1000 Pages: Three Years of the Giant Bomb Wiki
By Marino 61 Comments
We're less than two weeks away from the third anniversary of Giant Bomb going fully live, which means the wiki is also almost three years old. It's been a long road, but yesterday, I made it to 1000 pages that I've added to the database. Some I'm proud of, others not so much. But I figured I'd take a look back at some of my favorites and some not-so-favorites as well.
Just to be clear, these are pages that I've added, not necessarily completely built. Thankfully, a bunch of members of the Giant Bomb community have taken the initiative to fill in many of these pages. I can't tell you how awesome it is to revisit a page I've added and find that someone has decked it out with a ton of information. So, if you see anything below that piques your interest, please jump on it.
Here's the full list if you're interested: Marino's Created Pages
You Always Remember Your First
The first thing I ever did on the wiki was add Hyrule as a location to the Link to the Past page, but the first page I ever created was for The Attack. The TI-99/4A was the first game system that I had, so there's a lot of nostalgia there. That's why my first project on the wiki was to fill out the the library of TI-99/4A games like this one, Blasto, Car Wars, and Chisholm Trail.
PlayStation Underground
This was my first big page. I wasn't really sure there was a place for it on the site, but luckily Jeff gave me the go ahead to add it as a concept. Back in 1997, I received the first edition of PlayStation Underground because I had registered my PlayStation with one of those post cards that you get in the box with any new system. At the time, the idea of being able to play demos of games that weren't out yet and getting high quality video content was unheard of. The Internet was still fairly new, and you certainly weren't going to be downloading all this stuff like you can today. I had been teaching myself basic HTML at the time, so I decided to create a site about it. While in an AOL video game chat room trying to get people to check out my site, I got an IM from a guy claiming to work on PlayStation Underground. Of course I didn't believe him, but when he sent me an email from a Sony domain, I couldn't argue with that. Turned out that he was the producer of the whole thing, Gary Barth. I kept working on the site, which became fairly popular with fans of the CD magazine thanks to inside information provided by Gary pertaining to what was coming in each next issue. When Gary found out that I lived in Georgia, he invited my friend Christopher and myself to E3 in Atlanta. I was only 16 at the time, so we were told that if anyone asked, to tell them that we had won a contest from Sony. The site pretty much ended in 2001 when the magazine stopped being produced, so I'm happy that some of the site's content found a new home here.
Electronic Entertainment Expo
When I ran the Underground site, I built a sub-site specifically for E3. I was able to attend the show for 10 years from 1997-2006. I had a lot of documented info from my old site, but I had to create a bunch more especially for the years I didn't attend. Trying to find documentation online for an event that happened in 1995 isn't easy. Despite not having been to the show in five years, E3 is still one of my favorite times of the year.
- E3 1995 -- E3 1996 -- E3 1997 -- E3 1998
- E3 1999 -- E3 2000 -- E3 2001 -- E3 2002
- E3 2003 -- E3 2004 -- E3 2005 -- E3 2006
- E3 2007 -- E3 2008 -- E3 2010 -- E3 2011
EverQuest
For over three years, the world of Norrath was pretty much my life. It sounds crazy now, and maybe a little sad, but I enjoyed just about every minute of it. I've come to terms with the fact that EverQuest is likely the most fun that I will ever have in any game for the rest of my life. Nothing will ever match that first MMO experience and sense of community in a virtual world. It's hard to convey to people that didn't play it at the time. Anyway, I've only added two actual EQ games to the database, but there's a bunch other stuff related to the game that I've submitted.
- EverQuest Next (working title)
- Antonica -- Faydwer -- Odus -- Kunark -- Velious -- Luclin -- Taelosia -- Kuua
- Firiona Vie -- Lanys T'Vyl -- Lucan D'Lere -- Antonia Bayle
- Breezeboot's Frigid Gnasher #9000 -- Jumjum -- Ragebringer -- Water Sprinkler of Nem Ankh
- Iksar -- Frogloks -- Kedge -- Kerrans -- Sarnaks -- Vah Shir -- Shissar -- Othmir and although not unique to EQ... High Elves -- Half Elves -- Barbarians
- There are over 30 gods in the pantheon of EverQuest. Rather than list them all, someone else made this gods page which is quite good.
Mortal Kombat
After the TI-99/4A stuff, I started tackling MK related content. Specifically, I wanted to add the actors that portrayed the characters in the first three games in the series. Things branched off from there into NBA Jam secret characters.
- Kerri Hoskins
- Ed Boon
- Dan Forden
- Brian Glynn
- Lia Montelongo / Lia Montelongo
- Dr. Phillip Ahn
- Skarlet
- Edenia -- Netherrealm -- Orderrealm -- Chaosrealm
The Penny Arcade Expo
I've been to every PAX since 2008 including the East coast versions. I hope that those that aren't able to go can get some benefit out of the hundreds of pictures I take.
- Penny Arcade Expo
- PAX 2008 -- PAX 2009 -- PAX Prime 2010 -- PAX Prime 2011
- PAX East 2010 -- PAX East 2011
- The PAX 10 -- Boston Indie Showcase
The Wall of Shame
Hey, sometimes you come across a game, object, location, character or concept that doesn't exist in the database. It may not be "important" or "significant" or "good," but upon realizing that it's not there, it become your duty to make things right in the world. When building the E3 pages, I came across many games that required a page. Sometimes that leads to making a franchise page. And that leads to character pages. And that... it's a bottomless pit of despair!
- Disney Princess
- Cheetah Girls
- George W. Bush -- Newt Gingrich
- Phantom Entertainment
- The Experience
- Walt Disney Pictures presents Enchanted
- Just Dance 3
- Alteil
- The Berentstein Bears and the Spooky Old Tree
- Mort the Chicken
- Konami Kids Playground
- Mary Kate & Ashley: Crush Course
- Touch Darts
The Conception of Concepts
Concepts are easily the most loosely defined category on the site, so they are the ones that most often have their credibility questioned. Sometimes I come across something that still surprises me that we don't have a page for it. The hardest part sometimes is coming up with a concise, yet descriptive (and sometimes funny) name. Here's some of my favorites over the last three years.
- Discontinued MMO
- Friendly Encouragement
- Graphics Overhaul
- Inappropriate Attacks
- Sequel is in a Different Genre
- Retro Graphics Toggle
- Versus Screen
- Conjoined Twins
- Invisible Bridges
- Walking Through Walls
- Pre-Match Movement
- Color Cartridges -- Foil Box Art -- Lenticular Box Art
- Barefoot
- Rolling Horizon
- Raining Blood
- Cartography
- Kiting -- Pulling
- Kobolds
- Foraging -- Tracking
- No Drop Items -- Temporary Items
- Twinking
- Power Leveling
The Johns
John is a pretty common name.
- John Carlton
- John Elway
- John Lowes / John Lowes
- John Newcomer
- John Phua
- John Tobias
- John Vogel
- Jon Hey
- Jonathan Beard
#1000
Last night's 1000th created page came from my favorite console game of all time. I must accept part of the blame in this, but how on Earth is it possible that, after three years, we don't have every character from a game as popular as A Link to the Past in the database already? That's crazy! So, the descendant of the seven wise men of Hyrule became #1000. Thanks for all the help, Sahasrahla.
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