May 2012 make all your dreams and wishes come true

 

As the holiday season starts to wind down and Retrobear finds he can no longer put off standing on those scales just to see how much he has eaten in 2 weeks, he takes time out to reflect on the year 2011 and looks forward to 2012.

 

Well it has been a funny old year for yours truly, especially when you consider at the start of 2011 Retrosection didn’t actually exist. We rose from the ashes of the now-defunct Gamefancier site and it’s been a good move. True, perhaps I haven’t been here posting as much as I should have done but I think overall there has been enough content on the site over time to give you a feel of what we are all about here.

2011 has really been a good year for retro. More and more games are being “re-imagined”, or as I prefer to call it “tarted up” for the newer generation so they can enjoy HD renditions of old retro classics. The rise of mobile gaming and the iPad has also seen an influx of re-releases with very mixed results. Whilst there is something that appeals to the gamer in me about the thought of playing Sonic on my mobile as opposed to getting a Mega Drive all hooked up, there is also something that doesn’t appeal to me about it – in the fact I enjoy getting a Mega Drive all hooked up in the first place.

 

The future of gaming is portable - play Mario and answer the phone at the same time

 

Retro has certainly caught on, and in many ways that’s good because it shows that even with all the tech we now have available, people’s memories of older games from their childhood are no longer memories and the hardened collectors amongst us will track these old classics down. The result of that is the bad thing : all of a sudden retro has got rather expensive. My outing to the London Gaming Convention in December really brought that into perspective. It is one thing to pick up a few loose carts from a car boot for a couple of quid, but if you want your retro complete with boxes and instructions and in the mintiest of mint conditions, get your wallets out because it ain’t cheap.

 

Retro has really become collectable in the last 12-18 months - expect to pay top dollar for the good stuff

 

2011 wasn’t such a good year for me retro-wise as previous years, though my old mate Andy did probably produce the moment of the year for me by giving me a load of his old C64 tapes he had from when we were kids. They go on the Commodorathon pile which as I am sure you are aware still needs whittling down. On the whole though the high prices have put me off a little and whilst 2009 and 2010 produced many bargains this year the retro was thin on the ground, or if around, vastly over priced. Still, there are bargains to be had out there so keep looking !

 

The Commodorathon will return in 2012 - from a games pile much larger than this impressive collection

 

So what does 2012 bring us ? Well it will be interesting to see how the current gen market gets on. Gamers are being hit hard by the high prices and Nintendo’s own goal with the 3DS launch has been a lesson harshly learned. The 360 must surely be nearing the end of it’s life, the PS4 is no longer a hushed whisper (the PS3 has had a year to forget following the hacking of the PSN earlier this year) and the Wii-U is just round the corner. Will anyone else try and shoehorn themselves into the market ? Highly unlikely. Will 3D gaming take off ? Well whilst the reviews for Mario Kart and Super Mario have been good, it will come down to how many units they can shift. And has motion sensor gaming had it’s day ? Have Move and Kinect caught the imagination the Wii did when it was launched ? I am not so sure…

 

An explosive year for games and gaming ? We shall have to see...

 

As for Retrosection – well the Commodorathon will resume, I have a large stack of games to get through across all formats and I can always offer opinions on subjectes about gaming. So yes there is no excuse and I fully believe that 2012 will be a very busy year for yours truly – if I can’t find the time, I shall make the time. Suddenly lunchtimes at work will be very productive !

So a Happy New Year to you all, keep it retro and see you on the ice !