News Feed: September 8, 2023
Good day. We are slowly starting to organize the new CGR videos on the Classic Game Room website for those who want to watch them without the distractions of social media and yelling-and-screaming videos.
"I'm slowly assembling a new set from scratch for the upcoming Classic Game Room 2085 Season 2 series (late-'24 on Blu-Ray)"
"Unboxing the show's old collection and organizing games on shelves gives me more ammo to keep up with the demand for "shorts" and other sub-60 second videos to fuel the growth on TikTok. Somehow this stuff all has to work together, and thanks to the Omega Ronin glue, it's starting to form one cohesive whole because I edit to the music. That probably doesn't make any sense to anyone but me, but I need a workflow to keep the CGR stuff running and hit the accelerator as we head into the 25th-anniversary year."
"I'll be starting on some CGR 25th anniversary logos soon and you can be sure to expect new swag, new shirts, and maybe even some other surprises."
"The current shows are all running, albeit slowly as I transition out of my current print schedule into a CGR schedule for the next year. I am eyeing up new CGR-related and/or gaming-related book projects for '24. I'm looking at a few documentary ideas, but nothing concrete at the moment. Definitely CGR 2085 season 2 which is scheduled for a October or November '24 release." -Mark
August 29, 2023
Hey all! As we head into the fall, CGR production will slow down a bit as Mark (me) takes care of real-life business and runs the holiday schedule for the parent company, CGR Publishing.
There is a lot planned, but my production time is cut really short until the end of the year. My hope is that CGR production can open up in December or early 2024 as we embark on the show's 25th anniversary celebration year!
You can look forward to new reviews like Xeno Crisis on the Genesis and Dead or Alive 6 and R-Type Final soon. CGR will also be revisiting some of your favorite classics in 4K. Hang in there. With any luck, 2024 will explode and open up the CGR schedule for the next 30 years.
June 29, 2023
We (Producer Mark and CGR Publishing) are looking into the possibility of bringing Classic Game Room back in some capacity. The original show was very time-consuming to produce and thus, very expensive. Mark is tinkering with formats to see what can be done in the current landscape. The response to the recent CGR videos has been amazing! Is the show returning? We're looking into it. It's a hard "maybe in some capacity".
"Honestly, I thought the show's return to Internet video would bomb because it's not what people watch anymore. The response has been the complete opposite, which was a surprise. So, this has kinda thrown my planning off a bit. Instead of people yelling at me to make reaction videos or apology videos or live streams, people are asking for more Atari 2600 reviews. That's what I prefer to hear." -Mark
Mark is currently producing a series of CGR short-form clip videos and experimenting with longer format edited reviews. The 15-hour Blu-Ray set for CGR 2085 Season 1 will release in November. "The TikTok and Instagram stuff did really well, and that brought back the idea of YouTube Shorts and full-length reviews. CGR is cross-platform, though. We aren't trapped on one platform."
CGR 2085 Season 2 is in production for Blu-Ray and digital on-demand (only). Expect a late 2024 release.
Update June 23, 2023
After many years, Classic Game Room glassware finally returns!!!
We just restocked inventory with brand-new 16oz and 12oz "Insert Beer Output Fun" drinking glasses. The 16oz glass is nearly identical to the old one we made back in the day, so if you need more or want to add to your collection, get that one.
The 12oz glass is for smaller pours or tighter shelf space. They're all well-made and look great!
We'll be getting the Limited Edition 1-Liter CGR 2085 Beer Steins in soon.
I'm looking into some other glassware styles, but this is the first stuff out the gate, y'all. We're taking orders through our eBay store to facilitate shipping and whatnot. You can always check out our ebay store HERE.
Classic Game Room resumes production... in a new and exciting way! Shorty shorts!
Classic Game Room is the longest-running Internet video game review show in the world. For that reason alone, I always thought it was a shame to discontinue it, but unfortunately, back in 2018, many viewers complained that we didn't embrace live-streaming or reaction videos, financing imploded, and YouTube cut 90% of the ad revenue which ended it quickly. I've written about this before in the show's History section.
The closure of the Classic Game Room video production studio in 2019 led to CGR Publishing and here we are. Free from the constraints of a miserable, awful, hate-for-profit social media monopoly. But, oh wait... what's that? YT treated creators like garbage and they left for TikTok? People got sick of hate, attention-seeking yelling and screaming, and manufactured drama, and they also all left for TikTok? Wow.... it's like I called that a decade ago.
Now it's 2023. I never thought I would produce videos again, but here we are, Classic Game Room is making videos again. I'm as surprised as you are.
I'm already hearing the misinformation from people desperate to hear that something is wrong. Nothing is wrong. All is well here in the CGR Publishing land, but to my surprise, people want Classic Game Room back and apparently, they'll watch it! How did this happen? Well, in part I think people genuinely miss the days when creators made real edited content for YouTube. Additionally.... it's a long story.
In short, I launched a huge marketing plan a few years ago to market products but avoid paying hate-for-profit social media companies. So, instead of paying garbage platforms to boost sales, I put that money into synthesizers and made up a bunch of bands. This sounds pretty stupid, but sometimes stupid ideas are the best because out of this mess I ended up with hours of awesome background music which is gold for a video editor. Instead of burning through $2000 of ads in six months, Omega Ronin bought a Juno-X which will last until the end of time.
Videos started to trickle out, and I worked with the format over the past year or so until it made sense. It evolved in unexpected ways. Omega Ronin and 80s Comics opened up the door to TikTok content which led to me tinkering with other things, unpacking the old CGR collection, and launching some new shows on TikTok and Instagram. That led to YouTube shorts and maybe even some longer YouTube content. Also, the CGR 2085 Blu-Rays are getting made.
Instead of being trapped on one platform, Classic Game Room (and the other shows) are running on up to three platforms at once and growing. I was kinda in-between creative projects and the timing seemed right. So far it's been a lot of fun and I've enjoyed seeing a positive response. Clearly, we sell shirts, books, and glassware based on the series, so it fits right in here.
Will this lead to a complete CGR return of daily reviews? Honestly, probably not. The classic "Classic Game Room" format was terribly inefficient to produce and took a lot of time. I can't take the time to do it full-time, but I can tinker with shorts and make Blu-Ray films. So, I'm making it up as I go along. As long as people seem to enjoy it, the shorts and related content can continue. If you'd prefer hate and apology videos, then it will end.
There are plans to make Classic Game Room 2085 Season 2 to celebrate the show's 25th anniversary in 2024. Beyond that, I guess we'll see how it goes.
I'm launching a huge, new Omega Ronin series on the Omega Ronin channels soon. I'll be working with the music, video, and animation to guide viewers through the start-to-finish process which may even result in a print manga and vinyl album. Follow @omegaroninmusic on YouTube and @OmegaRonin on TikTok
Update 5/23/2023
Hello everyone! First news update on website reboot.
ClassicGameRom.com returns. It'll probably take the rest of the year to get this back up and running in any organized fashion. We're under the umbrella of CGRpublishing and will be coordinating with them on products and website design.
The Classic Game Room series has been rebooted on Instagram and TikTok in a more casual and relaxed format. There are no plans to bring back the heavily-edited shows that didn't resonate in the live-streaming era. There are plans to have tons of fun with arcade games, pinball, Atari 2600, PS5, Vectrex, and more.
The Intergalactic Space Arcade (version 2.0!) is up and running. Pac-Man is lit. Beers are flowing, and Mark is enjoying unboxing the game systems and mountains of Atari games and old TI-99 stuff and whatnot.
The CGR 2085 Season 1 Blu-Ray plans are slowly rolling out, you'll hear more soon. Season 2 is in development for 2024 in celebration of the show's 25th anniversary!
Glassware should be appearing on the website this summer.
Shirts and hoodies and all that fun stuff are in development, you'll see them as we make them.
