So I was reading this thread on Resetera and someone mentioned that Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 came out after THPS2 in EU. I took this to mean PAL and this didn’t match my experience in Australia. The Wikipedia entry agrees with their statement but I think that is wrong but not sure how to prove it. I found this Australian magazine N64 Gamer cover from June 2000 that has a review for THPS1 in it but perhaps it got delayed after that point.
Is there any resource you guys know of on how to check release dates for older games?
Under the N64 > EU release date here which is similar to the GameFAQs one. Interesting find on the Usenet post - I didn’t consider Australia actually got (multiple) early releases vs other regions. Wonder if it’s the same thinking that goes into soft launches in our region for mobile games.
Remember when Wikipedia said the Dreamcast had sold 1.5 million more than Sega even manufactured?
It led to 100 articles about when the Wii U passed it at ‘10.6 million’
Wikipedia is pretty trash at some things. I’ve corrected false info on it quite a few times, only to come back and find some editor has reversed the change. Sometimes I include a source (and they decide it isn’t good enough randomly, even when it’s a historical archive) and sometimes the thing I correct has no source… but they still revert a revision.
On topic, ‘Tony Hawk’s Skateboarding’ was indeed released in 1999 in Australia on PS1 and 2000 on N64, and THPS2 (reverting to the US name) later in 2000 for both consoles:
Pang is listed as Buster Bros despite that not being the official title and ignoring the fact that Buster Bros name was used in only one region for the minority of the series. References for Pang far outweigh it, I collected a ton of proof and references. My suggestion was refused, and no proof had to be given by the editor who made the decision backing up their (incorrect) claims. Some even went to say that requesting the change meant I was anti-American. I mean, I have no words.
I’ve also had an article - that was valid, with references and citations, and had existed unchallenged for some time - nominated for deletion by people who, get this, don’t like magazines being listed on Wikipedia. Yes, this is a group of people. These were mainly kids who have nothing better to do with their time than nominate for deletion articles about things that existed before they were born simply because they don’t like it. It’s one click to nominate an article for deletion and it’s a world of pain and many hours and days of work to fight for it to stay, and you’ll probably not overturn the deletion.
So, yeah, it’s a real mess. A former colleague of mine now works for the Wikipedia Foundation and he says it’s a real problem they’re struggling to solve.
I mean, let’s be honest here, if there’s one thing we know for sure after the last five years it’s that there are a lot of petty, downright evil people out there who just want to ruin things because they can.
It is Pang. Always has been and always will be . Wikipedia should use the original name, especially when it is used in most regions of the world.
Do you know what pisses me off the most? British and Australian YouTubers calling the Mega Drive a Genesis just to rake in more views. Arse holes! Call it what it is, not what others call it. When I watch American YouTubers I expect them to say Genesis because that’s what they call the system over there.
Same goes for the PC Engine. British YouTubers say Turbo Grafix recently even though the console was always called the PC Engine in Europe despite not getting released anywhere besides France.
Okay, rant over.
I’m sure you’ve already realized this but wikipedia is not about collaboration or facts or references or effort, it is really all about who can out bully others. I ran into insane, horrible people 15 years ago and gave up trying. Nothing has changed.
It’s not so easy as it seems though. If you grew up in a place where something had a different name, unless you are really into said thing, you probably have no idea it is called something entirely different elsewhere. Even as tuned in as I was in the 16-bit era, the Genesis being a “Mega Drive” was completely unknown to me then.
Die Hard Game Fan magazine were the first to really shed light on that sort of thing with their heavy import coverage, which I ate up. Most people though… didn’t.
There’s no easy answer for that era and before. By the next gen, things were more globally known though, even if many games still had name changes. Systems were the same everywhere in 32-bit to the present day.
. Wikipedia should use the original name, especially when it is used in most regions of the world.