Gaming History 101

Look at that, a week has gone by and I haven’t posted a single thing other than the first weekly touchbase. I admit, that’s not good, and if I’m going to have no posting between these updates then it’s hard to recommend people keep reading. From here on out, there will be at least one posting per week beyond the touchbases. I can promise that this week since I’ve already written one post that is set to go live tomorrow and I *hope* the second post to will go live the following day.

Happy to say there’s not much to report on the personal front. I’ve found that in my 40s, sudden changes are less positive and definitely less exciting than they were in my 20s and 30s. So far in February the daughter, wife, dogs, house, health, and job are all consistent. With any luck that is the case for the rest of 2025, so don’t expect to hear anything unless it’s changed.

One thing that I have noticed is that the spark for shopping has somewhat diminished. A new retro gaming store popped up in town that’s like a 5 minute drive from here and it seems to be run by someone who is a fan of gaming first and a businessman second. Sadly, that usually means the place won’t last long, but I remain optimistic. I made plans to head out and see the place on Friday and here we are on Sunday night (when I write this) and I still haven’t been over to see it. I’m overthinking it, but my hesitation is that I have nothing I want to discuss with the owner or anyone working there and I’m even less likely to buy something. I don’t have any holy grails or even anything I can think of that I’m seeking when I go to retro stores. In fact, I’m more interested these days in reducing media in my collection instead of increasing it. Do you find that to be the case around you? Most of my friends outside of the region still seem excited to go check out the local gaming haunts – I’m looking at you, Austin – but perhaps my impression is skewed by confirmation bias. Let me know.

Despite this lack of shopping, I did buy quite a few things recently, so if you’re curious of potential upcoming content or are interested yourself, let’s briefly run through the list (note: links are for those interested, I don’t currently use affiliate links):

I grabbed a new Japanese copy of Lollipop Chainsaw Re-Pop (PS5) on Play-Asia for about $32 with sales and credits. I chose physical because it’s never been that low or on sale digitally, but of course it just went on sale for $30 on all platforms the day after it shipped to me.

Sleepaway Camp II and III just got re-released on blu-ray after being out of print for at least a few years. The new printing is from Sandpiper Pictures and appears to be the same version from the Shout Factory release that’s been out of print. Special features are gone outside of the commentary, but Deep Discount has them for $16 apiece (cheaper if you use the code DEEP10). Despite liking the sequels more than the original, I never picked them up due to the steep Shout price of $30+ and then they were suddenly out of print and fetching nearly $100 apiece. This was a safe trade-off for both the wallet and my collection.

Finally, I pre-ordered the Web of Spider-Man Omnibus #1, which at Thriftbooks is down to just under $84 from the cover price of $125. I’ve been collecting the Spider-Man omnibuses for some time now and this one had me particularly intrigued. It not only covers the first 34 issues of his tertiary mid-80s series, but it also has random filler issues that have been missing for already released collections (like Amazing 293-295). I used to have these in black-and-white from the previously released “Essential” line, but there’s something so much more magical about the big, bright, colorful glossy pages of a Marvel Omnibus. Since they release at a cadence where I’m only buying like 2 per year, tops, I’m finding it worthwhile to grab them as they come out.

A final note on content coming out this week. I’ve completed Resistance: Retribution on the PS5, which was a PSP game, and I’ve got some thoughts on both the PSP emulation on PS5 and this title in particular, so expect postings about both this week. If I find the time, which for now it appears I should, I’ll also be talking about either game difficulty, Silent Hill 2 Remake, or some retro hardware that piqued my interest. I’m fairly certain my articles about games won’t be reviews, per se, but they will dig into games like I always have. With that, have a happy Monday and a great week!