Read about all the new features that will make your browsing experience so much better…and the staff's lives so much easier!Over the past few months, Michael "TYP" Cole has been slaving away at this fabulous new database for Planet GameCube, and now you are viewing the result. Looks much the same as before, doesn't it? But it's not. We'll be remaking the site's cosmetics later this year; this update is all about the back-end stuff. TYP has written a completely new database structure and ported over all the information from the old database. (That process alone is a massive improvement over the last time we upgraded the site; when switching from Planet N2000 to Planet GameCube in late 2000, every single archived article had to be re-entered in Justin Nation's database by hand.)
Virtually every type of article and other feature has been tweaked or reinvented in the new database. For our beloved readers, the result is a sleeker, easier to use site that helps you get to the information you want in less time and with less hassle. Looking for information on Eternal Darkness (maybe to answer a Planet Trivia question)? Just type the game title in our new search box at the top-left corner of every page. Yes, we FINALLY have a search feature! It's a full text search that literally scans through the entire text of every article we've ever published. And it's fast, too.
Our massive games list has been completely overhauled. Now release dates are displayed next to the game title and other information, so there is no separate page for release dates…it's all right there on one page. By default, the games list shows every game in our system (currently over 1000 of them!), but you have tons of options to narrow down the list. Want to look only at GBA games released in Australia that start with the letter H? No problem. You can even sort that heavily filtered list by rating, number of players, whatever.
When you click on the name of a game, you get a page we call a game profile. The new database has tons of new information fields in each game profile. We can now list a separate title, publisher, release date, and content rating for each of four regions: North America, Japan, Europe, and Australia. There's also more flexibility on how to define the number of players, including for online modes if applicable. Of course, all this information has to be entered manually, going all the way back to the first GameCube and GBA games that we ever covered. That's why we just hired three new Data Editors to help us fill in the (thousands and thousands) of blanks.
Much of the beauty of the new database is in how it handles some common behind-the-scenes tasks, which makes our jobs a lot easier. For instance, the once laborious task of uploading a large batch of screenshots can now be done with a single click. That means we can bring you the latest media faster than before…especially during critical times like E3. Other fixes will help us to remove broken and redundant articles more quickly, which helps to keep PGC looking clean and professional.
Oh yeah, and you can now see THREE screenshots on most types of articles…take that, Something Awful!
Talkback has always been a popular feature, but it used to only work for news articles. The new database creates Talkback threads for most types of articles…reviews, impressions, editorials, and so on. Bitching about our coverage has never been easier!
But for now, allow me to suggest a more polite use of this feature. If you are enjoying the new features at PGC, or are simply excited by the potential the new database brings, please visit this announcement's Talkback thread and leave a message for Michael. He has devoted a tremendous amount of time to this project, and although the time of a guy this talented is quite valuable, he is doing it for free in true PGC fashion. Send your love.
Topic: Welcome to PGC's New Database! (Read 9536 times)
