Crazycrab

If it's only mobile games which are mostly free to play anyway then it's kinda pointless really, unless they get some exclusives which I doubt.  The partnership with PlayStation has potential if it's true although I would expect to be effectively a tie in or rebrand of their current PS NOW service and their will be an additional fee.

I was VERY exited about this game when it was first announced.  The whole ship battles and mechanics from Assassin's Creed Black Flag expanded into it's own game with multiplayer and I heard at one point there would be a campaign and PVE as well.  It sounded like a dream game... but now it seems to be a nightmare.
 
If Ubisoft do release this it will likely be just slapped together to make up at least some of the development costs, and that's really sad.  I feel sorry for the devs because this still has a lot of potential that might be forever lost.

I was VERY exited about this game when it was first announced.  The whole ship battles and mechanics from Assassin's Creed Black Flag expanded into it's own game with multiplayer and I heard at one point there would be a campaign and PVE as well.  It sounded like a dream game... but now it seems to be a nightmare.
 
If Ubisoft do release this it will likely be just slapped together to make up at least some of the development costs, and that's really sad.  I feel sorry for the devs because this still has a lot of potential that might be forever lost.

Does anyone ever get overwhelmed by the amount of posts here? For example I follow 4 people here. There are other people who I'm not following but tend to use the quote button to respond directly to a comment I made, the same way we all do. When you add all that together, I'll often come here and have 60-70 notifications waiting on me letting me know about being quoted, reactions to my posts, and posts made by the people I follow. On the General Gaming board the other day, new posts were 8 pages deep. I said "fuck it" and just marked the board read. And just now, I came back for the third time today, and the board was 3 pages deep. Is it just me, or does anyone else ever get overwhelmed at times due to the sheer volume of posts?

The worst... Really?
 
  
 

@Crazycrab is correct - there are so many more examples of this in the industry outside of CDPR.

No, independent only means that they are operating without a third party publisher. CD Project Red is an independent studio and they have hundreds of employees.  It's a common misconception, the term "independent" has absolutely nothing to do with the size or scale of the business.
 

A good portion of that was no doubt born out of pressure and frustration on the part of EA, but he has made some questionable creative decisions.  Maybe without that pressure he can do better but won't know until we see what he and his studio can accomplish on thier own merit.

No, independent only means that they are operating without a third party publisher. CD Project Red is an independent studio and they have hundreds of employees.  It's a common misconception, the term "independent" has absolutely nothing to do with the size or scale of the business.
 

He might be a veteran but also responsible for some of the biggest misteps at bioware. Like the red green and blue ending for ME3, and the consequent artistic integrity excuse for doubling down on it instead of improving it. Also it was under his leadership that they wasted time for years with no clear direction and then had to wrap up both ME:Andromeda and Anthem in basically 18 months after EA stepped on their collective necks.

I don't think I'll ever be sold on mobile gaming.  As far as I can tell it's all greedy, microtransaction fueled trash designed by people who simply couldn't care less about storytelling, artistic expression or fun gameplay.

Same here - I saw that some media outlets called it "innovative". I was confused because nothing about this game screens innovative in any way shape or form.
Mobile gaming for the most part is an absolute cesspool. I mean it had a great start in the 2011-2014 period where there were great games with pretty good storytelling and action. But since then, it's just fallen sharply off a cliff and will never recover.

I don't think I'll ever be sold on mobile gaming.  As far as I can tell it's all greedy, microtransaction fueled trash designed by people who simply couldn't care less about storytelling, artistic expression or fun gameplay.

Now a little disclaimer before the mods close the door on this topic.  This is NOT about piracy and I would expect any post drawing any attention to sites that allow access to illegal ROM's or BIOS' to be deleted and rightly so.  I'm posting this topic because there are points and purposes to emulators that have nothing to do with piracy.
 
The first one I'll point out is preserving gaming history.  There are games that were released on older platforms and arcades that now cannot be played in any other way... Unless you have access to the original hardware but that won't last forever.  Game's (including demo's like PT) should be archived and be playable because they are part of our culture.  With the gaming industry moving more and more into the realms of DRM and digital distribution aspects of this piece of our cultural heritage is a greater risk than ever of being reduced or lost completely.  The only way to save it is through emulation.
 
The second is that despite continuous complaint's for publishers, there are game's that they are not making and most likely will never make any money on, often through willful negligence.  One example would be Ubisoft and Driver San Francisco.  This is considered to one the best if the THE best game in the franchise despite not being a huge commercial hit.  To this day Ubisoft do not distribute the game on any platform, not even on their own UPlay storefront on PC.  There have even petitions from fans asking Ubisoft to release the game on UPlay but they have refused.  So unless you have an original disc there is no way to buy the game outside the second hand market which generates Ubisoft no revenue anyway.  So should one really feel guilty about playing this game through other means?  It is Ubisoft that continue to slam the door shut on it.
 
The third being that emulators by themselves are not illegal.  It all depends on how you get the ROM's.
 
There are exceptions but these are mostly older games that can no longer be purchased by any legitimate means.  So if there is no way for the publisher to make money off the game anyway is it really wrong to download and/emulate it for free?
 
Well that's my two cents, how about you?  Do you use them and if so which ones?  Post but of course keep it clean.

Now a little disclaimer before the mods close the door on this topic.  This is NOT about piracy and I would expect any post drawing any attention to sites that allow access to illegal ROM's or BIOS' to be deleted and rightly so.  I'm posting this topic because there are points and purposes to emulators that have nothing to do with piracy.
 
The first one I'll point out is preserving gaming history.  There are games that were released on older platforms and arcades that now cannot be played in any other way... Unless you have access to the original hardware but that won't last forever.  Game's (including demo's like PT) should be archived and be playable because they are part of our culture.  With the gaming industry moving more and more into the realms of DRM and digital distribution aspects of this piece of our cultural heritage is a greater risk than ever of being reduced or lost completely.  The only way to save it is through emulation.
 
The second is that despite continuous complaint's for publishers, there are game's that they are not making and most likely will never make any money on, often through willful negligence.  One example would be Ubisoft and Driver San Francisco.  This is considered to one the best if the THE best game in the franchise despite not being a huge commercial hit.  To this day Ubisoft do not distribute the game on any platform, not even on their own UPlay storefront on PC.  There have even petitions from fans asking Ubisoft to release the game on UPlay but they have refused.  So unless you have an original disc there is no way to buy the game outside the second hand market which generates Ubisoft no revenue anyway.  So should one really feel guilty about playing this game through other means?  It is Ubisoft that continue to slam the door shut on it.
 
The third being that emulators by themselves are not illegal.  It all depends on how you get the ROM's.
 
There are exceptions but these are mostly older games that can no longer be purchased by any legitimate means.  So if there is no way for the publisher to make money off the game anyway is it really wrong to download and/emulate it for free?
 
Well that's my two cents, how about you?  Do you use them and if so which ones?  Post but of course keep it clean.

You're spot on with this. I've talk about Abandonware on the forums before that pretty much exists to preserve unsupported games. Not all of the games on thier need to be emulated of course, but there are a lot that do, especially older games. However, just because a game is older, don't assume that it's legal to download a ROM for it. A lot of such games are still sold, so obviously downloading a ROM is likely not legal. Then there is situation where publishers and the owners of IP's don't sell them, but get petty with thier copyright. I completely understand the moral justification to download such games, but it doesn't change the fact that posting links to such ROM or websites that host them won't be permitted here.
 
Emulation is important though, like you said. Without it many games would simply perish and be lost. So of course this topic will remain open and I encourage people to share what emulators they use. and discuss emulation in in general. Just a few parameters for me, as a mod, to set.
 
Do;
Discuss and link to your favourite emulators and post instructions for others on how to use them. Ask what emulators are recommend for the games you have. If by any chance that game has been acquired by means that may not be legal, keep that you yourself. Respect that this topic is about emulation, not piracy, so stick to the topic at hand. Feel free to discuss emulation in general without posting anything specific if you wish. Post links to legal sites to download game files, such as the aforementioned Abandonware and digital storefronts. Don't
Link to illegal ROM's nor any website that hosts them, as previously stated. Link to software or post instructions with the purpose to crack or hack games to bypass DRM and other copyright security. Make promotional posts, links to forbidden websites and obviously pirate games and software in accordance with our current Rules and Guidelines.  
On topic. DOSbox is a great emulator I have use for emulating DOS games, but it can be difficult to use. RetroArch is similar, but with a more modern interface and i feel is easier to use with more compatibility options. That's really about all I use at the moment.

Now a little disclaimer before the mods close the door on this topic.  This is NOT about piracy and I would expect any post drawing any attention to sites that allow access to illegal ROM's or BIOS' to be deleted and rightly so.  I'm posting this topic because there are points and purposes to emulators that have nothing to do with piracy.
 
The first one I'll point out is preserving gaming history.  There are games that were released on older platforms and arcades that now cannot be played in any other way... Unless you have access to the original hardware but that won't last forever.  Game's (including demo's like PT) should be archived and be playable because they are part of our culture.  With the gaming industry moving more and more into the realms of DRM and digital distribution aspects of this piece of our cultural heritage is a greater risk than ever of being reduced or lost completely.  The only way to save it is through emulation.
 
The second is that despite continuous complaint's for publishers, there are game's that they are not making and most likely will never make any money on, often through willful negligence.  One example would be Ubisoft and Driver San Francisco.  This is considered to one the best if the THE best game in the franchise despite not being a huge commercial hit.  To this day Ubisoft do not distribute the game on any platform, not even on their own UPlay storefront on PC.  There have even petitions from fans asking Ubisoft to release the game on UPlay but they have refused.  So unless you have an original disc there is no way to buy the game outside the second hand market which generates Ubisoft no revenue anyway.  So should one really feel guilty about playing this game through other means?  It is Ubisoft that continue to slam the door shut on it.
 
The third being that emulators by themselves are not illegal.  It all depends on how you get the ROM's.
 
There are exceptions but these are mostly older games that can no longer be purchased by any legitimate means.  So if there is no way for the publisher to make money off the game anyway is it really wrong to download and/emulate it for free?
 
Well that's my two cents, how about you?  Do you use them and if so which ones?  Post but of course keep it clean.

Now a little disclaimer before the mods close the door on this topic.  This is NOT about piracy and I would expect any post drawing any attention to sites that allow access to illegal ROM's or BIOS' to be deleted and rightly so.  I'm posting this topic because there are points and purposes to emulators that have nothing to do with piracy.
 
The first one I'll point out is preserving gaming history.  There are games that were released on older platforms and arcades that now cannot be played in any other way... Unless you have access to the original hardware but that won't last forever.  Game's (including demo's like PT) should be archived and be playable because they are part of our culture.  With the gaming industry moving more and more into the realms of DRM and digital distribution aspects of this piece of our cultural heritage is a greater risk than ever of being reduced or lost completely.  The only way to save it is through emulation.
 
The second is that despite continuous complaint's for publishers, there are game's that they are not making and most likely will never make any money on, often through willful negligence.  One example would be Ubisoft and Driver San Francisco.  This is considered to one the best if the THE best game in the franchise despite not being a huge commercial hit.  To this day Ubisoft do not distribute the game on any platform, not even on their own UPlay storefront on PC.  There have even petitions from fans asking Ubisoft to release the game on UPlay but they have refused.  So unless you have an original disc there is no way to buy the game outside the second hand market which generates Ubisoft no revenue anyway.  So should one really feel guilty about playing this game through other means?  It is Ubisoft that continue to slam the door shut on it.
 
The third being that emulators by themselves are not illegal.  It all depends on how you get the ROM's.
 
There are exceptions but these are mostly older games that can no longer be purchased by any legitimate means.  So if there is no way for the publisher to make money off the game anyway is it really wrong to download and/emulate it for free?
 
Well that's my two cents, how about you?  Do you use them and if so which ones?  Post but of course keep it clean.

I totally agree with your sentiment - when it comes to PVP, exploits are definitely a no-no for me. I always play fair and square as I want no complaints when I defeat someone.

If it's a competitive PVP game then yes, I would consider it cheating.  Otherwise have at it!  It's not the gamer's fault that the developers failed to spot an exploit during testing.

@Reality vs Adventure I don't wanna defend the Chinese Government (trust me, I REALLY don't), but you haven't quite got the full context to this.
 
Gaming addiction is a pretty serious problem in China, more so than it is in the west.  Part of the reason for this is that most don't own a gaming console or PC of thier own, instead they go to 24 hour internet café's.  So when you consider that people including children are gaming and spending in a public space, with pretty much no supervision... I think you start to see the problems.
 
There are people that have legitimately lost their lives in those kind of places after gaming for litteraly days at a time.  It's not such a problem if the people, particularly children are at home like they trypicaly would be over here where that can be supervised or at least have somone knock on the door once in a while.
 
I'm not saying the Chinese Government won't abuse this, they fucking obviously will, but I can see a point to it.

@Reality vs Adventure I don't wanna defend the Chinese Government (trust me, I REALLY don't), but you haven't quite got the full context to this.
 
Gaming addiction is a pretty serious problem in China, more so than it is in the west.  Part of the reason for this is that most don't own a gaming console or PC of thier own, instead they go to 24 hour internet café's.  So when you consider that people including children are gaming and spending in a public space, with pretty much no supervision... I think you start to see the problems.
 
There are people that have legitimately lost their lives in those kind of places after gaming for litteraly days at a time.  It's not such a problem if the people, particularly children are at home like they trypicaly would be over here where that can be supervised or at least have somone knock on the door once in a while.
 
I'm not saying the Chinese Government won't abuse this, they fucking obviously will, but I can see a point to it.

No, but I think it might actually be quite a clever strategy for the SNP.  One Google search on this guy and everyone in England would think "Ok... FUCK THIS!  Give them independence and leave them be!". 😅

@Reality vs Adventure I don't wanna defend the Chinese Government (trust me, I REALLY don't), but you haven't quite got the full context to this.
 
Gaming addiction is a pretty serious problem in China, more so than it is in the west.  Part of the reason for this is that most don't own a gaming console or PC of thier own, instead they go to 24 hour internet café's.  So when you consider that people including children are gaming and spending in a public space, with pretty much no supervision... I think you start to see the problems.
 
There are people that have legitimately lost their lives in those kind of places after gaming for litteraly days at a time.  It's not such a problem if the people, particularly children are at home like they trypicaly would be over here where that can be supervised or at least have somone knock on the door once in a while.
 
I'm not saying the Chinese Government won't abuse this, they fucking obviously will, but I can see a point to it.

The first time I heard heavy metal in a video game was with Carmageddon, which used instrumentals from Fear Factory's Demanufacture album.  Back then I didn't even really know what heavy metal was but I loved it!
 
But I think the king of heavy soundtracks has to go to Brütal Legend.  The whole game from visual design, lore, story and even self-deprecating humour all revolve around heavy metal culture.  Then there's the soundtrack which of course fucking rocks!  There's over 100 tracks The likes of Testament, Black Sabbath, Iced Earth, Motörhead, Mötley Crüe, Tvangeste, Dark Tranquillity, Megadeath, In Flames, Manowar, Dimmu Borgir, Judas Priest.....  It goes on forever!