Big NinDB Thing

[Random]

Ok, I don't belong to the forums at all, so yes, I'm just some weirdo. But let me tell you something, I am a sculpter. I am easily a Nintendo fan, so all I sculpt is Nintendo characters. However, I am very strict with my sculptures. So that means I won't make "Bomberman" because I think he's a Nintendo character. I can't tell you how difficult it is to find on the internet what characters Nintendo legally owns. But your site, Nintendo Database, is so easy to navigate. I find all the characters I need. I have even learned of games I have never even heard of, such as "Battle Clash". What I'm trying to say here, is that if you merge with N-sider it would be great. I try to visit that site everyday, but their updates are greatly waning. With your site, you could make things much more lively. But I would be gravely dissapointed if all this helpful data got lost. It doesn't matter if you merge with them or not, just please, please don't lose the great Nintendo info.

[Old Man Rupee]

The exclusivity of this site is what made me want to return again and again. Its unique! If the uniqueness of this site is detracted in any way due to the joining, then you may have lost yourself a fan. But if it doesn't, and lots of nice things like more content/more updates start happening, then you have my blessings and should go for it!

[Fryguy64]

N-Sider also has a hefty list of Nintendo-published games, and I will simply be adding to that en masse. They all love Nintendo in the same way as I do, and don't want to see their site disappear any more than I want to see NinDB disappear.

And surely, after all this time, you've come to appreciate that not being updated regularly doesn't mean it sucks. I've gone weeks and months at a time without updating... without being able to update... and you still love NinDB, right?

I seriously doubt that anything major will be lost. The SSBM Trophy Guide was going to eventually be merged into the SSBM cameos here (I know... I know... that's a pretty big deal), and that's what will undoubtedly happen over there. Kazumi Totaka's song guide will be a feature, as will the dolphin guide. The cameos, game lists and game pages will all survive in one form or another (they ARE talking about different ways to view the lists, so navigation can be set to "Famicom - Japan - by release date", if you really miss what I've done here). What else? Erm... the franchise lists I will be trying to work into it, Nintendo's old history may well already be there, I will see if I can add "other" systems for Color TV Games and the Atari games (damn, still didn't put them back up here)...

As for Nintendo Stars and stuff like that, well, you'll have to wait and see... we have plans!

[Fryguy64]

Guest-Random said:

I am easily a Nintendo fan, so all I sculpt is Nintendo characters.

Damn, I wish I had the clay Duck Hunt dog I made a while ago. You could rate it or something.

[Ulthwe]

I knew from the moment you said "a particular news website" that it was N-Sider.com.

My take on the subject is about pragmatism: your site is easier to navigate than theirs. I visit both regularly, but for very different reasons: they have from time to time that N-Depth section that is usually surprising as you ask yourself "how do they know that!?", and their retro interviews prove to be really useful and interesting, but the news section is struggling (they practically missed the DS coverage), their columns are a bit confusing (Heart container? Figs? Irate gamers? Confusions of a gamer? NintendoMojo? why so many?), and the way they organise it all is kinda confusing (just have a look at the Features section). You have info on the games (not that much)... but where is the info on the systems? At least they link the articles related to each specific game, and the staff credits for each one are there, which is a great effort. Simply put, you have to learn how to navigate through the games section, and it seems kinda downplayed in the overall feeling of the website. A final note: what are the "Corporate", "Assorted", "Collection", "Artists" and "About" links found in the front page and do not work? This just adds to the confusion.

In the Database, finding something is really easy, as first and foremost you know WHY the site exists after all: info on everything Nintendo related. Everything is easily available from the left menu: Nintendo's past? just look at the History section. How many Virtual Boy first-pary releases where there in Japan? Two clicks away. And the cameos and references section in each game is mandatory (How come no one thought about it before?). Overall the Database seems funnier and more personal to me, game information wise N-Sider has the same feeling as when you look for a telephone number in the Yellow Pages.

My final thought in the whole subject is that people visit each site for different reasons, even if they are Nintendo-related reasons, and that the merging should bring your personal (I'd call it more familiar) touch to N-Sider, and they should overhaul the way their site is navigated (not necessarily its graphic design, as I see it as correct) to accomodate both kinds of visitors. Not an easy task, for sure!

[Solid Snake]

I really don't like this idea of merge, I know N-sider is a great site but I find there navition system really difficult, and I want ALL the content of this site to be there, and I want this forum to be ALIVE. And about their navigation, it needs a change(make it better) I really find it difficult to get around( I dunno, maybe I'm just stupit?). If REALLY made up your made and wanna merge, then you could ask them at N-sider to make it like Nintendo database, where you could find the thing you could want really easily...AND I'M GONNA MISS NINTENDODATABASE!!!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

By the way it's your choice Fryguy, I hope I'm not demanding to much. if you'll excuse me, I gotta do more crieng.

[The Almighty Narf]

Meh... I don't think I'm upset about it, but I'm certaily not happy about it. I've always like the... museum-ness of NDB. How easy it is to find all sort of cool info on Nintendo stuff. It seems like that'd be lost in the merger.

[Fryguy64]

The guy who asked me is going to post here, probably tonight. I sent him an email outlining just these issues that are coming up regularly: Their forums and their navigation.

But I already know they're trying to sort the navigation out. When he posts, be nice to him, and ask him anything I probably won't know.

[Morgan Lamia]

Wow, having no Nintendo Database is going to seem very strange for me since I've been visiting the site almost everyday since it started.

I'm really happy for you though, Fryguy. You have all of my support in the future.

[Bob the random guy]

I love the database and N-sider seems kinda bland in my opinion if you move there it will lose all the fun creative nicness that Nintendo Database has. Also their site is too grey which I think makes it boring while I just find the Database to be more carefree you could come here once and love it and come back over and over

[Glen]

Hello. My name is Glen Bayer. I'm a writer from N-Sider.com.

First of all, I just want to express gratitude to everyone who has commented on this topic thus far. Your opinions are very valuable to Mark (and to me). By taking the time to comment on this, it goes to show him the worth of what he has created here and how much it means to people on a variety of different levels.

That said, I would like to address some of your concerns and questions. I think given the situation, an explanation is more than justified. When approaching Mark, it was not in my or anyone else’s intention to destroy the magic created here at NinDB by Mark and you, his readers. Believe me, if there is any indication that this will happen, I would prefer we remain separate entities and continue doing what we’re doing.

Our goals and our philosophies however, are exactly alike. N-Sider is not a corporate site by any means. We do not sell anything. We don’t even have ads, pop-ups, or banners. I think we’re very unique in this respect. Everything that is executed at the site, is done directly out of our pockets. Furthermore, everything on the site, from the code, to the artwork and writing, has been created by our devoted staff through tens-of-thousands of hours of loving labor. We’re Nintendo fans, slighty fanatical, but very much like many of you.

Ulthwe, Solid Snake, The Almighty Narf and Bob the random guy have brought up concerns about our current N-Data navigation system. I just want to say that I completely agree with you all. It’s something I’ve known needs remedying for quite some time. Please realize we only just launched this version of our design in February. It was a pretty drastic change from our last one, and kinks are only inevitable. While the next full-scale design won’t arrive until May, there are several revisions we have planned to make things easier in the mean time, as I’ve already mentioned to Mark. The plan to make both N-Data and N-Universe the focal point (right now they’re somewhat hidden) was decided even before I approached Mark. It’s something we most definitely realize and will be taking actions to fix. Moreover, this partnership will only help to fuel the speed in which these changes are made.

However, lets be clear that cosmetic changes are the easy part. It’s the people behind this vision, however, that are most important. You can have the most beautiful website in the world, but if you don’t have the talent creating the content, there’s no soul to be shared.

I just want to give you guys a small glimpse of some of the content - beyond Mark’s incredible game profiles and cameos, etc - you will have available to you.

Employee profiles (over 1,500 already in our database):
Satoru Iwata - www.n-sider.com/personnelview.php?personnelid=76
Shigeru Miyamoto - www.n-sider.com/personnelview.php?personnelid=170
Takashi Tezuka - www.n-sider.com/personnelview.php?personnelid=341
Yoshiaki Koizumi - www.n-sider.com/personnelview.php?personnelid=124
Reginald Fils-Aime - www.n-sider.com/personnelview.php?personnelid=990
Minoru Arakawa, Howard Lincoln, Peter Main, etc., etc.

Hardware Profiles:
Virtual Boy - www.n-sider.com/articleview.php?articleid=260
SNES-CD - www.n-sider.com/articleview.php?articleid=279
Nintendo 64 - www.n-sider.com/articleview.php?articleid=280
64DD, SNES, NES, e-Reader, etc., etc.

Company Profiles:
HAL Laboratory - www.n-sider.com/profileview.php?profileid=24
Nintendo EAD - www.n-sider.com/articleview.php?articleid=273
Intelligent Systems, Rare, Retro Studios, etc., etc.


Being able to put our heads together -- to support each other -- I think would help Mark, I and others at N-Sider provide an even larger wealth of quality content. Also, I don’t like to hype things up, but I just want to let anyone know who’s interested in Nintendo character artwork and the worlds Nintendo creates in its games, that the Universe section will be a showcase of this and more. This is an area that Mark will surely be excited about (I still need to inform him the extent of it) and therefore one who’s fun will be passed on to you.

Another concern by TrustTheFungus and others is regarding the forums. While I can’t make any promises in that area, we’ll see what we can work out with the forums. To give you an idea about our forums, we acquired our 1,000th registered user on March 23, 2002. The community continually fluctuates but we’ve managed to keep it a clean and valuable place of conversation and debate over the years. I think if you were to just give it a chance perhaps… Our emoticons have all been created by one of our sprite artists, Ricardo Rivera, to relate to various Nintendo games, characters and consoles (you can find everything from the Virtual Boy to Pikmin). I would say the forums have a lot of personality to them, but I suppose ultimately that is up for you guys to decide. For those of you who have an knack for creativity and are interested in game design and ideas, I highly suggest checking out our “Game Ideas and Theories Forum”. There will also inevitably be an N-Dataverse section added to the current sections. Perhaps that might appease some concerns as well.

Anyways, this is getting lengthy. I merely want to make it clear all your concerns are being listened to.

Appreciate you reading. Thanks again guys/gals.

Regards,

Glen Bayer

P.S. Slink E gave me an idea. What if we provided readers with a form on-site that they can submit info to? Something as simple as a text box and Submit button? You wouldn’t even have to bother with email. Most importantly, it would be stored and easily accessible for our staff to review and then publish. Just an idea, but something that would now be possible.

[TrustTheFungus]

You seem pretty cool, and you've clearded most of my concerns. I signed up for the forums the other day. The emoticons are AWESOME. You pretty much have everything I 'd want. I spent about half an hour just trying to think of ones you don't have that I really wish you did. Evertime I thought of something I eventually found it in the mass of smiling faces. But I wasn't quite sure if emoticons were allowed in signatures, the rules say no pictures, but I'm not sure if they count. I'll go and try out the forums a little more. Maybe I'll get use to no avatars. They just make it a lot easier to see who's talking.

[Random]

This is a question for Glen, the one who posted the info.

For months now I have gone to the N-Sider website and I have seen a strange banner that has the words "N-Universe". I was just wondering, is N-Universe a database for all of Nintendo's characters and worlds? It would really help me with my artwork and would be greatly appreciated. But I was just wondering, do you absolutely need the merge for N-Universe to be a reality?

An answer would be nice.

[Glen]

TrustTheFungus says, "But I wasn't quite sure if emoticons were allowed in signatures, the rules say no pictures, but I'm not sure if they count."

The emoticons are meant for the users to utilize in whatever fashion they wish. I think as long as you don't go overboard and use them reasonably, no one will complain. In fact, I saw a cute one the other day in someone's sig where it had a line of Pikmin following Olimario. I thought it was a really neat idea.

...is N-Universe a database for all of Nintendo's characters and worlds? It would really help me with my artwork and would be greatly appreciated. But I was just wondering, do you absolutely need the merge for N-Universe to be a reality?

We recently put up a hiring ad on the front page for artists. We've acquired several new artists from those who replied. Just to give you an idea of its scale, I would say now with this most recent hiring spree, our staff working on Universe is almost as large as we have working on the features/editorials/data/news part of the site. So Universe will be created regardless of Mark's particpation or not. However, I think, although I have yet to give the specifics, this section is right up Mark's alley and something he will enjoy to work on. Given his clear dedication and talent, the results of his participation would ultimately benefit you, his readers.

As always, thanks for the questions/comments.

[Ace_ETP]

Hi, Glen. I'm the guy who called your site corporate. I'm sorry; now I've been there some more and I know that is not. And you seem to be trying as much as possible to answer everyone's questions.
I think I was mostly concerned if all those things that me love NinDB would be in the new site, but it seems (according to things you and Fryguy said) the reason you wanted to merge with NinDB in the first place was because of those things. So I think we're sure to see the SSBM Trophy Guide, the cameos and references and the franchise lists again, and I'm really looking forward for the Nintendo Stars section (and the NinDB spirit) to live on, merge or no merge. I think the "text box with submit button thing" is a great idea.
Go ahead with the whole thing. I

Goddammit, did I just sound pretentious.