Glenn Saunders wrote:
> I have spoken to the editors of Atari Age about somehow tying their
> database in with things like stella.pro. I do think there ultimately
needs
> to be some sort of synchronization between web-based databases and
emulator
> databases. I suggested Atari Age expose an XML web service which
emulators
> could use to synchronize its ROM definitions. Since AA hosts ROMs, it's
> already almost like a global file-server for emulators. If it also
exposed
> ROM MD5 hashes and other metadata it would be pretty much there.
Might as well put in my 2 cents. If there is something for emulators to
sync with, it would be nice if it were simple. Like maybe a text file or
something like that. A broken URL should not break the emulator. Besides,
the easier it is to implement, the more likely it will be used. And of
course it should be *legal* for an emulator to distribute a copy of this
text file as part of a distribution.
If there's a CRC or hash value, it would be nice to have a snippet of C code
that calculates it.
I'd like to see game names that are short. Like *Yar's Revenge* or *Demon
Attack*. Not some ridiculous monstrosity like the *good* 2600 guy uses.
There could be additional columns in the table with additional information
but it should be separate from the game name. I'd also like to see a
recommended abbreviation that is modeled after the original 8.3 filename of
the original ROM dump. For example *YARS* or *DEMONATK*. And whenever
possible, I think roms should be distributed with these original 8.3
filenames. This would take some research from looking at old ROM
collections, but many people know the game by it's abbreviated name and
sometimes it's easier to type in something short than to pick from a menu.
Actually this might be a nice way to tell the difference between an original
ROM and something that came later. An original could have 8.3 all caps
filename, and things that came later could have a longer filename with upper
case and lower case. Yeah, I think it would be nice to undo some of the
damage that the *good* 2600 guy has done. If you ask me, the original ROM
filenames are an important part of our little culture, and this guy has
basically trashed it.
John
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