Madame Adequate
07-07-2014, 09:06 PM
Whilst reading Pike's questions about emulation here (http://home.eyesonff.com/showthread.php/157793-ZSNES-is-being-a-butt?p=3439616#post3439616) and it made me think that a central thread for good video game related resources might be a neat idea.
:save: Emulation General Wiki (http://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Main_Page) is the place to go for information on emulators, where to get them, common bugs, comparisons between different ones, etc.
:save: PCGaming Wiki (http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Home) is a general wiki for PC games, specifically for information about compatibility issues, fan-made compatches, tools to tweak settings if the normal options don't allow it, and all similar sorts of things. It also tends to have information about common bugs or performance issues, so it's a great resource if you've got a crash-happy game or something.
:save: /v/'s Recommended Games Wiki (http://vsrecommendedgames.wikia.com/wiki//v/%27s_Recommended_Games_Wiki) is, unsurprisingly, born of 4chan's /v/ board but don't worry, most of the idiocy has stayed on /v/. What this is is a long list of games for a huge number of different systems along with brief descriptions and metacritic indicators, so if you're looking for something to play but don't know what, this is a good place to get some ideas.
:save: Before I Play (http://www.beforeiplay.com/index.php?title=Category:Games) is a handy wiki which gives quick useful tips for new players to various games. They're not full guides and they're not supposed to spoil, it's just useful pointers to stop you getting tripped up by a poorly explained choice or something similar.
:save: I always use the tweak guides on nvidia's GeForce site (http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/guides) for any graphically-intense PC games. They break down every setting and feature and educate you to make your own informed decision about how to set it. You learn a lot about how developers allocate resources when optimizing a game from going through these.
:save: Sometimes I'm grinding through my backlog and just want to know How Long to Beat (http://www.howlongtobeat.com/) a game. The data isn't necessarily always accurate.
:save: The ongoing iterations of NeoGaf's PC building thread (http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=835397) is amazing for so many reasons. I recommend NeoGaf overall as not only is it the gaming forum but plenty of developers, journalists, and other insiders are members there. I don't post but it's my most reliable source for gaming news, some of which before anyone else even knows about it.
:save: And of course everyone should know about Cheap Ass Gamer (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/) :D.
:save: For anyone who regularly plays Dota 2 or any other multiplayer games on Steam: issteamdown.com
:save: Or if you want even more detailed information: Steam Status (http://steamstat.us/)
:save: gamefaqs (http://www.gamefaqs.com/) is the first port of call for most games if you are seeking cheats or guides. It has a vast number of user contributions for just about every game ever made.
:save: Steam Sales Tracker (http://steamdb.info/sales/) - sort Steam games by discount or how cheap they are!
:save: CheapShark (http://www.cheapshark.com/) - lists games on sale across a wide variety of websites.
:save: Backloggery (http://backloggery.com/) - for people who like to keep track of their game collection and which ones they've beaten.
:save: www.Romhacking.net is an excellent site that tracks and hosts patches for both romhacks and fan translations, as well providing tools and a (usually) helpful forum to help you with your own romhacking adventures.
:save: The Cutting Room Floor (www.tcrf.net) is a site dedicated to content cut or inaccessible in video games, and, while it won't help with playing said games, reading about this cut content is usually entertaining in its own right. Articles also tend to track differences between US and Japanese releases, though this varies from page to page.
:save: Also, it's behind a paywall but Something Awful's games forum (http://forums.somethingawful.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=44) generally has great threads with extremely good, informative OPs, as well as having tons and tons of Let's Plays.
:save: Let's Plays are also archived in fairly huge numbers at The Let's Play Archive (http://lparchive.org/).
:save: tasvideos.org is a lovely resource if you're into watching/making tool-assisted speedruns. There are some absolutely stunning videos on that page.
:save: speeddemosarchive.com is usually considered the gold standard for live speedrun sites, meanwhile.
:save: Variety of (legitimate) free games (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhZ2bGNb4RZIdE5JTEs4b2xyNmllNnNRTWR1NzlCVXc&authkey=CNScwJoF&hl=en&authkey=CNScwJoF#gid=0) maintained by Bay 12 forum users (Bay 12 is the pair who make Dwarf Fortress).
:save: I'd like to mention the Visual Novel Database (https://vndb.org/). It's a pretty good resource on technical details for visual novels. Things like estimated length, release details, links to buy or download them, as well as any sequels/prequels/spinoffs or details on the publisher or developer.
:save: Is There Any Deal (http://isthereanydeal.com/) Type in a game, any game, and it tells you if it's on sale anywhere.
:save: Internet Game Database (https://www.igdb.com/) or IGDB. Works to be the videogame equivalent of IMBD for movies, containing mostly credits, voice actor information, dev and publisher info, release dates, and so forth.
:save: Can you RUN it (https://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri) Type in a game, it tells you if you can run it.
Will continue updating as more are linked/remembered! Also, I'll shy away from specific review sites or things for specific games, as I'd conceived of this as a more general list of resources (and to keep it manageable), but feel free to ask/answer about this in the thread
Thanks for links from: Bolivar, Pike, kentarawr, Rez09, The Man, and Karifean! :jess:
:save: Emulation General Wiki (http://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Main_Page) is the place to go for information on emulators, where to get them, common bugs, comparisons between different ones, etc.
:save: PCGaming Wiki (http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Home) is a general wiki for PC games, specifically for information about compatibility issues, fan-made compatches, tools to tweak settings if the normal options don't allow it, and all similar sorts of things. It also tends to have information about common bugs or performance issues, so it's a great resource if you've got a crash-happy game or something.
:save: /v/'s Recommended Games Wiki (http://vsrecommendedgames.wikia.com/wiki//v/%27s_Recommended_Games_Wiki) is, unsurprisingly, born of 4chan's /v/ board but don't worry, most of the idiocy has stayed on /v/. What this is is a long list of games for a huge number of different systems along with brief descriptions and metacritic indicators, so if you're looking for something to play but don't know what, this is a good place to get some ideas.
:save: Before I Play (http://www.beforeiplay.com/index.php?title=Category:Games) is a handy wiki which gives quick useful tips for new players to various games. They're not full guides and they're not supposed to spoil, it's just useful pointers to stop you getting tripped up by a poorly explained choice or something similar.
:save: I always use the tweak guides on nvidia's GeForce site (http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/guides) for any graphically-intense PC games. They break down every setting and feature and educate you to make your own informed decision about how to set it. You learn a lot about how developers allocate resources when optimizing a game from going through these.
:save: Sometimes I'm grinding through my backlog and just want to know How Long to Beat (http://www.howlongtobeat.com/) a game. The data isn't necessarily always accurate.
:save: The ongoing iterations of NeoGaf's PC building thread (http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=835397) is amazing for so many reasons. I recommend NeoGaf overall as not only is it the gaming forum but plenty of developers, journalists, and other insiders are members there. I don't post but it's my most reliable source for gaming news, some of which before anyone else even knows about it.
:save: And of course everyone should know about Cheap Ass Gamer (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/) :D.
:save: For anyone who regularly plays Dota 2 or any other multiplayer games on Steam: issteamdown.com
:save: Or if you want even more detailed information: Steam Status (http://steamstat.us/)
:save: gamefaqs (http://www.gamefaqs.com/) is the first port of call for most games if you are seeking cheats or guides. It has a vast number of user contributions for just about every game ever made.
:save: Steam Sales Tracker (http://steamdb.info/sales/) - sort Steam games by discount or how cheap they are!
:save: CheapShark (http://www.cheapshark.com/) - lists games on sale across a wide variety of websites.
:save: Backloggery (http://backloggery.com/) - for people who like to keep track of their game collection and which ones they've beaten.
:save: www.Romhacking.net is an excellent site that tracks and hosts patches for both romhacks and fan translations, as well providing tools and a (usually) helpful forum to help you with your own romhacking adventures.
:save: The Cutting Room Floor (www.tcrf.net) is a site dedicated to content cut or inaccessible in video games, and, while it won't help with playing said games, reading about this cut content is usually entertaining in its own right. Articles also tend to track differences between US and Japanese releases, though this varies from page to page.
:save: Also, it's behind a paywall but Something Awful's games forum (http://forums.somethingawful.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=44) generally has great threads with extremely good, informative OPs, as well as having tons and tons of Let's Plays.
:save: Let's Plays are also archived in fairly huge numbers at The Let's Play Archive (http://lparchive.org/).
:save: tasvideos.org is a lovely resource if you're into watching/making tool-assisted speedruns. There are some absolutely stunning videos on that page.
:save: speeddemosarchive.com is usually considered the gold standard for live speedrun sites, meanwhile.
:save: Variety of (legitimate) free games (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhZ2bGNb4RZIdE5JTEs4b2xyNmllNnNRTWR1NzlCVXc&authkey=CNScwJoF&hl=en&authkey=CNScwJoF#gid=0) maintained by Bay 12 forum users (Bay 12 is the pair who make Dwarf Fortress).
:save: I'd like to mention the Visual Novel Database (https://vndb.org/). It's a pretty good resource on technical details for visual novels. Things like estimated length, release details, links to buy or download them, as well as any sequels/prequels/spinoffs or details on the publisher or developer.
:save: Is There Any Deal (http://isthereanydeal.com/) Type in a game, any game, and it tells you if it's on sale anywhere.
:save: Internet Game Database (https://www.igdb.com/) or IGDB. Works to be the videogame equivalent of IMBD for movies, containing mostly credits, voice actor information, dev and publisher info, release dates, and so forth.
:save: Can you RUN it (https://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri) Type in a game, it tells you if you can run it.
Will continue updating as more are linked/remembered! Also, I'll shy away from specific review sites or things for specific games, as I'd conceived of this as a more general list of resources (and to keep it manageable), but feel free to ask/answer about this in the thread
Thanks for links from: Bolivar, Pike, kentarawr, Rez09, The Man, and Karifean! :jess: