About Remastered
Welcome to Remastered! It's a video game newsletter authored by me, Tomas Franzese, since February 2026. I have covered the video game industry for nearly 10 years. I got my start as a volunteer Staff Writer at DualShockers back when it was an independent website, eventually working my way up to become News Editor. While there, I gained a reputation of being a "gaming encyclopedia" of sorts, always interested in video game history and easily contextualizing any new release with the context of the video game industry's history.
After that, I helped Inverse establish its Gaming section as a Video Game News Writer before moving over to Digital Trends in 2022 as a Staff Writer. I felt I really thrived when I bolstered Digital Trends' Gaming coverage alongside Giovanni Colantonio. I've reviewed hundreds of games, interviewed dozens of game developers from across the industry and around the world, and authored a column called Save State for about half a year.
I was laid off by Digital Trends in January 2025, and have been freelancing for publications like GameSpot since then. Valnet brought me on board to try and establish gaming coverage at Android Police and XDA, but let me go once its attention turned to segments it saw as more profitable in 2026. In March 2026, I joined Polygon as a Weekend News Editor in a freelance capacity.
I author this newsletter as I continue to freelance at several different outlets and near the end of my Master's Degree program at Old Dominion University. I want this to be a spiritual successor (or a retro revival) of sorts to my Save State column, which I still hold dear to this day. This will be a newsletter about games, old and new, that directly grapple with the ever-evolving nature of retro gaming or are connected to the rich history of the video game industry in some way.
Remastered will feature games old and new, but I don't want to spotlight older games through the lens of "everything was better in the good ol' days of gaming." I find that sentiment permeates a lot of nostalgia-and-retro-focused gaming content. The biggest strengths and weaknesses have evolved over time, and coverage of older games should reflect that.
Sure, the funding and monetization-packed design problems of today weren't hampering the video game industry 25 years ago, but back then, the mainstream game industry was primarily a publisher-monopolized space that was nearly impossible for indie developers to break into. Whether it's just a couple of years old or from decades ago, I'm interested in learning about the stories of developments that interweave throughout the history of video games as a medium.
I'm also interested in seeing how those developers, ideas, and nostalgia rear their heads today, whether that be through new games building on old ideas, old games finding new life, or projects tangential to the games themselves but interconnected with game history.
Remastered posts every Thursday at 11 a.m. ET, and it follows this itemized format:
Item one: A Feature - An editorial, review, or interview that connects to the newsletter's thesis. This could be a retrospective on a game, an interview with the developers, gamers, organizations, and journalists who keep the spirit of video game history alive, or ideas I haven't even come up with yet. Does any of that apply to you or clients you represent? Reach out to me at tomas.joseph.franzese@gmail.com!
Item two: What's Old Is News - A round-up of the news goings-on of the week and the retro-related games I’ve been playing. I'll prioritize retro-angled stories, but will also cover current events that I think will be etched into the timeline of game history.
Remastered is currently a free weekly newsletter, although I have a Ko-fi if you’d like to support my work. I remain open to finding more ways to monetize this newsletter in the future. The release schedule is also subject to change with unexpected events, although I will do my best to always hit the weekly deadline. I'll communicate any delays or changes in schedule on my Bluesky.
I look forward to your support of Remastered. I've never done anything like this before in my near-decade of work as a journalist, so I'm excited to see what the future holds. You can start by checking out my first newsletter, which covers the evolving definition of “retro” in 2026.
Anti-Generative AI Statement: I do not use generative AI to write this newsletter. Currently, I am subscribed to Grammarly for copy-editing purposes, and I ignore any suggestions that aren't purely grammar-related. Otter.ai is used for interview transcription, but I double-check any transcribed audio that makes it into Remastered.
Special thanks to Myles McNutt and Francesco Franzese for their editing support on this newsletter.