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25 Example Questions (1 closed)

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up vote 11 down vote

added by Miguel May 22 '12 at 23:03

This question has reached 10 votes. Please use your votes on other good questions to help progress the proposal. Thanks :) – Miguel Jul 7 '12 at 0:59

Legal questions can only truly be answered with "get a lawyer" (especially if you plan to publish!). If they do get an answer it'll 99% only be valid for the United States (if that much). – radp Jan 27 at 18:22

radp: Though this may be true, solid, general advice can be given. Why would I take the time to even try to do something like this (esp. since international lawyer fees could be ludicrous) if someone could reference multiple cases where this has been tempted and failed (or succeeded.) – RLH Mar 8 at 15:37

up vote 10 down vote

added by RLH May 22 '12 at 12:20

up vote 10 down vote

added by RLH May 22 '12 at 13:40

Is there a reason this question can't go on Gaming.SE? – Nicol Bolas May 22 '12 at 18:18

Although gaming isn't overwhelmed with questions, many questions are dominated by answering questions about game play with the occasional question regarding getting a game to work. This could be posted over at Gaming.SE however, it would fit in this community, as well, and would be more approriate here. It's like posting a DBA question on StackOverflow because it involves SQL code. Many questions are acceptable on both sites, even if the DBA site is a better fit. – RLH May 25 '12 at 12:08

@RLH This wouldn't be a problem if this proposal had questions that weren't off topic for the entirety of the network. DBA doesn't really do modelling questions, for example. As it stands, however, none of the questions scored 4 and up in this proposal doesn't belong on either Gaming or Gamedev – radp Jan 27 at 19:19

up vote 10 down vote

added by Miguel May 22 '12 at 22:58

Why the downvote? – Miguel Feb 5 at 18:55

up vote 10 down vote

added by RLH Jun 5 '12 at 20:23

I think this is a fair, legitimate question. Specifically, consider the case of really old games that were owned by companies that went bankrupt or out of business and they never sold their assets to another company? Some out-right classics could fall in this category. What can/should a gamer do who wants to play these games? – RLH Jun 5 '12 at 20:23

FYI, my comment from yesterday isn't to state that illegal activity should be encouraged. However, advice on the topic (from those who have researched the issue) is still valuable. – RLH Jun 6 '12 at 12:22

This, as with many legal questions, will probably run the border of NaRQ/TL. NaRQ if the question fails to specify a locale and/or list of game(s). TL because answers will only be valid for a specific locale and/or list of game(s). – Iszi Oct 11 '12 at 17:17

@RLH - If you want a site where any question regarding x is askable, StackExchange is not the place. We have strict guidelines that define what sort of questions are answerable and appropriate within the StackExchange format. – Iszi Nov 16 '12 at 15:17

This question has reached 10 votes. Please consider upvoting other questions to help progress this proposal. – RLH Jan 25 at 12:47

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up vote 10 down vote

added by Miguel Jun 22 '12 at 22:56

up vote 10 down vote

added by user1873 Sep 6 '12 at 2:55

up vote 8 down vote

added by Traroth Jun 1 '12 at 9:23

Seems important to know if emulation is in the scope of this site. – Traroth Jun 1 '12 at 9:23

I'm not sure of how well StackExchange would agree with this statement but I adamantly believe that there is a place for questions regarding emulators and, possibly limited circumstances, questions regarding Abandonware. My reasoning is that emulation exists for many reasons. Although many users of these emulators use them to illegally download content to play on their PCs (or smart devices), the fact remains that in most cases, emulators are not themselves illegal. Questions regarding emulators, emulator tweaks and game-specific functionality are important. – RLH Jun 5 '12 at 16:47

(cont.) They are important because as these systems age they degrade and become harder and more difficult to repair. Having a true-to-the-hardware emulator (see BSNES project [goo.gl/ccfgN]) provides a means of keeping the system functionality alive so that has the hardware dies, we still have a means to run software for these machines. Video Games are art as well as history. Yes, we need to obey the law and not encourage users to "steal" content. Still, promoting a place where users can legally explore old hardware and even create new content for old systems should be encouraged. – RLH Jun 5 '12 at 16:59

^+1 (Dead link! =p) – WindowsEscapist Dec 3 '12 at 12:29

The link is actually goo.gl/ccfgN – Traroth Dec 4 '12 at 9:07

up vote 8 down vote

added by Miguel Jun 14 '12 at 20:20

up vote 7 down vote

added by RLH May 22 '12 at 12:19

I know that this is a rather generalized question. It could be specific to a logic chip or a potentiometer (sp?) in the controller unit. Still, someone with old games, including the dinosaurs from the early 70's, deserve a little loving too. This may be a rare question, but I think it would certainly belong on a site geared toward all-things-retro gaming. – RLH May 25 '12 at 12:14

I think it's a fine topic, but I'd want the questioner to be a bit more specific about what components they want, as sources will vary. – Michael Kohne Jun 3 '12 at 20:19

Yes, I posted the question and I additionally think that it should contain more detail. If my understanding is correct, though, the question that I'm posting is one that would appear in the title, and is void of the details that would appear once you clicked on the question link. I, personally, do not need old components for a home pong system or original arcade machine. However, really old hardware often needs repair and I wanted to spotlight that users should feel free to ask about finding and replacing components that are extremely old (in computer years.) – RLH Jun 4 '12 at 12:21

up vote 7 down vote

added by user1873, edited by Miguel Mar 18 at 1:19

up vote 7 down vote

added by Renan Oct 27 '12 at 3:11

up vote 4 down vote

added by Traroth Jun 6 '12 at 11:56

Down-voted because this is trvially found on Wikipedia. "16-bit 65c816 Ricoh 5A22 3.58 MHz" – Iszi Oct 11 '12 at 17:24

@Iszi I disagree. If this site is approved, people will come to it to search for answers, whether they are common or not. It isn't ideal to deem questions as inappropriate just because other websites have the answer. – Nil May 4 at 4:57

up vote 3 down vote

added by Renan Oct 27 '12 at 3:10

up vote 1 down vote

added by RLH May 22 '12 at 12:21

Is there a reason this question can't go on Gaming.SE? – Nicol Bolas May 22 '12 at 18:18

The idea behind this question, and similar, is to abstract questions that are specific to older hardware. Gaming.SE is good for current gaming questions (at least by my observation.) Having a site for older games & hardware seems a bit appropriate because their many of us retro-gamer types are much more aware of older hardware. A retro gaming and modding site would be appropriate for this type of question IF it existed. You could ask it over there at Gaming.SE but, in the future, this would be a better place and would most likely get a quicker and better response. – RLH May 25 '12 at 12:11

up vote 1 down vote

added by Traroth Jun 6 '12 at 11:55

closed as duplicate of Are there legal ways of acquiring and being able to play games that are truely abandonware? by Robert Cartaino♦ Oct 31 '12 at 17:07

This question covers exactly the same ground as another question in this proposal.

up vote 1 down vote

added by WindowsEscapist Nov 30 '12 at 21:20

up vote 1 down vote

added by unor Jan 25 at 11:20

up vote 0 down vote

added by Jeff Oct 4 '12 at 13:26

up vote 0 down vote

added by Kirbinator Feb 15 at 17:18

up vote 0 down vote

added by Miguel Mar 18 at 1:21

up vote 0 down vote

added by Nil May 4 at 4:53

fyi, currently playstation 2 emulators require an authentic Playstation 2 bios, which is copyright protected. – Nil May 4 at 4:54

up vote 0 down vote

added by Alan Higgins May 5 at 22:47

up vote -2 down vote

added by user1873 Aug 15 '12 at 5:49

Fit in the area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/18950/… instead, this is about modding hardware and fixing. – Beamie Sep 23 '12 at 20:39

up vote -3 down vote

added by user1873 Sep 13 '12 at 3:57

Down-voted for a couple reasons: 1.) A terminology question like the first half of this query is trivially answerable via Wikipedia or other sources. 2.) The second half of this query is likely to generate a list of external site references, if it can be answered at all (will need to be much more specific to be answerable). – Iszi Oct 11 '12 at 17:20