Post a Comment On: The Dreamcast Junkyard

Well, we made it. Today - the 7th December 2015 - marks a decade since this blog first started. Back in 2005 it was simply a place where I intended to document the reconstruction of the Dreamcast collection I had traded for a PlayStation 2 in 2001, but in the ensuing months it became something of a labour of love where every new game and peripheral I snagged on eBay was photographed and 'added to the 'Yard.'
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Soon after I started it,  The Gagaman joined the Junkyard and it became a two man operation, with the pair of us adding the occasional post about things we'd bought or games we'd played. We became a threesome (er...) when Barry joined, adding an international flavour with his views from across the pond in the US. The team and the variety of posts continued to grow as we later welcomed Father Krishna and Caleb, and then Martin and NebachadnezzaR, both of whom are no longer on the team here at DCJY but will live on as legends in the Junkyard's hall of fame. Yes, the line-up here at the 'Yard has undergone a few changes over the course of the last decade, but we like to think that the tone has remained constant - one of true passion for Sega's final console.

Now we have a team that spans the globe and have gone from a tiny little personal blog to possibly one of the most popular Dreamcast destinations on the internet, and we owe it to the people who stop by here on a daily basis to see what new stuff we've spewed onto the page. Indeed, in the last year alone we've started a podcast (which was nominated for an award after only a few months in existence) and we've attended a games expo and brought the Dreamcast to the gaming public. We've released a Dreamcast guidebook (which incidentally Peter Moore now has a copy of!), held competitions sponsored by Sega itself and have a burgeoning Facebook group and page. When you sit back and look at what we have achieved with zero backing and no financial funding other than our own, we've not done too badly.

Ultimately, The Dreamcast Junkyard has become a part of my identity - a part of me - and looking back over the years it is apparent that these blog posts represent something of a personal journey. From writing about eating mouldy bread and Pot Noodles in a bedsit, working in mind-numbing office jobs (where a lot of posts were written!), to documenting my joining and (six years later) departure from the Royal Navy, it really does feel like this place has most of my major life events from the past ten years laid down. So it's more than a blog about the Dreamcast - it's a diary, and has also allowed me, through the comments and FaceBook group and Twitter exchanges, to forge some true friendships with people who, at first glance, I only had only one thing in common with: a love for the Dreamcast.

So on this momentous day, I'd like to personally thank the whole team here at the 'Yard, both past and present, for making this place so damn awesome. I also hope everyone reading this will join me in wishing The Dreamcast Junkyard a happy 10th birthday, and raise a glass or a beeping VMU to the next 10.

Tom