Thinking Out Loud: Don’t Call It A Comeback

From 2012-2022, I actively made YouTube videos. They never got a lot of views– my “most popular” video was viewed just over 5,300 times– but it was a fun hobby. It was often a challenge to make them, as I was often using an HP laptop for a webcam and a Rock Band-branded USB microphone for audio. My recording spaces were often cluttered, and there were issues with too much light or noise pollution (usually from window air conditioning units). I somehow made more than 430 videos.

I pretty much walked away from YouTube in 2023. The recording space in the apartment I was living in became too crowded, and the laptop I was using struggled with recording. I landed a full-time teaching role that summer, and struggled with finding free time for awhile. I was okay with moving on, to be honest, as the series I was focused on, Unsealed, never really found an audience like I thought it might. Despite still having dozens of factory-sealed games to open, it felt like it was time to go.

What I didn’t expect in 2023 (or 2024) was that I would buy a house in 2025. While that didn’t initially change my mind about recording, what it did do– for the first time– was provide a space for all of my older video games and consoles. That’s a luxury that I’ve never had since I’ve been into collecting since 2012. I’ve spent time organizing the room and making changes to my library over the past year. That said, I never really thought about shooting videos again like I used to.

Very recently, though, I started to get that familiar itch of motivation. What if I made videos again? Where would I make them? Is the room where my older games and consoles are in a good place? Will my iPad work for this? What would I make? Do I reinvent myself, or go back to Unsealed stuff? How often would I make videos?

I tried to use my iPad, but I could never get the camera to sit the way I wanted. I was worried about the sound quality, given how far away I had to position the device, too. I shot a few segments, nothing looked or sounded right, and I was at a loss. The laptop I bought in April of 2025 is connected to a monitor in my office, and I didn’t want to move it downstairs and upstairs. I thought about using my phone, but I’d never had success with phone holders for recording.

Finally, I decided to bring the MacBook Pro home that I used for teaching when I was in the classroom. I have a MacBook Neo in my work office that I can use for any student-facing tasks when the new school year starts, so it made sense to bring the Pro home and make it a part of the gaming space at home. I hooked up my BRIO 4K camera and my HyperX Quadcast microphone, and… well…

Here it is. A trial run.

It’s not perfect by any means– none of my videos have ever been close to that– but it was fun getting back in the saddle again. I used to make these “pickups” videos pretty often in my earlier days on YouTube, so this was comfortably familiar. It ran a little longer than I wanted; I was originally targeting 15 minutes and this runs just a little bit beyond that, but there were a lot of games to show, so it wasn’t horrible.

Does this mean that I’m “back” on YouTube? I don’t know that I’d say that, necessarily. I don’t see myself producing the same level of output I once had, and that was probably too much anyway. That said, I can see myself doing more than just this one video. It’s not like I don’t have things to talk about or share. I have sealed items to open, if I want to go back to doing that. The only thing I can dismiss pretty much right away is that recording gameplay like I used to likely isn’t happening. It would be me, sitting somewhere in the room to set a nice backdrop, talking about stuff. That’s what the channel has mostly been for almost 15 years.

With RetroWorld Expo less than 2 months away, and with my continuing to add games to my library, I don’t think it’ll be two years until my next video.