Forums > MobyGames > Release dates & countries
Marko Poutiainen (1151) on 5/19/2006 9:17 AM · Permalink · Report
In keeping with the discussions lately, my next question is about release dates and countries. I was going to contribute some EAN-13's, but the release info is very much lacking. So I'd need to add at least Finland to the list, but where do you people get the release dates? I can hardly figure out the year let alone the date. And of course I can't possibly know in most cases what other countries had the same release. I could of course guess but I imagine guessing information isn't exactly supported in MG...
For instance, I sent info about Longest Journey (the covers) and got a comment that maybe the same covers applied to other countries. Well, the manual lists other Nordic countries, so I suppose it's a good guess that those covers are used in all of these countries. But what about EAN-13? Firstly, you can have different looking covers and still have the same EAN-13 code (I've seen it with DVD's). Secondly, you can sometimes have the same covers (well, so close it's hard to tell) but different EAN-13 codes.
So let's say I guess that the EAN-13 code on the back of my copy of Longest Journey applies to the Swedish, Norwegian and Danish versions as well, would this be a good guess?
Sciere (930490) on 5/19/2006 3:13 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
If the manual or back cover lists those countries, you can assume the EAN-13 code will apply to the relevant release infos as well. This can also be tricky at times. For instance, the UK is often listed on different European releases just to show that there is English documentation included, while there is often is a separate UK release with a different code.
Riamus (8480) on 5/19/2006 4:53 PM · Permalink · Report
Release dates for countries other than the US are often harder to find if it isn't listed on the developer or publisher's website as most gaming news sites usually list the date it was released in the US. The best option would be to contact the publisher or developer directly and ask. Sometimes they will respond and sometimes they will not. It would be nice if they were all helpful and responded to such a simple question, but not all do, unfortunately.
Beyond that, you could try to find some gaming news sites out of Finland (or whatever country) and see when they say it went on sale. If you absolutely cannot find an exact release date, but you know it was definitely released in that country and that it was released at about the same time as the US release, you could just include the year until futher information is available. We do try to get the dates of new games (past 1-2 years) to be exact dates rather than just years, but I think that we're better off with a year than nothing if we can't get a date from anywhere. I would definitely do everything possible to get an exact date before just accepting it as a year, though.
Игги Друге (46653) on 6/1/2006 11:12 PM · Permalink · Report
What is your EAN code? I have the Swedish release, which I think is the same as the Danish. When submitting the release info, I excluded Finland since I didn't get a good answer from the distributors and know from experience that Finland often differs from Scandinavia. The Norwegian one, OTOH, has another release date and cover.
Игги Друге (46653) on 6/3/2006 5:44 AM · Permalink · Report
And vice versa. But if both are the same, we need a release info correction.
Marko Poutiainen (1151) on 6/3/2006 6:19 PM · Permalink · Report
The reason for having a different release date in Norway is that the game originates from there. The EAN code in my copy is 5743211770649.
Игги Друге (46653) on 6/12/2006 3:25 PM · Permalink · Report
That's the same as mine, then.
Ben K (23952) on 6/13/2006 3:01 AM · Permalink · Report
I find Aussie release dates through online Aussie game stores. A couple of my favourites list the game's release date (even after it was released) as well as the OFLC rating, which is quite handy. They don't cover all games, but they do go back a fair way. Do you have any local online game stores? They can be a useful resource.
Riamus (8480) on 6/19/2006 11:08 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
[Q --start N. Gin wrote--]I also have problems when I am adding a game. I have also wondered how some know the exact date of a release. The approvers will just have to settle with the fact that not everyone can remember the exact date. [/Q --end N. Gin wrote--]
If the game is over 1-2 years old and you can't get an exact release date, then that's okay. Make sure you make an honest effort to get the date, though. If it's a newer game, there is no reason to not find an exact date.
As for finding dates, don't assume game sites have the correct dates... they are often wrong, depending on the site. You can sometimes find release dates on official sites for newly released games. You can also look through the News and Archived News on official sites to see when the game hit store shelves. Usually it was mentioned there. Just keep in mind the date the News was posted. You can also find other gaming news sites that list news about when a game hit shelves, rather than just listing a release date. These are usually much more accurate as it was written that day or soon after and usually gives a date or else a day of the week, which you can find the date of by seeing when the news item was posted. Finally, you can attempt to contact the publisher or developer directly and get an exact date from them. Some will reply... unfortunately, many will not.