Android Games In The Database

[leej07]

Hi, I was wondering if there is any plan to add Android as a console. Android has at least a couple thousand games.

[Izret101]

It was decided before that Android/iOS/WP games would not be added.

With the proliferation of the platforms and the ever growing number of games being released (on 2 of the platforms anyways) it seems that stance may need to be rethought.

Of course i'd also prefer to see them in their own place.....

VIVA LA DIGITAL DATABASE!



EDIT
We are THE CLASSIC AND MODERN Video Games Database after all.

[Tynstar]

it seems that stance may need to be rethought.

Of course it does     

[bickman2k]

it seems that stance may need to be rethought.

Of course it does     

No, it doesn't.

[dencrypt]

Was there any particular reasons for not adding iPhone and Android games? Is it because of lack of physical copies? Probably not since we have GOG and Steam. Is it because there are variations, like some games can't be played on older / less top notch devices? Then the same would apply for IBM PC...? Or is it because it is not seen as a relevant platform because most of the games are "casual" and very mainstream? Well, a lot of big titles have been ported from SNK, SquareEnix etc nowadays...

IMO I think the platform (I'm talking about Android, I never owned an Apple device) have matured enough that it I think staff should reconsider it's importance into the database. Mobygames implemented the platforms way back but IIRC they also had doubts, but it works fine now.

[techwizard]

i know there were good reasons for it as this topic has come up many times before, usually whenever there's an influx of new members someone has to ask about it. I can't remember any of the reasons off the top of my head though so someone on Staff will have to respond.

not knowing the mobile game platform, I could guess that it has something to do with maybe there's no stable "system"  for what constitutes a certain game release? i'm not sure how to word it exactly but steam, xbox live games, PSN games, they all have some sort of number assigned to each title (i believe) that can be referenced to say "we're talking about this very specific game", like a UPC code on a physical copy. maybe iphone and android games don't have something equivilant to that making tracking games difficult? i can't say if that was one of the reasons for not allowing it but i would imagine that something along those lines was related to it.

[dencrypt]

That is a good argument against, can't argue with that. But then again we have things like the Google Play -store which could work as a reference, or even things like the Humble Bundle -store.

Let's take Plague Inc. For an example in the Playstore. It has an ID of: com.miniclip.plagueinc (https://play.google.com/s...id=com.miniclip.plagueinc)
Humblebundle has no ID that I can find on their store-page though, I guess they just get the APK from the developer. But Google Play as reference, instead of just "Android" would work IMO.

[NES_Rules]

The main reason is that we are trying to develop a whole new way to track digital release only games because they just don't fit into our current framework. So until that new framework is up and running, there's no point in wasting time/resources filling out a DB that will eventually be scrapped.

[Tynstar]

I see the collection tool as a collection tracking tool. How do you see it?

The reason I ask is why would you need to track a phone game? When you co to buy it the phone will say you already own it. I have never understood why people want to track any digital games.

[dencrypt]

You are right, but the other use for it is that you can see all the platform a particular game has been released on. And sure, you could probably use other databases for that but since this one is the best and most comprehensive and accurate I've ever seen on the internet (and, I've explored most of them) it would be nice to see.

And on the other hand even though you are right, I still don't always know which games I bought digitally since they are usually in different systems. It's nice to have your collection - digital or not - in one nice place. But as NES_RULES said, if there is plans on making a new framework for digital copies then the question is contemporary mute as it is now

(and it's not that big of a deal, just a feature that I think some people would like, some would not care... as it always is)

[Tynstar]

I still don't always know which games I bought digitally since they are usually in different systems. It's nice to have your collection - digital or not - in one nice place.

That makes sense. But I hate digital so my vote is still no

[bickman2k]

Part of the problem with trying to add mobile games is that there are literally thousands of games, even if you remove the ones that are free. We would be adding placeholder pages for a bunch of games that, as has been previously said, can be determined if you own them using the app store.

Where would educational games fit in? More stuff.

We have a personal organizer for the Game Boy! Throw in productivity software and apps.

Now, before someone starts in with "But the OUYA!", the OUYA has a dedicated app store and does not connect to the Google Play Store without modifying the OS. Stock, no Google Play Store, only the OUYA software store.

As for GOG and Steam, those platforms are primarily for distributing games. They may and do distribute non-game software, but they were developed with distributing games in mind.

Attempting this is possible, but not in the state that the database is in currently. I don't think that adding these categories/consoles would be helpful in any way at this time.