RetroStation PC

[MSammon]

Has anybody seen the retrostation pc on youtube?

 

I know RetroArch exists and I've used it but it would be nice to be able to play games on the tv.

 

Here's a link to the video I saw...

 

 

It seems kind of neat but I have a couple of questions if anybody knows the answers I would appreciate it.

 

1. How legal is this box?

I assume that nintendo, sega, and sony etc would have a beef if the people distributing this console releases it with their games on it.

 

2. How safe is it?

Should I worry about malware and viruses pre-existing on the "console" ?

 

3. Is it only sold in Europe?

I have done some investigation and I can't seem to find these anywhere(ebay, amazon, etc there's a european site that sells it but it looks a bit sketchy so I won't put a link here)

 

4. Is this just a scam?

Call me paranoid but the whole thing seems a bit illegal and if they are going to sell you something they don't have the rights to then why not steal your money?

 

Thanks to anyone who knows about this

 

Cheers

[jaslion]

1. Emulation is fine and allowed

 

2. Probably not

 

3. Seems so

 

4. Maybe

 

You can just do this yourself.  Get a mini pc and call it a day.

[Middcore]

4 minutes ago, MSammon said:

I know RetroArch exists and I've used it but it would be nice to be able to play games on the tv.

 

So connect a device running RetroArch to your TV?

 

I've had a dedicated emulation PC built on an ASRock DeskMini barebones chassis running Retroarch/Launchbox in my entertainment center for years now. 

 

This thing in the video is just charging you for the convenience of having someone else do something you could do better yourself. 

 

 

[Middcore]

10 minutes ago, jaslion said:

1. Emulation is fine and allowed

 

If they are selling this thing with the ROMs on it that is 100% illegal, though. 

[LogicalDrm]

1-4. This isn't that different from those portable devices you may have seen on LTT channel. It looks like custom mini-PC, similar to Intel NUC or Gigabyte Brix with emulator-based OS running underneath. Any games pre-installed would be illegal if they are allowed to be played without existing accounts or purchases to buy those games. Which is usually how emulators run.

 

This particular one seems to be made by European company. You can probably find similar packages, maybe without cheap controllers, from US companies. All as sketchy as this as no mainstream store will have these. Scam? If you get just box with working hardware and Win10 license, you have already got what you paid for. They are not paying for emulator software or games in there as they are pirating the games and emulator software is free. You get 2x 15e controllers, 7e keyboard, $200 NUC, 2tb HDD added. 

[jaslion]

11 hours ago, Middcore said:

 

If they are selling this thing with the ROMs on it that is 100% illegal, though. 

Thats why I said emulation is allowed and fine. Nothing about roms since roms aren't allowed unless their own property.

[CerealExperimentsLain]

7 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

1-4. This isn't that different from those portable devices you may have seen on LTT channel. It looks like custom mini-PC, similar to Intel NUC or Gigabyte Brix with emulator-based OS running underneath. Any games pre-installed would be illegal if they are allowed to be played without existing accounts or purchases to buy those games. Which is usually how emulators run.

 

This particular one seems to be made by European company. You can probably find similar packages, maybe without cheap controllers, from US companies. All as sketchy as this as no mainstream store will have these. Scam? If you get just box with working hardware and Win10 license, you have already got what you paid for. They are not paying for emulator software or games in there as they are pirating the games and emulator software is free. You get 2x 15e controllers, 7e keyboard, $200 NUC, 2tb HDD added. 

It's literally just a 'GK3V' Mini PC, but yeah, that's just an unremarkable Celeron J4125 powered mini PC, with software on it.  Like, that's all it is.

[tkitch]

you could get a tiny PC with a much better processor, ram and storage off the shelf.  

 

Add emulators and controllers, and call it a day.

[tkitch]

something like this would be pretty awesome, as the 5700g has the best iGPU of any CPU on the market currently.

 

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16883152893

 

[LogicalDrm]

2 hours ago, tkitch said:

something like this would be pretty awesome, as the 5700g has the best iGPU of any CPU on the market currently.

 

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16883152893

 

And absolutely essential to run GaneCube games. You can't do with anything less.

 

/s

[Middcore]

For reference my emulator PC build uses a 3400G and can handle everything up through the PS2/GameCube era fine, as long as you aren't trying to like blow the games up to 4k internal resolution or something silly.