When
The Genesis Temple was my first website, originally created in 1996 – both in Italian and English – dedicated to… game reviews and interviews, along with history of old consoles. Well, not much has changed, has it? The only difference is that… I was a kid!
Despite my young age, I was already in full nostalgia mode by that time and was glad to take part into the “emulation” scene. I had contacts with several people who worked on emulators and games and, as weird as it is when I think about it now, I ended up interviewing people like Steve Snake and Sam Pettus. I even collaborated on The Sega Genesis Guide (G3), which I’m sure was the first stepping stone for Sam’s book on Sega.
How
In its original form, The Genesis Temple would last until 1999, when I moved unto other projects. Years later, I became main editor for a website dedicated to all 16 bit consoles (called, quite inventively, “16bit”) that mostly published other people’s contents, along with some of my own articles and reviews. I also created my own “opinion” column, where I rambled about games, complained about shops and explained my doubts about “gaming as a digital media”. At the same time, I was collaborating with several other Italian gaming websites, participating at press conferences by Sony and Nintendo. By 2007, I gave up on writing about games altogether and dedicated myself fully to my other passion: music. By then I had also been a music critic for quite some time, and would remain one for 15 long years.
Why
As 2019 rolled on, I felt it was time to bring back my passion for videogaming in its original and purest form. I wanted to write again, and on a blog. But what name could I give to a website dedicated to in-depth reviews, articles and interviews? Well, the choice was easy: The Genesis Temple. Does it make sense with the contents? Probably not, but it doesn’t have to. More than 20 years later down the line, my dream project is back, the child that never really went away has risen from the ashes, ready to talk nostalgia and obscure games.
Where
Even though the original 2019 idea was more akin to a personal blog, The Genesis Temple, over time, became something else. When I saw how little time and effort other magazines and sites were dedicating to stories that weren’t “popular” in the history of videogaming, I felt it was time to step up to the plate and double down on my writing. In doing that, the blog became something quite similar to its original Geocities form: a website dedicated to gaming history with interviews and features.
What
So, this brings me to the present day, where I – a former music journalist – have now fully grown into the “gaming historian”, a mysterious figure that rambles all day long about “the good old days”. Jokes aside, while I’m extremely passionate about history, I also don’t want to forget that we’re living in a present where gaming is still as interesting as it was back in the day. Thus, I try to dedicate my time and space to both present and past, with – perhaps – an eye on the future.
If you want to get in touch, feel free to contact me.
– Damiano Gerli
