About Classic Game Room
HISTORY
Classic Game Room debuted as The Game Room in November of 1999 on the Internet startup, FromUSAlive. Founded by producer, writer, and artist Mark Bussler, the original show is regarded as the first Internet video game review show. The first series ran for about a year until it was canceled in 2000 after about 80 episodes.
The Classic Game Room HD series launched in February of 2008 on the fledgling website, YouTube. The series ran almost daily until 2017, after running its course. No longer were professionally produced game reviews relevant in a landscape of self-produced smartphone videos and the dawn of influencer culture.
Before shutting down the production studio, Bussler produced the Classic Game Room 2085 series on Amazon for a year in 2018, which is now available in its 15-hour entirety on Blu-Ray
In 2017, Bussler changed the company from videos into print and design publishing and rebranded it as CGR Publishing, which continues to this day.
To celebrate the series' 25th anniversary, Classic Game Room returned for a few final reviews in 2023-2024. Plans for a second season of Classic Game Room 2085 were tabled as the show failed to find a home in the era of Shorts and TikToks. As of this time, Bussler has no plans to continue hosting a show or recording game journalism. "Whether or not the series continues someday with someone else at the help is a source of discussion. Don't expect the original format again. It took too long to produce and doesn't fit well into 12-second chunks."
In mid-2025 Bussler created an experimental animated series based on the CGR Universe. Though well-received by those who enjoyed it, the Engage Disco video series ceased production in October 2025.
*Thank you to everyone who enjoyed the series, but it cost a small fortune to produce, and we can't make it for free streaming. The response to Blu-Ray was lukewarm at best. It was a fun experiment.*
But..... the Engage Disco universe and the characters are just too good to let go. Engage Disco will continue as a comic strip in early 2026 exclusively on ClassicGameRoom.com