Friday, February 18, 2011

2nd Blog Anniversary!

Wow, it's been two full years already. Time flies indeed!

I wonder where I would be with this hobby had I not decided to write about shmups two years ago... I'd probably be playing them just as much, I just don't think my collection would've grown to the massive amount of games I own today.

If I hadn't started the blog some other things wouldn't be part of my current gaming routine, such as my increased awareness of the genre, the good friends I made along the way or the constant strive to become a better player. It's great when you're able to find such meaningful rewards from a hobby - yes, a hobby - and I am very grateful for all the talks, comments, forum discussions, MSN chat sessions and YouTube responses. I still have a lot to learn and I'm just lucky that there are lots of people out there in the shmup community who're more than keen on helping and sharing information.

In this past year I managed to add two new (old) consoles to my repertoire. The first one was the FM Towns Marty, a relatively obscure platform that holds the distinction of being the first 32-bit console ever released. A few weeks ago I had the honor to beat my first game for it (Rayxanber). The second console has just recently arrived: a Neo Geo AES. My library for it is quite small and should grow in large steps. As we all know, most of the games for it are both expensive and rare. I'm still thinking about which Neo Geo shmup I should try to play first.

In order to celebrate the occasion I filmed a short video to show my collection. It's no game room, you'll see I try to keep it as functional as possible. Posters, memorabilia and a dedicated room might appear in the future, who knows? Here it goes:



Writing this blog has been a real pleasure, regardless of how much awesomeness or suck was involved in each shmup I played. Even though writers tend to write primarily for themselves, the motivation I get from all the support provided by comments and feedback is invaluable.

Thank you guys, here's to another year of pure and passionate shmupping.

10 comments:

  1. Congrats on two years my friend and i must say i love your collection. : )

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  2. I've been following your entries ever since I discovered this amazing blog.
    I love shmups but I suck at them :( I enjoy collecting them and trying to beat them at least, but I don't think I'll ever be able to 1CC any :P The only game I've come close to 1CC is the original Salamander (Life Force as I played it when I was a kid).

    You're indeed a very talented shmuper :) Keep up the hard work!

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  3. Great collection Edward!

    I'll share your video and your great work dodging bullets in my blog, if you do not mind of course.

    Congratulations!!

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  4. Congrats Edward! I've just been here for a couple months, but it's always been a pleasure to read your reviews. Keep it up! :)

    I think I'm just about to start my own blog by the way. ;)

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  5. I sometimes wondered what your shmup list would look like on display.. and it sure looks fantastic and all boxed too by the look of it :)

    Congrats on the 2 yrs Ed, here's to many more.

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  6. Amazing setup and collection. Thanks for sharing.

    It'd be great if you started making video reviews to complement (or, possibly, replace) your written posts. You can get the equipment for cheap and you're following would expand exponentially (if you capture/edit it right). I say this because I love following your blog but find that I rarely have time to read it.

    In any case, can't wait to see what you have in store this coming year.

    Best,
    Allistair from Texas

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  7. Congrats. Just thought I'd tell you, that your blog has really inspired me to get better at shmups, as well as trying out some of the more obscure ones. Will be following... :)

    Regards,
    Alexander, Denmark

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  8. Thank you for all the support, guys! I really appreciate it!

    @ Nuno Of course I don't mind, man!

    @ harlequ1n Tks for the compliment, I do think I still have a lot to learn though. :)

    @ Battletoad That's great, please let me know when your blog goes live!

    @ Allistair Yeah, you're not the first one to mention video reviews. And you're right, I could get the gear in place to do that, however the process would be too time consuming for me (perfeccionism habits + busy at work) and I'm not really comfortable with my voice & spoken English (I feel rusty). Writing, on the other hand, is easier and can be done in short bursts, which fits my dedication to the hobby without interfering with real life obligations.

    @ Alexander That's great to know, I trust you'll find lots of good reasons to keep on shmupping!

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  9. Your English is perfect mate, we foreigners tend to make the extra effort of speaking and writing correctly.

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