Changelog

Version history for every product in the GameSync WP lineup. Newest entries at the top of each section. Looking for just the current release of each product? See Current Versions.

Game Data Importer

• 2.4.0 — New: Favorite button, Member status and My games blocks. Visitors who are logged in can save favorites and mark games Want to play, Playing or Completed, and see their lists on a page you make. The lists are kept in the visitor’s own account and are part of WordPress’ Export and Erase Personal Data tools. New: live search suggestions in the Game search block, and in any Search block with the extra CSS class ggdi-live-search, showing matching games as the visitor types. The GameSync Blocks theme bundled under Themes & Add-ons is now version 1.1.0.
• 2.4.2 — Changed: the GameSync Blocks theme bundled under Themes & Add-ons is now version 1.2.0.
• 2.4.1 — Fixed: on a site with page caching, a visitor’s favorite and status choices seemed to vanish when the page was reloaded, because a cached copy of the game page was shown. Pages with the Favorite button, Member status or My games block are no longer cached for logged-in visitors.
• 2.4.0 — New: Favorite button, Member status and My games blocks. Visitors who are logged in can save favorites and mark games Want to play, Playing or Completed, and see their lists on a page you make. The lists are kept in the visitor’s own account and are part of WordPress’ Export and Erase Personal Data tools. New: live search suggestions in the Game search block, and in any Search block with the extra CSS class ggdi-live-search, showing matching games as the visitor types.
• 2.3.4 — Changed: the GameSync Blocks theme bundled under Themes & Add-ons is now version 1.0.2.
• 2.3.3 — New: a Storyline block that shows a game’s storyline in paragraphs, and it is part of the ready-made game page layout. A block theme can now switch off the extra copy of the game details that the importer adds under a game’s description. The free GameSync Blocks theme is available under Themes & Add-ons.
• 2.3.2 — Fixed: searching in the Game library block now matches game titles only, so a search for dragon no longer lists every game that merely mentions one. Changed: the bundled GameSync PixelWire is refreshed to 2.13.6.
• 2.3.1 — Fixed: games whose franchise, developer, genre or other list contains an & or an apostrophe (for example Dungeons & Dragons) were treated as edited by hand, so a re-sync never updated that list; they also showed as & in the Choose fields to re-sync screen and the change history. Fixed: the Storyline box showed & instead of &. Changed: a clearer plugin page on WordPress.org with new screenshots and a live preview.
• 2.3.0 — New: a Game library block with search and platform/genre filters that update without a page reload. New: Game details, Screenshots, Trailers, Similar games, Browse, More from this franchise or developer and Collection stats blocks, plus more patterns. New: My collection on each game (Playing, Completed, Backlog, Wishlist, Dropped and your own score) with a My status column. New: link posts to games with the Games panel, the Games in this post block and the Posts about this game block. New: core blocks can show game data through the Connections panel, and a Games Query Loop variation. New: change history on each game, a Game changes this week dashboard widget, choose which fields to re-sync, and optional scheduled re-sync in the background. New: game suggestions in the post editor. Fixed: a developer or publisher picked by hand in the classic editor is now linked on the game page.
• 2.2.0 — New: a Store links block and shortcode with Get on Steam, GOG, Epic, itch.io, App Store and Google Play buttons. New: five block patterns under Patterns, Games (Top 10, Recently added, Game library, Upcoming releases, Game of the month). New: structured data for search engines on game pages. New: a Site Health test for the IGDB connection. Fixed: the empty Written by line on block-theme game pages is hidden.
• 2.1.0 — New: a setup guide that walks you through the Twitch credentials, tests the connection and imports a first game. New: WP-CLI commands (wp ggdi import, bulk, resync, status, test and scheduled). New: the Game grid block and shortcode have a List layout with optional numbering, for Top rated and Recently added lists. Fixed: game pages now work on block (Site Editor) themes such as Twenty Twenty-Five.
• 2.0.4 — Changed: code clean-up for the WordPress.org Plugin Check (translator notes, a prepared database query, the CSV export and temporary-file handling). The WordPress.org download no longer contains a hidden .htaccess file.
• 2.0.3 — Changed: the WordPress.org version no longer carries the theme and add-on zip files. The Themes & Add-ons screen links to the free downloads on gamesyncwp.com and activates them once installed.
• 2.0.2 — Fixed: the plugin’s Visit plugin site link now opens the Game Data Importer page on gamesyncwp.com.
• 2.0.1 — Changed: the notice shown when your theme does not display games now points to the free GameSync PixelWire theme.
• 2.0.0 — Changed: everything is now free in one plugin: Bulk Import, Scheduled Imports, the Game Editor, Import by List, Choose fields to re-sync and the Themes & Add-ons screen. The separate Pro plugin, licence screens and upgrade prompts are gone. Existing Pro customers get a final 1.22.4 update that unlocks everything and explains how to switch to this plugin.
• 1.22.4 — Final release of the old Pro plugin: everything stays unlocked, and a notice explains how to switch to the free plugin. Deleting the old plugin no longer removes your imported data.
• 1.22.3 — Fixed: the bundled Nocturne theme is refreshed to 1.2.5 so the All Games Rating filter and sort also work with Review Breakdown scores.
• 1.22.2 — Fixed: the bundled themes Nocturne (1.2.4), Ludexa (1.10.1) and Presswire (1.10.9) are refreshed so the Review Breakdown box shows with Review Breakdown 2.0.7 and newer.
• 1.22.1 — Fixed (Pro): Import by List now prefers the game released on the most platforms when several share an exact title, skips a game that two lines resolve to, and explains that a bare number is read as an IGDB ID. The “Nothing to update” message in Choose fields to re-sync now has a Close button.
• 1.22.0 — New: Game card, Game grid and Release calendar blocks and shortcodes; an Import Log with retry for failed imports. Pro: Import by List, Choose fields to re-sync, and calendar filters and badges. The bundled Presswire theme is refreshed to 1.10.8.
• 1.21.73 — Changed: the bundled GameSync Review Breakdown plugin is refreshed to 2.0.7 (no template limit in the free version, prefixed shortcodes).
• 1.21.72 — Changed: the paid build is now named “GameSync Game Data Importer Pro”. The bundled GameSync Review Breakdown plugin is refreshed to 2.0.6.
• 1.21.71 — Changed: the bundled GameSync Review Breakdown plugin is refreshed to 2.0.5 (safe when the free and Premium copies are installed together).
• 1.21.70 — Changed: the bundled GameSync Review Breakdown plugin is refreshed to 2.0.4 (clean-up and editor-block compatibility fixes).
• 1.21.69 — Changed: the bundled GameSync Review Breakdown plugin is refreshed to 2.0.3 (preparation for the WordPress.org directory).
• 1.21.68 — Changed: the bundled GameSync Review Breakdown plugin is refreshed to 2.0.2 (connected to Freemius for standalone Pro licenses).
• 1.21.67 — Changed: the bundled GameSync Review Breakdown plugin is refreshed to 2.0.1.
• 1.21.66 — Changed: the bundled GameSync Review Breakdown plugin is refreshed to 2.0.0 (free and Pro versions; your Pro license switches the Pro features on) and the bundled GameSync Presswire theme to 1.10.7.
• 1.21.65 — Changed: the bundled Deals theme is refreshed to 1.4.3. The Deals page shows only the most common Genre and Platform options with a “Show all” button, and the price history chart now draws a game with two recorded prices as two labelled points.
• 1.21.64 — Changed: the bundled Deals theme is refreshed to 1.4.2. On a game with a live deal, “Buy The Game” becomes “Other places to buy” and leaves out the stores the Deal box already offers.
• 1.21.63 — Security: the bundled PixelWire (2.13.3), Deals (1.4.1), Presswire (1.10.6), Arcade (1.1.3) and Nocturne (1.2.3) themes are refreshed. Confirm and unsubscribe links in newsletter e-mails now open a page with a button and only act when it is pressed, so mail scanners can no longer confirm or unsubscribe people by opening the link; newsletters also carry List-Unsubscribe headers. The view counter counts a visitor once per page per 30 minutes instead of on every reload.
• 1.21.62 — Changed: the bundled Deals theme is refreshed to 1.4.0: Good deal votes and “deal ended” reports, price-target e-mail alerts, a best-price bar, Genre / Platform / Price filters and a list view on the Deals page, better ended-deal pages, richer price data for search engines, optional clean-up of old deals, and a dark colour scheme.
• 1.21.61 — Security: the bundled PixelWire (2.13.2), Deals (1.3.3), Arcade (1.1.2) and Nocturne (1.2.2) themes are refreshed. Their “load more” listing no longer returns draft, scheduled or password-protected posts to logged-out visitors. Deals also keeps password-protected deals, coupons and deal boxes private and makes its Bulk Deals export spreadsheet-safe; Arcade and Deals handle malformed form input without errors and clear their rate-limit rows daily.
• 1.21.60 — Changed: the bundled PixelWire (2.13.1), Deals (1.3.2), Arcade (1.1.1), Nocturne (1.2.1) and Ludexa (1.10.0) themes are refreshed (pages no longer shift sideways between short and long pages; Ludexa adds a Recent changes page).
• 1.21.59 — Changed: the bundled Ludexa theme is refreshed to 1.9.0 (compare two games, article tabs with an optional correction form, Classic / Paper / Night looks, and Browse by Decade & Platform).
• 1.21.58 — Changed: the bundled Ludexa theme is refreshed to 1.8.0 (series boxes, search suggestions and a Today section).
• 1.21.57 — Changed: the bundled Presswire theme is refreshed to 1.10.5 (fixes pages shifting sideways between long and short pages).
• 1.21.56 — Changed: the bundled Presswire theme is refreshed to 1.10.4 (a tidier heading on the Reviews timeline page).
• 1.21.55 — Changed: the bundled Presswire theme is refreshed to 1.10.3 (fixes a doubled “Latest News” link in the main menu).
• 1.21.54 — Changed: the bundled Presswire theme is refreshed to 1.10.2 (an overview page for all issues).
• 1.21.53 — New: a Storyline box on the Edit Game screen, so a game’s storyline can be written or corrected by hand. A storyline you change is kept when the game is re-synced from IGDB.
• 1.21.52 — Changed: the bundled Presswire theme is refreshed to 1.10.1 (fixes the “not allowed to access this page” problem caused by Presswire 1.10.0). No change to how the importer works.
• 1.21.51 — Changed: the bundled Presswire theme is refreshed to 1.10.0 (issues, critic pages, review scorecard, Canon lists, reviews timeline, evening edition and an optional newsletter sign-up). No change to how the importer works.
• 1.21.50 — Changed: the bundled Arcade theme is refreshed to 1.1.0 (Insert Coin random-game reel, neon colour presets and an optional CRT screen effect). No change to how the importer works.
• 1.21.49 — Changed: the themes are listed in a new order (PixelWire, Deals, Presswire, Ludexa, Arcade, Nocturne) on the Themes & Add-ons screen and in the Pro license text. No other changes.
• 1.21.48 — Changed: the bundled Deals theme is refreshed to 1.3.1 (the “RSS feed” link on the Deals page opens in a new tab). No change to how the importer works.
• 1.21.47 — Changed: the bundled Deals theme is refreshed to 1.3.0 (store badges and a price comparison table, recently ended deals with “Notify me if it returns”, a Deals RSS feed and share links, and Deals blocks). The demo content generator now gives some demo deals extra stores and lets a few deals have just ended. No change to how the importer works.
• 1.21.46 — Changed: the bundled Deals theme is refreshed to 1.2.0 (price history, a weekly deals email and Bulk Deals). The demo content generator now gives the demo deals a made-up price history. No change to how the importer works.
• 1.21.45 — Changed: the bundled Deals theme is refreshed to 1.1.0 (countdown pills, Deal of the Day, price-drop emails). The demo content generator now lets about half of the demo deals end within a week. No change to how the importer works.
• 1.21.44 — New: the GameSync Deals theme is bundled and listed under Themes & Add-ons. The demo content generator now gives about six in ten demo games a made-up sale so a deals theme has something to show. No change to how the importer works.
• 1.21.43 — Changed: the bundled Presswire and Ludexa themes are refreshed with a new Show “Powered by IGDB” footer option. No change to how the importer works.
• 1.21.42 — Changed: the bundled Arcade theme is refreshed (its accent color now defaults to pink instead of red). No change to how the importer works.
• 1.21.41 — Changed: Developers and Publishers are checkbox lists, like Genres and Platforms. The boxes on the game edit screen now run Genres, Platforms, Developers, Publishers, Companies, Themes, Franchises, Game Modes, Player Perspectives. New: a Release Date box with a date picker; a date you change by hand is kept when the game is re-synced from IGDB.

PixelWire

• 2.13.6 — Fixed: the links in a game’s Related Links list are underlined and turn red on hover, so they look like links.
• 2.13.5 — Fixed: the theme’s Visit Theme Site link now opens the PixelWire page on gamesyncwp.com.
• 2.13.4 — Changed: wording only.
• 2.13.3 — Security: the confirm and unsubscribe links in e-mails now open a page with a button, and nothing changes until the button is pressed, so mail scanners and link previewers can no longer confirm or unsubscribe people by opening the link. Newsletters also carry List-Unsubscribe headers, so Gmail, Apple Mail and others show their own Unsubscribe button (one-click over HTTPS). Fixed: the view counter counts a visitor once per page per 30 minutes, so reloading a page (or a script requesting it again and again) no longer inflates “Most Viewed” and “Trending This Week”. A small cookie remembers which pages a browser has been counted for (page numbers and times only); sites whose page cache dislikes cookies can switch it off with the filter gspw_view_counter_cookie. The privacy policy draft mentions the cookie (an existing privacy page is not changed). Security: the newsletter sign-up form now ignores a list sent where a single value is expected instead of failing with a server error.
• 2.13.2 — Security: the “load more” listing on archives no longer returns draft, scheduled or password-protected posts to logged-out visitors. It now lists published, unprotected posts only, caps the page number and accepts only public taxonomies.
• 2.13.1 — Fixed: pages no longer sit a few pixels to the right on short pages compared with long ones — the space for the scrollbar is now reserved on every page, so the site no longer shifts sideways between a short and a long page (visible with classic scrollbars, for example on Windows).
• 2.13.0 — New: Trending This Week. A new Display Options setting ranks the Most Viewed list and the homepage Most Exciting Games row by views in the last 7 days (off by default). New: an optional news ticker under the header with the five latest posts (off by default). Changed: the hero slider has a pause button, pauses on hover and focus, announces slides to screen readers and loads its first image sooner. Faster cached homepage and sidebar queries.
• 2.12.13 — Fixed: the hero slider on the home page no longer flashes dark between slides. The new slide now fades in over the old one instead of both fading at the same moment.
• 2.12.12 — Fixed: password-protected game pages no longer expose content before the password is entered, and protected or unpublished games are excluded from SEO output, search and the video strip.
• 2.12.11 — Fixed: the Franchise and Player Perspective archives (the links on a game page) stopped after the first page of games; later pages now load as you scroll, in the same alphabetical order as the other archives. The Log In and Register pages no longer show a “headers already sent” warning or a half-drawn page when a logged-in member opens them; they redirect straight to My Account. A blank From email or From name under Newsletter settings no longer stops confirmation emails, newsletters and game alerts; they fall back to the site’s admin email and name. The Send Newsletter screen’s script now loads in every admin language.
• 2.12.10 — Security fix: the newsletter subscribers CSV export no longer lets a spreadsheet run a subscriber’s address as a formula. Addresses that start with =, +, – or @ are now shown as plain text. The XLSX export was not affected.
• 2.12.9 — Security fix: newsletter confirmation and unsubscribe links now accept only a well-formed token. Before, a blank or malformed token (for example a link ending in a single space) made the lookup match the newest subscriber, so anyone could confirm a pending subscriber without consent or delete the newest subscriber, repeatedly. Anything invalid now shows the “Link invalid” page; valid links in emails already sent keep working. Also changed: the confirm and unsubscribe result pages are never served from a page cache.
• 2.12.8 — Fixed: the front page hero slider (when no slides are hand-picked and random is off), Latest Games and Most Exciting Games no longer mix in blog posts; they list games only. Blog posts keep their own Latest News section.
• 2.12.7 — Fixed: the critic score on game cards now uses the same scale as the review itself. A star review reads 3.4/5 instead of 6.7/10; “points” reviews still show /10 and “percentage” reviews show %.
• 2.12.6 — Fixed: the favorites count on My Account (and My Favorites and the Want to Play / Playing / Completed lists) could stay at its old value after a member favorited more games; those lists are no longer cached, and the Favorite heart now toggles against the member’s stored list. Changed: My Account, My Favorites, Profile and single game pages are never served from a page cache.
• 2.12.5 — Fixed: My Account showed “(0 games)” next to View all your favorites (and the Want to Play / Playing / Completed lists and Recently Viewed looked empty) for members who saved things before 2.7.0. That saved data is now carried over automatically on the first page load after updating.
• 2.12.4 — Fixed: on My Account and the public Profile page the lists under a section banner now have proper spacing below them, and the Your Ratings rows show the game title on the left and the stars on the right on one line.
• 2.12.3 — Fixed: the popup player opened by the Watch Videos Now strip (and any other video thumbnail) was tiny; it now fills a 16:9 box, is wider, and shrinks to fit short screens.
• 2.12.2 — Changed: bigger icons in the sidebar’s Follow Us rows, and bigger Facebook and YouTube marks in all social icons.
• 2.12.1 — Changed: the glyph inside the round social badges (f, X, in, P, Instagram and play) is a bit bigger, at every size.
• 2.12.0 — Added: a dark-mode version of the Buy, Download and store buttons on game pages. In the dark colour scheme they switch to a dark card with white Steam and GOG logos, white labels and lighter colours for the price-comparison buttons; light mode keeps the light buttons.
• 2.11.2 — Changed: the Buy, Download and store buttons on game pages no longer have borders. They rest as soft grey cards and, on hover or keyboard focus, lift with a shadow, grow the logo slightly and fill the icon tile with colour.
• 2.11.1 — Fixed: the Latest News (or Blog) menu link took visitors back to the homepage; it now opens your Posts page, or a built-in listing of the newest posts if none is set. Changed: Advertising now sits right after Footer in the settings tabs.
• 2.11.0 — Added: an Advertising settings page with five optional ad slots (three in the sidebar, two on the homepage), each a custom code block or an image banner, with a master switch, an optional “Advertisement” label and an option to hide ads from logged-in members. The slots are rows in the drag-to-reorder sidebar and front-page section lists, so they can be moved or hidden like any other section.
• 2.10.3 — Changed: the menu moved to the bottom of the WordPress admin sidebar, grouped with the other GameSync menus (Game Data Importer, theme, Review Breakdown, Related Games, Game Ratings). Nothing inside it changed.
• 2.10.2 — Fixed: the “Your Ratings” list on a member’s Account and Profile pages was always empty; it now shows the visitor’s star ratings from GameSync Game Ratings.
• 2.10.1 — Changed: on the single game page, the Favorite heart and the Want to Play / Playing / Completed status now sit right next to each other at the end of the title row.
• 2.10.0 — Changed: the game facts list always appears in a fixed order (Platforms, Developer, Publisher, Player Perspective, Game Modes, Themes, Franchise, Age Rating); the IGDB rating badge moved onto the featured image as a bare circle; the Favorite button is now a bare heart icon. Fixed: a favorited or rated state could appear to reset after a refresh when a full-page cache was active.

Deals

• 1.4.4 — Changed: wording only.
• 1.4.3 — Changed: the Genre and Platform rows on the Deals page show the ten most common options (ranked by how many live deals they have), plus the one you have selected, with a “Show all (N more)” button for the rest, so the filter box no longer grows very tall. Without JavaScript every option still shows. Fixed: the price history chart of a game with only two recorded prices drew a single vertical line; it now draws a line between two points and labels the first and last prices.
• 1.4.2 — Changed: with a live deal, the “Buy The Game” section on a game page is now called “Other places to buy” and leaves out the stores the Deal box already offers (the deal’s own store, matched by name or link, and every store in the “Price at each store” table). Visitors no longer see a second, price-less Steam or GOG button that bypasses your deal link and coupon. Games without a live deal show “Buy The Game” as before.
• 1.4.1 — Security: the confirm and unsubscribe links in e-mails now open a page with a button, and nothing changes until the button is pressed, so mail scanners and link previewers can no longer confirm or unsubscribe people by opening the link. Newsletters also carry List-Unsubscribe headers, so Gmail, Apple Mail and others show their own Unsubscribe button (one-click over HTTPS). Fixed: the view counter counts a visitor once per page per 30 minutes, so reloading a page (or a script requesting it again and again) no longer inflates “Most Viewed” and “Trending This Week”. A small cookie remembers which pages a browser has been counted for (page numbers and times only); sites whose page cache dislikes cookies can switch it off with the filter gsdl_view_counter_cookie. The privacy policy draft mentions the cookie (an existing privacy page is not changed).
• 1.4.0 — New: Deals page filters for Genre, Platform and Price (Free, under $5, $10, $20, $40), and a Cards / List switch with a compact one-row-per-deal list. New: Good deal / Not great votes and a “This deal has ended” report link under the Deal box (an e-mail to you on the first report and at three; from three reports the Deal box warns visitors; a Deal reports column in the Games and Posts lists). New: price-target alerts — logged-in visitors set “Tell me when it is under …” on a game and get one e-mail when a deal reaches it, listed under My Account. New: a best-price bar at the bottom of the screen once the Deal box has scrolled away. New: ended-deal pages show when the deal ended, the last and lowest prices, the other stores’ last prices and live deals in the same genre, plus a “Price went up” tag. New: a Free games shelf for the homepage and an optional clean-up of old deals (never touches games). New: a dark colour scheme — Light, Dark or Auto under Display Options, with an optional sun/moon button for visitors. Improved: price data for search engines now uses an AggregateOffer for several stores, with list price, valid-until and out-of-stock for ended deals; the price table shows how much more each other store charges; the “Ends in” pill turns solid red in the last 24 hours.
• 1.3.3 — Security: the “load more” listing on archives no longer returns draft, scheduled or password-protected posts to logged-out visitors. It now lists published, unprotected posts only, caps the page number and accepts only public taxonomies. Also: a password-protected post no longer shows its deal box (coupon, deal link, prices) before the password is entered; password-protected deals are left out of deal lists, the Deals page, the feed and the weekly and price-drop e-mails; the Bulk Deals CSV export can no longer run spreadsheet formulas; the weekly deals e-mail is sent one batch at a time; malformed form input no longer causes errors; rate-limit data is hashed with a salt and cleared daily; and only published games can be bookmarked or given a status.
• 1.3.2 — Fixed: pages no longer sit a few pixels to the right on short pages compared with long ones — the space for the scrollbar is now reserved on every page, so the site no longer shifts sideways between a short and a long page (visible with classic scrollbars, for example on Windows).
• 1.3.1 — Changed: the “RSS feed” link on the Deals page now opens in a new tab.
• 1.3.0 — New: coloured store badges and a “Price at each store” table (up to four extra stores per game); a “Recently ended” view on the Deals page and an optional homepage row, with a “Notify me if it returns” button that emails the visitor when a new deal is listed; a Deals RSS feed and “Share this deal” links; and “Deals grid” and “Deal of the day” blocks for the block editor.
• 1.2.0 — New: price history (a “Lowest price yet” tag and a small price chart in the Deal box), a weekly deals email (built by hand or sent automatically) and a Bulk Deals screen with CSV import and export. Changed: saving a deal from the Deal box, Bulk Deals or a CSV import now goes through one shared routine.
• 1.1.0 — New: an “Ends in …” countdown pill on cards, lists, the hero slider and the Deal box for deals ending within a week (red in the last two days, live countdown in the last 24 hours). New: a Deal of the Day card on the homepage plus an optional bar under the header, automatic or hand-picked. New: price-drop emails for members who favorited a game and opted in under My Account. Changed: a deal’s last day shows “Ends in 5h 12m” instead of “Ends today”.
• 1.0.0 — Initial release: a bright retail theme for game deal sites with a Deal box on every game (sale price, regular price, store, deal link, coupon code, last day), % off tags and new and old prices on cards, Hot Deals and Ending Soon rows, a Top Deals sidebar box, a sortable and filterable Deals page and a [gsdl_deals] shortcode, built on the PixelWire feature set.

Presswire

• 1.10.11 — Fixed: the theme’s Visit Theme Site link now opens the Presswire page on gamesyncwp.com.
• 1.10.10 — Changed: the footer credit now reads built with GameSync Presswire and links to gamesyncwp.com.
• 1.10.9 — Fixed: the Review Breakdown box now shows with GameSync Review Breakdown 2.0.7 and newer. The theme looked for the plugin’s old [review_breakdown] shortcode, which 2.0.7 renamed to [gsrb_review_breakdown]; it now uses whichever the plugin provides.
• 1.10.8 — Removed: the theme’s own “The good / The bad” box. GameSync Review Breakdown now shows those lists; the Pros and cons fields are unchanged and the plugin reads them.
• 1.10.7 — Changed: when GameSync Review Breakdown 2.0 (Pro) shows The Good / The Bad lists for a post, the theme’s own “The good / The bad” box steps aside so the lists never appear twice. The Pros and cons fields are unchanged and the plugin reads them.
• 1.10.6 — Security: the confirm and unsubscribe links in newsletter e-mails now open a page with a button, and nothing changes until the button is pressed, so mail scanners and link previewers can no longer confirm or unsubscribe people by opening the link. Subscribers’ personal unsubscribe links (the CSV export column) work the same way.
• 1.10.5 — Fixed: the whole page moved a few pixels sideways when going from a long page to a short one (for example from the Reviews timeline to All issues), because only the long page has a scrollbar. The scrollbar’s space is now always reserved, so every page lines up.
• 1.10.4 — Changed: the Reviews timeline page now uses the same heading as the other listing pages (Reviews, Latest News, All issues): same size, left-aligned, with the rule underneath.
• 1.10.3 — Fixed: “Latest News” showed twice in the main menu when your own menu already had a link called Latest News (for example one to a Latest News category). The theme’s automatic link is now left out in that case.
• 1.10.2 — New: an overview page for all issues at /issue/, showing every issue as a cover card, newest first. “All issues” links were added next to the front page “Current issue” band and at the bottom of every issue page.
• 1.10.1 — Fixed (important): version 1.10.0 made WordPress deny the Settings permission to everyone, including administrators, so pages such as the Settings menu, All Games, Game Data Importer Settings, Bulk Import, Demo Content and Themes & Add-ons showed “Sorry, you are not allowed to access this page”. 1.10.1 fixes this; update to restore access. Nothing was lost or changed in your data.
• 1.10.0 — New: Issues, critic pages, a review scorecard, Canon lists and more, so Presswire reads more like a magazine. Issues group reviews and articles into dated editions with a cover and editor’s note, a Current issue band on the front page and an archive page for every past issue. Bylines link to a critic page with photo, title, bio and everything they have written, and the author box now also shows on reviews. A boxed “The verdict” scorecard (one-line verdict, played on, time played, version reviewed, buy if / skip if) with a Skip to verdict link, and “Keep reading” lists (more from the critic, more in the genre) under reviews. Reading extras: a thin progress line, pull-quote and key-fact shortcodes and block styles, and a print stylesheet. The Canon is a new content type for ranked best-of lists, shown on its own page, in /canon/, with [gsprw_canon] or a Canon list block. Also a Reviews timeline page template, an optional Evening edition (dark mode, off by default) and an optional newsletter sign-up with double opt-in, subscriber list and CSV export (it collects addresses; it does not send mail). New settings pages: Magazine and Newsletter.
• 1.9.1 — New: a Show “Powered by IGDB” in the footer option, matching PixelWire and Nocturne. Off by default.
• 1.9.0 — New: reading time, an automatic In this article Contents box on long articles, a Pros and cons box (set on the edit screen), and an [gsprw_editors_picks] shortcode listing every Editor’s Pick. Changed: a visible keyboard focus ring everywhere, and faster sidebar and related-post queries.
• 1.8.1 — Fixed: a password-protected game page now shows only the title and the password form until the password is entered.
• 1.8.0 — Changed: the front-page lead story is larger, with a longer excerpt from the review and a “Read the review →” link.
• 1.7.2 — Changed: “Games per page” now also applies to the Reviews list (it was fixed at 10), and “From the Blog” is renamed “Latest News” everywhere.
• 1.7.1 — Fixed: the stock Search, Recent Posts and Recent Comments widgets that WordPress carries over when you switch themes are now kept out of the sidebar (an option turns this off). Changed: the platform list is removed from the game rows in the Games index, archives and Related Games.
• 1.7.0 — Changed: the sidebar drops the stock Search and Recent Comments widgets and gains a Latest Reviews block; only games can be rated, not posts; a Blog link is added to the default main menu; and the Games index shows the critic score on the review’s own scale (3.4/5 for a star review instead of 6.7/10). Fixed: the Review Breakdown is no longer shown both before and after the content.
• 1.6.1 — Changed: Advertising now sits right after Footer in the Presswire settings tabs. Only the tab order changed.
• 1.6.0 — Added: an Advertising settings page with five optional ad slots (three in the sidebar, two on the homepage), each a custom code block or an image banner, with a master switch, an optional “Advertisement” label and an option to hide ads from logged-in members. The slots are rows in the theme’s section ordering and can be moved or hidden. Also added: a Sidebar tab and a Section order list on Front Page (defaults unchanged).
• 1.5.2 — Changed: the menu moved to the bottom of the WordPress admin sidebar, grouped with the other GameSync menus (Game Data Importer, theme, Review Breakdown, Related Games, Game Ratings). Nothing inside it changed.
• 1.5.1 — Fixed: hand-picked related games from the GameSync Related Games plugin are now used for “See also”, matching PixelWire and Ludexa; the genre-based match is only a fallback.
• 1.5.0 — Added optional audience-rating and critic-score badges on each Games Index/taxonomy archive row, alongside the existing IGDB verdict block, when the companion GameSync Game Ratings/Review Breakdown plugins are active. Toggle under Archives, on by default.
• 1.3.2 — Fixed the “Blog” nav link disappearing when no Posts page was assigned under Settings → Reading; the theme now creates one automatically.
• 1.3.1 — Security hardening: tightened a reused nonce action name on an admin notice, and narrowed the footer About-text option’s allowed HTML to links and basic emphasis only.
• 1.3.0 — Added hover-zoom and an in-page magnifier badge to screenshots, a “Games per page” option for genre/platform archives, and a toggleable IGDB Rating facts row; fixed search to match post titles only.
• 1.2.0 — Added an in-page screenshot lightbox, sorted the Games index and taxonomy archives alphabetically, and fixed the “Blog” link silently reopening the front page.
• 1.1.1 — Fixed the sidebar’s Genre/Platform lists silently capping at 12 terms.
• 1.1.0 — Added a dedicated Presswire admin options panel: accent color, front-page counts, Game Page toggles, footer text overrides.

Ludexa

• 1.10.3 — Fixed: the theme’s Visit Theme Site link now opens the Ludexa page on gamesyncwp.com.
• 1.10.2 — Changed: the footer credit now links to gamesyncwp.com.
• 1.10.1 — Fixed: the Review Breakdown box now shows with GameSync Review Breakdown 2.0.7 and newer. The theme looked for the plugin’s old [review_breakdown] shortcode, which 2.0.7 renamed to [gsrb_review_breakdown]; it now uses whichever the plugin provides.
• 1.10.0 — New: a Recent changes page at /recent-changes/ listing the most recently edited articles, newest first and grouped by day (automatic IGDB refreshes are left out by default), with an optional menu link. Fixed: pages no longer sit a few pixels to the right on short pages compared with long ones — the space for the scrollbar is now reserved on every page, so the site no longer shifts sideways between a short and a long page (visible with classic scrollbars, for example on Windows).
• 1.9.0 — New: compare two games side by side at /compare/ (shared facts marked, a shareable link per pair), Article / Discussion / History tabs with a Page history box, an optional “Suggest a correction” form that e-mails the editors, a Look setting (Classic, Paper, Night or Auto), a Browse by Decade & Platform section on the front page and a Decade filter on All Articles. Changed: series boxes, search suggestions and the Today section refresh as soon as an article changes.
• 1.8.0 — New: Series and Developer boxes at the end of articles, search suggestions as you type, and a Today section on the front page (article of the day and games released on this day).
• 1.7.1 — New: a Show “Powered by IGDB” in the footer option, matching PixelWire and Nocturne. Off by default.
• 1.7.0 — New: platform and genre filters on the All Articles A-Z index, and a print stylesheet for articles. Changed: the A-Z index and the Random Article link are served from a cached list instead of querying the database on every visit, the Random Article link is no longer followed by search engines, and a visible keyboard focus ring everywhere.
• 1.6.1 — Fixed: a password-protected game page now shows only the title and the password form until the password is entered.
• 1.6.0 — Changed: “See also” is now ranked by how much articles have in common (a shared franchise counts most, then developer, then each shared genre), with the newest article winning ties, instead of the newest in any shared genre. Fixed: a newly published or edited article now appears in other articles’ See also lists right away instead of after up to an hour.
• 1.5.3 — Fixed: the Sidebar options no longer label Browse by Genre and Browse by Platform “(article lists)”.
• 1.5.2 — Changed: Browse by Platform now shows in the same places as Browse by Genre.
• 1.5.1 — Changed: Browse by Genre now shows in the sidebar on every page that has one (it was limited to the game lists).
• 1.5.0 — Changed: “From the Blog” is now “Latest News” everywhere. Added: a Latest Articles page (/latest-articles/) with the newest articles first, and a Latest Articles link after All Articles in the main menu (an option under Display hides it). The Latest Articles sidebar block now sits right after Browse by Genre.
• 1.4.0 — Changed: the stock Search, Recent Posts and Recent Comments widgets are kept out of the sidebar (an option under Display turns this off). Added: a Latest Articles sidebar block with the eight newest articles, which can be moved or hidden. Fixed: Random Article could take you to the same article over and over; platforms are no longer listed under See also; the Review Breakdown is no longer shown twice (below the content and beside the game card).
• 1.3.2 — Fixed: the critic score on the article index rows now uses the same scale as the review itself (3.4/5 for a star review instead of 6.7/10).
• 1.3.1 — Changed: Advertising now sits right after Footer in the Ludexa settings tabs. Only the tab order changed.
• 1.3.0 — Added: an Advertising settings page with five optional ad slots (three in the sidebar, two on the homepage), each a custom code block or an image banner, with a master switch, an optional “Advertisement” label and an option to hide ads from logged-in members. The slots are rows in the theme’s section ordering and can be moved or hidden. Also added: a Sidebar tab and a Section order list on Front Page (defaults unchanged).
• 1.2.1 — Changed: the menu moved to the bottom of the WordPress admin sidebar, grouped with the other GameSync menus (Game Data Importer, theme, Review Breakdown, Related Games, Game Ratings). Nothing inside it changed.
• 1.2.0 — Added optional audience-rating and critic-score badges on each index/taxonomy archive row, alongside the existing IGDB score dot, when the companion GameSync Game Ratings/Review Breakdown plugins are active. Toggle under Archives, on by default.
• 1.0.4 — Sorted the front page’s “Browse by Category” tiles alphabetically, matching the sidebar’s own genre list on the archive pages.
• 1.0.3 — “See also” now prefers a hand-picked relationship from the companion GameSync Related Games plugin over its own same-genre guess, when one’s been set up.
• 1.0.2 — Added a “Show the ‘Browse by Platform’ list in the sidebar” option under Ludexa → Display.
• 1.0.1 — Raised the “Categories in ‘Browse by Category’” option’s max from 16 to 200, and linked the topbar’s article count to the All Articles A-Z index.
• 1.0.0 — Initial release: two-column article layout with an auto-generated Contents box and quick-facts infobox, a wiki-style “All Articles” A-Z index, Random Article and Featured Article, and a fixed light “encyclopedia” look with no color or dark-mode options.

Arcade

• 1.1.4 — Changed: wording only.
• 1.1.3 — Security: the confirm and unsubscribe links in e-mails now open a page with a button, and nothing changes until the button is pressed, so mail scanners and link previewers can no longer confirm or unsubscribe people by opening the link. Newsletters also carry List-Unsubscribe headers, so Gmail, Apple Mail and others show their own Unsubscribe button (one-click over HTTPS). Fixed: the view counter counts a visitor once per page per 30 minutes, so reloading a page (or a script requesting it again and again) no longer inflates “Most Viewed” and “Trending This Week”. A small cookie remembers which pages a browser has been counted for (page numbers and times only); sites whose page cache dislikes cookies can switch it off with the filter gsar_view_counter_cookie. The privacy policy draft mentions the cookie (an existing privacy page is not changed).
• 1.1.2 — Security: the “load more” listing on archives no longer returns draft, scheduled or password-protected posts to logged-out visitors. It now lists published, unprotected posts only, caps the page number and accepts only public taxonomies. Also: malformed form input no longer causes errors, cover-image backdrops encode quote characters, rate-limit data is hashed with a salt and cleared daily, and only published games can be bookmarked or given a status.
• 1.1.1 — Fixed: pages no longer sit a few pixels to the right on short pages compared with long ones — the space for the scrollbar is now reserved on every page, so the site no longer shifts sideways between a short and a long page (visible with classic scrollbars, for example on Windows).
• 1.1.0 — New: an “Insert Coin” button (header, the [gsar_insert_coin] shortcode and the 404 page) that spins a slot-machine style reel and lands on a random game; one-click neon colour presets (hot pink, electric cyan, green phosphor, amber terminal, ultraviolet, laser red) under Display Options; and an optional CRT screen effect (scanlines, or scanlines with glow, a vignette and a slow light band) with a footer switch so visitors can turn it off. Changed: glows, focus rings and notice boxes now follow the chosen accent colour, and the default newsletter email template uses it too.
• 1.0.1 — Fixed: the neon accent color now defaults to hot pink instead of red on a site that has not saved its theme options yet.
• 1.0.0 — Initial release: an always-dark neon arcade theme with a scanline hero slider, optional news ticker, Trending This Week, thumbnail and list views, favorites, play status and member accounts.

Nocturne

• 1.2.6 — Changed: wording only.
• 1.2.5 — Fixed: on the All Games page the Rating filter and the sort by rating now also use Review Breakdown scores. Before, only IGDB ratings were checked, so a site that rates its games with Review Breakdown got no results for 60+, 70+, 80+ or 90+.
• 1.2.4 — Fixed: the Review Breakdown box now shows with GameSync Review Breakdown 2.0.7 and newer. The theme looked for the plugin’s old [review_breakdown] shortcode, which 2.0.7 renamed to [gsrb_review_breakdown]; it now uses whichever the plugin provides.
• 1.2.3 — Security: the confirm and unsubscribe links in e-mails now open a page with a button, and nothing changes until the button is pressed, so mail scanners and link previewers can no longer confirm or unsubscribe people by opening the link. Newsletters also carry List-Unsubscribe headers, so Gmail, Apple Mail and others show their own Unsubscribe button (one-click over HTTPS). Fixed: the view counter counts a visitor once per page per 30 minutes, so reloading a page (or a script requesting it again and again) no longer inflates “Most Viewed” and “Trending This Week”. A small cookie remembers which pages a browser has been counted for (page numbers and times only); sites whose page cache dislikes cookies can switch it off with the filter gsnc_view_counter_cookie. The privacy policy draft mentions the cookie (an existing privacy page is not changed). Security: the newsletter sign-up form now ignores a list sent where a single value is expected instead of failing with a server error.
• 1.2.2 — Security: the “load more” listing on archives no longer returns draft, scheduled or password-protected posts to logged-out visitors. It now lists published, unprotected posts only, caps the page number and accepts only public taxonomies.
• 1.2.1 — Fixed: pages no longer sit a few pixels to the right on short pages compared with long ones — the space for the scrollbar is now reserved on every page, so the site no longer shifts sideways between a short and a long page (visible with classic scrollbars, for example on Windows).
• 1.2.0 — New: a filter toolbar on All Games with platform, genre, minimum rating and sort order; filtered views are shareable links and the infinite scroll keeps the filters. Changed: the hero slider has a pause button, pauses on hover and focus, announces slides to screen readers and loads its first image sooner. Faster cached queries.
• 1.1.14 — Fixed: the hero slider on the home page no longer flashes dark between slides. The new slide now fades in over the old one instead of both fading at the same moment.
• 1.1.13 — Fixed: a password-protected game page shows only the title and password form, link previews no longer include cover art for protected games, public search hides protected posts, and the Watch Videos strip lists only published, non-protected games.
• 1.1.12 — Fixed: the Franchise and Player Perspective archives (the links on a game page) stopped after the first page of games; later pages now load as you scroll, in the same alphabetical order as the other archives. The Log In and Register pages no longer show a “headers already sent” warning or a half-drawn page when a logged-in member opens them; they redirect straight to My Account. A blank From email or From name under Newsletter settings no longer stops confirmation emails, newsletters and game alerts; they fall back to the site’s admin email and name. The Send Newsletter screen’s script now loads in every admin language.
• 1.1.11 — Security fix: the newsletter subscribers CSV export no longer lets a spreadsheet run a subscriber’s address as a formula. Addresses that start with =, +, – or @ are now shown as plain text. The XLSX export was not affected.
• 1.1.10 — Security fix: newsletter confirmation and unsubscribe links now accept only a well-formed token. Before, a blank or malformed token (for example a link ending in a single space) made the lookup match the newest subscriber, so anyone could confirm a pending subscriber without consent or delete the newest subscriber, repeatedly. Anything invalid now shows the “Link invalid” page; valid links in emails already sent keep working. Also changed: the confirm and unsubscribe result pages are never served from a page cache.
• 1.1.9 — Fixed: the front page hero slider (when no slides are hand-picked and random is off) and Most Exciting Games no longer mix in blog posts; they list games only.
• 1.1.8 — Changed: the Buy The Game and Download buttons now suit the dark page: a dark card with a thin border, white Steam and GOG logos, an accent-coloured icon tile and lighter colours for the price-comparison buttons. Fixed: the front page Latest Games section no longer lists blog posts. Changed: the sidebar box named “Upcoming Games” on game pages is now always “Latest Games” and lists the most recently added games.
• 1.1.7 — Fixed: the critic score on the game cards now uses the same scale as the review itself (3.4/5 for a star review instead of 6.7/10).
• 1.1.6 — Fixed: on My Account and the public Profile page the lists under a section banner now have proper spacing below them, and the Your Ratings rows show the game title on the left and the stars on the right on one line.
• 1.1.5 — Fixed: the popup player opened by the Watch Videos Now strip (and any other video thumbnail) is now larger and fits short screens.
• 1.1.4 — Changed: bigger icons in the sidebar’s Follow Us rows, and bigger Facebook and YouTube marks in all social icons.
• 1.1.3 — Changed: the glyph inside the round social badges (f, X, in, P, Instagram and play) is a bit bigger, at every size.
• 1.1.2 — Changed: the Buy, Download and store buttons on game pages no longer have borders. They rest as soft grey cards and, on hover or keyboard focus, lift with a shadow, grow the logo slightly and fill the icon tile with colour.
• 1.1.1 — Fixed: the Latest News (or Blog) menu link took visitors back to the homepage; it now opens your Posts page, or a built-in listing of the newest posts if none is set. Changed: Advertising now sits right after Footer in the settings tabs.
• 1.1.0 — Added: an Advertising settings page with five optional ad slots (three in the sidebar, two on the homepage), each a custom code block or an image banner, with a master switch, an optional “Advertisement” label and an option to hide ads from logged-in members. The slots are rows in the theme’s drag-to-reorder sidebar and front-page section lists, so they can be moved or hidden like any other section.
• 1.0.3 — Changed: the menu moved to the bottom of the WordPress admin sidebar, grouped with the other GameSync menus (Game Data Importer, theme, Review Breakdown, Related Games, Game Ratings). Nothing inside it changed.
• 1.0.2 — Fixed: the homepage “Watch Videos Now” strip stayed hidden on a site whose games only have trailers uploaded in the Game Editor. It now includes uploaded video files as well as YouTube trailers, opening in the same pop-up with a native video player, and the sidebar video count includes them too.
• 1.0.1 — Removed: a temporary one-time setup tool that is no longer needed. No change to how the theme looks or behaves.
• 1.0.0 — Added: first release of GameSync Nocturne — a dark, teal-accented game-library theme with a slim single-row header, hero carousel, card-grid archives, member favorites and play status, a built-in Submit Game form, a themed “Our Review” section from GameSync Review Breakdown, uploaded-video trailers and a Buy button for each game’s Custom Buy Link. Included with Pro.

Blocks

• 1.1.0 — New: favorite and status buttons on every game page (needs Game Data Importer 2.4.0 or later). New: patterns for a Top 10 page, a release calendar page, a platform landing page, a My games page and a game review layout. New: a platform archive template and two page templates, Wide page and Page with sidebar. New: live search suggestions in the header and on the search and 404 pages.
• 1.2.0 — New: Green and Retro style variations. New: review mode. Give a post a Review score (out of 10) in the post sidebar and it gets a score badge on its card and on the post, and fills the new Latest reviews, Top rated reviews and Reviews page patterns. Fixed: a game without a rating no longer shows an empty red badge on its card.
• 1.1.0 — New: favorite and status buttons on every game page (needs Game Data Importer 2.4.0 or later). New: patterns for a Top 10 page, a release calendar page, a platform landing page, a My games page and a game review layout. New: a platform archive template and two page templates, Wide page and Page with sidebar. New: live search suggestions in the header and on the search and 404 pages.
• 1.0.2 — Fixed: the text in the home hero is now left-aligned inside the box instead of floating in the middle of it on wide screens. Changed: a real screenshot of the theme.
• 1.0.1 — Fixed: on a game page the details (released, rating, developer, platforms and so on) showed twice when the Game Data Importer was older than 2.3.3. The theme now stops the second copy itself.
• 1.0.0 — First release. A block theme (Full Site Editing) with a clean game catalogue look: templates for the front page, game pages, the All Games library, genre and platform archives, search, posts, pages and 404, five patterns, and Dark and Blue style variations. Every template is edited in the Site Editor and uses the Game Data Importer’s game blocks.

Game Ratings

• 1.7.7 — Fixed: the Visit plugin site link now opens the GameSync Game Ratings page on gamesyncwp.com.
• 1.7.6 — Changed: wording only.
• 1.7.5 — Fixed: the shortcode and block with an explicit post ID now only work for published, viewable, non-protected posts.
• 1.7.4 — Changed: Game Ratings now has its own menu in the admin sidebar instead of sitting under Tools, grouped with the other GameSync menus. The screen itself is unchanged.
• 1.7.3 — Fixed: a visitor’s vote could still appear to vanish after a refresh on a LiteSpeed Cache site; the vote-status request is now excluded from caching.
• 1.7.2 — Fixed: the vote-status response is now marked as not cacheable.
• 1.7.1 — Fixed: on a site with a full-page cache, a visitor who voted and refreshed could see their own vote appear to vanish. The widget now re-checks the visitor’s real vote on every page load.
• 1.7.0 — Changed: the per-IP vote rate limiter no longer depends on transients, so it keeps working on sites with a persistent object cache (Redis/Memcached).
• 1.6.0 — Added a public gsgr_get_top_rated_post_ids() bulk helper, letting other plugins pull the highest-rated games site-wide — powers Related Games’ new [gamesync_top_games] leaderboard shortcode.
• 1.5.0 — Added a public gsgr_get_rating_summary() function, so companion plugins (GameSync Related Games, GameSync Review Breakdown) can optionally show a game’s audience rating on their own cards/review boxes when this plugin is active.
• 1.4.0 — Renamed to GameSync Game Ratings (from GameSync WP Post Ratings), with “game” used throughout in place of “post” — e.g. the widget’s label now reads “Rate this game”. The shortcode, REST API and stored data are unaffected.
• 1.3.0 — Added a filter so sites can qualify for Google’s rich-results star ratings, filters to adjust vote rate-limiting, and REST API support for headless sites.
• 1.2.0 — Added a Tools admin screen listing every rated post, a Post Rating block for the block editor, a public REST API, and schema.org structured data for rich results.
• 1.1.2 — Closed an IPv6 address-rotation gap in vote and rate-limit identity, required the target post to be published and accessible before accepting a rating, and stopped a logged-out visitor from casting a second vote from the same connection.
• 1.1.1 — Fixed a missing author link on the Plugins screen.
• 1.1.0 — Renamed to GameSync WP Post Ratings, with updated author credit and URL. The shortcode and stored data are unaffected.
• 1.0.1 — Updated author credit.
• 1.0.0 — Initial release: a 1–5 star shortcode rating widget with once-per-identity voting.

Related Games

• 1.13.4 — Fixed: the Visit plugin site link now opens the GameSync Related Games page on gamesyncwp.com.
• 1.13.3 — Fixed: the shortcode and REST endpoint no longer list draft, private or password-protected posts.
• 1.13.2 — Fixed: the critic-score badge on a related game’s card now uses the same scale as the review itself (3.4/5 for a star review instead of 6.7/10).
• 1.13.1 — Changed: the menu moved to the bottom of the WordPress admin sidebar, grouped with the other GameSync menus (Game Data Importer, theme, Review Breakdown, Related Games, Game Ratings). Nothing inside it changed.
• 1.13.0 — Added: [gamesync_top_games sort=”combined”] blends the audience rating and the critic score into one ranking. Fixed: the same-genre fallback is now cached per game, so it no longer recomputes on every page view.
• 1.12.0 — When the companion GameSync Review Breakdown plugin is active, a related game’s card can now also show its critic score alongside the audience rating badge. The same-genre fallback now matches across every applicable Game Data Importer taxonomy (Genre, Platform, Game Mode, Theme, Player Perspective) and ranks by how many terms overlap, instead of matching on just one. Added a new [gamesync_top_games] shortcode: a site-wide leaderboard of the highest-rated or highest-reviewed games.
• 1.11.0 — When the companion GameSync Game Ratings plugin is active, a related game’s card can now show its average visitor star rating under the title, drawing on however many votes that game already has. Toggle under Settings > Related Games, on by default.
• 1.10.0 — Changed the same-genre fallback to match on taxonomy terms (e.g. the Game Data Importer’s own Genre taxonomy for Game posts) instead of only WordPress Categories, and fixed it to search every post type instead of only “Post”.
• 1.9.0 — Added a setting to turn off the same-genre fallback guess, so the box can stay empty until you manually pick related games.
• 1.7.3 — Fixed sorting by Title while a filter was active silently sorting by Related Posts count instead.
• 1.7.2 — Improved performance of the Manage Relationships screen on large sites by paginating at the database level instead of loading every post at once.
• 1.7.1 — Related Posts now has its own top-level admin menu instead of living under Settings.
• 1.8.0 — Renamed to GameSync Related Games (from GameSync WP Related Posts (Shortcode)), with “game” used throughout in place of “post”. The shortcode tag, REST routes and stored data are unaffected.
• 1.7.0 — Added a “Manage Relationships” bulk admin screen to see and edit every post’s related posts in one place, plus a public/authenticated REST API.
• 1.6.0 — Added a block-editor block, an at-a-glance related-posts count column, and automatic cleanup of related-post references when a post is trashed or deleted.
• 1.5.2 — Fixed the “sync existing relationships now” backfill to check the original post author’s edit permission rather than the admin’s, and validated stored related-post IDs before showing their titles and thumbnails in the admin metabox.
• 1.5.1 — Fixed a missing author link on the Plugins screen.
• 1.5.0 — Renamed to GameSync WP Related Posts (Shortcode), with updated author credit and URL. The shortcode and stored data are unaffected.
• 1.4.0 — Added optional two-way relationships, so picking a post as related to another links back automatically.
• 1.3.0 — Now works on every public post type by default, including custom post types like Game.
• 1.2.1 — Updated author credit.
• 1.2.0 — Fixed the admin search box exposing other authors’ unpublished post titles and thumbnails to any user who could edit posts, and capped the number of related posts stored per post.
• 1.1.0 — Added a Settings page with default heading text, image size and hover-effect options.
• 1.0.0 — Initial release.

Review Breakdown

• 2.1.0 — Changed: now completely free in one plugin, with every feature included (colors and presets, template import and export, The Good / The Bad lists, extra layouts and the top-rated list). The licence screens and upgrade notices are gone.
• 2.0.8 — Final release of the old paid plugin: everything stays unlocked and a notice explains how to switch to the free plugin.
• 2.0.7 — Changed: the free version no longer limits the number of review templates, and the Pro notices inside the template and post editing screens are gone. The shortcodes are now [gsrb_review_breakdown] and [gsrb_review_score]; posts that use the old [review_breakdown] and [review_score] keep working. Fixed: the plugin’s website address in the plugin header.
• 2.0.6 — Changed: the paid build is now called “GameSync Review Breakdown Pro” instead of “Premium”, matching the plan name and this website.
• 2.0.5 — Fixed: installing the Premium build while the free plugin is still active no longer causes a fatal error. The second copy now stays out of the way, and the free copy is deactivated when Premium is activated.
• 2.0.4 — Fixed: deleting the plugin now removes its review data through WordPress’s own functions. Changed: both editor blocks now use block API version 3 for the WordPress 7.0 editor.
• 2.0.3 — Changed: prepared for the WordPress.org plugin directory. Unused translation loading removed, template and score fields are sanitized where they are read, and the readme describes the optional Freemius connection.
• 2.0.2 — Changed: Review Breakdown is now connected to Freemius, so the Pro license (1 site, 3 sites or unlimited sites) can be bought and activated on its own. Sites that run the Game Data Importer Pro build keep using that license and do not see a second opt-in screen.
• 2.0.1 — Fixed: the free version’s one-template limit was not enforced, so a second template could still be created by opening the Add New Template address; it is now refused. Fixed: the Review Score Badge block now sits inside the content column on block themes. Fixed: the score next to each bar (“9/10”) no longer touches the end of the bar on themes that remove table cell padding.
• 2.0.0 — New: GameSync Review Breakdown now comes in a free and a Pro version. The free version works on any WordPress site with posts, pages, Games and any custom post type, unlimited criteria, stars, points or a percentage, text below the criteria, the block and shortcode, a new score badge ([review_score] and a block), schema.org markup and one review template. Pro adds unlimited templates, template import and export, colors with presets and a live preview, a custom heading per template (for example “Our Rating”), The Good / The Bad lists above or below the criteria (hidden when empty), bar, compact, horizontal, gauge and radar layouts, score labels, an award badge, criterion descriptions, a buy button, a top-rated list and Elementor and Bricks support. Pro is included with a Game Data Importer Pro license. Fixed: on right-to-left sites the review box was unstyled. Deleting the plugin now also removes its color and audience-rating options.
• 1.10.2 — Fixed: the GameSync Review Breakdown block now works in the block editor. The editor script used an old block name, so the block could not be inserted and existing ones showed as unsupported; it now registers under the same name as the plugin’s server side.
• 1.10.1 — Security: Review Templates can now only be created, imported, edited or deleted by administrators. Before, the menu was admin-only but the template screens could be opened by URL, so an Author could create templates and an Editor could change a template’s criteria and weights, which changes the overall score of every review that uses it. Editors and Authors can still choose a template when reviewing a game.
• 1.10.0 — Changed: new defaults. On a site that hasn’t saved the Settings screen yet, the review box is now enabled for Games rather than Posts and Pages, and sits after the content instead of before it (a site without the Game Data Importer falls back to Posts). Sites that have already saved their Settings keep their choices. Also changed: Import Template is now its own submenu under Templates.
• 1.9.2 — Changed: the menu moved to the bottom of the WordPress admin sidebar, grouped with the other GameSync menus (Game Data Importer, theme, Review Breakdown, Related Games, Game Ratings). Nothing inside it changed.
• 1.9.1 — Fixed: on a Review Template’s edit screen, changing a criterion’s weight and clicking Update didn’t save and sent you to the Posts list. Both now work as expected.
• 1.9.0 — Changed: the two notices on the Review Templates screen no longer depend on transients, so they show reliably on sites with a persistent object cache.
• 1.8.0 — Added public gsrb_get_review_summary() and gsrb_get_top_reviewed_post_ids() functions, letting other plugins read a game’s critic score without a hard dependency — powers Related Games’ critic-score badge and its new [gamesync_top_games] leaderboard shortcode.
• 1.7.0 — When the companion GameSync Game Ratings plugin is active, the review box can now also show that game’s visitor star rating alongside the critic score. Toggle under Settings, on by default.
• 1.6.0 — Added a Color preset dropdown (Light, Dark, High contrast) and a live preview box on the Settings screen, updating instantly as any color or preset changes.
• 1.5.0 — Added a Border color setting, alongside the Background/Text/Bar colors added in 1.4.0, for the review box’s own border.
• 1.4.0 — Added Background, Text and Bar/star color settings, so the review box’s colors can be matched to any theme without editing CSS.
• 1.3.0 — Renamed to GameSync Review Breakdown, dropping “WP” from the name. Templates and saved scores are unaffected.
• 1.2.1 — Fixed uninstalling the plugin leaving the overall review score behind in the database.
• 1.2.0 — Added a block-editor block, template import/export, and a queryable overall score saved on each reviewed post.
• 1.1.1 — Stopped the review box from rendering on password-protected posts before the password is entered, and restricted the [review_breakdown id="N"] shortcode to published, non-protected posts of an enabled type.
• 1.1.0 — Renamed to GameSync WP Review Breakdown. Templates and saved scores are unaffected.
• 1.0.2 — Fixed the admin menu collapsing when editing a Review Template.
• 1.0.1 — Fixed criterion scores that could vanish after saving, caused by a case-sensitivity mismatch.
• 1.0.0 — Initial release: unlimited criteria, reusable templates, three display styles, weighted scoring, RTL support and schema.org markup.

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