Well, 2013 is nearly at an end and having reflected on what has transpired it’s been a year of ups and downs for me on a personal note. I lost my last Grandparent but my own family has been joined by a beautiful son.
Meanwhile, in the gaming world, nextgen fanboys were all exalting their own choice and lambasting each others systems even before they were released but I just watched, unaffected and bemused as ever by it all, knowing each would just have its own strengths and weaknesses. Just like all the competing systems that went before. The ones we as retrogamers all love to play now.
On the other hand my gaming year totally rocked. It was the year I finally got a games room and got to permanently set up the majority of my most used consoles. My revamped website hit new highs and I now have people regularly asking RGC to review their products and sites, something I’m really stoked about. Revival 2013 in Wolverhampton was one of the best I’ve ever attended and to my joy a few new ‘bricks and mortar’ retro stores opened locally.
Elsewhere in the world of retro gaming, reboots of classic games were all the fashion and 2013 also saw some innovative Kickstarter projects taking shape. Elite Dangerous, From Bedrooms to Billions, the Artcade book, the Sega Megadrive/Genesis Collected Works and the Bluetooth ZX Spectrum to name just a few of my personal favourites.
Unfortunately the increased interest in retro gaming culture also manifested itself in some ugly ways with unsavoury profiteering, with prices for retro gaming hardware and software reaching unprecedented highs on certain internet auction sites with the help of certain so-called grading ‘authorities’.
On a positive note, the RGC collection came along nicely in 2013, a few highlights of which include getting near to completing my Atari 7800 collection, acquiring a mint boxed Bandai Playdia and finally becoming the proud owner of a Raspberry Pi.
Most important for me though was the new gaming friends I made. I’ve been using social media for years but I really got to grips with it in 2013 and I not only met loads of really cool gamers, I also had the honour of making some great new friends and for that reason alone 2013 has got to be one of the best gaming years ever.
Here’s to 2014; thank you all for visiting the site and lets have another great year! Keep it retro.
