I assume our DB is the way it is because Philly prefers it that way, but I hate it IhateitIhaeitIhateitIhateit to my core...and I don't even give a rat's ass about Gamepro.:lol:

In my opinion, it's this simple: Let's look at the mag Melki pointed out with the arrow in the above pic.  It says right there on the spine (and on the front cover as well: #200.  "Special 200th issue."  Yet according to our database, it's issue 190.

Yes, I know GamePro skipped 10 issues.  But which ones?  Do you know off the top of your head?  Most people don't, nor do they know how many issues were skipped.  Thus, they aren't likely to do the necessary math to figure out what the REAL number of the issue of GamePro they're looking at is.  Rather, they're going to look at the cover, which clearly says it's issue 200.  Anyone and everyone not affiliated with Retromags' database is going to refer to that issue as #200.  By calling it issue 190, we're just confusing matters.

There are 2 ways to fix this:

1. Since the first 80 issue of GamePro do not actually have an issue number printed anywhere on them, we can just label them by date, or by date and volume/number (which is printed under the staff credits on an inside page).  Beginning with the 81st issue, which is labeled issue 91 on the cover, we can start using the same issue numbers as are printed on the cover (i.e. start at #91).

2. Continue using issue numbers for #1-80.  Skip 81-90.  Resume with # 91.  This makes it obvious there is something amok, so an explanatory note will be needed.  This can easily be implemented directly into the database by adding it as a cover like so:

Untitled-1.jpg

Either way, I think using GamePro's numbering (even if it's technically wrong) is WAY less confusing than making up our own.

That's my vote, anyway.

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23 minutes ago, kitsunebi77 said:

I assume our DB is the way it is because Philly prefers it that way

That's my vote, anyway.

Nope :P

I am not opposed to change, just tonight while I was in the shower I was thinking of you kitsunebi77. I was deep in thought thinking "I should dump the database to categorized CSV files that could easily be manipulated to fix the faux issue numbers where we want".

Anyhow, yes many entries will go to v#, i#.......some will go to pure M/Y. The thought I have is, if a magazine starts off not listing issue numbers, and then puts issue numbers, and the number equals the previous issues, shouldnt we consider that them considering those issues as numbered?

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They didn't skip any issues. If you look at the masthead or the area where they print info about the magazine for issue 80 and issue "91", they print the volume and number for the magazine, and it increases by 1.

When they started printing the issue number on the cover, they upped it by 10. From what I remember, they included issues that were not part of the main run, but composed of pieces from the main magazine, like 16-bit Gaming, CD-ROM gaming, Handheld Gaming, and those sorts that they put out before 1996. So they included them in the main run, and my guess was so that their issue number was ahead of EGM.

Your solution seems like a good one to consider; I think that would work. The other way to do it is go by v#n#, which if I remember correctly, is in every issue. I was never a fan of v#n# though.

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1 minute ago, Phillyman said:

 

just tonight while I was in the shower I was thinking of you kitsunebi77.

:o

2 minutes ago, Phillyman said:

 The thought I have is, if a magazine starts off not listing issue numbers, and then puts issue numbers, and the number equals the previous issues, shouldnt we consider that them considering those issues as numbered?

There's no harm done if the numbers are already in place and verified as correct.

However...I'm not really sure what titles would fall under the specifics you described, but just for argument's sake, let's say a mag starts with Vol.No. printed on the cover, and later switches to issue numbers.  Although including (correct) issue numbers on the earlier issues isn't necessarily problematic, I feel they should primarily be labeled the way they are on the cover, since that is how they would be identified by the world at large.  So a mag identified by Vol/No. could be something like "Volume 2 Number 3 (Issue 7)".  If the mag only uses dates on the cover, then we could leave it as is with issue and date ("Issue 7 June 1993" or whatever)

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Just now, kitsunebi77 said:

 

However...I'm not really sure what titles would fall under the specifics you described,

Tips and Tricks :)

No Issue number on the front, just a month and year, then the next month.....

 

So in that regard if we count backwards from the #46 Zelda cover above, and we find exactly 45 previous issues....I say they are technically issues 1-45. But I am one voice, and there is a reason for an odd number of Admins :P

 

 

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4 minutes ago, E-Day said:

They didn't skip any issues. If you look at the masthead or the area where they print info about the magazine for issue 80 and issue "91", they print the volume and number for the magazine, and it increases by 1.

When they started printing the issue number on the cover, they upped it by 10. From what I remember, they included issues that were not part of the main run, but composed of pieces from the main magazine, like 16-bit Gaming, CD-ROM gaming, Handheld Gaming, and those sorts that they put out before 1996. So they included them in the main run, and my guess was so that their issue number was ahead of EGM.

Your solution seems like a good one to consider; I think that would work. The other way to do it is go by v#n#, which if I remember correctly, is in every issue. I was never a fan of v#n# though.

I'm aware of the details, but anyone who isn't will be confused by our current database.  Which is why I suggested both the explanatory note method, and the v#n# method.

For some mags, I think Vol.No. is absolutely the correct way to label them.  However, in the particular case of GamePro, the volume and number are not actually printed on the cover, but rather on an interior page.  As such, I think most people are going to identify the first 80 issues by date only.  So personally, I'm partial to the explanatory method #2 from my above post.

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Just now, Phillyman said:

Tips and Tricks :)

No Issue number on the front, just a month and year, then the next month.....

So in that regard if we count backwards from the #46 Zelda cover above, and we find exactly 45 previous issues....I say they are technically issues 1-45. But I am one voice, and there is a reason for an odd number of Admins :P

Right, so like I said above, in the case of a mag like this that only uses dates, I say give them all issue numbers if it matches up, since the date will be included in the DB entry anyway.

If the early issues were labeled by Vol.No. on the cover, I would say that they should be listed that way in the DB as well, but an issue number could be added as supplementary identification.

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well i dont have anything to add of the way this problem should be fixed, but as a gampero reader myself i usually search for issue number and its confusing to search in here... and to add a new is like(let me double check xD)

10 hours ago, Phillyman said:

@Melki - GamePro March 2002 is the first one thru the scanner. May take an hour or so to upload to OneDrive from the NAS. Others will follow tomorrow.

alrght

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Dammit, Philly.  I checked this post on my phone, so I only saw one cover at a time.  I scrolled...  And I scrolled... So many mags...surely at least one must be...comeoncomeon...scrollscrollscroll...pleeease.....scrollscrollscroll...ARRRGGGGHHDAMMIT!!!  Not a single PC game mag!:cursing:

Sigh...:sad:

:P

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7 hours ago, Depressor said:

Ultra GamePlayers Issue 106 (January 1998) - 1,65 Gb... I cant rework it bigger then 300 Mb... My old PC will die in this process)

Just be glad that issue is as short as it is.  I just scanned an issue of Dengeki Playstation and it's 3.9 GB.

I'm not really sure what you're trying to say here, though. ??

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10 hours ago, Depressor said:

Ultra GamePlayers Issue 106 (January 1998) - 1,65 Gb... I cant rework it bigger then 300 Mb... My old PC will die in this process)

I will be editing that one next. Right now I am working on EGM 138. I am waiting for Phillyman to rescan a few pages of that Ultra Game Players.

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1 minute ago, kitsunebi77 said:

Well, er...aside from that issue of Computer Gaming World, I'm not sure the rest actually qualify as PC gaming mags, but hey, even one CGW is half as many as we've got so far.:)

Man I am not even sure I should show you the next pile after these mags get scanned......ah what the hell....lets see if you can figure out what they are :)

 

comgam.jpg

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2 minutes ago, Phillyman said:

Man I am not even sure I should show you the next pile after these mags get scanned......ah what the hell....lets see if you can figure out what they are :)

 

Now that's more like it.:)  You should check here though to make sure you don't waste time duplicating things Kiwi's been doing recently.  http://kiwis.world/index.php/component/jdownloads/category/108-computer-games?Itemid=-1

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2 minutes ago, kitsunebi77 said:

Now that's more like it.:)  You should check here though to make sure you don't waste time duplicating things Kiwi's been doing recently.  http://kiwis.world/index.php/component/jdownloads/category/108-computer-games?Itemid=-1

 

Good call, I will PM @KiwiArcader a list of what I have and let him know they are next on my list.

 

 

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