Max Frequency 2022 In Review (Year Three)

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Year three of Max Frequency has come to a close.

This year feels like a blur. ’21 and ’22 have meshed together in my brain. Perhaps that’s my newly developed dad brain already losing all sense of time and sleep.

Despite the meld, I achieved some lifelong goals this year with the blog and podcasts. I am improving at my craft. It was a year of personal growth and refinement.

Here are the site’s numbers in 2022. As a reminder, 2021’s total site view count was 5,546 with 3,729 visitors and 304 articles published.

  • Total Site Views – 5,996
  • Total Site Visitors – 3,792

Most viewed articles:

Number per top countries:

  • USA – 3,822
  • UK – 411
  • Canada – 275

Most downloaded item: N/A

During WordPress’ transition to new tiers, the download statistic died. I no longer can see what folks are downloading, primarily the Chasing the Stick audio episodes.

Total Articles published – 407

My output, numbers wise, was consistent with 2021. I wouldn’t have surpassed last year’s view count if not for my chat with Colin Moriarty. I knew his episode would do well, but I underestimated how well; talking with Colin was a highlight of 2022 to be sure.

Outside of Colin, the people seem to want to engage with my Analogue and PixelFX coverage. The demand for high quality FPGA emulation and scalers is ever ascending. I should write about my RetroTINK 5X Pro sometime this year…

I do feel like I would post more here at Max Frequency if I wasn’t on Twitter, which is why I left last week. I felt similar when writing Wiki Stories. Cross-posting zaps me more than I expected. I am curious how this year’s output will look now.

Here are the numbers for my podcasts throughout 2022:

  • Chapter Select Total Downloads – 39,188 / 6,140 with 20 episodes published
    • 6,480 with 15 episodes published in 2021
    • Gain of 32,708
  • The Max Frequency Podcast Total Downloads – 39,462 / 4,064 with 6 episode published
    • 2,190 with 20 episode published in 2021
    • Gain of 37,272

And as a new addition for the yearly round up, let’s throw the YouTube channel stats in too:

  • 6,596 total views
  • 1,422 live stream views
  • 15.5K watch time minutes
  • 2,701 live stream minutes
  • 98 likes
  • 19 new subscribers

The top three viewed videos of 2022 were:

I love that a video I produced for DualShockers somehow ended up on my YouTube channel. I made that comparison footage for my review of the GCHD MK-II. It quickly became my most viewed video.1

I am proud that the game collection tour has been received so well. Nice to see it enter the top when only published in November. As for Ragnarök predictions, hype was high and we capitalized on that energy.

When you tally everything up across the board, over 75,000 people interacted with Max Frequency in some way this year.2 Writing this up, I feel ambitious enough to hope for 100K in 2023. Consistency is key. I hope to improve my own here and better channel my creativity. Thank you all for the support this year. Here’s to 2023!

Here’s a list of the posts, shows, and projects I am most proud of from 2022.

Eloise Siobhan Roberts (duh)

There is no one or nothing I am more proud of being apart becoming a dad thanks to my daughter Eloise.

Wiki Stories

I mentioned it above, but posting in two places wore me down. Missing my own deadlines made me feel guilty. But the stories I wrote were great and the stories I haven’t told need to be shared some day. I am super proud of the art and animation. Dang, I’m good.

Chapter Select

Season 3 – Banjo-Kazooie and Season 4 – The Fast & The Furious were prime. Creating them was a great push to learn new techniques and explore new mediums. Both of 2023’s seasons are well underway. There’s no doubt that this year will be the show’s biggest and best yet.

If I could call out only one Chapter Select-related bit, I would pick the trailer for Season 3 – Banjo-Kazooie. Writing the rhyme and having Michael Koczwara mod it into the ROM was picture perfect.

The Max Frequency Podcast

The year’s output was lower than I would have liked. The consistency is not where I would like this show to be. The quality of 2022’s episodes though, that was quite high. I had the privilege of finally chatting with Colin Moriarty, I recorded a time capsule with Casey Liss before becoming a dad, and talked with many dear friends. I already have some episodes lined up for this year and more ideas to explore with guests and topics.

Reviews Thoughts and Impressions

I wrote fewer "Thoughts and Impressions" pieces this past year. I have quite a few dead drafts in my folders, like Resident Evil 3, Horizon Forbidden West, and Knotwords3. I happened to share about two books this year; Stephen King’s On Writing and Alyse Knorr’s Goldeneye 007. I’ve enjoyed the self-imposed challenge of reviewing book that started with Max Frequency. It helps keep me sharp, I think.

I tackled my first movie review. which happened to be for the Uncharted film. I was surprised by that one and I suppose it helped get me in the mindset for tackling a season of Chapter Select on bombastic movies…

I also took on writing my first review for Apple hardware, just four years after launch. When upgrading to the iPhone 14 Pro Max, I wrote an exit review for my out going iPhone Xs Max.

I bought a Pixel 7

I finally entered the realm of Android. The Pixel 7 isn’t my daily driver. I bought it as a tool; specifically a camera and a transcriber. I’ve enjoyed having it around and I’m excited to use it more in my workflow.

RIP Stadia

Speaking of Google, the day we knew would come has finally arrived. It’s good that Google is fully refunding all purchases. They possibly had to for legal reasons. Good night streaming prince, for we hardly knew ye.

The Year of Acquisitions

Sony and Microsoft went all out in buying up studios, publishers, and talent. While I didn’t write up about every acquisition, I did cover big ones. Some as posts and some on a podcast episode. I suspect more acquisitions will happen throughout 2023.

The Odd Drip Feed of PSVR2 News

This was one piece of hardware I wish I covered better during the year. I have my unit locked in and am eager to try the consumer bleeding edge of VR next month.

Kratos Posture

Happy I finally whipped up this four year old idea.

1. Funny enough, a livestream I did playing GameCube is one of my most viewed streams as well. People must love the GameCube! Or retro scalers. Or both.

2. This was tallied from WordPress, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Libsyn, and YouTube for the year.

3. One word thoughts on those three games would be: Masterpiece, bloated, and sublime.

Published by Max Roberts

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