The Game Room was originally broadcast over ten years ago and had a short but memorable life essentially pioneering the online video game review. The Game Room was a humorous two-man look at games and gaming covering both modern and classic games. After a DVD release of the series a few years ago, the series returned as Classic Game Room on YouTube in early 2008 and has since expanded with an enormous amount of content being put up daily.

Mark Bussler was kind enough to conduct an interview with me by email.



What made you want to bring back the game room in the CGR, aside from the increase in and success of video-based websites such as YouTube?

After the original Game Room series was canned in 2000 I went into documentary filmmaking and had some moderate success in that but didn’t see much of a long term future. Around 2007 I was looking for a change and it was then that the opportunity to finally support a web based videogame review show with advertising became a reality. The growth in high speed Internet connections and the emerging popularity of YouTube created the landscape that we wanted in 1999, we were just too early. In 2008 I jumped back in with both feet and our production company turned into the Classic Game Room Empire as we know it today.



Your focus in reviews is rarely negative, and you seem to be able to find something to enjoy in some games that have been absolutely panned by other critics. I remember in particular your review of Golden Axe: Beast Rider with your repeated and amusing references to the fact you can chop people in half and set them on fire. Has this always been the way you approach games or is there an angry streak we are not seeing?

Classic game room is first and foremost about fun. I review games with the intent to have fun with the game and not go out of my way to find fault. All games are reviewed equally regardless of budget, genre, console and the year of release which means I can have just as much fun with an obscure Vectrex or ColecoVision game as I can have with Gran Turismo 5 and Black Ops. I review a lot of different games in different genres and try to explain who would enjoy the game and why. Even the so called “worst” game is fun for someone and I don’t want to force my opinion on the audience, I give an opinion but let the audience think for themselves. If you want deep, in-depth analysis of plot structure, development and technical programming then CGR probably isn’t the show for you. I don’t go out of my way to make fun of games because they don’t have the budget of the top 10 commercial hits each year, it’s often the obscure games which can be the most surprising and enjoyable.







If there is an angry streak, can we expect to see it any time soon?

That's not what I do. The show is about having fun playing and collecting games. If someone wants to review or play games and that hobby makes them angry then they should do something else like work for the Red Cross or Humane Society. Helping others in need can make one happy and they’d perform some good deeds instead of filling the Internet with more useless, negative dribble.




I’ve never seen someone who can talk at length about a game box art and remain interesting. What gave you the idea to review box art and collector’s items like mugs?

Classic Game Room has a huge collector’s audience. It’s a smart audience that knows a great deal about games and gets into every detail like artwork and accessories. I personally love art, old school science fiction designs and the way that game companies have tried to market their products over the years. I find it fascinating and enjoy seeing some wild packages lined up on the shelf. That kind of aesthetic detail that you can actually see and touch is being lost to a download status bar.







As a result of some of your videos on CGR, I’ve gone back and checked out a quite a few games I had previously overlooked. Have you received similar feedback from your fans?

Absolutely, that’s one of the most common things that I hear from people. It should be noted that I’ve learned a lot from the fans over the years as well. I may find an obscure game like Arrow Flash and then hear from a viewer that so and so also programmed another game for the Genesis in 1990 that I’ve never heard of which leads me to another game and so on and so on… There’s a lot of games from back in the day that have disappeared and they are usually my favorite games to review because it’s like finding a jewel in the rough and sharing it with everyone.



We seem to share a fondness for the Sega Genesis. After playing so many games on so many systems, what keeps you coming back to it?

Everyone has a favorite and mine is and probably always will be the Sega Genesis. I like the look of it, the feel and the game selection. It’s a well built system that, when used properly, can deliver some amazing videogame adventures. It has a large game library that is still collectable and relatively affordable today. Also, at that time in the early 90’s, the game design landscape was different and a lot of weird games and stuff that would never get made today showed up on the Genesis. I find that a lot of people feel this way about their consoles from that era like the Genesis / Mega Drive and Super Nintendo. They were really different systems at a time when games moved beyond 2D arcade games to the more elaborate genres that we have today.



Your old show was a good deal more elaborate than your new one. It must have been far more time consuming but the results were entertaining and still are today. Do you have any desire to use this format again; even if only on occasion?

For the original 1999 and 2000 run of the show we recorded the reviews differently than I do now. I don’t think they were more elaborate than the recent reviews, we just took more time to make them back then. That was partly because of inexperience and partly because we made less of them.







I don’t see many PC games go up. Do you prefer console gaming or do you plan on doing more in the future?

It should be noted that CGR is expanding with new reviewers who are more familiar with the world of PC gaming to meet this demand. I work on computers all day every day and don’t care to deal with operating system issues and graphics card requirements and so on. Some people take this as an insult to PC gaming but that really isn’t the case. It’s more of a familiarity thing.



I enjoyed your videos with Anthony Daniels and your E3 trip. Can we expect to see more of CGR on the road in the future?

Thank you, those are always a lot of fun to make and give some diversity to the show’s typical format. I recently filmed for three days at Pinburgh 2011 covering a massive pinball tournament and arcade game collection and plan to cover more events in the future.







Any mention of “video games” and “art” provokes a high quantity and variety of responses on Destructoid and elsewhere. Have you noticed the, “Games as Art” debate, if so do you have a position on it?

I think games are art but people have a right to their own opinion, even if it differs from mine. Art is a subjective term that has been debated since the dawn of time so this is hardly anything new. Movies weren’t considered art 30 years into their existence either.



CGR viewers can quickly see the sort of games you are into by watching your channel. For this generation and the future, what types of games would you like to see more of?

It’s a great time for games, we should be excited! Sadly a lot of the potential excitement is lost to the cynical attitude of the mainstream press who focuses 98% of the attention on 2% of the games (the most expensive of course). There’s a huge variety of awesome video games out there right now, more so than there has been for decades, but you have to look to find them. The Internet and downloadable games along with mobile devices have allowed lower budget, less graphics-intensive games to get published and explode in popularity like Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies. Simplicity is often the most fun! There’s a lot of crap out there too but the best stuff usually rises to the surface. I’d like to see more Vectrex releases.







How about, less of?

If I want to see less of something then I don’t look at it. You can’t blame companies for investing their money in what they think people will buy based on current trends.



With all the reviews, submissions and new releases, do you get much time these days to enjoy gaming as a hobby or has it lost something for you in the work that goes into CGR?

It’s a bit of give and take. I don’t play as much of any one game as I used to but that comes with the territory. When you turn a hobby into a job the job becomes better but the hobby becomes work.



If you don’t mind answering, what are some of your hobbies and work projects outside of CGR?

Spearheading a show like this and building a business around it is all-consuming. I try to just relax when I’m not working on CGR and avoid computers to be honest. I usually find myself catching up on movies or collecting some old Genesis games or spending time with friends and family. Nothing terribly exciting.



What does the future hold in store for CGR? Any new plans, news or projects that you can or would like to share?

In addition to the normal shows I like to experiment with silly things and mix it up. Packaging reviews, action figure reviews, food reviews and odd hardware are all fascinating to work into the schedule and keep producing interesting for me. It’s all quite exciting to see Classic Game Room now compared to when it was being crushed out of existence by the dot-com bust in 2000. Our company is also producing other channels on YouTube like CGRUndertow and CGRTrailers and the future looks bright as long as people keep watching, so keep watching. Lord Karnage commands it!


I want to thank Mr. Bussler for taking the time to give this interview and I wish him and all the CGR staff and contributors the very best for the future.

CGR can be checked out on its YouTube page, it also has a website with written articles and news. The old series of the Game Room can be viewed on the same YouTube channel. You can also check out another interview about the original game room at Sega-16.com