I like to keep tabs on the games I own, but I can't find any good software to track my purchases / game ownership. Right now I'm stuck with a Google Docs spreadsheet because I've been unable to find anything for Windows that -works-. I've found free (well, ad-supported) alternatives for music (Rate Your Music) and DVDs (DVD Aficionado), so why not games?

Or something. I dunno.

Can I please get some help with this? :)

What stops you using the DVD / CD version of that program for games?

They're specialized collecting websites, not programs. (I've updated the first post.)

GCstar, it does everything: http://www.gcstar.org/

There's Napalm Riot. The site seems pretty dead now though.

Aren't there like a million social websites that let you catalog all your books, movies, and whatever so you can supposedly find buddies with like interests (never used them, but I bet they all just work swell, lol)?

Short answer - MS Access . . . =)

If you've ever read Makers by Cory Doctorow I have the Home Aware product stuck in my head right now (tag all your stuff with RFID and then catalog it all in a database, search for it and have specialized locators light up/ding/whatever in the area where it is stored).

To me, that seems like the end result/desire of most of this stuff.

I will say, most folks who've done this kind of organization have thrown it all out a few years later. You start not to care, and buying the occasional second, used copy of Clive Barker's Jericho by accident (as I did last week) seems like a small price to pay to not have to deal with it.

MySQL and phpMyAdmin? Sure it may take a bit to get setup exactly how you want it, but it's fully customizable and it can handle more than just games. :D

I still think the best database program ever made is Notepad

Yeah, I'm also a minimalist. I've always used spreadsheets to keep track of collections.

You're talking to a guy that couldn't code his way out of a Hello World program. in QBasic. Also, I sorta tried doing this with MS Access. I figured out how to add stuff, but not how to customize the display to my tastes. I ended up using the Access thing exactly the same as my Google Docs worksheet, so I gave up on it.I remember trying it out months ago. I also remember hating the hell outta it because it had no way of removing all the fields I didn't want from its "Video Game Collection" template. I don't want a description, or cheat codes, or screenshots... all I wanted is a list with pictures, and some specific fields I could fill out.

I ended up tinkering with this again and sorta made a working collection. Unfortunately, I can't seem to be able to add the search plugins if I do that. Kind of a pain in the butt...

What about Game Collector or Sisimizi Game Catalog?

I don't catalogue games, but for movies I use a spreadsheet that includes a column that hyperlinks to IMDB for each movie.

One of the great advantages of spreadsheets is there portability using Gdocs or similar you can access you stuff anywhere.