March 2, 2005 - Did you know that IGN is almost 10 years old? That's right, it was in September 1996 that current IGN Xbox EIC Douglass C. Perry kicked off the first IGN site, N64.com (later redubbed IGN64). Since then, we've launched sites for every major gaming platform and have steadily strengthened the backbone of our game sites: the IGN games db. Hacked together on Informix and later moved over to custom software called "Network in a Box," IGN's game database has steadily grown over the years. Originally, we only kept track of game titles, platforms, and review scores, but we later expanded to include game descriptions, box art, feature lists, genres, ESRB ratings, media data, and more. Last weekend, we reached another milestone: we passed the 30,000 games mark.
But we'll definitely not rest on (y)our laurels. We're still missing thousands of games -- and the only way we can get them all is with your help. So, if you haven't yet set up your personal game collection list, the time has come. Since we launched our expanded Community tools in late 2002, IGN readers have added more than 9 million games to their collections and wishlists on IGN. The lists let readers keep track of their games, get statistics, rate and review games, influence the "also try" charts at the bottom of our articles, and even power the popularity metrics on our GameStats sister site.
It's really easy. Sign up for an IGN username (it's free and lets you rate games, post on boards, and set up lists), then hit the game collection tab and start searching for games. The fastest way to track your collection online is to select a platform and a release date range and hit "find game" -- then hit multiple games at once. If you encounter a game that's not in our db, read below on how to get it added.
If you already have an online collection and wishlist, it's time to update! Here's a list of some recently released games (domestic only -- to see new Japanese releases as well, go here). Just mark the boxes next to the games you own, then hit the "add" button.
If you've got a game in your collection that we don't list in our database, make sure to first search for it using alternate spellings, then send an add game request to games@ign.com with as much detail as you can muster. The bare minimum is game title, country of release, and publisher, but giving us more data such as developer, release date, genre, and box art (and, if available, text description from the back of the box or manual intro) will guarantee quicker addition.
Thanks for the help -- and we hope you enjoy the service.
