I decided early in the planning for RED I wanted to use as much authentic technology as possible. It is an area where practicality intervened again. So I settled for an older console running games a little older then itself.

The centerpiece of the exhibition is an old black and white TV from my university days (Yes I was that much of a skin flint and No you couldn't watch snooker very well on it). The Dreamcast was old enough to support the TV through it's RF cable and capable enough to emulate more than one system is necessary.

It was here I found that using homebrew on the Sega Dreamcast is not as easy as it once was. The reason? There are not as many tools around since the consoles demise. Great home brew applications like DC Factory, or Selfboot inducer were hard to track down. Furthermore it took time to dig out those. CDI image settings only usable for Dreamcast. I noted to myself that although it was a shame I would soon have to buy an SD adapter for my DC homebrew or upgrade to the XBOX original. NOT the Xbox One – But you've read that rant I guess.

It is on this nostalgic part of the exhibition we plan to run the king of retro tournament. The player will go through four classic games Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, Pac Man, and Tetris.

For music I dug out the ZX Spectrum's old tape drive. Sadly the one mono speaker was not loud enough so I will begrudgingly need to use more modern computer speakers.

I take a step back and look. The Tech here should hold up. It has after all worked for all these years.

However the Retro Entertainment Drive as it was now called – with a fancy new logo courtesy of Andrew was running into more problems then aging disks and disappearing home brew support. Already the feedback had been “This won't work” and every time I heard that I was determined to make this event the best it possibly could be.

I allocated room for my ideas, an older laptop playing an array of classic games via a multiple emulator, a Dreamcast and black and white TV for the nostalgia and the competition. Then I3T text me with the X Factor. The Polybius 

When we launched the Spaceman site myself and I3T discussed it's purpose.

So what is the purpose of Spaceman?

What is it's meaning?

I think the conclusion we both drew was that Spaceman was the start. The launch place for our ideas and projects.

That is exactly what it has became with some level of success. The sites podcast The Spacecast has been well received and earlier this year we launched a spin off liveukwrestling.com.and podcast Spacecast – “The UK Wrestling Podcast”

We have recently been accepted as media by some outlets and none of this would have ever succeeded without you guys our readers. Or without our fantastic team of volunteer writers and contributors. Names like Plasmacaster, aka Pending, Stormbeard, CultFilmz, even that freaky Count. I am humbled by the amount of support our tiny corner of the web has received.

Going back to the purpose of the site one thing I and I3T wanted it to do from the outset was, well some good. Not change the world, lets not get ahead of ourselves here.

It started as one of those throw away conversations at work .. and yet it wasn't.

I can't take full credit for what we then called the classic games exhibition. My good friend Andrew (the mind behind the Count E Noir character) was a big part in formulating the idea. Even it's name the Retro Entertainment Drive was Andrew's brain work.

I always found events at the town hall to be a bit.. Well WI, stuffy even. Usually attended by the same few people. Searching around though it was the only logical choice. The older church hall had a great “retro” look but was not central. I quickly realized that this idea of ours would meet one of the Spacemans core objectives and do some good.

I don't mean that to sound boy scout. I promise you if you do attend the event there will be no tin rattled under your nose (because I personally can't stand that). The idea is you will be able to get hands on with these old classics all afternoon as many times as you want under one low price.

That was the basis of the idea. By the end of that shift I had emailed from the town hall website inquiring about about booking. It was not until then I thought, I have never run an event before. I am not overly keen on birthday parties (so much so I prefer not to have them) let alone manage a public event. I had made a booking based on an idea alone.

This is how it happened. How that idea on a Thursday afternoon “work talk” is set to become a reality

This is the RED Diary.

NOTE: As this is an honest account I shall not be signing off The Analyst. Because The Analyst is a character

My name is John.

Have a Great Dayyyyyy!!!!