It has been a while but back from the retro wilderness he comes. Armed to the teeth with all manner of retro goodies, RetroBear returns fully released back into the community. And he’s not all that happy with how things have been whilst he was away……

 

Seriously - how much ????

I know it’s been a while but it has been a very busy period in my life. So much has gone on in the last couple of months it’s almost as if my hobby of retro gaming has taken a back seat to some more pressing issues. The good news is that I am able to report that once again I am back up to speed and shall be posting articles as regularly as I did before.

 

For now the Commodorathon is taking a back seat. Not through lack of interest but simply through lack of time which I don’t have now that I did then (if that makes sense). I shall pick this up again when the time is right as it is still my goal to play through all 400+ games that I have. Maybe it was one shit Activision coin-op conversion too many that wore me down – after all not too many software houses of the 1980’s had such a bad record for ruining great arcade games as Activision.

 

Besieged by piles.....of games

By now I should have added to my many games with rich pickings from car boot sales. I have either been desperately unlucky or, as I fear, those articles posted in the Daily Mail and The Sun last year about how much they claimed old computers and games are worth have now filtered their way down to the fields of Britain. When I started my collecting in 2009 many great things could be found for a very reasonable price. Now I am faced with masses of PS2 games priced at £5.00 each or ridiculous pricing because people believe these things are worth a fortune.

 

Seriously if one more person says “I can get more for it on eBay” I’ll scream. If you can get more for it there then why not do it ? Surely it must be a better option for you to stay in your warm bed on a Saturday/Sunday morning, rather than getting up at the crack of dawn and make your money that way than purposely try to fleece some poor soul who believes they are getting a good deal. You know who you are, and let me tell you this : real retro gamers know when they are being taken for a ride. Not only are the prices on eBay falsely driven up, but now you can’t even go to the car boot and bag a bargain. It seems that this is also the problem with charity shops – hey I know it’s for charity but some of the prices are way, way off the mark.

 

He could be so good to you, only if you want him to

Before you think I am being a self-righteous prick about all this and appear to be crying into my soup that I can no longer buy a Sega Saturn unit (no power lead and no guarantee it would work, which it did as it happens) for £1, I’m not. It just means my hard earned money goes on other things or stays in my pocket. That and the fact I have packed up smoking means I am better off. I have lots of games and machines to play on so I am sorted. Yes it’s nice to add to them but I know when I am buying at the right price. Given the fact I have just purchased a house means that cash is at a premium so any new additions to my collection are going to have to be few and far between.

 

So where does that leave RetroSection going forward ? Well rather healthily actually. There are plenty of games to plough through, I have an extensive 16 bit console ROM selection and also the MAME arcade programme. Put all those together with a few known sites for playing retro games online and there is plenty for me to talk/rave/rant about. It’s just taken me a bit longer than I would have liked to get back to where I wanted to be.

 

So stay tuned, as someone once said – RetroSection is alive and kicking !

 

Playing games and kicking ass - that's the only way to be