Rocking on for Five Years

Five years ago today, news of Mega Man 9 being confirmed drove me to do something that I'd been considering for a while up to that point: start a gaming blog here on Blogger. Rumors had been circulating the existence of Mega Man 9 for some time and someone even came up with a mock screen shot. Then, an issue of Nintendo Power had released with real screens of Mega Man 9. I was so excited to see the Blue Bomber back in action that he became the very first topic that I blogged about on this very site.

Prior to creating Gaming Rocks On, most of my blogging was done over on the GameSpot forums. But even before starting this blog, I'd come to love Blogger over GameSpot's blogging tools since I maintained a different blog on Blogger that is sadly no longer active due to my greater interest in Gaming Rocks On.

Confirmation on Mega Man 9 was my
very first blog post for Gaming Rocks On.

Gaming is something I've always been very passionate about. Becoming a professional video game journalist has been a dream of mine ever since I was 18 years old. But breaking into the business isn't easy and these days, you can start up your own website or show in your very own home. So while I don't get paid to write for Gaming Rocks On, it still feels like a job to me and is one I take great pride in. I'm not quite sure if I still want to become a professional game journalist, but one that that I know for certain is that my love for writing about games has only increased since I started this blog.

So why the name "Gaming Rocks On"? Well, I've always been fond of compilation music albums and during 2007 and 2008 I spent a lot of my free time creating my own from my music collection. One album title I had in mind was for gaming music of the rock variety, so I was going to call that album Gaming Rocks On. When it came time to enter the name of my new blog, Gaming Rocks On immediately popped into my mind. I'm usually terrible at thinking up interesting names but Gaming Rocks On just seemed to work for me. Plus it didn't seem like a common name for a blog, so I felt it stood out. Given how often I would reference video game music in Favorite Tunes, I guess that's a little ironic.

Latest Purchases lets my show off things
I've picked up.

2008 was the year Gaming Rocks On began, but looking back, it was also one of the most difficult years in my life. Near the end of 2007, it was announced that America had entered an economic recession. It wouldn't be until about mid 2008 that the effects became far more evident. In Dayton, Ohio the job market had dried up considerably and my work hours were at an all-time low. There were times where I didn't think I was going to make it and one of the things that helped me cope through one of the harshest financial situations I've ever been in was managing Gaming Rocks On.

In the beginning, my blog was kind of directionless. There would be the occasional news post here, and and editorial there. I didn't really have a set idea of what Gaming Rocks On was going to be, but as they say, you gotta crawl before you can walk. Now I have regular features like Game Art, the aforementioned Favorite Tunes, Currently Playing and more. I'm still working on new content for the blog that I haven't revealed yet.

For those that follow me, I'd like to extend my thanks. I never even imagined that I would get the number of followers that I have now. Sure, it isn't nearly as much as other blogger sites, but I'm still grateful. I'm also grateful for those that stop by even if only briefly. The number of views some of my posts get is staggering to me. So those who comment and those who don't, thank you.

Gaming Rocks On wouldn't be what it is without my fellow bloggers. Super Philip Central, 8-Bit Girl, Game Over Yeah, Cross-Up, The Gay Gamer and numerous others have helped inspire me by trucking away on their own blogs. Thank you all so very much.

Whether you're a longtime follower or a recent reader, I hope you'll stick with Gaming Rocks On as it continues to grow and evolve. If it's come this far in five years, I can only imagine what the next half a decade will bring.