Things to Come
Now that Retroblique’s been around for a week and starting to attract subscribers and repeat visitors, I thought I’d give you guys an idea of the sort of content we’re going to be providing in the months to come. Here’s a run down of the various categories:
Gaming Epochs
Feature length articles focusing on games from the upper echelons of computer & video game history. They’re not so much reviews as personal accounts of what these games mean to those who play them and the lasting influence they’ve had on the contemporary gaming scene. Our first batch of articles will feature the likes of Elite, Doom and Grand Theft Auto.
My Gaming Life
I thought it would be fun to turn back the clock and attempt to chronicle my ongoing experiences as a gamer from as far back the late 1970s, right through to the present day. What made me into the gamer I am today? What made me chose the various home computers and consoles that formed the backbone of my hobby? Expect huge dollops of nostalgic whimsy and recollections from behind rose-tinted spectacles.
The Zzap! 64/Crash Challenge
In a moment of madness, I decided it might be fun to play through every single game reviewed in the pages of Zzap! 64 and Crash. In chronological order. For the uninitiated, Zzap! 64 and Crash were the seminal 1980s video magazines, in the UK, for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum respectively. They managed to perfectly blend an air of authority with an irreverant wit—a combination that’s been unmatched by very few professional gaming journalists since (perhaps with the exception of PC Zone during the 1990s).
I originally intended to have just a single category, labeled The Newsfield Challenge, but seeing as Crash had a significant head start on Zzap! 64, I didn’t really think it wise to have Retroblique dominated by coverage of Spectrum games for a year or two. So we now have two categories, one for each magazine. I may expand this in future to include coverage of Amtix! (Amstrad CPC), The Games Machine (multi-platform), Sega Force and Nintendo Force. No promises!
Top Tens
What’s a blog, in this day and age, without a smattering of top ten lists? Retroblique will be no exception!
A Quick Blast
The Zzap! 64/Crash Challenge articles are all very well and good, but we don’t want to limit ourselves to just two 8-bit platforms. A Quick Blast will play host to games on other platforms, with no adherence to any particular chronology. One week we’ll be playing R-Type on the PC Engine, the next we’ll be playing Jet Set Radio on the Dreamcast. We’ll also be playing retro remakes, contemporary indie games and homebrew titles for old platforms.
Links to the Past
Given that there’s thousands of gaming blogs floating around cyberspace, attempting to find decent articles of interest to retro gamers is no easy task. Links to the Past will provide our readers with a weekly roundup of the wheat we’ve discovered amidst the chaff.
Retro Bytes
Our catch all category for miscellaneous articles. These will usually be short editorial pieces or articles responding to talking points we’ve encountered on other blogs.
Well, that should give you guys a taster of what to expect from Retroblique in the immediate future. Having said all that, we consider ourselves to be a very flexible, organic blog, so our content will no doubt evolve in directions we haven’t anticipated. Some categories will eventually run themselves dry, but others will emerge in their place. Rest assured, you’re always guaranteed the best possible retro gaming coverage we can hope to provide.
