(Advisory: No news posting on the 1st of January 2014. We'll resume posting on the next day.) Who says No. 13 is a bad number? I will always agree with such, but I'll make 2013 as an exception as it has been such a good year for Popular Airsoft. Whilst it is not always pointing up, airsoft does indeed grew further.

There are small players coming to the forefront introducing incremental innovations to airsoft technology and that these players are not necessarily from the usual places in the Far East but we have seen innovations in more places such as the USA, New Zealand, Europe, and Russia. Whilst the airsoft companies can bring to bear their manufacturing prowess, they can always find a win-win situation by cooperating with this new breed of innovators by offering their production expertise so they can also share in the innovations.

Bigger airsoft events are happening on both sides of the pond. In the previous years, we have been so used to having airsoft events pass the 1,000 player mark. But this year, airsoft event organisers have started breaching the 2,000 plus mark like it was normal such as Airsoft Nation and Border Wars. I guess 2k+ is the new normal now and it reflects further growth of airsoft.

Something to note that whilst the world lost one of the biggest names in the history of mankind, Nelson Mandela; two notable names in the gun designs were also lost. John Noveske, the founder of Noveske Rifleworks died in an accident in January 2013, and Mikhail Kalashnikov whose AK-47 has affected world history, died last 23 December at good old age of 94.

Perhaps the biggest loss in the airsoft community is the closing down of Airsoft Austria TV when Scaar and crew announced during the SHOT Show 2013. They pioneered the use of video to promote airsoft paved the way for a new generation of reviewers and airsoft funnymen. It is the ending of their final video that we used also to close the video of airsoft in 2013.

Overall, airsoft is still going to new heights as there are still many avenues to explore in terms of technological innovations and the development of new types of airsoft events. We will be seeing more serious Milsim airsoft events and two tournament formats will make an even bigger splash in 2014. PTS Syndicate and G&G Armament are behind these two competing airsoft tournament formats and we'll find out how these will fare next year.

As 2013 comes to a close, we thank all our readers and sponsors for supporting Popular Airsoft. We'll try to improve your reading experience with us come 2014 and we hope to count on even stronger support from you.

Cheers to 2013 and our big welcome to 2014! We hope you enjoy this video we have put together of Airsoft 2013 in retrospect. Happy New Year!