Archive

Niemann

Vigi will be in the Mac App Store, hopefully day one.

cnhirt

That latest screenshot looks very cool.

Niemann

We've made some really awesome progress over the past couple weeks, and so I've decided to introduce Archive a little early. Please keep in mind this project is still very much in progress.

Fundamentally Archive is video game database. Currently we have over 49,000 games in our database covering 97 systems (we do not include current generation games). We track more information than any other video game collection / database system even attempts to track, and we're confident that on January 1st (our public launch) that our database will have the most information and the highest accuracy of any collection ever done. The Archive site will initially contain a handful of community features, provide systems for users to add and edit information, and host a public API for accessing the database.

At this point we're about 60% done with Phase I (described above). Things start getting really exciting with Phase II. Unlike other video game databases, Archive is designed to integrate into emulators, apps, and media centers. Our API allows game information to be looked up using CRC and MD5 hashes, meaning emulator authors can now integrate screenshots, box art, game descriptions, etc. directly into their emulators. We are also developing our own series of apps, which we hope will be available in the coming months.

And finally Phase III will completely revolutionize classic gaming with the development of a couple of ground-breaking new systems. Archive Replay, which will allow the creation of scalable video game recordings which can be easily shared through Archive and replayed on your high-definition television (with scaling effects), desktop, screensaver, etc. Archive Stream, which allows you to easily share what you're playing through Archive, Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. Other ideas we are working with now are the Archive Market (buy, sell, trade games), our own suite of emulators with official integration of Archive features, and we'd love to hear your ideas.

We are hoping to work with OpenEmu to integrate some of our features in the coming months, as well as integrating some elements into MacScene (compatibility list / emulator database).

Let us know if you have your own ideas, or would like to contribute. Right now the team consists of three of us (developer, database, and designer), and we have a lot of work to do.

dickmedd

So Archive is a satellite project of Vigi? It sounds like something huge in itself but I can see the sort of overall project it might be a part of. It sounds really interesting, a video game encyclopedia meets emulator finder/launcher meets social network (right? ;))

ROM database integration too? Do you hope Archive will be something integrated into emulators as well?

EDIT: Just re-read and answered my own questions! Can't wait!

Niemann

Yes, sorry about the confusion; Archive is Vigi. The website (which is the primary base of operations and interaction with Archive / Vigi) is technically a satellite project.

And ROM organization is a big part of Archive, and we hope to integrate into emulators. With our API it should be very easy for emulator authors to integrate Archive into their applications.

dickmedd

Sounds like it's going to tick all of my boxes. You mentioned that you hope it will appear in the Mac App Store. Do you think it'll get past all of their checks? Sorry, I will stop questioning so much after this one! :P

cnhirt

I hereby volunteer my services as a beta-tester. I have plenty of spare time these days.

I'd love to help out with this in any way that I can (although I guess I'm a little ahead of time, what with the beta starting in December).

This sounds awesome.

Niemann

dickmedd wrote:

You mentioned that you hope it will appear in the Mac App Store. Do you think it'll get past all of their checks?

The initial Mac App Store app will simply be a classic video game information browser.

Mucx

dickmedd wrote:

...It sounds really interesting, a video game encyclopedia meets emulator finder/launcher meets social network (right? ;))

ROM database integration too? Do you hope Archive will be something integrated into emulators as well?

Having worked on the design of this and discussion on it. Archive, will try and establish itself as a legal database of video game information and be more of a hub for game information to flow in and out of. It is up to emulation authors and other connecting projects to do what might be considered 'grey area stuff'...our hands must remain clean for the site to remain functional and attractive in a business sense so it can grow. (It should incorporate current gen games in the future for this very reason).

For those of you who know a bit about Plex or XBMC and how it integrates with the themoviedb.org (TMDb) then that is the general construct and symbiotic relationship... just for video games instead of movies. Archive is the database... apps like OpenEmu will interact with it for getting game data and information via an API. (guys at OpenEmu are moving forward and I designed the UI for them :).

dickmedd

Mucx wrote:

It is up to emulation authors and other connecting projects to do what might be considered 'grey area stuff'...our hands must remain clean for the site to remain functional and attractive in a business sense so it can grow. (It should incorporate current gen games in the future for this very reason).

That's what I'd been thinking, it's very understandable. I am really looking forward to seeing it all for myself now. :P If it's half as good as it sounds then well done to everyone involved.

Niemann

If there are any emulator authors, application developers, or website admins who would like early access to the Archive API for super easy access to media-rich game information (especially useful are our CRC-based and MD5-based requests) let me know. I'm interested in having a couple of API implementations testing out the system as we continue to update the information.

Niemann

It's funny how much people have talked about a project like this for as long as I've been a part of the emulation community. I guess a few months ago it hit us, "why don't we just do it?"; and so here we are.

Probably the most promising aspect of the project is our day one aspirations. We expect to have the largest collection of video game information ever compiled, all linked together with CRC and MD5 hash information. Link that up with an API, and I think we've already opened up infinite possibilities.

We also have two positions on the Archive Team which still need to be filled, both of which I hope to have filled by the end of the month. So if you think you can manage a community of enthusiastic users or if you think you might have what it takes to establish Archive's presence on social networks, forums, and elsewhere; keep your eyes on this thread.

Toni.Belangenani

Well, I don't think I can be of much help, since I don't have any technical skills and am not that into the "scene". But if you need some beta-testers or some ideas or just someone who's enthousiastic about the project, I can do that. Then again, you'll probably have enough of all that already :)

btw: I saw you might continue with modern games as well. You might want to check out http://wiitdb.com for a wii games database if you haven't already.

Mucx

As things progress, Beta testers off all levels of game enthusiasm would be useful. The site will also require some good 'curators' who can help identify wrong data or clean up duplicates and other things. (TMDb which Plex, XBMC uses works in this way). I'm sure there will be some fun things for all types to do on Archive when it hits the intertubes.

Wii database you linked to is interesting. We are freely able to take any factual data from websites (e.g. release date is an example of factual data).

Toni.Belangenani

Thanks for your replies! You're getting me really excited about your project and I couldn't help exploring a bit on Mucx flickr page. The open emulator mockups look so incredible, I can just imagine how great it must be to browse and play your games that way :) And yes, I am one of those non-geeky people who just loves to play his old games, but is tired of having multiple consoles next to his tv, and would love to have an easy and visually appealing way to choose and play my games, instead of looking at a wall of textual titles and then fiddling with different emulator-settings etc. For me, the geekiness is a necessary evil and if I could play my games without it, I would like it even better! Before Plex and xbmc I had to worry about codecs, framerates etc, and pick a videofile from a folder with nothing to go by but the filename. But now it just works, looks good, gives me all the info I want and I can just enjoy my movies. It would be so great if you guys could make that same thing happen to gaming!

Sorry about that rant.. What I actually wanted to say: I ran into some very interesting threads at xbmc:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showpost.php?p=636205&postcount=908
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=82469

This guy (or girl, who knows?) is creating a launcher add-on for xbmc that can launch programs from within xbmc, but focuses on emulators and roms. The same person is trying to get this integrated into a beautiful skin; Alaska. The project is currently under very active development, still a little buggy but getting very positive feedback from the forummembers, and right now he is looking for reliable sources to scrape meta-data from. Right now some textual data is already scraped from allgame.com, but visuals still need to be local.

Perhaps this is a great opportunity for you to get in touch with someone who could build an xbmc frontend to your database?

PS. If I'm just being silly and not helpful at all, just tell me to shut up ;)

Mucx

Thats cool Toni, it really is... Ive posted over at XBMC in the thread (been a long time since Ive been over there).

Even at this early stage it might be useful for an application developer or two to start playing with the data as it can help help Ryan improve the API. The popularity and success of the site also somewhat relies on people knowing about and finding the data useful. The success of TMDb was greatly tied to the rise and use of its data by various HTPC apps... I see a similar trajectory for 'Archive' as well.

FYI, the Alaska skin is produced by fellow brit Duncan Harris (also did the Aeon skin). So, its nice to see that skin getting some added extras and a video game launcher/plugin is pretty cool. There was a thread over in the Plex forums by someone trying to do the same thing but it didnt get as much traction as this XBMC one is doing.

MetalDragon

A PS1 Database is over here: http://www.defconsoft.co.uk/database.php maybe you could work together with those guys.
It's quite impressive, only downside it's PAL games only.

Niemann

dickmedd

From the looks at that iPhone screenshot, I'll soon be spending even more time staring endlessly down at my phone instead of being productive. Good work!

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