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Should questions about retro gaming consoles and related topic (their hardware, games and so on) be on-topic?

I tried to find an answer in the help, to no avail.

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    Possible duplicate of What constitutes "retro"?
    – Luke
    Commented Apr 20, 2016 at 13:55
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    I don't think that's a duplicate. The answers to the linked question don't mention consoles, nor does the question. So readers would have to deduce it from the general definition of retrocomputing proposed there, which is a long shot, in my opinion. Commented Apr 20, 2016 at 14:45
  • Actually, the top-voted answer does mention consoles. I'm sure you'll agree that on a SE site less than a day old, the linked question is broad enough to capture the generic essence of retrocomputing - that's why we're here, right?
    – Luke
    Commented Apr 20, 2016 at 15:59
  • You mean, it mentions "XBox". Not search engine friendly... Commented Apr 21, 2016 at 12:45
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    Unless the linked question is expanded a lot more, it only covers gaming consoles if you already think it does. There is nothing implicit or explicit about gaming even if you search for "gam".
    – user12
    Commented Apr 28, 2016 at 20:48

2 Answers 2

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Yes they are.

They perfectly match the description in the current highest answer in the linked duplicate question and there are quite a few of them already posted on the main site like this one:

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    When you boil it right down, retro consoles are computers. Several consoles like the Dreamcast and Philips CDi had keyboards available that allowed interaction with online services like email. So it's not out of the realm of possibility that people used them for this purpose. Commented Apr 21, 2016 at 15:32
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This issue was raised during the proposal process. While I don't generally consider Area 51 discussions binding, the top answer seems reasonable and well-regarded:

I Don't see any reason why it shouldn't be for certain types of questions. I'd argue that questions about particular games and how to beat them etc do not fit.

Questions about developing new software for old consoles, and repairing or modding them for modern AV would be a good fit.

from Is this proposed Q&A site for home video game consoles also?

I would allow these questions to see how they are handled… and see if a problem regarding their inclusion surfaces in actual practice.

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