ONE NIGHT IN PARIS

The urban invasion has begun. Street artist Invader travels around the globe adding a touch of retrogaming swag to the daily citylife routine.
Invader’s minimalist images evoke the infinite permutation of the digital image through the redistribution of a methodological coloured pixel in a grid. Playful and minimalist, the space invader stuck to the wall is a reference for the collective imagination which creates an empathetic link between the mosaics and the city they are in.
To this date, the artist has invaded more than 80 cities throughout the world, connecting them through a web of space invaders he managed to turn into a collective online game. Rad, rad, rad.

bande sonore by Toby Screamer

KEEPING UP

If get asked about who the father of personal computers is, most of people may probably name Conrad Zuse, or Bill Gates and his early mentor Ed Roberts. Well if we focus on the word "personal", they could be wrong.

Yesterday Jack Tramiel, The Polish-born American businessman best known for founding Commodore International passed away at the age of 83, and he's probably the one who we should point our finger at. His life is an extraordinary example of initiative, commitment and work ethic.

After the German invasion of Poland in 1939 his family was transported by German occupiers to the Jewish ghetto in Łódź, where he worked in a garment factory. When the ghettos were liquidated his family was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

In November 1947, Tramiel emigrated to the United States. He soon joined the U.S. Army, where he learned how to repair office equipment, including typewriters.

In 1955, Tramiel signed a deal with a Czechoslovak company to assemble and sell their typewriters in North America. However, as Czechoslovakia was part of the Warsaw Pact, they could not be imported directly into the U.S., so Tramiel set up Commodore Business Machines in Toronto. Tramiel wanted a military-style name for his company, but names like Admiral and General were already taken, so he settled on the Commodore name.

When Commodore released its first calculators, combining an LED display from Bowmar and an integrated circuit from Texas Instruments it found a ready market, but one day their lead designer, Chuck Peddle, told Tramiel that calculators were a dead end and computers were the future, so he was told to build one to prove the point.

Peddle responded with the Commodore PET, based on his company's MOS Technology 6502 processor. It was nothing but an instant success.

As prices dropped and the market matured, the monochrome (green text on black screen) PET was at a disadvantage in the market when compared to machines like the Apple II and Atari 800, which offered color graphics, and could be hooked to a television as an inexpensive display. Commodore responded with the VIC-20, the first personal computer to sell one million units, and then with the Commodore 64, which with several million units sold would go on to be the best-selling home computer of all time. It was during this time period that Tramiel coined the famous phrase, "We need to build computers for the masses, not the classes."

Thank you Jack.

FPT

Today a new gaming genre is born: The First person tetris, also known as FPT-

*WARNING: the following content may cause eye bleeds or death.

ABOBO IS BACK !!

Those around 30 who back in the days had the chanche -and the luck- to put their tiny chubby hands on the first, epic, unforgettable episode of the Double Dragon serie on the NES they could never forget one intimidating big headed dude: Abobo. He was tough as nails, and he also had a lot of heart: even if you beat him badly he kept coming back as final boss or teaming up with other thugs. For many years to follow me and my fellow nerds we were using his name to refer to those rude older boys. Now you should understand how exited I am as i'm going to present probably the coolest game of all times: Abobo's Big Adventure.

>>> CLICK HERE TO PLAY ! <<<

The development of the game began way back in 2002 when Roger Barr set out to have Abobo fight his way through a variety of classic NES games in search of his lost son, Aboboy. Roger teamed up with a programmer who went by the name "Bane" at the time and they started putting the first levels together. Unfortunately, the Abobo game kept getting sidetracked due to each of them working on other game projects at the same time (including Domo-Kun's Angry Smashfest).

The Abobo project stayed on the backburner for years, but Roger always hoped to return to it eventually. He was lucky enough to meet Nick and Luis who both shared a love for classic 8-bit games and stuffing games full of ridiculous humor. After working on some other games like "Trick or Treat Adventure Quest" together, the three of them started to recreate the original Abobo game from scratch in 2006. Nick worked up a whole new game system, Pox recreated the existing graphics and Roger developed a big story for Abobo to really dive into... fists first. It was a daunting project, but like all labors of love, it's something that simply had to be done.

The trio have been working on this game for ages with one simple goal: make Abobo's Big Adventure the *ultimate* tribute to the Nintendo Entertainment System. This is the game that any kid who grew up on the NES always dreamed of playing and it goes beyond anything the system ever could've been capable of.

For those of you wondering if the game will be for sale, the answer is NO. Abobo's Big Adventure is simply a labor of love and will be available to play for free on the web. The game really pushes the limits of what Flash is capable of and you will soon have control of the most unappreciated, brutal, rage-fueled character in the entire pixelated universe in your hands.

ATARiPAD

Do you want to relive the fast-action excitement of all your arcade favorites, like Asteroids, Centipede, and Missile Command?

Simply connect your iPad to Atari Arcade, download the Atari's Greatest Hits app for Duo, and you're ready to share the fun with family and friends anywhere! With its joystick and buttons, the Atari Arcade—Duo Powered is exactly the way arcade games were meant to be played!

COLD NES HANDS

Behold the retro awesomeness of the the classic Santa Cruz screaming hand melted with a Nes pad. A screaming Nes pad, of course. For all the angry gaming moments. 4 colors on teal or slate tee @ Threadless.

GAMING HEAT

Commodore 64, Colecovision, Atari 2600, Nes, Gameboy... even a Powerglove! With such an hot bunch of unbelievebly sexy machines and controllers we're obviously starting to feel the heat. Thank you Hef!

RUN THROUGH THE LIGHT

Santa Ragione is an uprising italian software house we all should keep an eye on. They recently came up with one of the most unique one button games we've ever seen: take a little bit of Rez and pour it into a Vectrex. Add a pinch of vib ribbon and a couple of tablespoons of The Lawnmower Man sauce and you're in for some serious retro futuristic action. You're in for Fotonica.

• 5 Levels to Explore + an Endless Procedurally Generated Level.
• Accessible One Button Interface Compatible with Every Peripheral
• Two Players Split-Screen Mode.
• 10 Achievements to Unlock + Game Stats.
• Cross Platform Online Rankings.
• Highly Responsive Controls, Improved Graphics and Fullscreen Option.
• New High Quality Audio Tracks.
• Available for MAC and PC, DRM Free

The music track is "Cosenz" by Nicolò Sala, and it's made with the awesome Thicket app!

HONOR THE FALLEN

Back in the days being a gamer was a real struggle, but we never gave up.

Honor to the many millions of POW/MIA sprites who gave their lifes for our entertainment. We will never forget.

That sick madworld chiptune mod is by Rob Beschizza and it's called -guess what- Chipworld.

It' so moody that Here you can have it in two different octaves. No, it's not a joke.

BLIP 2011

The Blip Festival 2011 kicks off in full force, transforming Manhattan art space Eyebeam into a sea of people, dancing to the sound of technology unconcerned with sounding like anything other than pure, raw technology. Co-presented by 8bitpeoples and The Tank, from the 19th to the 21st of May the event will showcase the best creations in art, music, and culture using retro game and computer hardware.

The fantastic banging promo Music is "Attack Vector" by Swedish chiptune wizard Covox, and you have now the right to download it for free.

Attack Vector by Covox

RETRO PORTABLE

Nostalgic gamers of the world, our time to play Super Nintendo while taking a dump has come. Californian retro focused complany Hiperkyn, after the crazy portable Nes FC Mobile II has now announced the Supaboy, a Snes pad shaped portable console that plays your favorite Super Nintendo and Super Famicom (US and Jap) cartridges anywhere you are, even at home on your tv set.

Normal details:

Screen size (diagonal): 3.5 inches
5.5 Hours battery life (tested only once without sound)
Measures: 8.5 x 4 x 1.5 inches
Weight: 11.5 ounces
Stereo sound
AV Out
Headphone jack
Adjustable volume control

Key details:

Innovative cartridge lock feature
Two seven-pin controller ports
Tested compatible original hardware:
> Nintendo SNES controller
> Nintendo Super Scope
> Super Multitap
> Nintendo Mario Paint Mouse
In short – everything we’ve plugged into the controller ports has worked

WE'RE NOT CONCEITED

Blogging is a bit like djing, selction is the main thing besides mixing and skills, and sometimes I ask myself the meaning of thousands of music blogs and djs all posting and playing the same s**t...
Well, whatever might be the answer, you should have noticed that this is not what we do.
Talking about what we do, today it's flowing abstract hip hop in the air, and it's flowing nice and smooth on a priceless retrogaming video. Enter your password and have a good game.

Now do yourself a favour: jump on itunes and pay your fee to the one and only DJ I-Dee.

LET'S DOWNGRADE!

Not to be cocky, but even John Wayne knew that... most of times devolution is the right thing.

DIRECTED BY

VALERE AMIRAULT

JEAN DELAUNAY

SARAH LAUFER

BENJAMIN MATTERN

VOICE TALENT DAVID HENRY GERSON

davidhenrygerson.com

SOUND DESIGN BY NIKOLA CHAPELLE

AND ALEXANDRE HASLE

SOUND MIX BY NATHAN SENOT, AGM PROD.

agm-prod.com

ORIGINAL SCORE BY GREGORY SMITH

kickmusic.net

ORIGINAL 8-BIT MUSIC BY YANN VAN DER CRUYSSEN

nurykabe.com

CREDITS MUSIC IS "MAGICAL 8-BIT TOUR" by YMCK

ymck.net

VOICES RECORDING BY SPACEMAN SOUND

spaceman-sound.com

3D DESTRUCTION MADE WITH THE HELP OF FRACTURE

fracture-fx.com

RETROSNOW

Snowboard e retrogaming blended together? PRICELESS

MONSTER PAD

Comnicazione di servizio per tutti gli ebayers: un mega pad Nes, così mega da fare anche da tavolino da salotto, costruito dagli artigiani di 10updeluxe per una scena del film "Un Heureux événement" di Remi Bezançonè, è da ieri all'asta con prezzo di partenza di 5,278.84€.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370466632672

Working giant pad

Perfect 10/1-scale replica

Built-in original NES console

Works with EU, JAP and US games

mould-proof wood

Back side perfectly replicated

Coated for a plastic-like feel

Microswitches and custom springs

Anti-scratch felt

Connectors for the two original joypads maintained

Zone-switching commutator

INDUSTRIAL NESIGN

Il designer spagnolo Javier Segovia ha ammorbidito la linea del mitico Nes, dandogli così un'accattivante estetica moderna.

Ritoccare un design così iconico come quello della console per antonomasia senza cadere nel ridicolo è cosa assai ardua, e far storcere il naso è quasi inevitabile. Ma in questo caso il risultato è davvero notevole, sopratutto per quei meravigliosi pads.

Unico neo, dovendo essere critici, sono le quattro bande rosse sulla parte superiore, che obbiettivamente contrastano un po troppo.

COLD STARMAN

Il canale youtube di Mr.Roboto si chiama "Poop channel extreme", e già dal nome si può intuire che la serietà non è di casa.

Ma pare che oltre a dei seri problemi psichiatrici quest'uomo abbia anche quello che viene definito orecchio assoluto, grazie al quale è riuscito a scoprire un plagio che farà certamente discutere.

LINUS TRIBUTE

Grazie alla Svezia e al Chipophone di Linus Akesson, pazzesco sintetizzatore 8bit a doppia tastiera e sette pedali (wtf) costruito dentro la struttura di un vecchio organo elettrico, le future generazioni comprenderanno la vera essenza del chiptune.

Questo strambo personaggio, nonostante abbia lo sguardo da serial killer, non può che avere tutta la nostra stima. Come musicista, come ingegnere del suono, come pianista, come uomo e come nurd.

Inevitabile per i veterani del Commodore 64 l'occhio lucido sull'highscore di Commando.

Per scaricare il video e gustarvelo a ripetizione click QUI

SOOO ANALOG

In questi anni fatti di mp3, divx e compressioni varie, la parola analogico fa quasi commuovere, riportandoci a un epoca in cui la sola fisicità del media donava emozioni.
Emozioni ormai dimenticate che tornano alla mente grazie a So Analog, la nuova serie di creazioni di Squid Kids Ink: tre accattivanti action figures raffiguranti una cartuccia Nes, un audiocassetta e un floppy disk, chiamati rispettivamente 10-Doh!, A-Drive e B-Side.

Incrociamo le dita affinché vadano in produzione il più presto possibile e ne vengano fatte altre, magari una bella cassetta vhs e un vinile. Nel frattempo non resta che fare un salto sul blog di Squid Kids Ink e osservare come questi tre ragazzacci hanno preso vita.

VINTAGE SUSHI

E' noto che per poter mangiare il pesce crudo lo si deve prima congelare, altrimenti si rischierebbe di mangiare anche tanti simpaticissimi microrganismi come Listeria, Escherichia coli, Salmonella e il famigerato Anisakis, temutissimo parassita intestinale presente in circa l'80% dei pesci.
E allora visto che non è possibile mangiarlo fresco, perchè non mangiarlo d'annata.
Cameriere? Un futomaki dell '84, grazie.

Opera del geniale Jude Buffum, sul cui sito potrete trovare molti altri diagrammi di retro-macellazione nintendiana.