Greetings, Programs!

Welcome to my Substack, which I'm calling "Late to the LAN Party". The name might make more sense in a moment...

PRINT "Hello World"

My name is Peter, though you can call me Pete, a 40-something year old from the UK. How do you do? By day I am a full-time software developer, and also a full-time father, me and my wife raising our three children. Yet in the (increasingly limited, it seems) spare time I have, I enjoy playing video games. Actually, it's more than that. I have spent a significant portion of my life experiencing them, thinking about them, understanding them, dissecting them, and living through a sort of bubble history around them now I'm approaching middle age.

I get to have the joy of many thoughts and memories swirling through my head at any time, yet I've never really had a proper outlet for them. My wife, sadly, does not share this hobby of mine, and my children can only put up with so many history lessons of the "good old days", when 16-bits in consoles were plenty fine, thank you very much. And I've never been the greatest socialiser, finding it hard to find like-minded people in real life.

A friend of mine has his own small podcast, where he talks about his own passion, music and local indie bands. I have always admired that about him and wished I could motivate myself enough to also be creative in my own way, though a podcast isn't for me; talking out loud is hard for an introvert like me, apparently. Same with video recording or streaming. Writing, however, feels more approachable. I've found in recent years that writing down my thoughts, whatever they are, helps clear my head, like all the things I want to say out loud can finally go somewhere and not stay stuck in my remaining brain cells. And you can edit writing, taking your time to get your thoughts clear and focused.

My first plan was to start a blog, until someone pointed out that blogs went out of fashion circa early 2010's. By pure chance, I landed on Substack, simply because another software developer I followed was starting on it. I didn't think much of it - and wasn't exactly sure what Substack was - until I started finding notes and, particularly, articles and newsletters about my interests. Finally, I found a place on the internet where long-form writing was encouraged, where I could take my time reading things and watch how others have taken their own time to write about their own experiences. Over the past few months, I have been interacting with who I subscribe to, finally feeling like I'm part of a small community who share the same interests as me.

And community is about giving back.

INPUT "What will you write about?"

Do you like reading about the latest video game news and events? Keeping up to date on the bleeding edge of game entertainment? Well I have great news for you! Because there are many fine publications which do just that.

This isn't going to be one of them. Sorry. No, wait! Keep reading...

Since I already have a full time job and actually want to enjoy writing about what I feel, and not turn this into a side-hustle or second job, instead what I will do here is write about video games but from my own history, experiences and memories. I am not a games journalist or even a professional writer, and I have no attachment to the games industry other than consuming their outputs, but I have watched the history of video games since I was a child in the 80’s and 90's. I have many fond memories of what I played on my consoles, like the Sega Mega Drive, and I have continued playing games all the way up to today on my Nintendo Switch or Playstation 5.

I've watched this industry change too over the decades. I can remember the days before there was an internet! I lived through the console wars of the 90's!¹ All valuable experiences I wish to share with those who never experienced them. I am also a technically minded person, so as well as explaining what I think, feel and remember about video games, I also like to consider how they are made too - both artistically and technically.

Back to the name of my Substack - so called because I'm always "late to the party". I have backlogs of games, films and television shows sometimes spanning years, and I'm forever trying (and failing) to make a dent in them. So usually my topics will be, lets say, slightly "out-of-date", though I prefer the term "retro". I'm not a trendsetter and I like to avoid hot-topics to give myself time to think over things and form my own opinions. So I may absolutely talk about the latest video game that is all the rage... just in 6 months to a years time, that's all! However, I'm probably going to be more interested in looking back at maybe simpler times - let's face it, the world we live in now doesn't always feel so great, so a distraction from the past may be welcome to you as well as me.

I have many other facets to my personality too, apart from video games. Well, maybe one, perhaps two more. Another of my life's loves is animation. In another life, I would have become one of the great pencil-drawn animators of our time, save for my lack of ability to draw anything that looked nice. Nonetheless, I have always been fascinated with how simple still images can be placed together to create movement, life and emotion. Again, I have many memories I want to draw on from that side of my life too. But, for now at least, video games will be the main focus of what I want to write about.

GOTO Next Article

The good news for anyone who wants to tag along is that I will do all of this for free - no paid subscriptions required! I want this to be an enjoyable hobby for me, so I want to avoid statistics, tracking and the pressure of meeting expectations whilst balancing my normal, everyday life.

The only "cost" to this though will be patience. Since I am not a dedicated writer by trade and have my own full-time job, I plan to write when I feel happy to. Unfortunately, that means I cannot really commit to a fixed schedule at this time. However, I do want to try and write as often as I feel able - and I already have some articles planned and waiting. I would also like to try and avoid the trap that many on the internet fall into, thinking that content must be produced indefinitely. Frankly, if no-one ever read what I wrote, then I would still be happy knowing I've at least produced something that I'm proud of - that's a mindset I'd like to try and keep.

If you'd like to see where my first article takes me, then please feel free to subscribe to receive updates in your inbox.

Until next time.

END

1. Disclaimer: the “console wars” was not actually a war, just a turn of phrase. Like “Blast Processing”.