Forums > Game Forums > release date?

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vedder (70685) on 2/6/2008 8:15 PM · Permalink · Report

According to Wikipedia this game was first included with Windows 3.1. Also, according to Wikipedia Windows 3.1 was released April 6 1992.

So that would make the release date for this game 1992 not 1991.

Or am I missing something?

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Black_Rose (33) on 2/6/2008 8:55 PM · Permalink · Report

The game could of been released in a different country in 1991, then released in another country in 1992. I always check the Wikipedia site for information, it always helps me.

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DJP Mom (11333) on 2/6/2008 9:16 PM · edited · Permalink · Report

[Q --start stvedder wrote--]According to Wikipedia this game was first included with Windows 3.1. Also, according to Wikipedia Windows 3.1 was released April 6 1992.

So that would make the release date for this game 1992 not 1991.

Or am I missing something? [/Q --end stvedder wrote--]

  1. Don't take Wikipedia's word for everything
  2. In this case they may be right :-(

Let me go fire up the 486 and look!

Edit - Oh well, my "About Minesweeper" only says Version 3.1 Copyright 1985-1992 etc...by Robert Donner and Curt Johnson No great revelatory moments here.

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Pseudo_Intellectual (66274) on 2/6/2008 9:23 PM · Permalink · Report

I dunno, in the discussions there I saw the claim "Minesweeper is a single-player computer game invented by Robert Donner in 1989." Actually, if you have a strong stomach for wikipedian foolishness (like their coming up with a public domain tileset to avoid appearing to endorse a particular platform's clone of the mine detection game 8) there's all sorts of interesting material there. I figure give them time and eventually they may end up with something close to the truth. (Do we know that Minsweeper didn't appear in any earlier versions of Windows?)

If I was to pick something to object to in this entry I would wonder why it's credited to the not-yet-in-existence Microsoft Game Studios 8) It's not like games by Tengen get automatically reverted up to Atari (get automatically redirected up to Infogrames, ayoy 8)

(Here's a plausible reference: The Minesweeper that we all know and love was created by Robert Donner and Curt Johnson while they were working at Microsoft. It was first released as part of the Microsoft Entertainment Pack for Windows in 1990, but in 1992, it replaced Reversi as a pack-in game for Windows 3.1)

So: 89, 90, 91, 92 -- take your pick!

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Pseudo_Intellectual (66274) on 2/6/2008 9:26 PM · Permalink · Report

So: 89, 90, 91, 92 -- take your pick!

The complicated things about tracking this in Mobygames is that we're supposed to track only published releases, meaning that there should be no entry for Minesweeper, just for Windows and the Win Entertainment Pack as game compilations containing exclusive releases of this game. (But since that policy is plainly wrong-headed, we ignore it, and occasionally its legacy trips us up.)

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Игги Друге (46654) on 2/18/2008 8:59 PM · Permalink · Report

[Q --start Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--]If I was to pick something to object to in this entry I would wonder why it's credited to the not-yet-in-existence Microsoft Game Studios 8) It's not like games by Tengen get automatically reverted up to Atari (get automatically redirected up to Infogrames, ayoy 8)[/Q --end Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--]

Actually, that is exactly what happens. God knows how many such corrections I have submitted just because that's the way the database used to work.

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Shoddyan (15001) on 2/19/2008 10:24 AM · Permalink · Report

[Q --start Игги Друге wrote--] [Q2 --start Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--]If I was to pick something to object to in this entry I would wonder why it's credited to the not-yet-in-existence Microsoft Game Studios 8) It's not like games by Tengen get automatically reverted up to Atari (get automatically redirected up to Infogrames, ayoy 8) [/Q2 --end Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--]

Actually, that is exactly what happens. God knows how many such corrections I have submitted just because that's the way the database used to work. [/Q --end Игги Друге wrote--]

A dark chapter of our website's history.

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DJP Mom (11333) on 2/6/2008 9:38 PM · edited · Permalink · Report

However, the plot thickens - see here, from GameSetWatch: "It was first released as part of the Microsoft Entertainment Pack for Windows in 1990". Hmm...

Edit - Beaten to the punch again! That's the trouble with researching with the message box open, you can't see the people sneaking up behind you ;-)