Dear GameSpite, I’m sorry for neglecting you so much the past couple of weeks. It’s just that with all the madness of our buyout at work and the disappearance of our magazine and most of my coworkers, combined with trying to get books out in a timely fashion, I’ve not had much time for you.
Well, there’s that, I guess. But to be entirely honest, I’ve…been with another blog. I won’t deny it, I’ve spent a lot of time with you in the past year or so because 1UP wasn’t giving me what I needed. But now there’s an entire section begging to be developed by me and anyone I can draw into the process, and I have essentially free to make it the best I can. And you know me; I can’t resist that sort of opportunity. This week, we’re working to turn the Retronauts blog into something amazing with an extended look at the career of one of gaming’s unsung heroes. And in the coming weeks, we’ll be starting up blogs on movies, RPGs, Japanese gaming culture and — well, I don’t know what all, really. Having a fully-supported venue to shape into my dream site is awfully fulfilling, you know? I even have a part-time writing staff. It’s crazy.
But don’t feel bad. I’ll never leave you, GameSpite. Distractions may come and distractions may go, but you’re the only place I can write scathing screeds about nerd culture without having to worry about alienating advertisers or publishers. There’s comfort in obscurity, and I know you’ll always be here for me. Just bear with me while I sow my blogging oats, OK? It’s not that I don’t love you. I’m just weak-willed, is all.
I think everyone will understand, considering the events of the past week piled onto everything else. Has all this work kicked the mailing of Gamespite books in the ass, too?
We now have two awesome blogs to read. I fail to see how this is a bad thing. Everyone around here is holding things down superbly, so keep doing what you’re doing, for it will probably be awesome like the rest of what you’ve done.
It’s nice to know you’ll save the really juicy stuff for your Gamespite fanbase. :D Loving the Retronauts blog, can’t wait for the other blogs to launch.
@SilentSnake: Three, if you count Tilt, 1up’s iPhone blog.
Jeremy, there are things you’ve said/written about that still stick in my mind everytime I think about certain topics, and I imagine it’ll be that way for a long time. I’m hoping we get to hear from you for a long time comin’.
You dirty hussy.
I love the Retronauts blog and this site, but I would just like to say that despite my owning an iPod, I could care less about anything else Apple-branded, yet I find Tilt to be a great read anyway and check it just as frequently as the other ones.
I guess part of it is because I want to see what the iPhone is capable of as far as games go, but also because those articles about old-school Apple are fascinating.
I’m with BuckTwenty — Don’t own an iPhone but those apps are interesting reads. Although it always makes me feel guilty for not playing Song Summoner more than I have.
Actually, I found this site because I was a fan of your Retronauts podcast/videos on 1UP, so it’s funny that everything would come full circle, and that your more interesting writing is going to be finding its way back over to 1UP. I can see how having two blogs about roughly the same thing would cause some overlap, but I’m sure you’ll be fine. I’ll be reading both.
Now that you’re doing Retro Roundups again on 1UP, I’d like ask something of you: Virtual Essentials. You did this for your 1st Anniversary Virtual Console post (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3164462), but there have been so many games released since then that I’d like to know what you’d add to the list. I never owned a Super Nintendo or TurboGrafx growing up, so purely on your recommendation alone, I bought Super Metroid, ActRaiser, and Soldier Blade, and you haven’t led me astray yet. (Yes, you introduced me to Metroid.) I follow up on this site and on Retronauts, which has led me to buy River City Ransom, Secret of Mana, and Shining Force II–which are awesome games–but I’m curious if there are any absolute must haves that I’ve missed.
It can be tricky to blog about video games both as a job and a hobby! For my part, as long you put stuff somewhere on the internet for me to read, I’m content. And I definitely don’t mind the extra motivation to focus on retro topics.
I’ve taken notice of both the retro blog and the iPhone blog, and I’m very pleased with what you’ve done with both. 1UP’s iPhone coverage is the best I’ve found so far, and this makes me happier than I imagined it would. My gut reaction to all the purchase/layoff stuff was “I’m done with 1UP.” I’m very glad I don’t listen to my gut very often.
It’s really good to see things coming together on the retro side of things at 1UP. Before the break, when I saw all the Tilt and Retro Gaming Blog material coming together, it made me awfully happy.
I’ve been reading the retronauts blog all week. Great stuff!
Go get ’em, tiger! Uhm… or something lichen that…
We’d only be sad if you stopped writing.
And hey — the Retronauts Blog is inspired and fantastic. And it’s great that you have some of the best voices (Ray, Nadia, Bob) backing you up. I’m already quite the fan.
Is it me? Is it something I did? I can change, baby, I can change.
Parish,
As a longtime reader and fan of your work, I’m glad to hear about the opportunities of the new blog content. Shoe’s comment about you taking on Gamespot alone is great praise. Even spite of all the challenges at 1up over the past week, I’m glad that there are new and exciting writing areas for you. While we’ll miss everyone, I am thankful that the site you helped get up and going is still going.
Best of luck as you expand the content of 1up’s blogs.
“I’ve…been with another blog. I won’t deny it, I’ve spent a lot of time with you in the past year or so because 1UP wasn’t giving me what I needed.”
That’s okay…as long as we get to watch.
You think we didn’t know? You think we couldn’t smell that Retronauts blog’s awful perfume on your clothes? “Working late” indeed.
Don’t worry/apologize. It’s ironic wit and biting sarcasm mixed with a several bites of insight we’re after, no matter the locale. They’ll need a crane to keep us off you, no matter where you may be.
Considering how great all the writing has been on the new Retronauts blog this past week, you certainly won’t hear any complaints coming from me!
I’m really digging both blogs. Now that wife got me an iPhone for Xmas I’m excited to see what kinds of cool games are available for it. The profiles on old industry folks are extremely facinating.
However, I’m having an issue with the retronauts rss feed. Every time I add it to the reader on my phone it shows up as the iPhone blog. I don’t know if it’s the reader or not. I tried a few with the same result.
If an article about old Konami soundtracks is a substitute for attention, I’d like to be neglected more often.
This is going to sound a bit out of place, but I figured I’d say it in one of your posts, Parish. The more I’ve read this blog over the years, the more I found our tastes in games differed. Case in point: I like Xenogears! Haha, please don’t crucify me. Anyway. You like to push roguelikes (Shiren, Etrian Odyssey) and I became curious to give the genre a whirl. I greatly enjoyed Lufia 2 and did manage to get to the bottom of the cave, so why not. But I wasn’t sure how to jump into it and Christmas was coming. My GF loves pokemon and lo and behold ,there was a pokemon roguelike for DS! Pokemon Dungeon Explorers of Time / Darkness. This seemed like the right balance of difficulty vs theme since my gf isn’t interested in playing soul crushing games. I read your review on 1up where you pulverized the game and concluded that it would therefore make a good gift and she’s been playing it since I gave it to her on Christmas day! This is a bit of a weird way to say thank you, but I mean it. It turned out great.
“You like to push roguelikes (Shiren, Etrian Odyssey)…”
FYI- there is nothing rougelike about Etrian Odyssey.