This is not much of a news post, but as my fellow writers and I get ready to attend GDC this year, I can’t help but think of the E3 event that just passed, and how much Ripten has grown in just a few short months. I feel the need to share some of my thoughts with you in appreciation for your support.

At the time of E3, Ripten was Derek, Emily, Andrew, and myself — and while we did in fact offer E3 coverage to our readers, we were far from invited to the press exclusive event. Yes, that means I snuck in.

One of the more memorable moments occurred as I approached a hotel security/staff member who seemed to be checking press credentials before allowing further access. I was lucky enough to get in to the Microsoft booth/room the night before, and I used the opportunity to collect as many business cards as I could — so I decided to put them to use a little earlier than expected.

As I approached her, I turned and looked towards my friend, who was just a few steps behind, and purposely tilted my notebook allowing all the business cards to fall to the floor. The guard came over to help me pick them up, and as I hoped, she must have assumed that we belonged there based on the cards we had and let us through. Gives new meaning to the term name dropping…

Unfortunately, when we took the bus over to the hangar, our luck ran out, but hey — you can’t fool them all. The site has grown so much since then, and I owe it all to the passionate writers who volunteer their time here for peanuts (literally) and loyal readers like you.

I started Ripten (which stands for reviews, interviews, previews, trailers, events, and news in case you ever wondered) because I wanted a place where casual and hard-core gamers could all coexist. One place where casual gamers could learn about the industry without being put down, and hard-core gamers could share their thoughts openly with others who share their passion as well.

You may not always agree with the views that my writers and I share, but I promised them all an open venue to be themselves when they joined Ripten, and that is something that I plan to uphold for as long as I am running the site. You won’t find cookie cutter writers here, and that is something I am extremely proud of.

So as GDC approaches, and we run around like chickens with our heads cut off to prepare, rest assured that we have not forgotten where we came from, and that we appreciate and value all of your support.

If you like what our site is about and enjoy the work we do here, please tell a friend and help us to remain independent and real.

P.S. We know that there are only three videogame quotes rotating in our world bubble and we promise to update it with many many more very soon. If you have any that you would like to see there, leave us a comment below. Also, we just launched our forum a few days ago and we hope to see you there.