10 years of Gaming Boulevard, it’s still crazy to think we’ve been doing this for a decade now! Time to look back at some of our favorite memories.
Nick de Reiger: My memory of Gaming Boulevard is double-sided, in a good way; I got to know the guys behind Gaming Boulevard through Timmy. We were both in the same Facebook group for retrogaming and collecting and discovered we worked in stores next to each other. We became friends, and he invited me to do a test review for the site. I was overjoyed since I loved to write about games and game-related stuff. My first review was about Dragon Age: Origins, which is still my most played game in my Steam Library, and it snowballed from there. Fast forward three years (on to the fourth!), and I’m working on my 245th post on this website… The other memory I wanted to talk about is the feeling you get when a developer or person shouts out your review/preview, for example, on Twitter or Facebook. We can’t always please people with our writing since sometimes a game is just wrong. But it’s incredible that somewhere in this world, people are playing a game due to something you wrote (at least, that’s what I’m picturing, haha!). I can’t thank Timmy and Lander enough for taking a chance on the weird Dutch guy living in Belgium to join their group.
Timmy Adriaens: I never really intended to join Gaming Boulevard. The funny thing is that my joining the group all was based on me having great access to specific items on the market, which Gaming Boulevard was using for unboxing videos. At that time, my favorite Japanese friend, Tetsu, was supplying me regularly with amazing items from Japan, and well, I was just going to be a supplier of “cool stuff”. Despite being a big gaming fan and possibly one of the more crazy collectors out there, I mean I own a full set Gamecube, Wii U, all the amiibo and I am close to completing the 3DS as well for all PAL games. I never really intended to join actively and when the news of the Nintendo Switch hit, Gaming Boulevard asked me if I could pitch in a little time to help out with some outstanding reviews and now many years later, I call Gaming Boulevard my family. Maybe I should also mention that one day when I was invited to a Nintendo Press Event and they had pro Splatoon players at hand, that I destroyed in all three of my games against them, that was fun too!
Nick Vyvey: I wasn’t around from the beginning. I think I’m along for the ride for about 3 and a half years now. In those years I found out what it takes to keep this behemoth of a site rolling. We are all a small part of the machine doing our best to keep pushing out content for your viewing/reading pleasure. I would personally like to thank every member of our crew for their contribution because you can’t keep this thing rolling for 10 years without the awesome people making it. My fondest memory in those years I’ve been part of the Gaming Boulevard family is the first E3 coverage I joined in. We got together with a bunch of the crew and a sort of strange process of symbiosis started to happen while we were covering the E3 action. Articles were spawned from the collaboration we wouldn’t have done as an individual. Those moments where each person inspires the next one to do better feel so exhilarating. Here’s to the next 10 years of making gaming content!
Michiel Vonck: My best memory about the website, is everything linked with our process from going from unknown to known in the gaming industry. Together with Lander and Jean (the awesome trio from back to secondary school), we founded the gaming website to get our thoughts about gaming (and everything around) out in the open. Where we are standing now, is all because of the hard-working members of our team that have the same passion and enthusiasm for games. If I had to pick one of the memories that’ll stay with me the most, it would have to be the realization that we were invited as press and for our very first time by Gamescom itself. The moment of standing in the press area and realizing that our hard work for a couple of years had finally paid off. Going to the different press booths, getting hands-on with the games, and interviewing the developers on the spot…. was just an amazing feeling! The dream of becoming a full-time press author has never felt that close at that specific moment. Even though life got in the way and made me slow down in my involvement with the website, I’m blessed to still be part of such a great team and I truly hope that one day, I can give my all once again for the website and help GamingBoulevard reach its full potential. I want to be a part of the growing level of awesomeness that’ll give the website the attention that it deserves. I would also like to take this moment and thank Lander for taking the steering wheel of this amazing project we once started together. He has always been that guy that poured his energy into this project and kept the project alive. I’m jealous of what he has achieved with the website and I can’t wait to see what he still has in store for us/ the website, I just hope I can tag along and still be part of this amazing journey. To all of our team members and Lander, well done, and let’s keep this website rolling!
Mathias Van den Bussche: I’ve been with Gaming Boulevard for a little over 4 years now, and from the very first review of the original starcraft remake all up to now, there are a big number of fond memories. But if I have to choose one: The Xbox One X release event. This event was fun, well organized and just great to see and meet some fellow reviewers. There were about 10 xbox’s set up with different games to each showcase how this versions was improved on the regular Xbox One. Within the Gaming Boulevard crew, not everyone likes to play ‘sports games’. And I thought it was really funny when Lander and myself played FIFA on this event and some people stood by and watched, thinking they would get to see a competitive match, just to see us both not know the controls and kicking the ball everywhere but where it was supposed to go. A big congrats to Lander and the rest of the crew for setting and keeping this up for 10 years already!
Michel Berghs: I don’t have many memories with Gaming Boulevard yet, so as Lander jokingly said: My favorite must be getting hired! All kidding aside, I have been lurking on the page and in the Facebook group for a while and have found some wonderful games through Gaming Boulevard. To be part of the staff now is a great honor and I look forward to building more memories in the next couple of years; so hopefully I’ll have more to add at the next anniversary! So I want to congratulate my fellow team members with this wonderful anniversary, and let’s see what we can achieve with Gaming Boulevard before the next one!
Maikel Schoeber: I joined Gaming Boulevard a little over 1 year ago now and 56 reviews and coverages later we are here. I always wanted to be involved in the gaming scene in a way. With Gaming Boulevard I found this way. I always love when the developers shout out my review, but my favorite memory happened within a month of joining. I got asked to join Bethesda Benelux on Twitch for their coverage of the 3rd day of Gamescom 2020. Here I joined Linda Wijnen, PR manager and regular streamer from Bethesda Benelux, for an after talk about the Arkane Q&A. I was nervous but it was a lot of fun. This was exactly what I have wanted, to be involved in the gaming scene in a big way. For some people, this probably isn’t even special and is more of a day job, but I enjoyed every moment of it. I saved the Twitch clip and to this day still watch it back from time to time. Hopefully, I get to do these types of things more in the future and maybe go to events and do it IRL.
Jean: My best memory is from way back when we were a small group of friends buying games and writing reviews without anyone asking. We were driven by our passion, and we just went out to look for news and good stories to write about. In Belgium, there was this great concept called “GAMELAND” where different developers took over an entire amusement park and changed all the rides into their franchises. All the major players were there, and it was a great way to play games that weren’t released yet. We went with no expectations whatsoever to have a good time. Little did we know that our first contact with the amazingly kind people of Nintendo would happen there. After playing some 3DS games and talking to a representative about who we were and what drives us to do this we got on the list. THE LIST of one of the big 3! That’s what got us even more motivated, and it opened doors previously locked. Now we’ve come a long way but it’s probably that spark that accelerated Gaming Boulevard to what it is today. That and great members that give their all and even more to bring you quality content without bias and straight from actual gamers like you!
Lander: I think my favorite memory is without a doubt the journey of Gaming Boulevard. It’s crazy to think we’ve been doing this for 10 years now, as the start of this amazing project still feels like yesterday. Looking back at the early days where Michiel, Jean, and myself were constantly battling for a spot next to the other amazing gaming channels. Watching us grow from teenagers who wanted to spread the love for gaming to where we stand today is amazing and without a doubt my favorite memory by far. Thanks to Gaming Boulevard I got to do the things I love doing the most, from visiting the biggest gaming conventions to meeting all the amazing people behind the games, there’s simply no better feeling than that. But it goes way beyond just gaming. I’m proud of all staff members of Gaming Boulevard, watching the crew grow over time makes me feel all warm inside. Gaming Boulevard wouldn’t be where it is today without the team so, from the bottom of my heart, I would like to take this moment to thank each and every one of them. The crew is more than just writers, I consider them as close friends and as Timmy also said, even family. Let’s keep pushing our boundaries and push forward to our next 10 years together! I can’t wait to make new memories.
