Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Jagged 85/Video Game Genres Evidence

This is a page for evidence of Jagged85's misuse of sources on video game genre articles, provisionally at least. The time-frame covers January 2011 to September 2012. Use of the first person refers to User:Bridies. See also Wikipedia talk:Requests for comment/Jagged 85 and Requests for comment/Jagged 85/Computer Games Evidence.

First-person shooter
This covers many of Jagged85's additions to this article, but is not exhaustive. Not included are some convoluted examples of synthesis where he was only partly responsible. Specifically the addition of badly sourced mentions of a lot of old games (examples here and here), as well as Killzone's stereoscopic "evolution". There were also some contested - but peripheral either way - bits and pieces regarding motion sensors. All that's covered on Talk:First-person shooter. Purely descriptive additions - also contentious, in terms of relevance - are largely left out of this, and are not as prevalent as in the shoot 'em up article.

Star Cruiser
Jagged_85 added and then elaborated on Star Cruiser as an early first-person shooter at First-person shooter:   

When Star Cruiser was deleted Jagged_85 reinstated in full in this diff from 3rd September 2012: 

"Arsys Software's Star Cruiser, an early first-person shooter released for the NEC PC-8801 computer in 1988 and ported to the Sega Mega Drive console in 1990, was an innovative game that introduced the use of fully 3D polygonal graphics, action RPG elements, and free-roaming open space exploration allowing six degrees of freedom."

There are a number of serious problems with these edits.


 * Poor quality sources

Jagged cites two sources, one after the claim "an early first-person shooter", and two references (to the same 4gamer article) for the rest of the claims in the sentence. The first source is an infobox from allgame. allgame is a database of information about computer games, but is not considered definitive, especially for something as subjective as "genre" and "style". To date Jagged has been unable to provide any other sources which suggest that Star Cruiser is a First-person shooter, let alone that it's a WP:notable early example worth including in the FPS article in Wikipedia. His other source is a short "twenty years on" description of the game in Japanese. He does at least provide a google English translation, but by its nature this will be a harder to verify source, as English editors will be cautious about marking something as "not in source" in case the problem is the translation rather than the use of the source. The google translation is near gibberish: "In addition, the story betrayed in the sense not only depiction polygon, said games and unique system that combines elements of RPG and 3D action, the imagination of the players, and turning serif affectation of character, now that it was 20 years since the launch enjoy what has become a faded but without." After all the criticism that Jagged previously received for using poor quality and hard to verify sources, it is worrying that he is using sources like this.


 * Claims made in Wikipedia that are not in references

Neither source says that it is an early first-person shooter. Even allowing for the translation, Japanese source does not mention "first-person shooter"; the style is described as "action RPG", or "RPG and 3D action". Neither source uses the word "innovative". Neither source uses "introduced" in relation to "fully 3D polygonal graphics". It's extremely hard to be sure given that the translated source says: "Technological capabilities in the polygon era has not yet penetrated into the game industry, I drew a space by employing the polygon, had a great impact to the user at the time", but there does seem to be some suggestion that it impressed users of the time with its use of polygon graphics. There is nothing however to suggest that it introduced polygon graphics. There is also nothing to support: "free-roaming open space exploration allowing six degrees of freedom". Six degrees of freedom is a very specific claim regarding how an object can move. There is nothing in the cited sources to suggest Star Cruiser was a game which supported this. Star Cruiser is listed in the Six degrees of freedom article as an example; however the text was added by Jagged in this March 2011 diff:, which references the same previously described translation of a short Japanese article which does not mention anything about six degrees of freedom.

This diff (illustrating numerous consecutive edits in May 2011) shows Jagged85's addition of this claim:

Another early console and multiplatform example was Star Cruiser', a first-person shooter[ref 1] released for the NEC PC-8801 computer in 1988 [...] Star Cruiser was an innovative game that introduced the use of fully 3D polygonal graphics, action RPG elements, and open space exploration allowing six degrees of freedom.[ref 2]''

22:02 3 September 2012

After it was removed, he reinstated the claim as:

Arsys Software's Star Cruiser, an early first-person shooter[ref 1] [...] was an innovative game that introduced the use of fully 3D polygonal graphics, action RPG elements, and free-roaming open space exploration allowing six degrees of freedom.[ref 2]

The first source was Allgame, used to support its inclusion as a first-person shooter, and does indeed call it one: in an infobox, with no article, no commentary, nothing. It also does not say that it was "an early example". The rest of the claims come from this: even allowing for the translation, this is just a discussion of it as an Action role-playing game, another genre. It does say it had "3D action" elements, but does not mention first-person shooters, let alone any influence on or importance to the genre, or that it "introduced" anything (which given the context in the history section, implies "introduced to the genre").

Jagged85 was unrepentant about this edit, saying he merely claimed: ''Star Cruiser is a first-person shooter, and it featured 3D polygon graphics. Nothing I said contradicted the sources I've cited, nor did I explicitly imply a position that neither source advances.'' Whatever "explicitly imply" means, he advanced the notion that that this game "introduced" (not just "featured") these graphics (and in fact 3 other mechanics or ideas he neglected to defend), even aside from the question of unmerited context in the wrong genre's history section history section.

Second Person Shooter Zato
This diff, the same from May 2011, shows the addition of this claim:

A recent unique take on the genre is Second Person Shooter Zato'', an experimental 'second-person shooter' released by Japanese indie developer Himo in 2011. [there follows a description of the gameplay]''

The source was GameSetWatch's interview with the game's developer.

In the source, the journalist writes: ''Many have played third- and first-person shooters. Not many have experienced second-person shooters, nor even have entertained the idea of what kind of game that would be.'' This runs counter to the claim that the game both belongs to the first-person shooter genre and is "a unique" - though certainly highly unusual - "take" on it.

The developer, who is being interviewed, states that he enjoys both FPS and 3PS games, but says ''I don’t really know the finer details of these shooter genres. While I definitely feel there was some influence, I don’t think I ever felt there was a specific spot in the game that came from a direct influence [...] more than like an FPS or TPS, I created this game in the image of action games from long ago.'' So it's explicitly not directly influenced by FPS, nor is it an attempt to do something unique or unusual with that genre (a "unique take on the genre").

This source supports the notion that this game was an unusual take on the broader shooter game genre, and would probably be fine in that article. But here the context (i.e. article) is wrong, the claim is inflated, and the description of gameplay that follows gives it undue space in the history. Further bear in mind that this is a minor indie game, and the source is an interview rather than any fully secondary source.

Also, I believe Jagged85 was refering to this edit when he said: I added it to the present-day section, implying the current state of the genre, which runs counter to his repeated claims that there is no wider implication to the context of his more inoccuous additions.

Cover systems in first person shooters
02:20, 4 Feb, 2011 and 15:25 5 Sept 2012.

Here he added the claim that:

''In recent years, first-person shooters have begun adopting third-person shooter elements. An example of this is the cover system, which was introduced by the third-person shooters WinBack (1999).'' [There then follows a lengthy synthesis of mentions of games with cover systems, before moving on to synthesis of examples of other 3PS elements].

In his next edit he "added more examples". And after I later removed it, he reinstated, on 5 Sept 2012, a "trimmed down" - but for our purposes much the same, given that it also included the source used below - version.

There in fact would appear to be no citation for the claim In recent years, first-person shooters have begun adopting third-person shooter elements, and it relies on synthesis of the various following claims. But the first citation that comes along, for the statement An example of this is the cover system, is journalist Brian Ashcraft on Kotaku. This source largely discusses the trend of cover systems in the seperate genre of the third-person shooter. When it does come to first-person shooters (one paragraph of the article), this is what it says: Even though early cover game Time Crisis was a first-person shooter, cover has felt largely bound to third-person shooter titles.

Time Crisis is 5-15 years prior to the period discussed. Ashcraft does mention two FPS games with cover: Still, developers Treyarch and Guerilla Games both brought cover with their respective first-person titles Quantum of Solace, released fall 2008, and Killzone 2, released February 2009. So that is a mention of just two exceptions to the assertion that cover has felt largely bound to third-person shooter titles, yet this source is used to support ''In recent years, first-person shooters have begun adopting third-person shooter elements. An example of this is the cover system''.

Then consider the paragraph of synthesised mentions of cover (and then other elements) in individual games, which appear to ultimately rely on this citation, as there appears to be no mention of this supposed trend in the statements or their sources. This above source is the only one I saw with any kind of historical or genre context and it was the only one referenced by Jagged85 when he defended the claim. He said: this reference in the article specifically deals with the cover system and its evolution in both first and third person shooters. So his misrepresentation of the context can be no accident.

And again Jagged85 said: I added it to the present-day section, implying the current state of the genre, with reference to his claims in this part of the history section (it's not clear whether he referred to Second Person Shooter - see above - or cover systems, or both), which runs counter to his other assertions that there is no wider implication to the context of his more innocuous claims.

Super Spy
03:53, 29 Jan 2011:

This is Jagged85's first addition of Super Spy. It said:

In 1990, SNK's Super Spy combined elements of both first-person shooters and beat 'em ups.

The source was Allgame. It does not say this game combined elements of both first-person shooters and beat 'em ups. and in fact does not mention first-person shooters.

07:51, 4 May 2011

He then "elaborated on" the claim, so that it read:

In 1990, SNK's Super Spy was a first-person shooter with beat 'em up elements that depicted the player's arms and weapons on screen.

He added Arcade Museum/Killer List of Video Games to Allgame, but again neither calls it a first person shooter with beat 'em up elements, nor a first-person shooter. As an aside: the version I ultimately removed made comparisons to Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, apparently a case of another editor deciding to make the implications explicit...

22:14 3 Sept 2012

After I removed the content, he reinstated it as this:

SNK's Super Spy (1990) for the arcades and Neo Geo console was a first-person action game[ref] that is notable for displaying the player's gun on the screen.

One now questions what a game not claimed as a first-person shooter is doing in this article. And more importantly: There is no claim in either source (same as above) that this mechanic is "notable".

Gun Buster
This diff, showing numerous conscutive edits in May 2011, shows the addition of this claim:

'Taito's Gun Buster'' was an innovative first-person shooter released in 1992 for the arcades. It featured on-foot gameplay and a unique control scheme where the player moves using an eight-direction joystick and takes aim using a mounted positional gun. It was also unique in allowing two-player cooperative gameplay for the mission mode, and featured a deathmatch mode where either two players could compete against each other or up to four players could compete in an early example of a team deathmatch, consisting of two teams with two players each competing against each other.''

The source was Arcade Museam/Killer List of Video Games.

It partially supports the claim, including the general descriptive information and the assertion that it was An extremely innovative first-person shooter (there is no explanation why) and the description of the multiplayer mode as a "deathmatch".

But it does not say that it was "an early example of a team deathmatch" and it does not say that its co-operative gameplay was "unique". 22:18, 3 Sept 2012

Here he reinstated a toned-down, more viable version. But one still questions his elaborating on gameplay descriptions for which there's no verifiable historical significance, and why he felt the need to add a blue-linked concept (team deathmatch) not used in the source.

Wolfenstein 3D
This diff, showing a series of edits in April 2011, shows the addition of this claim:

It introduced a fresh formula to the personal computer game market that successfully combined the fast pace and quick reflexes of arcade action games, including shooters (such as Space Invaders) and scrolling brawlers (such as Altered Beast), which pit the player against multiple enemies that come in increasing waves of speed and complexity, with the first-person perspective of traditional computer role-playing games (such as Wizardry) which attempted to provide players with an immersive experience.

Two sources are given for this: Ronald Strickland, Growing up postmodern: neoliberalism and the war on the young, pp. 112-3

James Paul, What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy, p. 47

Some of the statement is to be found in either of these, partiucularly the references to the various other games. But some of it appears to be original synthesis, and the statement that this "fresh new formula" was indeed a deliberate formula and crucially, that is was successful do not appear to be.

Strickland's book notes that Wolfenstein 3D contains thematic and mechanical elements of earlier scrolling violent games and some unspecified elements of RPGs such as Wizardry (Jagged85's statement that Wizardry attempted to provide players with an immersive experience is plagiarised; very close paraphrasing). But then Strickland writes: While it is possible in retrospect to point out such similarities, engaging in a session with Wolfenstein 3D in 1992 would have been truly mind-boggling; for in the radical shift from third-person to first-person, the game created an experiential space without previous historical reference. I'll leave it to observers to decide whether 'It introduced a fresh formula to the personal computer game market that successfully combined... is a reasonable inference from this, but...

Strickland also writes: "first-person shooters like Wolfenstein 3D attempt a more realistic experience by shifting the player's perspective to that of the puppet itself [...] However, in its attempt to create a virtual reality experience for the player, the first-person shooter is overwhelmingly characterized by its inability [italicised in source] to generate such an environment." Which runs counter to the notion that the "formula" was successful.

And while James Paul's book discusses the arcade action elements of Wolfenstein and other shooter games, it does not draw any connection to RPGs, which it just mentions seperately as "another well-defined subdomain".

Silent Debbugers
10:48, 23 Jan 2011

Here he added:

In early 1991, Data East released Silent Debuggers'' for the TurboGrafx-16. This game featured a minimum ability to look up and down.''

It's not that this one is inaccurate, but that it is an exemplar of redundancy. Just what is a snippet of gameplay description, with no commentary at all, doing in the history section? The source appears to be a game guide (possibly a primary source) complete with annotated pictures, related to the Wii Virtual Console. No critical commentary in the source.

The same day he felt the need to change it to a whole new redundant gameplay description:

In early 1991, Data East's first-person shooter Silent Debuggers for the TurboGrafx-16 allowed players to aim the gun sight when shooting at enemies.

Aside from the question of why include gameplay snippets - with no commentary - in the first place, why one and not the other? Because putting gameplay description into a history section seeks to make an implicit claim of significance regarding that gameplay.

Golgo 13
11:32, 11 Jan 2011

Golgo 13:

Another 1988 game, Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode, featured various first-person shooter levels and is notable for introducing a sniper rifle, used in unique missions requiring the player to assassinate an enemy agent from a long distance using an unsteady sniper scope.

The source was 1UP.

It does not say that it features "first-person shooter levels", nor that it "is notable for introducing [i.e. being the first to use it] a sniper rifle".

That aside, the source does draw an implicit connection between Golgo 13's use of a sniper scope and later FPS games:  As for sniper scopes, they become [sic] standard equipment for [...] soldiers in dozens of first-person shooters.

One of Jagged85's more viable claims then... but, he plagiarised it: compare the source's statement: unique missions that required the player to pick off an enemy agent from thousands of feet away, using an unsteady sniper scope' with Jagged85's statement regarding unique missions requiring the player to assassinate an enemy agent from a long distance using an unsteady sniper scope.

Shoot 'em up
This is again not exhaustive. Quite a number of purely descriptive additions have been left out (though some are illustrated in the diffs) and have not been checked for plagiarism. As well, one or two examples of claims supported but with bits of borderline plagiarism.

General
This diff of several redundant additions from KLOV (and on the left hand side of the diff, one can view how many have been added previously) illustrates a general complaint with Jagged85's edits to the shoot 'em up article, and other genre articles. Most are general descriptions of games taken from Killer List of Video Games/Arcade Museum, with no critical commentary (which would be fine in the game play section of those articles; but not in the history section of a genre article). And some of these are peppered with unsupported claims that this or that is "unique" or is "an early example". See below:

Darius
06:36, 29 Jan 2011

Here he added the claim that:

That same year, Taito's Darius featured a unique three-screen arcade cabinet and a non-linear level design where the player is given a choice of which path to follow after each boss; out of 28 possible stages, the player would only be able to play through seven at most during each run through the game.

Killer List of Video Games/Arcade Museum, the source, does not say this was "unique".

Front Line
04:17, 29 Jan 2011

Here he wrote that:

That same year, several early vertical-scrolling run & gun shooters were released, including Taito's Front Line, an early military-themed multi-directional shooter to have players control foot soldiers rather than vehicles,[ref] Taito's Wild Western, where the player character on a horse must defend a moving train from robbers.

Sources were the respective KLOV entries: Front Line and Wild Western

The source on Front Line does not call it a "run & gun shooter", a "multi-directional shooter", nor an "early" anything. Ditto Wild Western is called neither early nor a "run & gun shooter". Typically, there's no real critical commentary in the source to demonstrate significance.

Galaxian
1

00:18, 5 Jan 2011

Here he added the following claim regarding Galaxian:

...as well as featuring early boss encounters.

00:50 29 Jan 2011

Here he modified the claim to:

'"...as well as introducing levels and boss encounters. It was also the first game to have all of its graphics in RGB colour.''

The source for both versions was the KLOV entry for the game. All this says is: "You must shoot the aliens and their boss." It does not say this was the first nor even an even an early boss, nor does it say the game had the first levels. It barely has any real commentary. It does say: This was the first video game released with 100 percent of its graphics displayed in true RGB color....

2

19:42, 20 Jan 2012:

This edit added the claim that:

It [Galaxian] also featured an improved enemy AI where enemy ships frequently break out of formation to dive towards the player.

The source was Arcade Museum/Killer List of Video Games.

The source describes this game play mechanic but does not say it was an improved enemy AI over predecessors in the genre.

3

20:28, 2 Mar 2012:

This edit "elaborated on" information regarding Glaxian's colour graphics saying:

[This] was an important evolution and that its antagonists [made] it the first game to feature enemies with individual personalities.

The source is an old print magazine called Joystik (he spelled it Joystick in the ref), Sept 1982, p. 10.

The claim is supported. The source is itself from very early in the genre's history and does not seem to mention shoot 'em ups, but it's an article on "The Evolution of Space Games" and is clearly the same thing. It calls these elements "strong evolutionary concepts".

But, he plagiarised: "enemies with individual personalities"; it's just a few words but a large part of a short claim and a creative expression that should have been paraphrased. Also, this claim is tacked on to the misrepresented claim mentioned above, so something like:

Its antagonists made it the first game to feature enemies with individual personalities would be supported, but the full claim was:

It also featured an improved enemy AI where enemy ships frequently break out of formation to dive towards the player,[ref] making it the first game to feature enemies with individual personalities. The first part of which is not supported.

Space Invaders
1

11:06, 20 Feb, 2012

Here he added the claim that :

While earlier shooting games allowed the player to shoot at targets, Space Invaders was the first in which targets could fire back at the player.

The source, an archived copy of Electronic Games from 1982 says: Space Invaders was the first coin-op contest in which the targets could fire back at the player. It wasn't terribly easy to create an original wording out of this, but there was just no attempt to by Jagged85.

2

07:10, 11 April 2011

Here wrote of Space Invaders

being the first game to save the player's score.[ref] It was also the first game where players had to repel hordes of creatures,[ref] take cover from enemy fire, and use destructible barriers,[ref] in addition to introducing a continuous background soundtrack.[ref] It set the template for the shoot 'em up genre,[ref] and has influenced most shooting games released since then.[ref]

One of the sources, Benji Edwards of 1UP, wrote that the game called on players to repel hordes of marching, thumping space creatures for the first time in videogame history. It seems Jagged85 did not feel it reasonable to think of a synonym for any of "repel", "hordes" (or "repel hordes") or "creatures".

Another, Karen Collins in her book From Pac-Man to pop music - as shown here - wrote: It was Taito/Midway's Space Invaders of 1978 that was to introduce the idea of a continuous background sountrack

3

28 Jan 2011

In on of these consecutive edits, he added the claim that:

It [Space Invaders] was the first video game to have an intermission between gameplay, and to popularize the concept of achieving a high score.

The source was GameSpy and it supports the claim regarding the high score (Space Invaders greatest legacy is that it is generally credited with introducing the world to the concept of the high score.). But there is nothing about it being the first game to have an intermission between gameplay.

Rail shooter
03:35, 7 May 2011:

This diff, shows consecutive edits (the first part is here and the second here) and shows he added:

The term "rail shooter" is also often applied to light gun shooters that use "on-rails" movement,[ref] and the term has also been applied to linear first-person shooters such as Call of Duty in recent years.[ref]

But this is a modified version of my 2009 addition to the Light gun shooter article, which was:

Light gun games which feature "on-rails" movement are sometimes termed "rail shooters",[ref] though this term is also applied to other types of shooters featuring similar movement.[ref]

The source I used for the first part of the statement - Brian Ashcraft, Arcade Mania!, p. 147 - is the same as that cited by Jagged85 for the first part of "his" addition. An experienced editor should know to at least link the page he took the content from, to at least say that he was taking it from somewhere else. Who knows if he ever looked at Ashcraft's book either.

This is not the only instance of this: this Dec 2011 addition, by Jagged85, to the Virtua Cop article was another of my 2009 additions to light gun shooter. Here, Jagged85 copied the wrong source - the attribution was admittedly unclear in the first place - for the part of the statement he used. This resulted in a claim which was not supported by the source and was further plagiarised from another source not cited. That source was Ashcraft's Arcade Mania, the same source as in the diff above, and which I cited here alongside the source that Jagged85 did copy. This further proves Jagged85 has not read Arcade Mania, even though he has cited it. bridies (talk) 04:21, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

Eliminator
Here he added "more info on Eliminator", so that the claim read:

Sega's Eliminator''[ref] was notable for its colour vector graphics, competitive and cooperative gameplay[ref: KLOV] and for being the only four-player vector game ever released,[another ref]

The source, Killer List of Video Games/Arcade Museum, does not say the gameplay and certainly not the graphics were "notable". It does say "This was the only four-player vector game ever made." (oddly, as does the source used specifically for that part in this revised version)

Silpheed
03:25 22 Feb 2011

Here he added the claim that:

Silpheed, a forward-scrolling third-person space combat game by Game Arts, was the first fully 3D polygonal shooter.

The source was retro games journalist Travis Fahs, at IGN. He doesn't make this claim at all.

In an unusual case of checking himself, and about a month later, Jagged85 toned the claim down, saying it "was an early example of a fully 3D polygonal shooter". This is still not directly supported by the source. The source does discuss how technologically advanced the game was - as well as that it was overambitious - as well as giving some historical commentary, and that could have been a great addition to the article. But aside from the inferring of a hard fact from a largely subjective commentary, what the source says regarding this matter is that it was  a fast-paced 2D shooter done almost entirely with polygonal graphics and a 3D perspective. I'm not an expert on game design but I don't think that can be considered "fully 3D".

Space Ship
Here he added the claim that:

The following year, Sega released an early vector graphics space combat game, Space Ship, where two players battle to destroy each other.

The source was the KLOV entry, which mentions "vector" but not "early" anything, nor any claims of significance.

Early "experimental shooting games"
02:47, 27 Jan 2011

This diff shows the lengthy addition:

Prior to Space Invaders'', Taito developed several earlier experimental shooting games. In 1976, they released Interceptor, an early flight simulator that involved controlling a jet fighter while moving a crosshair to aim and shoot at enemy aircraft that move in formations of two.[ref] In 1977, they released Missile-X, a simulator that featured real-life colour images as background scenery and involved the player launching missiles to destroy enemy tanks,[ref] and Sub Hunter, an early submarine simulator that featured three-dimensional colour background scenery and involved controlling a destroyer that fires depth charges at submarines while having to avoid their mines.[ref] That same year, Sega released an early side-scrolling video game for the arcades, Bomber, which involved controlling a bomber plane that drops bombs on moving targets, which include a scrolling pattern of buildings, while shooting at oncoming fighter jets that also move in a scrolling pattern across the screen.[ref]

The sources were the respective KLOV/Arcade Museum entries: Interceptor, Missile-X, Sub Hunter and Bomber

Again, the sources are entirely descriptive, do not point out any fact that they were "early" and do not point out they were earlier than "Space Invaders" (which is part of how Jagged85 sought to imply significance in this and later versions of this passage). They do not say anything about them being "experimental". Sub Hunter is not claimed as "an early submarine simulator", merely a "sea battle game". Here is the diff of his first Bomber addition.

Sheriff
17:37, 24 Jan 2011

Here added the claim that:

That same year, Nintendo's Sheriff was a multi-directional shooter that introduced the use of dual-stick controls, with one joystick for movement and the other for aiming, paving the way for later dual-stick shooters such as Geometry Wars''. Sheriff was also an early shooter to feature characters on foot, specifically cowboys, rather than vehicles.''

The source was 1UP. It doesn't say that its use of on-foot characters was "early" or innovative. It doesn't say it was "a multidirectional shooter". It does not explicitly say that it introduced dual-stick controls, though certainly that it was influential in this respect. As the source says: ...paving the way for Geometry Wars and other dual-stick shooters.

Hover Attack
In this diff, one of the claims was:

In 1984, Hover Attack'' for the Sharp X1 was an early run & gun shooter that freely scrolled in all directions and allowed the player to shoot diagonally as well as straight ahead. The following year saw the Thexder, a breakthrough title for run & gun shooters.''

The source was IGN.

The source supports the claim, but Jagged85 plagiarised it. It says that Hover Attack had graphics that freely scrolled in all directions, and a character that could shoot diagonally as well as straight ahead. And it called Thexder one of the genre's breakthrough titles.

Side-helping of irony? The other claim here was one that Moon Patrol was the first game to have parallax scrolling, and an unusual case of Jagged85 adding such a claim that was explicitly supported by the source. There then followed a fairly bad-tempered exchange between yours truly and programmer/video game writer Marty Goldberg (that info is from his user page), on the talk page. Goldberg could essentially show using his own knowledge and primary sources that Jagged́̀'s secondary source was incorrect. And I defended Jagged́̀85's edit per verifiability-not-truth, in probably an exemplar of why that wording was changed recently...

Light gun shooter
This is not exhaustive. Some of the games discussed below - including Killer Shark, Wild Gunman and Missile - were first mentioned by Jagged85 in purely descriptive terms, before being made the subject of unsupported claims. Further excluded are a handful of the usual descriptive mentions, of varying quality in sourcing, and a couple of further descriptive examples from better sources added to the commentary on FPS-style and motion sensor controls (these last ones have not been checked for accuracy or plagiarism).

Police 911
11 May 2012

He added the claim that:

In 2000, the arcade light gun shooter Police 911'' introduced a unique motion sensing control system, sensing body movement rather than requiring the player to move individual controls; the player's "real world" actions are reflected by the player character within the game. It also featured a unique cover system, where the player takes cover by physically ducking for cover rather than pressing a button.[ref]''

Source was KLOV/Arcade Museum.

The first claim is supported: "This unique game senses body movement rather than requiring the player to move individual controls." The second is questionable extrapolation, but a more clear cut issue is plagiarism: "real world" actions are reflected [...] within the game. vs Jagged85's the player's "real world" actions are reflected by the player character within the game.

Mechanical games
3 May 2011

Here he added an extensive passage that read:

Sega later produced gun games which resemble first-person light gun shooter video games, but were in fact electro-mechanical games that used rear image projection in a manner similar to the ancient zoetrope to produce moving animated targets on a screen that the light gun shoots at.[ref] The first of these games was Duck Hunt,[ref] which Sega released in 1969;[ref] it featured animated moving targets on a screen, printed out the player's score on a ticket, and had sound effects that were volume controllable.[ref] That same year, they released Missile, which featured electronic sound and a moving film strip to display targets on screen, with a gun that was controlled using a joystick.[ref] Sega's final electro-mechanical game (before moving onto video games) was the 1972 release Killer Shark, a light gun game that was known for its appearance in the 1975 film Jaws.[ref]

Note: The last two sentences apparently added here (and not quoted above) were in fact present in previous versions.

The first part is poorly sourced to about.com, though there has been some inconclusive argument for the reliability of that particular author (D.S Cohen). In any case, this source supports this statement with regard to Killer Shark (the game discussed) and a "near identical game", Sea Devil. Neither of the following games (see below) are covered. Borderline plagiarism: lifted "similar to the ancient zoetrope".

The second source was a personal website with photos of the game machine and promotional artwork. There is no secondary commentary here, and no claim that this was the first of its kind made by Sega, nor anything anything to place it in the same sort of context as the source above, i,e, that it "resemble[s] first-person light gun shooter video games" He also cited the KLOV entry for the release date, and this source makes no similar claims either.

The third game mentioned is Missile and its desciption is sourced again to its KLOV entry. But there is nothing in this source to place it as influential to the history of the light gun shooter genre, nor is it called a light gun shooter. Nor is there even anything to place it as a mechanical game logically a predecessor of the this video game genre (that it "resemble[s] first-person light gun shooter video games"), as claimed above. At least Duck Hunt used a gun; this game used a joystick.

The last two statements are sourced to the same about.com article, and he plagiarised Sega's final electro-mechanical game (before moving onto video games) was the 1972 release Killer Shark (source says Sega's final electro-mechanical game (before moving onto video games) was the 1972 release Killer Shark). This also means that the source covering the last game in the chronology was the source used to synthesis claims about games earlier in the chronology.

Further claims regarding mechanical games
4 Apr 2011:

This diff added several claims, including:

[Wild Gunman] used optical light guns and full-motion video projection to display a live-action cowboy opponent on the screen.

The source was the KLOV entry. This says it used 16mm film projection, not full motion video. He added similar claims to the game's own article, and a more inflated claim of this being "The first arcade game to use full motion video" to the FMV article. He used the same KLOV source on both occasions.

Another claim added here was:

In 1975, Sega released the early co-operative arcade shooters Balloon Gun

This was again sourced to the game's KLOV entry. It does not say this was an "early co-operative arcade shooter", nor an "early" anything.

And another:

''The first gun games controlled using positional guns began appearing around the same time [as Nintendo's Laser Clay Shooting System]. An early example was Sega's 1972 arcade game Sea Devil, which featured a mounted positional gun that shot at moving targets whose motions and reactions are displayed using back image projection onto a screen''

The source was again a KLOV entry, for Sea Devil. This does not say that Sea Devil was "an early example", nor is the assertion that The first gun games controlled using positional guns began appearing around [this time] to be found in this or any other of these sources. As described at Requests for comment/Jagged 85/Computer Games Evidence, these kinds of games were common from the 1930s; the first with an actual light gun was in 1936 and this is covered in the article.

Jagged85 also used an awful source for his mentions of Nintendo's Laser Clay Shooting System. The links now appear to be dead but here's the site's articles index. This diff shows Jagged85's first addition of this source.

Periscope
9 Jan 2011:

Here he added the claim that:

Periscope was an early electro-mechanical gun game

KLOV entry, which does not say that it was "early". As noted above, the first electro-mechanical gun games pre-date this by decades.

History of Western role-playing video games
This is as yet incomplete, with only one tangentially discovered addition:

23.20, 30 December 2011:

With this edit, he added the claim that:

The earliest role-playing video game on a console was also released that year: Dragonstomper on the Atari 2600.

The source was GameSpot's History of Console RPGs

But the source says: ''What was the first console RPG? Accounts vary, but most fingers point to Enix's Dragon Quest [...] Joe Fielder, however, has a different story to tell: 'By my reckoning, Dragon Stomper (also known as Excalibur) is the first RPG for the console systems.' A devoted gamer could make a decent case for either of these Atari titles founding the RPG genre; nevertheless, there's no denying that Dragon Quest was the primary catalyst for the Japanese console RPG industry.''

At the least, the source says that the question of the first console RPG is a contentious issue. And it gives more weight to the later and more influential Dragon Quest, and says that "most" favour this game as the first RPG. Yet Jagged 85's claim includes only the earlier game - favoured by one journalist - as factually the first console RPG.

Jagged85 said that he found this claim in an earlier, unsplit version of the article and reinstated it - which, since he did not state this at the time, I believe is both plagiarism and copyright violation - either way he is responsible for his edits. He was unrepentant about this claim (see same diff), saying: The fact of the matter is, though, that Dragonstomper is the first RPG on a console and there's nothing incorrect about Dragonstomper bring [sic - being] the first RPG on a console. He attributes its neglect in reliable sources to their ignorance: Just because several other sources that don't know about its [Dragonstomper's] existence credit Dragon Quest as the first console RPG, it would be false to claim Dragon Quest is the first console RPG when it has been predated. Aside from these "several other sources", the source which does know of the earlier game's existence still gives a lot of weight to the later game as contender for being the first console RPG. Genre deifition is a question of subjective opinion, not hard fact as Jagged85 seems to think, and in any case the article should have mentioned that many believe the later game to be the first, rightly or not.