There was a MAJOR site update to the site that has been rolling in this week and finishing up today. It's all part of a goal of improving the site and making through a monumental amount of data stuck in the queue system. While we are not through it yet, we've taken a "giant leap for mankind.'
1. Over a hundred duplicate records and invalid machine records were deleted from the IAM/KLOV database.
2. A number of duplicate and invalid manufacturers were dealt with, and 313 new ones were added, bringing our total up to around 2400.
3. Over 4,000 new records were added, including a lot of EM and Pinball machines, but also things as embarrassingly basic as Sega and Namco videogame entries from the last 5 years. It brings our total to over 17,000. There are about another 100 EM games still going online tonight.
4. Over 3,000 records had data fixes to them (ie: info added or errors corrected). In a future update within the next couple of months we'll try and specifically address hardware spec errors on videogame records that were not included in this update.
5. During the early-mid 1970s, many pinball machines were issued in both EM and Solid State versions. For clarity, these entries have been split up into 2 records, one for the EM version and one for the Solid State version.
6. Previously, we expanded VAPS to allow pinball entries in addition to videogame entries. Now it will allow any thing to be added that is in our database.
7. Since VAPS has already (for quite some time) allowed non-videogames (ie: for quite some time) and now allows all other types of coin-op machines also, I'm thinking that the Video Arcade Preservation Society might not be the most applicable name anymore. I'd like to propose a minor re-brand to the Classic Arcade Preservation Society (CAPS). I'll create another thread for this. In the meantime I've added a CAPS tag line to the VAPS pages.
8. Within the VAPS system (off the Stats page), there are now links to vote on all sorts of new machine entries (if you are logged in, of course), not just Videogames and Pinball machines. Additionally, if you click on one of the links the interface now includes links that automatically open up searches in new windows to make it quicker and easier to research items.
9. Game list index pages (ie: http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_list.php?letter=A ) now include not only the type of machine (ie: Pinball), but also a sub-type (ie: Solid State). Additionally, 'genre' now shows up on these pages, though it basically applies just to videogames at this time.
10. The same additions to the game list pages have also been added to the manufacturer list pages.
11. Extra data fields have been added to the manufacturer pages, allowing comments or links to other manufacturers to be added. see:
http://www.arcade-museum.com/manuf_detail.php?manuf_id=1412
http://www.arcade-museum.com/manuf_detail.php?manuf_id=1190
While not all data is accurate at the moment, it's a step in the right direction and a work in progress.
12. A couple new features have been thrown up on the site for logged in members. Call them easter eggs at the moment as I'm still testing them. In the future, I'd like to add more yummies for logged in members.
13. A few minor bugs were discovered in some of the scripts and fixed.
14. I'm probably leaving out just a few things... It's been a long and busy week.
Note: New game submissions are still turned off, and I'm thinking of turning off the image submission system until I make some changes to the system and then ask for more help on the data backlog. Once through the data backlog, it will be easier to make changes to the system and to keep up with submissions in general.
1. Over a hundred duplicate records and invalid machine records were deleted from the IAM/KLOV database.
2. A number of duplicate and invalid manufacturers were dealt with, and 313 new ones were added, bringing our total up to around 2400.
3. Over 4,000 new records were added, including a lot of EM and Pinball machines, but also things as embarrassingly basic as Sega and Namco videogame entries from the last 5 years. It brings our total to over 17,000. There are about another 100 EM games still going online tonight.
4. Over 3,000 records had data fixes to them (ie: info added or errors corrected). In a future update within the next couple of months we'll try and specifically address hardware spec errors on videogame records that were not included in this update.
5. During the early-mid 1970s, many pinball machines were issued in both EM and Solid State versions. For clarity, these entries have been split up into 2 records, one for the EM version and one for the Solid State version.
6. Previously, we expanded VAPS to allow pinball entries in addition to videogame entries. Now it will allow any thing to be added that is in our database.
7. Since VAPS has already (for quite some time) allowed non-videogames (ie: for quite some time) and now allows all other types of coin-op machines also, I'm thinking that the Video Arcade Preservation Society might not be the most applicable name anymore. I'd like to propose a minor re-brand to the Classic Arcade Preservation Society (CAPS). I'll create another thread for this. In the meantime I've added a CAPS tag line to the VAPS pages.
8. Within the VAPS system (off the Stats page), there are now links to vote on all sorts of new machine entries (if you are logged in, of course), not just Videogames and Pinball machines. Additionally, if you click on one of the links the interface now includes links that automatically open up searches in new windows to make it quicker and easier to research items.
9. Game list index pages (ie: http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_list.php?letter=A ) now include not only the type of machine (ie: Pinball), but also a sub-type (ie: Solid State). Additionally, 'genre' now shows up on these pages, though it basically applies just to videogames at this time.
10. The same additions to the game list pages have also been added to the manufacturer list pages.
11. Extra data fields have been added to the manufacturer pages, allowing comments or links to other manufacturers to be added. see:
http://www.arcade-museum.com/manuf_detail.php?manuf_id=1412
http://www.arcade-museum.com/manuf_detail.php?manuf_id=1190
While not all data is accurate at the moment, it's a step in the right direction and a work in progress.
12. A couple new features have been thrown up on the site for logged in members. Call them easter eggs at the moment as I'm still testing them. In the future, I'd like to add more yummies for logged in members.
13. A few minor bugs were discovered in some of the scripts and fixed.
14. I'm probably leaving out just a few things... It's been a long and busy week.
Note: New game submissions are still turned off, and I'm thinking of turning off the image submission system until I make some changes to the system and then ask for more help on the data backlog. Once through the data backlog, it will be easier to make changes to the system and to keep up with submissions in general.
Last edited:
