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August 25, 2008
Holy crap, it's been ten years. Ten years! It boggles the mind.
Ten years ago, I decided to try to create a site with no news page, no previews, and reviews without scores. I wanted to see a video game site where the illustrations weren't provided by PR people, and showed a little more creativity than just stock screenshots. Somehow, this site more or less succeeded. It was never commercially successful, but I didn't care. For the two+ years it ran, loonygames was a unique oasis of unusual and interesting content.
In the years since, lots of sites have come and gone, and let's be totally honest, many did this same concept better and more frequently than we ever did. Today I look at sites like The Escapist or Gamasutra and smile. They may not have the same unusual, drunken sensibility as loonygames, but I think the spirit is still there.
These days, if anyone mentions loonygames at all, it's mostly as a footnote when discussing the meteoric rise of Penny Arcade. But every now and then I hear from someone now employed in the industry who got their start either writing or reading an article we published. And that makes me happy.
As I mentioned in my five year update, loonygames was a very personal project for me. Many of my oldest and closest friends contributed to the site, not to mention my sister and then-girlfriend-now-wife. I called on every contact I had in the industry at the time, and was always amazed by the quality of the work people were willing to deliver for free (or at best, t-shirts and copies of games).
Anyway, I think it's great that people still visit loonygames after ten years (including almost eight of zero activity!). I guess I have Google to thank for that, but it's still great. In these last ten years loonygames contributors have scattered to the wind, but we're all out there in various parts of the video game industry (and other industries, in some cases). If you're on Facebook, be sure to join our group and share your story. Or contact me and tell me your story directly. I'd love to hear from you.
If you've never visited loonygames before, take a look around and read through some of our content. Granted, it's all out of date now, but there are still some gems in there, and it's certainly entertaining in a nostalgic way. I especially like Jon Mars' gaming in 2001 article on those grounds.
Anyway, welcome. And congrats to everyone who helped get us here. I'll see you in another ten years.
Stay loony!
- Jason "loonyboi" Bergman
Even though it probably won't be updated for another decade, loonygames is still (C) 2008 loonyboi productions. All archived content is owned by its original author(s) and unauthorized reproduction will be met with deadly force. Just try it. You know you want to.