Cataloging Your Games???

[toddst]

I need a new system of cataloging my games for the different systems. I was about to just create a list in MS Word or Excel and have columns for the name of the game, system, rarity, whether or not I have it, do I have the box, manual, etc. Then, I could just copy the document to my Pocket PC to have while hunting.

However, before I start, I want to hear about your cataloging systems...

Thanks,

Todd

[sniperCCJVQ]

I use EGM - Electronic Game Manager. The program created an Access database which you can do everything you want with it after (i use it to make a text file and then with Document to Go, upload it into my Palm).

[Schenley]

I looked into this a while back, and checked out several programs. I really like Collectorz - Game (http://www.collectorz.com/game/), but it's expensive. To be able to export to a handheld, you have to pay $40 for the program, and then buy another program (List Pro) (http://www.iliumsoft.com/site/lp/listpro.htm) for $20. That's $60 will buy a lot of Genny games!

After trying out several programs and web sites, I just created an Excel sheet. I will eventually export to my Palm, but haven't done that yet.

I have columns for Name, Publisher, Condition, Price paid, Value (for the stuff I get for free), Year, date I acquired it, and source. I also calculate discounts from EB Games and Gamestop clubs, as well as factoring in the shipping charges from EBay purchases. I like to keep track of how much I've spent (but don't let my wife see those figures!!) I've created different worksheets within a book (Excel jargon) for each of the systems. I also track hardware on the same page with additional columns for model and serial #'s.

If there's a program out there that can do all that, and costs $25, I'd buy it.

[Daria]

Right now I just use note pad, I list the consoles by company and date of release then list the games below each catagory. I keep running totals in the catagory section but down't bother to number the games themselves (too hard to edit everytime you get or lose a game). Once the list gets longer I'll have to upgrade to wordpad. ;)

I'll probably make it into a mini website before too long. Just because I enjoy that sort of thing.

[Scoots]

I use the collection feature on Fatman Games, and the checklist in the DP guide for my NES games (the only ones I'm likely to not remember correctly).

[toddst]

I looked into this a while back, and checked out several programs. I really like Collectorz - Game (http://www.collectorz.com/game/), but it's expensive. To be able to export to a handheld, you have to pay $40 for the program, and then buy another program (List Pro) (http://www.iliumsoft.com/site/lp/listpro.htm) for $20. That's $60 will buy a lot of Genny games!


I saw that and it looks good, but way too expensive as you point out. A friend at work just recommended: http://www.ddhsoftware.com/handbase.html?UID=20040603150021134.174.144.96

Has anyone tried this?

Thanks,

Todd

[Wookie]

I just use Excel and carry around a printout of the list. 'Twas a royal pain to set up but works very smoothly now. I actually have 2 spreadsheets - one cataloging what I have (with rarity, values, number of copies and other info) and the other a simple list of things I'm looking for. That 2nd list is the one I pull out when hunting. For me, looking at a single sheet of paper is faster & simpler than using a PDA, and makes me look slightly less geeky.
-Ron

[allsport11]

I have just started using IGN.com to catalogue what I have. Not sure what your collection consists of but they have a nice database of games from the 2600 to the Xbox. Plus, you can share it with other members to compare what you/they have. It also adds links to the message boards, faqs and reviews for each game.

[Jasoco]

BB Edit + Apache + PHP + my iMac + a whole lot of work = Jasoco's Collection Pages (http://jasoco.no-ip.com/collection.php)

[icbrkr]

My PowerMac + PHP + SQL = www.particles.org

I put all mine online in a searchable SQL database. Easy to do, available from anywhere.

[ClubNinja]

Notepad!

One *.txt for every system. Works like a charm.

[Escape•From•Jenny•Island]

Word Pad, System Manufacturer (In order of favorite of course)>Console Chronologicly then Handheld Chronologicly>Alphabetical>Series

Same way my the games themselves (Except Family Computer... thats just a mess)

And I tried IGN collection, but they are just horrible. They dont have everything on there, they dont recognize Japanese names, AND THEY HAVE SENGOKU FIGHTERS IN NEO•GEO LISTING!!...

[SKVermin]

I've recently tried entering my collection into Cart Commander (http://www.arcaderestoration.com/index.asp?OPT=10&DATA=10&CBT=20). It's a simple program to use, but hasn't been updated in quite some time. It has a lot of master lists that you can pull info from, plus you can generate new entries from scratch. Oh, and it's "cartware". The author treats it like shareware, but instead of asking for money, he requests that you sent him a cartridge or so if you find it useful.

[Jasoco]

My PowerMac + PHP + SQL = www.particles.org

I put all mine online in a searchable SQL database. Easy to do, available from anywhere.I've been meaning to switch to SQL, but my problem is how much work it'd be and I'd have to learn so much more. I am barely getting through on PHP. Does SQL take up a lot of system resources? This is not just my Web Server, but also my primary 700MHz G4 Powerhouse and it's slow as it is.

Right now I use simple PHP sort() commands and variables for each entry.

Say I add a game to my NES list, I open the nes.txt data file and add this line somewhere inside the <?php and ?> tags:

$Game[] = "!NES | Galaga: Demons of Death | 09/05/2003 | %%B%%M%%I | 3 ";

The $Game[] tells the code that it belongs in the Games section of the page.

The !NES is the code for what system to put it under.

Galaga:etc is the name of the game

09/05/2003 is the date I got it. I don't do this all the time, but decided to keep it for future reference. Actually, I recently cut out a lot of useless data I had in the code to trim it down and decided the Date was worthy to stay for now.

The %%B%%M%%I part is the code for Box, Manual and Insert. Or if it has a sleeve instead of a box, %%B is replaced with %%S. Also, if it's for trade, I add %%T in there. Basically, that section is for extraneous Yes/No data.

And the 3 is a new addition. It is the DP Rarity number. I only did this for the NES and SNES games so far and am depabing if I want to continue. I realized too late how much work it'd be to keep up so I migut just drop it.

When the code loads the *.txt files (Based on what system you view..) it does a split() of the $Game[] tag with | as the delimiter. And to get counts of games, accessories or controllers etc, it uses the count() tag.

It's a little complex and unorthodox, but it has worked so far for me.

[TNTPLUST]

Right now I carry around my worn and dog eared DP guide around. Since I have started to collect newer systems I desperately need the new guide. Eventually I will need to get this down into a PDA though. These guides will get to bulky and heavy to carry around and I don't need a hernia.

[icbrkr]

My PowerMac + PHP + SQL = www.particles.org

I put all mine online in a searchable SQL database. Easy to do, available from anywhere.I've been meaning to switch to SQL, but my problem is how much work it'd be and I'd have to learn so much more. I am barely getting through on PHP. Does SQL take up a lot of system resources? This is not just my Web Server, but also my primary 700MHz G4 Powerhouse and it's slow as it is.


I honestly couldn't tell you that - I have mine hosted with hostdepartment.com ... the PowerMac part of mine is just for the actual editing of the webpages :) Hostdepartment is $5 a month for a good amount of space and a GUI front end on MySQL. The PHP code is simple too since I'm new at it. The PHP code receives a query from the HTML page and processes it:




mysql_select_db &#40;particles&#41;;
if &#40;$system == ""&#41;
&#123;$system = '%';&#125;

if &#40;$title == ""&#41;
&#123;$title = '%';&#125;

if &#40;$manufacturer == "*"&#41;
&#123;$manufacturer = '%';&#125;

if &#40;$year == "*"&#41;
&#123;$year = '%';&#125;

if &#40;$rarity == "*"&#41;
&#123;$rarity = '%';&#125;

$result = mysql_query &#40;"SELECT * FROM consoles
WHERE system LIKE '$system%' AND rarity LIKE '$rarity%' AND year LIKE '$year%' AND manufacturer LIKE '$manufacturer%' AND title like '$title%' ORDER BY title

"&#41;;
$stuff = mysql_num_rows&#40;$result&#41;;
print "<html>";
print "<body>";
print "
";
print "<table cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"1\" bordercolor=\"#000000\">";

print "</table>";

if &#40;$row = mysql_fetch_array&#40;$result&#41;&#41; &#123;
do &#123;


print "<table cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\" bordercolor=\"#000000\">\n";
printf &#40;"<tr>\n <td width=\"70\" border=\"1\" bgcolor=\"#D6D2D2\"><font size=\"3\" face=\"Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular\"> %s</td> \n <td width=\"50\" bgcolor=\"#D6D2D2\">%s</td> \n <td width=\"300\" bgcolor=\"#D6D2D2\">%s</td> \n <td width=\"150\" bgcolor=\"#D6D2D2\">%s</td> \n <td width=\"30\" bgcolor=\"#D6D2D2\">%s</td> \n <td width=\"30\" bgcolor=\"#D6D2D2\">%s</td> \n <td width=\"50\" bgcolor=\"#D6D2D2\">%s</td> \n <td width=\"50\" bgcolor=\"#D6D2D2\">%s</td> \n <td width=\"150\" bgcolor=\"#D6D2D2\">%s</td> <td width=\"35\" bgcolor=\"#D6D2D2\">%s</td> </tr>", $row&#91;"0"&#93;, $row&#91;"1"&#93;, $row&#91;"2"&#93;
,$row&#91;"3"&#93;, $row&#91;"4"&#93;, $row&#91;"5"&#93;, $row&#91;"6"&#93;, $row&#91;"7"&#93;, $row&#91;"8"&#93;, $row&#91;"10"&#93;&#41;;


print "</table>";

&#125; while&#40;$row = mysql_fetch_array&#40;$result&#41;&#41;;
echo "
[i][/b]<small>$stuff total items found
";

&#125; else &#123;print "Sorry, no records were found!";&#125;

?></p></font>
</body>
</html>



I have a few snipets removed since they contain my database name and password :)

[Jasoco]

I'd like a PDA, but I'd prefer an iPod. The iPod has the ability to view small text files. So all I have to do is call up the custom "Text only" version of my Collection pages and transfer them to the iPod when I go out. I can have my list with me. Sadly.. I don't have an iPod. My brother does, though. But that doesn't help me.

Edit: Very nice, icbrkr. Mine's a bit more complicated though. I'd post it here, but it's verrrry long. I'm sure some people coult tell me how to do it better, but it works so far. And I plan on fixing it up sometime in the future, but I like it so far. I'm used to it. :)

Maybe eventually I'll get to SQL. I need to have it on my computer because I've had it with FTP servers. I don't deal with them anymore. It's nice to have the site in your house on your own computer under your control. Everything is controlled by me. I make the rules, I set it to do what I want. It's nice. It's been over a year since I turned on Personal Web Sharing and opened up my computer to the internet. And exactly a year since I really got it going like it is now.

I'll go to SQL when I buy a cheapola iMac or G3 Powermac off eBay to use. I plan on switching to a laptop (iBook or PowerBook) and well, I can't run the site from those. I'd rather use a computer I can turn off once in a while. (With a site hosted on your computer, you have to keep it going all the time. I used to care about Uptime, but now I just reboot every few days.) Yep.. a simple old iMac capable of running OS X 10.3 Panther (Or at the least, Jaguar) with 256MB of RAM. Nothing else. I see lots on eBay. Now to just set aside some money.

Besides, when you have your site running on your iMac/PowerMac, you get to brag and use the nifty http://jasoco.no-ip.com/images/poweredbyx.gif image that comes with the computer. :D

[Quintracker]

I use the collection page on Fatman Games, an excel list on my desktop, and a paper copy.

[VACRMH]

I've been using collectorz.com's Game Collector for some time.

Very easy to use, outputs to Text and HTML.

[ubersaurus]

I use Cart Commander. Kind of a pain to adapt the listings to a plain text format, but it's pretty efficient and looks nice.

[Pantechnicon]

For me it's Excel on the PC and Documents to Go on my Palm. Works simply and beautifully. I've seen Cart Commander and the like and while they're great apps there's something to be said for the ability to instantly update a portable list. If Cart Commander synched with my PDA I'd switch in aheartbeat.

In addition to my master gamelist I also carry in DDG form on the Palm some of the various older rarity lists such as VGR's 2600 list. While not as current as the DP Guide, it still has its uses for quick field checks on rarity and the like.

[-hellvin-]

I use IGN. It's simple, it's online, it's perfect for my needs.

[toddst]

This thread turned out to be more interesting than I thought it would be. I decided that I am going to use the 30 day demo of HanDBase since I can export it to my Pocket PC, HTML, XML, Excel, etc. if I decide that I don't like it.

If anyone is currently using HanDBase or planning to use it, let me know...

-Todd

[sisko]

I've got mostly everything catalogued in my head. I can remember what I have for each system (and over 600 games too....I should be using that brain power for something useful) but I don't know the value for everything. So I use Excel for that!

http://www.hakanai.net/dreamcast-web.htm

This way, I know what title and packaging variation I have, its rarity, and value. Use the "save as a web page" feature and upload it to the internet, and use the "documents to go" program for my PDA and I've got easily sortable and searchable data that I can perform all sorts of manipulations with at my fingertips where ever I go.

I've also got similar lists for Genesis and NES (soon the 2600 or SNES). The downside? It takes a super long time to enter all of that date.

[Speedy]

I'm using Excel, one sheet for a manufacturer (item name / for system / book / manual / etc ), but i don't have such a large collection so it works fine. With more stuff in it it may come a bit unhandy, but that's a problem for later :)
I like those PHP sollutions, they look realy great! To bad i am not someone with a lot of knowledge of webtechnology's so i have to strugle with my Excel sheet (still need a cheapass mobile device to carry it with me) and i'm looking atm at that EGM what was posted at the topic start, perhaps it's usefull for me.

[Flack]

Mine is the ghetto version of icbrkr's. I did my backend in Access, and then I access the list through ASP, although I'm slowly converting things to PHP. My search engine and list generator is similar to the DP Guide one. I can pull up games by name, manufacturer, system, or whatever, and see what I need to. I can export any of these to text files, which I then put on my old trust Palm IIIxe.

[davidleeroth]

ic: Nice stuff.

I've been meaning to switch to SQL and PHP from my current Excel database, too.
About two years a go I made a SQL/PHP database for my collection but as it turned out my serveice provider didn't support queries and I kinda left the whole thing.
I've since since lost the code and forgot pretty much everything I once knew about SQL/PHP but some day...

[sporkster]

I'm currently using an excel spreadsheet. That way I can just print it out and have it for reference. I have a list on ign but I'm starting to notice more and more that they have a large chunk of games missing from their database.