I'm the developer and I can tell you the project is not dead. We have been quietly developing it and we're up to version 1.4 just released yesterday.
As far as comparisons with launchbox: I developed Emulation Ninja to fix my frustrations with current front-ends.
Here are some of my problems with today's front-ends and how Emulation Ninja addresses them:
I hate downloading assets!
- No more downloading of assets, linking up assets etc: Emulation Ninja uses the amazon cloud to host over 40 TB of music, video and images...it will be nearly 80TB by the end of the year.
Who wants to download all that??? The cloud will stream it super fast to every user.
There are so many games, I want a Netflix style experience
There are thousands of games I don't know about, why not recommend them to me as I play. I want to navigate my games like a website where I can search, filter just like in a modern browser.
I don't want a clunky interface controlled by game pads when I don't know exactly what I want to play.
Emulation Ninja also has the largest private database of Metadata for retro games. We use artificial intelligence to parse the metadata in order to make better game recommendations. Recommendations will improve every month as the A.I. learns.
Why should I re-create my library every time I use a new PC?
I've had this issue lots of times, I hate having to re-create everything. Since Emulation Ninja saves my library to the cloud, when I install it on a new PC my library goes with me.
It will even sync files from my old computer to the new one without me having to set anything up.
I want a web-based interface for managing my library, but I want a simpler gallery interface for playing them.
Emulation Ninja is HTML5 based so you can manage your library with a browser while the app simplifies that interface so you can focus on playing games rather than managing them.
I like video game music and want to listen to the soundtracks as I browse for new games
Emulation Ninja has a Spotify-like interface where I can listen to other people's playlists, radio stations for each console and create my own playlists. It also works beautifully on my mobile since everything is HTML5 based.
Music is uninterrupted as I browse the site.
I want simple setup, let me add the folders where my games are and you do everything else:
Other front-ends were too complicated to setup with too many features I never asked for and didn't want. Emulation Ninja's goal is to make everything simpler, plug-and-play so-to-speak.
Was Emulation Ninja created to replace launchbox?
No. I will never have an arcade cabinet. I will always play games on my PC connected to an HDTV. For that , I want an interface that works like a browser .. I don't want to control it with my gamepad...I want to search for things by typing and using a mouse. So I think the market for Emulation Ninja is very different than the one Launchbox currently sells to.
If anyone is interested they can browse and checkout the interface here:
https://emulation.ninja/games