A Small Piece of Awful Gaming History

Now here is a find that I wasn't expecting. A seller on eBay was liquidating his entire 32X lot and there were a couple of Sega CD 32X games up for grabs as well. For a little bit of history, there were only six Sega CD 32X games released in the 90s, and as far as I know this is the only one that was released as a two pack (Sega CD and Sega CD 32X discs both included). RarityGuide.com has this listed at a 51% rarity rating with an average selling rate of $14 CIB (complete-in-box). I paid $9.99 plus shipping, which I consider a score given how notorious longbox jewel cases are for being cracked/broken/damaged.

What I have found is that when the photos of auction items start to look the same they are either being all sold by a reseller or a collector liquidating their collection. Both will be charging medium to high price rates, but the collector will probably have their items in better condition since they actually had a vested interest in the item they are selling. If you can find a collector selling off their collection on eBay (for a reasonable price) it isn't a bad idea to stock up and save on shipping. I was able to get this and NFL Quarterback Club '94 for the 32X for a combined shipping charge of about $6. Not a bad way to spend an evening watching the presidential debates.

Final Fantasy XIII-2: My First Collector's Edition

Growing up I never really followed the Final Fantasy series. In my mind there were always several tiers of gaming, ranging from the casual-style of game to the hardcore style. People like me weren't able to purchase games on launch day and really only owned a few games, so the games that we purchased were almost always casual-style games. To me, casual-style games are first-party games (made by Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, etc.) that feature their top mascots (Mario, Sonic) and are easy to approach and have fun with. Basically, it all boiled down to the question, "Given that you can only own a select few games, which games would you own?" The Marios and Sonics of the world were the classic games that everyone felt that they should own, and subsequently I picked these games up as a kid.

The next step up from the casual-style of game were the games that may or may not have been first party, but were still must-own titles, such as Tetris, Zelda, etc. Sometimes if we were lucky our parents would pick these games up for us, but mostly these were rental titles (well, maybe not Tetris). To this day I never bought a brand new copy of Zelda, and I actually really regret that. These games, though not as common as Mario, Duck Hunt, etc., are still relatively easy to find out in the wild. RPGs are a whole different beast.

RPGs, aka role-playing games, cater to a different niche of gamer. These are almost always special franchises with small, but extremely dedicated followings. RPGs aren't very easy to approach and require a lot of time commitment, so most people pass them up (which is a total shame, btw). JRPGs, or Japanese RPGs, are even more elusive. Final Fantasy is one of the quintessential RPGs out there. I never owned the original Final Fantasy, or the more popular and genre defining Final Fantasy III for Super Nintendo (which is actually the sixth in the series, which is actually REALLY confusing). Final Fantasy VII was my first introduction to the Final Fantasy series and I adored that game like no other. Unfortunately I sold it two years ago on eBay (and rebought it a few months back), but that mistake will not be happening again.

Final Fantasy XIII is very well known for being hosted on the Playstation 3. It isn't the best game of the series (by a longshot), as it gets docked for being heavy on the hallway-style levels and boring walking around. Final Fantasy XIII-2 (14 I guess?) supposedly fixes this, and has been a game I've been wanting to try out. With the bad reputation of XIII at work the prices of XIII-2 have been plummeting, and thus I was able to pick up a copy of this game in the collector's edition for a paltry $25. I probably won't be opening this, as collector's copies can fetch a pretty penny down the road (especially when unopened and RPGs), so I'll wait until Black Friday to get a normal PS3 copy of this game for about $10. This is my first collector's copy of a game, but hopefully not my last.

Playstation 3D TV: The Next GXTV?

For those of us who grew up in the 90s the GXTV was the proverbial unicorn. Imagine a 13" TV, the perfect size for your bedroom, with plenty of composite connectors for your game systems, and several huge speakers for really enjoying your games (and the speakers folded in to save space). Made by Samsung this was THE TV to own.

It was a dream, it was real, it was perfect, and it was a 13" TV for $300. No one wanted it, especially parents in the 1990s, and thus it fell into obscurity. I remember seeing one of these TVs in Best Buy (when Best Buy first opened) and thought to myself that it was an amazing idea, but unrealistic given the cost relative to other TVs. I came across a used GXTV on Craigslist and picked it up for a friend, but regret doing that since I haven't been able to find one since. They are elusive, beautiful, ugly, smart, and dumb at the same time. One day I will own one, but I digress. The new GXTV is Sony's own Playstation 3D gaming monitor.

Imagine this: a 24" 3D monitor, made by Sony, with 2 HDMI inputs, 3D output, and simulview technology so that you and your friends can play on the same screen with different glasses and see two different pictures. Now imagine this: a $500 24" monitor, plagued with reliability issues, with no built-in tuner, no included remote, an overly glossy screen, and a limited library of games that support the technologies it's selling itself on. Sound familiar? For some reason I love to gravitate towards huge mistakes (32X, anyone?), so this TV was a no brainer to me. I picked this up for $180, which got me the TV, a copy of MotorStorm, a pair 3D glasses, an HDMI cable, and a four-year extended warranty (which I'll probably need). So far it's been working beautifully, looks great, and seems like a smart idea. I have no idea what the future will hold for this, but it's bound to be a legend (for good reasons or for bad ones).

Reprinting my Game Covers: Sega has no Standards

As many of you may or may not know (probably not) I have been in the process of printing my UGC (universal game case) covers at Kinkos over the last few weeks. The Super Nintendo ones were easy enough to knock down, with me missing only a handful left to print. I was fortunate enough to have one person do all covers for the 32X, so those are all uniform and rather nice. The Sega Genesis, however, is a complete beast, whether you look at the custom cover community or the retail covers themselves. Could Sega have gotten it any wronger?

You may not realize it at first glance, but the differences are numerous. Dark stripes, light stripes, no stripes, silver Genesis logos, white Genesis logos, and covers that don't conform to the red-framing at all. If you are OCD or just trying to get a nice, uniform library going this can be a total nightmare, and it makes you wonder what Sega was thinking. Nintendo always got docked for being very controlling of many aspects of their operations, but the quality shows with things like this. I ultimately had to Photoshop half of the covers in the picture, and I'm still missing two (who even got a retail box for Sega Menacer 6?!), but progress is progress, regardless.

32X: Powering this Beast on

So here's the story as it goes so far: I dig my original Genesis and Sega CD out of storage. I track down all of the necessary power bricks, buy a NIB 32X off of eBay, get a base extender for the Sega CD, and even a multi-tap for the Genesis. I buy a power-strip capable of handling three power bricks, and even pick up half of the 32X library off of eBay. Audio cables? Yes, I needed some of those, too. This is great, this is dedication, this is outright lunacy....and it's completely untested.

The truth of the matter is that I tracked down so many pieces to this excessively stupid puzzle, yet I never actually took the time out to test the entire system. Truth be told it's actually really irresponsible, because you would never buy a shirt without trying it on, a TV without turning it on, or a meal you've never had without some sort of taste test. I focused so much on the process of procuring that I never did any playing, so I had to take a time out and get this thing going. Suffice it to say that I had a few problems. I got the power adapters a bit mixed up, the audio was a bit scratchy, one of my controllers didn't work, and the system didn't want to load any games until being thoroughly cleaned, but it finally worked. And this was on 40 hours of no sleep with all of my grad school homework. How was the experience itself? After a few hours I was HOOKED. I think that leaving the Genesis on for a longer period of time helped work out all of the gremlins associated with being off for 15 years, so that was nice, too. All in all, it helps to take a time out and enjoy what you've actually purchased.

Covers Coming Along

So I finally got the time to print my covers, trim them, re-trim them (they needed about 1-2mm sliced off), and mounted them in their cases. The end result so far is, in my opinion, really slick, and it helps me find all of my games that don't have end labels (or really hard to read end labels). I'm still missing several covers, but hopefully I'll find them in the requests forum on The Cover Project or I'll make them myself over the winter break.

The one thing I find a bit irritating is that the number of details in some of these spines requires that I reseat the covers and shift them up or down slightly to get that perfect alignment across the row. I know by most people's standards this is crazy, but it's all in the small details, right? I am beginning to run into the problem of running out of shelf space, or at least shelf space that will present everything neatly, so I'll be going through and shifting things around so that everything is neatly displayed in its respective section.

This project definitely wasn't cheap. So far between the shelving and lighting ($250), cases ($60), and prints ($100+) I am out quite a bit of money, and many would argue that that money could have been spent on more games, but what's the point in having the games if you can't neatly store them, protect them, and admire them on the shelf when they're not in use?

A Kinko's Regular

So I've become quite the regular at Kinko's over the last few weeks. I've been printing things out in batches, making sure that I have the correct cover art and the game itself before going through with the printing and cutting process. The photo to right illustrates the cutting board I am using for trimming these covers. I learned the hard way early on that cutting out the covers with tool would be tiring (there's a lot of bending), time consuming (bring headphones), and you can't rely on the built in guides. Most of these cutters don't have square edges and are out of alignment, so you'll have to be diligent about getting perfect cuts.

My process looked something like this: get prints done on 11" x 17" 32lb laser paper at Kinkos, full size with no scaling, with crop marks printed around the artwork. After the printouts are done, take them to the cutter, slice off the excess white paper until you get a small border around the art with the crop marks intact, then use the crop marks to line up your cuts. Do the landscape (long) cuts first, then use the grid on the cutting surface to square up your cuts for the short ends. Lastly, you'll take 1-2mm off of the right edge of the print and gently slide the print into a UGC for test fitting. After you verify the cut is done and the cover art fits  you move onto the next one, and the next one, and the next one...

Custom Cover Test Prints

So today I managed to get into Kinko's to do some test prints and the results were outstanding. They were a lot of work and not very cheap, but the final product looks terrific. We decided on a 32lb paper with no gloss to it, as the laser ink being used adds its own sort of gloss/sheen to the paper.

The one mistake I made was not test fitting in the store, which would have revealed that I needed to take an extra 1-2mm off of the right edge to make these cover fit. Perhaps I'll just use Photoshop to slice this off of the canvas size so that I reduce the number of cuts I have to make. Either way the end result is worth it and I'll become more proficient with this as time progresses.

Cultural Awareness in Games

There were a lot of wonderful things that came out of the 90s. TGIF, slap bracelets, Ninja Turtles, Saturday morning programming that was actually good, Goosebumps books, and more. There were also some pretty awful and unusual things that came out of the 90s, and some things that just made you think to yourself "What the ****?"

One thing that amuses me about 32X game covers (and others as well) is how half of the cover art content focused on the technology of the game and cart itself. The number of colors, size of the cart (24 MEGS!), and all kinds of irrelevant information would be displayed, and the game usually ended up being pretty awful. When I got my copy of 36 Holes (who came up with that title) I started looking over the box and saw the line. The line:

Choose men or women players.

Groundbreaking technology, indeed. Ah, how I miss 90s ignorance. Simpler times indeed.

32x Collection So Far

In the 32X's short life 31 games were released in the United States. Of those 31 games I have been taking care of all of the low hanging fruit. Most of the games displayed here can be had for a few dollars each. In fact, I found a guy on Craigslist that sold me 4 games for $6 total (down from $9).

I have a few duplicates, which I plan on boxing up, printing covers for, and selling on eBay or CL to make up for the cost so that I can get a few more games. Sometimes you run into duplicates just because they're in better shape than the copy you had before, or maybe you had to get the duplicates as a "lot" to get that one game you didn't have. While it's not ideal it's a part of the game and you have to play to win, right?

Game Over Games! Houston Edition

Game Over Games is an up-and-coming retro gaming franchise that's been making headway in central Texas. I visited their store in Round Rock and was somewhat impressed, although some of the prices were pretty high and all of the good stuff was in their "gaming museum." I found out that their main stores were in other parts of town and weren't too far away, but with grad school and two jobs I hadn't gotten around to visiting them.

I took a bit of time off to go to Houston for a weekend to visit a friend, and it turns out that there is a Game Over Games right off of Highway 59. This location was actually much larger than the Round Rock store, and many of the prices were rather reasonable. When buying games you have to ask yourself how much your time is worth. Between the time, gas, and frustration of dealing with finding good scores at flea markets and garage sales it often makes sense to pay a bit more and buy it from a store that has a good return policy, cleans the games, lets you test them, and needs your support to stay in business. While I was here I picked up two copies of the web browser for the Dreamcast (we all need that, right?) for a paltry $2, plus we got a discount for checking in via Facebook. Once I make another trip to Houston and have a better idea of what I want I'll be making another stop to pick up some more goodies.

Game Genie Score!

Another addition to the power of power! I always wanted a Game Genie as a kid and could never get the NES version of the Game Genie to work no matter how many times I rented it from Hastings. Everyone online has posted photos of their ridiculous piggy-backed Genesis systems, with Sonic & Knuckles, X-band Modems, Master System Base Converters, and Game Genies galore creating stacks that are several feet high. I think that this example is a pretty sturdy and solid example of something that could actually be used in a real scenario. I never actually owned a Game Genie as a kid, so to be able to obtain this for THREE dollars (plus a 10% discount) is pretty darn good in my eyes. It was a bit dusty from the store, but with some alcohol and canned air the thing cleaned right up and looks super sexy in the system.

32X: Repurchasing an Expensive Tumor on my Childhood

The year was 1996. We had just moved to Austin and I didn't really have any friends yet. My parents hadn't secured the best line of work at the time, so money wasn't exactly plentiful. What was plentiful, however, was video games and places to rent them that didn't price gouge you. What was also plentiful was crappy video games and overpriced accessories that did little in the way of making the experience more enjoyable.Case in point: the 32X.

Originally priced at $149.99 this thing couldn't sell even if Sega's life depended on it (which was ultimately the case). My local Toys 'R Us had this on sale for $19.99, so my mom took me to pick one up to see what the hubbub was all about. Suffice it to say that installing this bastard was a real chore and as a 10-11 year old I simply couldn't pull it off. I think at the time I couldn't get the sound to work, but what really irritated me was that my mom returned this awful piece of gaming history to save $20 because of this mistake. Now my adult-self managed to snag this NIB (new in box) copy for $70. While this isn't the BEST deal in the world it was the only way to get that satisfaction of cracking open fresh plastic and having all of the cables needed to get it to work. Now with the power of the internet and a college education I managed to get this thing to work, albeit it is very finicky. The price was high, but I finally feel that I'm on the right track with this hobby.

Sega CD Reborn

With the Sega CD finally home it was time to unbox the beast and get it back on the Genesis. I forgot how badly the contacts between the Genesis and the Sega CD got dirty, so out came the alcohol and things got pretty clean. Sega themselves recommended using a pencil eraser, but I think that alcohol is a better/less abrasive solution. I've been thinking of using DeOxit, but that's something to pursue further down the line. I also need to figure out how to clean inside of the cartridge slots, which should benefit the Genesis on top and the Sega CD on the side. For now they are connected back together like it's 1995 all over again.

There are two additional purchases displayed in this photo. The first, a Sega multitap, can be had super cheap on eBay (around $10) brand new, and while I don't anticipate doing any kind of 4-player gaming on this system I really just wanted to add to the excessiveness that is this combination. The other purchase, the Sega CD base extender, is getting to be really hard to come by. Available by phone order back in the day, this piece of plastic goes on the end of the Sega CD base to make it longer so that it goes all the way under the Genesis Model 1. Given that the model 1 is the better model of Genesis to own (not my non-HD, VA7 motherboard model) I think this is a must have for most Sega collectors. There is some serious price gouging going on on eBay right now for this, with prices ranging from $15 (reasonable) to $30 (pretty bad) to even $50 (just awful). I found mine from a comic book store in Florida for $9 shipped (yes, shipped) in pretty decent condition. Ultimately I'd love to get this in NOS condition, along with a Sega CD memory cart, some 6-button controllers, and new power bricks, but so far I am in love all over again.

Universal Game Cases

Buying a game as a bare cart ends up always being cheaper (ceteris paribus) than getting a CIB (complete in box) copy, but you end up dealing with issues storing the game. Games come in all kinds of sizes, shapes, condition, etc., and all need a varying level of protection from light, moisture, and dust to ensure their longevity. The one thing I've always hated is how boxes come in different shapes, levels of durability, and sizes, making things an awful mess on an otherwise perfect bookshelf. Enter the UGC.

UGCs, or Universal Game Cases, are sold by MediaShelving.com in packs of 100. For about $62 shipped you get 100 clear cases that can hold Sega Genesis, EA Sports, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, CD/DVD based games, and more (with a bit of modification). The best part about this is that the cases allow for you to print and insert your own artwork, which is readily available on the The Cover Project's website. This is an OCD person's dream, albeit an expensive dream. Over the coming weeks I'll be working to get this project off the ground so that I can see what games are actually in the cases. Highly recommended buy.

Shelving Redux: Part 2

In my previous post I had mentioned my struggle with finding shelving that I found to be satisfactory to my game collection. Shelves were either particleboard, really expensive, or had nagging flaws that kept me from fully enjoying them, including the IKEA Hemnes I had originally purchased. With one half width Hemnes purchased and built I decided that it was time to build out the second shelf, get lighting installed and wired, and start filling the shelf with content. The end result of this two shelf system is actually pretty neat if I do say so myself. The quality on these units is really good for the money and the "split" aspect of the shelves means that I can have different cubbies for different types of games, and I can adjust the height of the shelves to match each type of media. The lighting is also a really nice touch and lets me work at night without needing any kind of extra lamp. All in all I think that you'd be hard pressed to find a better solid-wood bookcase for the money. If you have an IKEA nearby and have a lot of wall space you can go crazy and buy 2, 3, or even 4 shelves to display your collection the way it's meant to be shown off.

Shelving Redux: Part 1

After picking up several different IKEA Hemnes bookcases I wasn't really happy with the fit and finish of the units. Even after putting them together properly I had issue with the backing being folded to save space. Once you nail the back (yes, nail) onto the bookcase you see this seam run down the middle of the whole bookcase, which is distracting and really annoying to me. I was about to give up until I saw that the Hemnes came in a half-width model. In addition to the back not being folded in the packaging the fit and finish was much better, the shelves can handle more weight thanks to their width (or lack thereof), and the whole thing can be organized better thanks to its "cube" style of organization. I had to pick up two of these, plus lights and cables, which ended up being substantially more expensive than a single Hemnes, but the end result is much nicer than a single IKEA Hemnes or Billy (which is made with particleboard). Part 2 will show off two of the bookcases together, along with some fancy lighting to set the whole thing off. This will be worth it.

Goodwill Auction Time!

So over on Reddit Goodwill happens to be a pretty popular spot for getting retro games. Not the case here in Central Texas. The issue here is that all Goodwills within a particular city are run a bit different, with Goodwill of Central Texas collecting all of the goodies and placing them in these silent auction cases. In other cities you can simply walk into any Goodwill, browse the store, and walk out with one or more killer deals. To make more money Goodwill in Austin will collect donations, put together a sizable lot of games, and put them in a silent auction from Tuesday through Saturday, where bidding opens up to the public just after lunchtime. Most of the time this leads to some pretty crappy deals, a lot of waiting, and buying a bunch of stuff you don't even want just to get a few things out of the lot. I have even witnessed a few people break up a lot after the auction has ended in the parking lot.

This is pretty junky, but it's not without some good deals. I managed to snag a Super Nintendo, Super Scope (in box), Donkey Kong, Mario All Stars, and several other classics for about $56 bucks. After selling off any dupes I ended up with a decent deal, but it's not without its work. I've been wanting to check out other Goodwills around Texas and will make it a point as I travel to Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas. For now I'll stick with eBay, Half Price Books, and the occasional thrift store here and there. Remember that time is money, so driving around for deals and having to sell off dupes drops your return.

More Progress Being Made

Since my last post I managed to get a new bookshelf that can hold a pretty sizable collection. Finding a decent bookshelf that is made out of real wood is quite a challenge! I ended up finding this Hemnes bookcase at IKEA, and for $150 it was a relative bargain. I know that I will outgrow it, but the beauty in this is that I can go out and buy another one for relatively little money.

When I got into my cycling hobby I sold off quite a few belongings to be able to afford the level of cycling gear I wanted. Among the things I sold were my original Voodoo 5 5500 PCI graphics card (a 3DFX relic), my black label copy of Final Fantasy, and many retro games. Since then I have been able to buy back what I sold with little to no loss of money, so I guess this was a sort of short term loan. What I learned from this experience is that collectors can be packrats, and to have a truly diverse and extensive collection you're going to need to have a lot of crap and very little money from buying it all. This will definitely become more organized with time.

Ken Griffey Baseball: Good Idea, Bad Idea

This was my first outing at Half Price Books for video games. I had heard about their video games and decided to venture out to see what they had on hand. What I learned from the experience is that every Half Price is different in terms of their selection and pricing. The store located by my house has reasonable pricing, but horrible selection. Case in point: Ken Griffey Baseball. In hindsight paying $3 for a game you don't want simply because it's $3 is not smart, but I was able to secure a clean cartridge that I could cannibalize to clean up a good game with a bad backside.

What I also learned from this is that the North Lamar location in Austin has some of the best games, but they price based off of eBay and Amazon, which is silly because any loser can dictate that they want $XX for a game and all of the sudden that becomes the going price elsewhere. The Half Price on South Lamar is the farthest location from my house, but they have a killer selection and are priced stupid cheap. Mix that in with a 10% educator discount and you can't go wrong (minus the awful drive down the now-clogged Lamar).

Taking a Look Back

Looking at my collection today I am pretty proud of how many games I've picked up. With plenty of Dreamcast, Super Nintendo, Sega, 32X, PS3, and NES games I have lost track of the total numbers in each category and how much I've spent to get this far (eek!). I found this photo I took at the beginning of my journey and to say my beginning was humble is an understatement. I think at the time this photo was taken (or slightly before it) I had about 10 Gamecube games I got for free (mostly junk titles), 7-8 SNES titles, 5 N64, and 2-3 NES titles. I progressively have been adding to my collection and I feel that I'm getting to relive my childhood within the context of being an adult that can afford to be excessive. At this point I do have a few regrets, namely focusing so much energy on the 32X, not going out more to get games (relying heavily on eBay), and buying some games based on price more than the quality of the game itself. After my 32X adventure is over I'd like to continue building up my SNES library, as well as start my focus on the N64 and NES (and get a top loader for this as well).

Sonic CD: So Many Ports!

Sonic CD was one of the last 16-bit Sonic games of the 16-bit era (not including Knuckles' Chaotix, which is arguably not 16-bit or Sonic) and probably the best one that was released. At the time of its release you had to own a Sega CD, but this game almost sold the add-on to many people. The graphics weren't really a whole lot better, but the sound was spot on and the game itself was outstanding. Some of the levels were really annoying, especially the past/present/future premise, which didn't change much aside from the background. Still though, an amazing game.

Fast forward a little bit and we had the PC version of the game released. I don't think many people bought this, but the reality was that you could own this game and give it a whirl if you had a PC. Fast forward even further and you now have ports of this game for the PS3 (via PSN), Xbox 360 (via Xbox Live Arcade), and now Android. I got a Google Nexus 7 tablet and the first thing I did was try out Sonic CD on a mobile, touchscreen interface. The end result was actually pretty cool, and I ended up beating the game. It does take some getting used to with no buttons, but it's still amazing to me how many classic games are being brought back to modern platforms. I hope that younger gamers get their hands on these games and see what the 90s did for us.

Sega CD Homecoming

When I moved out of my parent's house I left behind all of my original game consoles for a variety of reasons, mostly related to laziness, disinterest, and wanting them to stay safe in one of their closets. Once I started getting interested in video games again I decided that it was time to bring everything back home (to my home). This was the first console I brought back, which to my surprise, was complete in box with all papers. I couldn't find the power brick, but those Sega power bricks are always around and pretty bulletproof. Maybe I'll get this thing running again and play some classic Sonic CD on the original console.

About This Blog

So you're probably looking through this blog and wondering why this blog exists and how this is different from any other blog or discussion board where you can find out about retro gaming. Let me provide a window into my thoughts and mind (yes, I'm going that meta).

I've been really reflecting on the purpose of this blog as I set it up for a graduate school assignment (yes, this is partially for school) and I feel that the primary difference between this blog and discussion boards/Reddit (where retro gaming is discussed) is that those environments feel very "revolving door" in nature. People (myself included) put so much effort into their collections and post their progress, yet there is no way to really keep track of everyone and follow along for the ride; in other words, they get lost in the noise of it all, and that's really disappointing to me. People post on Reddit to get "upvotes" and "karma," (and there's nothing wrong with that) and for that brief moment they are in the spotlight, then their posts fade to the bottom and are forgotten.

I feel that this blog is one person documenting their collecting story in great detail, from the perspective of what I consider to be a "normal" person (working, school, house, family life, etc.). There are some terrific YouTube channels that have great videos, and they have generally been received very well (and subsequently have a fan following). I know many people don't have the time to watch YouTube videos, or can't watch them via mobile or at work, so being able to digest content via blog could be helpful and entertaining. I think that blogs, in general, require either really good SEO or a really good cult following to be successful, so in that regard I don't see too many converts coming over here from sites like Reddit (and that's okay). Sites like Reddit and discussion boards specialize in providing users small increments of easy to digest information. The problem with those sites is that they don't offer a way to "follow" a person of interest should they find that person's postings informative (at least not in any kind of logical fashion).

I have been populating this blog with pictures that I have taken (in chronological order) that document my experiences and feelings as I collect games. I hope that someone out there will learn something from reading through this blog, or maybe find something enjoyable in its content. If nothing else there are pretty pictures of some pretty crappy games, so I hope you enjoy and comment on anything that peaks your interest.