CHANGING ROOMS

Story dated January 9, 2006 .

GameRoom magazine has been bought by retro-gaming website RetroBlast's owner Steele Publishing.

The pinball, jukebox, video and arcade games magazine has been publishing since 1988 when it was founded by Dave and Donna Couper. It was sold to Tim and Jacqueline Ferrante in 1996 following Dave's passing and they have continued to produce monthly editions ever since, moving to Florida in 2003.

GameRoom celebrated it's 200th edition last year and features regular columns about personal gamerooms, jukebox restoration and quirky arcade games. It also sells a wide selection of books, videos and DVD.

Tim Ferrante said "I am excited by Kevin's vision for the future of GameRoom Magazine and RetroBlast! After having published GameRoom for the past 9 years, I am thrilled to be able to hand the GameRoom Magazine legacy over to such a talented and enthusiastic writer."

RetroBlast! owner Kevin Steele completed the purchase this weekend at the magazine's former Land O Lakes' offices. They will now move to RetroBlast's Cleveland Ohio base and Kevin will take the helm from the February 2006 issue.

RetroBlast's website began three years ago to document Kevin's experiences setting up his perfect gameroom and has grown to cover events in the home arcade games world with an emphasis on video games, although Kevin personally owns three pinball games.

He said "The home arcade and game room movement has expanded dramatically over the past several years, as has the retrogaming market. The merger of GameRoom Magazine and RetroBlast creates a unique opportunity to provide unparalleled coverage of home arcade news and reviews."

Planned changes to the magazine include expanding the coverage of consumer
retro-games, emulation and home arcades. A new RetroBlast column will also be included in future issues.

In addition, the magazine will be moving to a higher-quality print process, with high-gloss paper and better colour reproduction.

 

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