HH Targ

Esports & Community

Forget GameStop: Local Communities Are Building Their Own Game Libraries and It's Working

Across the US, gaming communities are ditching big-box retailers and subscription paywalls in favor of something a lot more neighborly: shared game libraries, little free game cabinets, and peer-to-peer lending networks. These grassroots experiments are proving that access to games doesn't have to come with a corporate price tag.

Oct 11, 2026

Gaming Culture & Collecting

The Modders Keeping Dead Games Alive — and Rewriting the Rules of Who Gets to Make Games

Modding communities have quietly become one of the most important forces in gaming history — rescuing abandoned titles, restoring lost content, and turning passionate players into professional developers. But the work happens in a legal gray zone that keeps these creators perpetually vulnerable, even as their contributions grow impossible to ignore.

Oct 11, 2026

Esports & Community

Any% for Everyone: How Speedrunning Went from Internet Curiosity to Gaming's Warmest Community

Speedrunning started as a weird corner of the internet where obsessives chased impossible times in games most people had forgotten. Today it's a full-on cultural movement — one that's raised tens of millions for charity, welcomed players of every background and ability level, and built some of the most genuinely supportive spaces in all of gaming. So how did a niche pastime become something this big, and this kind?

Oct 11, 2026

Gaming Culture & Collecting

Soldering Irons and Fighting Games: Inside the Garage Workshop Revolution Reshaping How We Play

Across the country, a growing wave of hobbyists is ditching store-bought controllers in favor of hand-built arcade sticks crafted in home workshops. From custom artwork panels to precision-tuned joystick gates, this grassroots hardware movement is part craft culture, part competitive edge — and it's carving out tight-knit micro-communities that major manufacturers never saw coming.

Oct 11, 2026

Esports & Community

Clicks, Communities, and Clout: How Independent Streamers Became the Tastemakers of Modern Gaming

A new generation of content creators has quietly seized the power to decide which games blow up and which ones fade into obscurity. We talked to rising streamers and dug into the moments that turned small indie titles into cultural juggernauts — all through the lens of live content and community loyalty.

Oct 11, 2026

Gaming Culture & Collecting

Insert Coin, Find Your People: The Real Reason Retro Arcades Are Taking Over American Cities

Across the country, a new wave of retro arcades is popping up in cities big and small — and they're nothing like the dusty nostalgia traps you might expect. These spaces are thriving because they're offering something no home setup can replicate: genuine human connection around shared play.

Oct 11, 2026

Esports & Community

From Discord Servers to Championship Stages: How Grassroots Gaming Guilds Are Rewriting the Esports Playbook

Independent gaming guilds built by players, for players, are quietly becoming some of the most influential forces in competitive gaming. From launching unknown players into professional careers to pressuring developers into meaningful game changes, these scrappy communities are proving you don't need a corporate backing to make a real impact. Here's how the grassroots movement is changing everything.

Oct 11, 2026

Gaming Culture & Collecting

Cartridges, Cardboard, and Cultural Memory: The Collectors Keeping Video Game History Alive

As major publishers quietly abandon their back catalogs, a dedicated network of hobbyist collectors and preservation enthusiasts has stepped up to become the unofficial guardians of video game history. From hunting down prototype cartridges to digitizing instruction manuals nobody else bothered to save, these communities are doing work that genuinely matters — and doing it on their own dime. We took a closer look at who they are and why what they're doing is so important.

Oct 11, 2026