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News
Stats Page - 2011-05-05 14:47:12.2941221
Small update to improve the speed that the Stats page displays. Previously everything was calculated on the fly which when SQL was the backend database was fine, but SQLite is understandably slower. Therefore every 3 hours the stats are refreshed (apart from the last 10 viewed games/reviews) from scratch and it's the first person who lands on the stats page after the 3 hour time limit is up that is the unfortunate individual who generates them!
Anniversary - 2011-03-31 16:14:45.951
Dang! Just realised I missed the sites first birthday. Anyway, many happy returns to it!!
Comments - 2011-02-11 14:03:39.358
Added a Comments shortcut to the left menu.
Stats - 2011-02-10 14:37:28.344
Added some stats back into the left menu.
Site Updated - 2011-01-15 15:35:13.207
You've probably noticed that the site has changed completely and not necessarily for the better cosmetically ;-)
I'm attempting to make the sites footprint a lot lower and it tied in nicely time-wise with the database engine update, so all superfluous css, javascript, AJAX has been removed.
It should hopefully be a bit more straightforward to get to the reviews now but if anyone has any problems you can email me.
One casualty has been the stats which will appear again soon...
Database altered - 2010-12-30 10:57:39.5625
Since day one the web site database has been run from SQL Server and although this has huge benefits (primarily data access speed) it has the ultimate disadvantage of being entirely unportable and utterly reliant on the website having access to a SQL Server engine!
Therefore I have decided to use a portable database structure, in this case SQLite after testing a few alternatives. The original Access database is far too slow and although the SQL CE (Compact Edition) allows pretty much exactly the same portability as SQLite, it's newer technology and requires development in an IDE I don't own! So SQLite it is...
There may well be some speed issues as it is undoubtedly going to be slower as the optimisations of SQL Server have gone, however I believe it will be fast enough.
If you notice any connection issues, slowness, bugs, etc, please contact me at the email address in the Contribute section of the site.
Infoseek Integration Update - 2010-11-24 17:36:00
As mentioned on the 08/11/2010 the database had been updated to allow the use of Infoseek ID's if known. That was just a small subset at the time, now all of the appropriate Infoseek data has been imported into the database. So the amount of software titles has tripled from just under 7,000 to over 22,000! All publishers, authors, titles and release years have been updated to that stored in Infoseek. Many, many thanks to Martijn van der Heide of WOS for his help and extracts!
Magazine Stats - 2010-11-19 14:18:00
Updated the Stats > Magazine Stats page so the reviews for each game are listed under each Magazine Issue Name. Games are directly linked to the review.
Infoseek Integration - 2010-11-08 15:09:00
The site has been integrated with the Infoseek (World of Spectrum database) ID's so that a URL search can be performed as long as you know the Infoseek ID. For example http://www.zxspectrumreviews.co.uk/Search.aspx?wosid=0000001 will give you the result set for A Licence To Kill. The two databases are nowhere near a 1:1 so there will be many Infoseek ID's missing from the ZXSR database. I'm working on getting in as many as possible.
Banners added - 2010-08-27 14:00:00
Banners are the parts of the Crash reviews where they would make some daft comments appropriate (or not in many cases!) to the game. Maybe a developer mini-bio or a top ten something or others! They've been in the database for years but were never displayed in the reviews. Fixed!
Completion!! - 2010-08-27 13:00:00
Well almost. Apart from 3 reviews that for some reason are missing, the Crash reviews are finally completed. They still need a final once-over and the picture blurbs still need to be added but almost 10 years slog is all but finished!!
Reviews Added - 2010-08-18 13:52:00
Crash Issue 96 reviews complete.
Reviews Added - 2010-08-11 13:11:00
Crash Issue 97 reviews complete.
Reviews Added - 2010-08-10 21:08:00
Crash Issues 94, 95 and 98 added
Magazine Stats - 2010-07-21 11:37:00
Added a little more functionality to the Magazine stats page. It now lists all magazines where the issue has reviews (so all of Crash) and list each game reviewed underneath each. Clicking the game will take you directly to the review.
Reviews Added - 2010-07-19 13:50:00
Crash Issues 91 to 93 reviews added.
Jonathan Smith (Joffa) - 2010-06-27 15:00:01
On the 26th June 2010 the sad news filtered through that the legendary Speccy programmer, Jonathan Smith (aka Joffa), passed away after a long illness. Joffa was truly one of the great 8-bit programmers always producing technically fantastic and supremely playable coin-op conversions and other arcade games. A very shy and caring man he was always ready to give a helping hand or advice to those who wanted it. I never met the man but I conversed with him many times on the World of Spectrum forums and he was always willing to talk about his games and never once came across as having an ego. Rest In Peace Jof, the worlds a poorer place without you in it, but you leave a lasting legacy with your fantastic Speccy games.
Reviews Added - 2010-06-25 15:00:00
Finally Crash Issue 63 is fully finished! Also full upload of Crash Issue 90 reviews.
Banned IP's - 2010-06-12 12:00:00
Hmmm. Seems like a couple of users are insisting in posting a load of porn and other dubious links into the comments. Well their IP Addresses have been banned from the site indefintely and hopefully they won't be back!
Reviews Added - 2010-06-11 12:49:00
Crash Issues 87 to 89 reviews added.
Reviews Added - 2010-05-07 14:04:03.27
12 reviews added for Crash Issue 86
IIS Error - 2010-04-03 14:22:09.983
Occasionally the site has been hanging which a bit of digging revealed to be a SQL pooling error within IIS. Made a quick fix by turning off pooling completely which has an impact on the speed of the site, but that impact is negligible.
Small Update - 2010-04-03 14:20:09.92
Noticed that the Crash Reviews were not displaying the extra review comments due to a bug. Now fixed.
Site Live - 2010-03-26 14:18:34.2
Officially put site live on 26th March 2010.
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