Help! I'm swimming in games!

September 14, 2006 5:46 AM

What are some good options for managing a video game collection?

I have an Excel spreadsheet currently but would like something that I could add images of the games into. I want something that is not a web-based solution and can be run on a Windows PC. I want to add my own fields for notes, # players, etc. I have pretty good programming skills but would prefer to not reinvent the wheel. Something that could produce simple reports would be nice, too.

Are there any open source or freeware video game collection managers out there? My Google-fu is failing me...help me, hive mind!

posted by aceyprime to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

Nothing freeware. I'm hitting something similiar.

Once I get my cuecat from Ebay, I'm going to try out
Collectorz

It's a bit pricey, and I'm not sure if you can customize the additional info yet. I need to track packaging, shrinkwrap status and the like, so I hope it supports that.
posted by Lord_Pall at 6:39 AM on September 14, 2006

If you can find a sufficiently-configurable book- (or CD-, or DVD-)organizing database, it might be worthwhile to try to adapt it.
posted by box at 6:43 AM on September 14, 2006

You could always use Microsoft Access - while it's not open source or freeware, you might have the program if you own the rest of Microsoft Office. It has full report generating capabilities, provided you know SQL (while they do have a built-in GUI for creating queries, it only works well for simple queries; the minute you touch subqueries you should probably stick with code-only). It might be tricky to include images (I haven't had any experience with it yet) but Access covers all of your other desired features. You could even head into queries (Find all games with more than 2 people)...
posted by Meagan at 6:53 AM on September 14, 2006

I second the use of Access, but you could also try your hand at Visual Basic with an Access backend. It sounds complex, but it shouldn't be too hard to code a simple interface. Microsoft has a free, reduced-feature version of VB that would work, and you can find all sorts of SQL / VB tutorials with a simple google search.
posted by fvox13 at 7:41 AM on September 14, 2006

FileMaker Pro. Much simpler to setup and manage than Access.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:09 AM on September 14, 2006

http://www.imediaman.com/home.html

And if you're on a Mac, of course, the fantastic Delicious Library.
posted by sdt33 at 1:39 PM on September 14, 2006

A CueCat - I have one of those!

MediaMan was nice but the most current versions have gone pay - I think the previous one is still freeware though.
posted by IndigoRain at 9:21 PM on September 14, 2006

Apology for the double-post, but before you try Collectorz, you might want to see the McAfee SiteAdvisor page for the site.
posted by IndigoRain at 9:23 PM on September 14, 2006

You might want to check out Base on OpenOffice.org. It is part of OpenOffice 2.xx Given the data you want to record doesn't require complex updating, algorithmic calculations, etc., it is pretty easy to work with. The best part is that you can add more data types at later points, customize the reports as needed and it costs you --- nothing. Freeware that is totally free. Gotta love it.

www.openoffice.org
posted by Koffeeman at 5:36 AM on September 15, 2006