RETRO: A New RETRO Gaming Magazine - Interview

With 7 days to go GamesYouLoved spoke to Mike Kennedy about the new RETRO Magazine and Kickstarter

The Magazine and Kickstarter

GamesYouLoved. So Mike, You have been in the games business for some time. Why now is the time to launch a Retro magazine?

Mike Kennedy. With the demise of Nintendo Power there really are no great gaming magazines here in the USA.  And, certainly none dedicated to RETRO gaming.  I think there is always room for a quality print magazine and our older demographic is kind of used to print so I think it will sit well with them.  The trick is to fill it with material that isn’t so readily available online and that is our plan; to include in depth features, historical retrospectives, roundtable discussions with an all-star writing team and more.  We will talk about the past, present and future of RETRO.

GamesYouLoved. Do you think people love the idea of a printed magazine as well as the digital version you guys have?  

Mike Kennedy. Definitely, and since all print subs will also receive the digital for free I think it will sit very well with our subscribers.  In the first three weeks of our campaign the print options are the clear winner.  There is something about holding a magazine and flipping through the pages as you check out the vibrant images and creative layouts.  Nothing beats it!

GamesYouLoved. Tell us about the magazine and what exciting things you have planned.

Mike Kennedy. I am just as excited to read is as I am to publish it.  I think the combination of journalists that go back three decades will really add to the collage of material and perspectives that will fill the pages.  Also exciting to me is no one is out of reach to our team.  Between all of us we will be able to nab exclusive interviews with anyone from Cliff Bleszinski to Nolan Bushnell and everyone in between.  And to have all new original columns from some of the best writers in the history of gaming all in the pages of one magazine should be very compelling to our subscribers.  Finally, we have had tons of outreach from other writers from around the world since launching our campaign, and a few from Europe and Japan.  We want RETRO to really encompass the entire world of RETRO gaming and I think we will have a writing team to pull it off. 

How does the community play its part in your plans for the Kickstarter and magazine going forward?  

Mike Kennedy. Community will play a huge roll in this post Kickstarter campaign.  Once it ends successfully, we will finish out the ReadRetro.com website with ways for others to purchase the print OR digital subscriptions.  Then we tare going to ramp up the online content offerings and then integrate it all with GameGavel so gamers will have a convenient means for buying and selling the games, consoles and memorabilia they are reading about across our various media plays.  It all ties together nicely and will create a unique all-inclusive gaming destination that promotes commerce+content+community.


About you?

GamesYouLoved. What are your top 5 games of all time and why?

Mike Kennedy. Tough question for sure!

KABOOM on the Atari 2600 is my favourite game of all time because it was the first game cartridge that I my parents bought for me.  And it’s just such a phenomenal twitch game.  Next I would have to go with Pac Man because it was the first arcade I mastered on my own.  I can still routinely get to the 9^th key.  Moving back to consoles I have an affinity with the Sega Master System and the Wonderboy Series, my favorite being Wonderboy In Monster Land.  I probably logged more hours on that game than any else from that era in gaming.  Tetris on the Gameboy would have to be in this list for sure.  It was a new addiction on a new handheld format and me and “girlfriend” at the time, now my wife, played it for hours when we were dating and still play it at least every month to this very day.  Finally, I have to go with Donkey Kong Country on SNES.  Those pre-rendered 3D graphics took my breath away and I still am amazed every time I play that game on original hardware. 

GamesYouLoved. Do you still own many retro games - name a few for us?

Mike Kennedy.Yes, I have consoles in every room in the house and countless games to with them.  In our living room I have a PS3, Dreamcast, Gamecube and OUYA hooked up.  In my office on another big screen I have an Atari 2600, Intellivision, Colecovision, Sega Genesis/Master System, SNES, N64 and Jaguar set up.  I have made it a point though to only collect games that I will actually play on some regular basis so that has trimmed my collection down quite a bit and I have enjoyed the hobby much more since doing that.  I also have an Apple IIc, a Commodore 64 with tons of games each also hooked up in my office along with some arcade games including a cocktail Missile Command, Super Moon Cresta, a Mame Cabinet and Midway Touchmaster.

GamesYouLoved. Whats the RETRO scene like in the USA for our International followers to understand?

Mike Kennedy. RETRO is huge right now and I think will continue to be huge as the industry forces us more and more to the darkside, downloadable game and non-ownership.  There is simply nothing like owning a game cartridge or disk and playing it the original hardware.  That will never change.  Add to that all the new games being rebooted on Steam, the XBOX and PSN online stores, Nintendo’s eShop and it’s just a great time to be a retro gamer!  You guys have a great magazine dedicated to retro collecting with Retro Gamer.  We need something like that here in the USA and we hope RETRO can fill that need for retro gamers over here. 

GamesYouLoved. What kind of great memories to playing games in the 70s, 80s and 90s do you have?

Mike Kennedy. There are so many but a few rise to the top.  Playing Kaboom and Asteroids for the first time on a friends Atari back in the day; a friend who since past away not too long after.  Sitting in my “wife’s” dorm room back in the late 80’s and playing Alex Kid In Miracle World on the Genesis on a big screen TV in their commons area was tons of fun and of course being scarred out of our pants when a friend and I were romping through the first Resident Evil when the devil dogs busted into the hallway.  Those are some memories I will always cherish.  So many more I could write a book.

and finally....

GamesYouLoved. These are great memories and it's fantastic that RETRO magazine offers a new opportunity to celebrate the massive back catalogue of games and memories that they unlock. Thanks again for taking time out with your Kickstarter to talk to GamesYouLoved!

Mike Kennedy. 

No problem. Great to catch up and talk retrogaming of course!

Support the Kickstarter here  and watch Kickstarter video below: