Not very long ago, I ran a well-respected website devoted to video games and video game culture: 2D-X. For a number of reasons, both internal and external, I decided to shutter it in 2014 after a solid five-year run. I met great friends, made connections with a range of interesting people, and chopped it up with editorial icons that I’ve admired from afar for a long time.
Still, closing 2D-X was one of the smartest moves I’ve ever made.
2D-X was never intended to grow into something significant, which was clear by the many mistakes that were made as the site grew. I eventually found the winning formula, but by that time I was…tired. Monitoring traffic, editing stories, and acquiring product was something I did in my day job; 2D-X demanded that I do it at night, too. I even added a podcast that morphed into a videocast. It wasn’t meant to be that much work.
Birthed from the pain that came with working for a horrific company where checks bounced and employees were left broken people, 2D-X was pure escapism. It was a place where I could write happy nostalgia pieces about old games. It made me smile until it made me not smile.
But the urge to create has returned. And this time, it has nothing to do with job-related ills.
I’ve toyed with the idea of starting a podcast for a short time now. Actually, that’s an understatement. I have a notebook full of potential show names and hardware purchases. I’ve had a fine time researching, plotting, and planning. Surveying the podcast landscape for ideas has led to the discovery of many wonderful shows, including The Brilliant Idiots, Freakonomics Radio, and Spawn On Me. Informative. Entertaining. They represent what I love about the podcast medium. And I have the audacity to believe that I can produce something of similar quality.
I can’t reveal an exact date, as I’m still hammering out a recording schedule, but the podcast is definitely happening. I have a theme, topics, and potential guests lined up, and can’t wait to edit, blend, and fade audio clips into a beautiful sound-quilt.
Stay tuned. This is going to be fun.
Image courtesy of Sweet Water.
