Template talk:Video game release

Preview warning and hatnotes moving to templatestyles

Page watchers may be interested in MediaWiki talk:Common.css § Preview warning and hatnotes moving to TemplateStyles Izno (talk) 00:22, 29 April 2021 (UTC)

Question (help)

​​ Hello, I used your module in Videoherní vydání (on the Czech Wikipedia) and changed some functions, because we don't use them or have them (we are only using labels etc.). My question is: is it somehow possible to add error message in parametr of label (and error/maintenance category) when the label is wrong, for example when label is "Ssasdsa" (doesn't make sense) or / "us" (small words)? When you for example put wrong ID into Authority control, it will make nice red words using row and also adds category, but I'm not skilled in these fields so I'm asking you. Thank you very much RiniX (talk) 14:34, 24 August 2021 (UTC)

Lines 135-146 is how you'd do this, roughly. In this case, we're checking for and reporting older syntax so if it appears, it can be corrected. But it's the same concept to check for other conditions, undesired combinations, something being lowercase, etc. -- ferret (talk) 15:16, 24 August 2021 (UTC)

​ I somewhat made it (error when it's blank), but still couldn't find a way to do it with labels (aliases). You'll probably know right away (sorry for bothering you). RiniX (talk) 16:25, 24 August 2021 (UTC)

You have to loop through all the arguments, and if one isn't what you want, throw the warning label. To do that you have to have a list of some sort designation what the valid arguments are. That was "knownArgs" in the original module, which is at the top. -- ferret (talk) 17:53, 24 August 2021 (UTC)

Thanks a lot. RiniX (talk) 19:19, 24 August 2021 (UTC)

Better method?

I always thought this template was really weird compared to the rest of Wikipedia's template formating. I wouldn't mind so much, but the more I use it, the more it gets annoying to use.

{{Vgrelease|JP=July 1, 2015|EU|September 11, 2015|NA|September 23, 2015|AU|October 2, 2015}}

Wouldn't it make much more sense to do it like this? {{Vgrelease |JP=July 1, 2015 |EU=September 11, 2015 |NA=September 23, 2015 |AU=October 2, 2015}}

Maybe this will also help organize the release dates more vertically, like this:

{{Vgrelease
|JP=July 1, 2015
|EU=September 11, 2015
|NA=September 23, 2015
|AU=October 2, 2015
}}

I know you can still technically organize it vertically on the current version, but this seems easier to read. In my opinion at least. What do you think?Blue Pumpkin Pie (talk) 22:20, 27 September 2022 (UTC)

The template worked that ways years ago. It presented several problems though. First, the old template had a set order, meaning that Japan always came first, even if it was an older date. Second, you could only use each parameter once, and in some cases you needed them multiple times. This resulted in people use the template repeatedly back to back, causing multiple lists that weren't a single unit. Third, only specific hard coded regions worked. Fourth, you can't combine regions, such as NA/EU. A some point, a new template, literally named {{Video game release new}} was created, using the current format, to work around this. A TfD later resulted in the templates being merged, with the "new" syntax being preferred, and later the entire template was converted to Lua to expand its limits (it was limited to 20 total items period before), make them standardized Lists, and make it work with literally any region. Finally, unnamed parameters are widely used and this really isn't as unique as you think. -- ferret (talk) 22:28, 27 September 2022 (UTC)

I see. it makes sense now.Blue Pumpkin Pie (talk) 22:37, 27 September 2022 (UTC)

Microformats

Does this—or should this—template emit microformats, as {{start date}} (etc) does? — HTGS (talk) 04:15, 2 July 2024 (UTC)

@HTGS Although this template is primarily used to couple regions and dates, the date portion of that often has other text included, or the item pairing might not be dates at all (for example, often used to pair regions to publishers). I don't think microformats work here. -- ferret (talk) 17:45, 2 July 2024 (UTC)

Date format

No great issue but... is there a guideline when to use mdy and dmy dates or should I use always mdy dates as it is shown in examples?-- Carnby (talk) 21:21, 6 September 2024 (UTC)

MOS:DATE. It should follow the same format that the article uses. ~ Dissident93 ^(talk) 23:29, 6 September 2024 (UTC)

Thank you.-- Carnby (talk) 03:21, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

Verify incomplete pairs

Last year, I edited this module on Portuguese Wikipedia to track cases where the pairs are incomplete, like, for example, {{vgrelease|JP|Foo|NA|Bar|‍|XPTO}}. In this case, XPTO won't be shown since there's no label in this pair. With my edit, it'd show and add to a tracking category. I think that tracking this can be useful to look for errors, like in [Δ1338752593], where the second label was not given, making three pairs not show. I can make this edit on the sandbox to test it first if needed. Vickvvy‍✉ 13:11, 12 March 2026 (UTC)

Feel free to sandbox it. Primefac (talk) 00:01, 14 March 2026 (UTC)

 Done. Looking in the testcases, everything looks fine, the only cases that are different from the main template are:

• Date as only parameter;
• After a valid parameter set, two parameters for region, third parameter as date (Old style invalidly mixed in);
• Last parameter left blank, 5+ parameters;
• Last parameter left spaces, 5+ parameters.

Earlier, these cases wouldn't show any warning, and now they show, as expected. Vickvvy‍✉ 01:48, 14 March 2026 (UTC)

Template-protected edit request on 7 April 2026

Sync module with sandbox. With this edit, it'll verify incomplete pairs, as described above. Vickvvy‍✉ 17:28, 7 April 2026 (UTC)

 Done * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 17:36, 8 April 2026 (UTC)