I've brought up this idea before. There are THOUSANDS of lcd games. Not all f them with a identifiable publisher. (Like those 1000 in one games that are really just 100 different variations of Pong, Snake and Tetris.) But a few series of LCD games have a recognizable developer. One of which being Nintendo. They didn't make that many, (It's about 60 if I recall.) and they all share similar hardware, so it's be easy to get specs on them.

There were the rectangle releases, the dual screens, the kind with two controllers attached, actual wrist watch versions, and the mini versions that looked like Game Boys.

Screenshots would be a challenge, but most of them came in boxes or had a paper backing, so cover art would be easy. Scanning the games themselves would kinda hard though.

I think it'll be fairly easy to document these as the Game and Watch platform. It's kinda be a shame not to. Later on we could add all of the Sega and Casio lcd games, but I think G&W is a good place to start.

Another platform to consider is the TI Caculator. Starting with the TI83, there have been lots of games made for each succeeding new version. All the specs that are really required are what versions of the calculator it's compatible with, and what method of transfer is needed to get it to and from a pc. (Serial or USB cable.)

What does everybody think?

LCD games are as distant from video games as pinball machines are. It would be nice to have them, but it's not going to happen, if at all, for a long, long time.

What? I really can't see how. All that's different is the type of screen used.

Do you feel the same about games whose only output is a dot matrix printer? Or audio through a telephone? It's an arbitrary dividing line, but it's a very clear and well-defined one.

If you want to get hypothetical, most interactive fiction games could be played just as well using a dot-matrix printer for output, without changing much at all about the nature of the game or the player's experience. Other than being slower.

Those handheld LCDs are definitely a form of video - they show sequences of still images on a screen to simulate motion, even if those images are limited to fixed positions and the framerate is through the floor... and it would be tough to convincingly challenge their status as games; so I don't really see the clear dividing line here. It's perfectly fine to say that MG has no plans to include those games without the need for arbitrary reasoning. :)

Hey, much early text adventure play in the mainframe era WAS done on printers. And, lo and behold, we don't include those either. I'd like to, but it's a hard sell on CP.

I'd like to, but it's a hard sell on CP.

I feel so relieved. It was like I'd stepped into another world, with you arguing against the inclusion of games in MobyGames... scary.

Think of it this way. It could be a gateway to documenting those types of games, and possibly even arcade games. We have to start tackling this kinda stuff eventually. Since Corn Popper has been adding more platforms lately, he might be more open to the idea.

Widening the scope at a time when the number of active contributors doesn't seem to be significantly increasing and the approvers are about enough for the thigh bone of a skeleton crew doesn't seem like the best course of action...

That said, almost asked why LCD games aren't included once myself.

Then why add more platforms at all? Wouldn't it be better to have most of the bases covered for the future ?

"Why not?" doesn't have any pull with the folks in charge here, who have a good answer generally (as cited above, increasing drain on understaffed volunteer crew). You have to have a compelling answer to "why", and not only why that platform, but why to prioritize it over other deserving ones.

If at least 2 trusted contributors (since one would still require another to approve, and that's the worst bottleneck) are dedicated enough to a platform that's not yet included and say they already did a good deal of research and have a certain number of complete game entries ready, that'd be a good enough "why". Otherwise, at this time it'd seem like the logical course of action would be to just add the newly released platforms that may attract new blood, some of which may in time help with the older ones as well.

Me am Bizarro Pseudo_Intellectual! Me want to winnow down database until only one game entry remaining.

MobyGame, which lists only Gobliiins, with music by Moby. The most comprehensive MobyGame database on the internet. Accept no substitutes!

Why not? It's an electronic game with a screen, quite different from a pinball game.

I don't think I'd say "no" to Game & Watch, despite their fixed visual display. Still, they should be on the very bottom of our priority list. First we need to handle Amstrad PCW, Thomson MO & other platforms with over 100 title library, then those Telnet games, then rare stuff like Memotech MTX, then perhaps arcade machines...

Hey, many modern pinball games have electronic screens that take a part in the game's action. But that's neither here nor there. They're both part of the overall electronic gaming culture, they both had video game companies involved (eg. Capcom pinball, Konami LCD handhelds), and we can agree that neither of them is really what we mean when we say video games.

In the eighties, we certainly classified Game & Watch as a video game.