Hey, I was just thinking that with all of the forums under gaming consoles why not create a "Classic Consoles Forum?" Why all of the modding that has gone over the years I would think it would be a great way to show of your mods, talk about your mods, etc. Anyways, jsut a thought. Anyone else like this idea?
Yea, I thought about that the other day as well. Excellent idea... I want to see those 8-bit system mods!
I like the idea, but I am worried of two things: -it will fill up with emulator chat and I think the whole idea is not to talk about NES/SNES/N64/Megadrive/etc emulators, but consoles themselves and their games -I can't imagine how many requests for ROMs it'd get on daily basis (abandonware is not a legal term, distributing ROM files from 80s without a consent from the author/s is still illegal -- copyrights remain for 50-90 years, depending on jurisdiction, after the original author's death..) -- and then we'd have 5,000 people a day banned and begging to get their accounts back.. So, bit cautious about the idea, but can you share your ideas on how the above-mentioned issues could be avoided? (rather than using nazi-regime-style moderation)
That is a serious danger. ROM's exist for those with enough brains to hunt them out and there are specialised emulator sites available. It would be nice to have an area for the older consoles which we all still have and use from time to time, and information like how to dump roms yourself from the carts for your emulator.. but yea.. it will just turn into a "where do I get xxx rom" and other stupidity. The console emulators deserve a section all their own as they are usually the first place a n00b encounters anything more complicated than "start game" with many options and configurations which need to be just right. How about a retro consoles topic.. clearly stating NO emulators/roms talk and see how it goes for a week or so. We are well past the days of most of the copyright holders being too bothered about a dead game on a discontinued platform.. the copyright enforcement by some companies is just retarded.. who gives a flying .... if somebody shares a game you can't buy written for a machine you can't buy.. Not like they are losing out is it? I would love to see a couple of test cases go to court with some massive corporation whining about "losing money" because somebody provides something which is abandoned by the makers and owners. But we don't live in a world where any common sense is used do we.. Greed and profit uber alles (the mpaa/riaa/sony/sega/amstrad/emi mantra) Or you could join my site where (because of Italian hosting) it is a free for all Don't ask me directly.. I won't tell you where to find it. My friends know where it is XD Lets see what happens.. I have a c64, spectrum128, lots of 486 machines running various antique os's, a master system and a big heap of ps1's.
I will be slightly absent from the site for couple of weeks now, so I can't promise new forum rooms, etc anything like that being set up (unless Ketola wants to handle it), but I'll think about it and might test a retro console forum idea later this summer.
I dont think the whole rom thing would be a problem. I mean go look at the wii forum. That place is a newbie nuisance where nobody listens to the rules and several threads get closed each day. But most of the time its not because they are asking where they can download an .iso, its about other things. With a classic console forum I think it would actually attract less newbs and that type of stuff could be avoided. And if it does atleast newbs for the most part know not to ask for direct links to copyrighted material.
yea i agree, i dont think you are gonna see too many noobs in the classic console section. only ones who are lost.