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Space Invaders baseball caps

Posted by Lolita Beckwith
Categories: Accessories, Casual, Culture, Retro

Space Invaders Baseball Cap

Last year we featured lots of Space Invaders stuff, such as the bling, welcome mat, tote bag and even a baby mobile. Well we just found out the classic video game turns 30 this year.  To celebrate, manufacturer Taito and New Era caps have teamed up to release a collection of seven black, fitted-style 59Fifty caps embroidered with the game’s characters. We think they’re a tad pricey at $57 each, but think of how great it will go with this scarf. According to StrictlyFitteds.com, the caps are available at Cap Collector One and New Era.

Read More | Strictly Fitteds via Gizmodiva


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Hand crocheted Mario 1-Up Mushroom scarves - pricey yet priceless

Posted by Sparky
Categories: Culture, Internet, Nintendo, Retro

UrbanPrincess

Etsy user UrbanPrincess is offering up custom Super Mario 1-Up mushroom crocheted scarves. At $150 a pop they are kind of pricey, but at the same time a priceless addition to the winter wardrobe of any true gamer. Each scarf is hand made and custom made-to-order so if 1-Up mushrooms aren’t your thing you could elect for the delicious delicacy of a mega-mushroom here or there.

Read More | Etsy: UrbanPrincess

Geek Jewelry: The “Space Invaders” Rings

Posted by Lolita Beckwith
Categories: Accessories, Culture, Retro

Space Invader RingsCall us paranoid, but we’re beginning to wonder if the aliens in “Space Invaders” really are trying to take over the world: The tote bag. The baby’s mobile. The scarf. The doormat. And now… the rings! Yes, now you can show your love for the classic game 24/7 by wearing one of those pesky aliens (or elusive spaceship) on your finger. Choose one of four designs, each made of pure silver with Rhodium plating. Strangely, we couldn’t find price info on the manufacturer’s website, so you may have to contact them yourself for details.

Read More | Toy Me Milano via Geek Sugar


Warm up to Aliens with the Space Invaders Scarf

Posted by Lolita Beckwith
Categories: Accessories, Culture, Retro

Space Invaders scarf

Hmmm. It’s been a couple of weeks since we obsessed over anything Space Invaders, such as the tote bag, baby mobile and doormat. This week we give love to the Space Invaders scarf, decorated with a phalanx of blue, purple and magenta-colored aliens, and handcrafted from 100% Merino lambswool for comfort and warmth. The perfect holiday gift for that video game-obsessed loved one—including you. The scarf costs $45 USD, but is currently sold out.

Read More | Etsy via Technabob


Console Downloads Feature Space Bounty Hunters and Also Giraffes

Posted by Paul Hamilton
Categories: Adventure, Nintendo, Platformers, Retro, Third Person Shooters, Virtual Console, Wii, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade

Space Giraffe Logo

People with virtual currency burning pixelated holes in their alternate reality pockets can check out the and the Virtual Console this week for some new (or perhaps old) titles. The most exciting offerings this week look to be the Jeff Minter shooter Space Giraffe and the wonderful classic, Super Metroid.

Click to continue reading Console Downloads Feature Space Bounty Hunters and Also Giraffes

Read More | Nintendo Press Release

Console Downloads This Week Featuring Metroid and Hexic 2

Posted by Paul Hamilton
Categories: Adventure, Puzzle, Retro, Virtual Console, Wii, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade

Downloadable Games for Week of August 13: Metroid, Shining in the Darkness, Cratermaze, Ecco the Dolphin, Hexic 2Following a light week, Microsoft returns this Wednesday to the two game new/old format, dropping Hexic 2 (800 Microsoft Points) and the Sega classic Ecco the Dolphin (400 Microsoft Points). Hexic 2 comes from famed Tetris creator Alexy Patjitnov and follows up the packed-in original XBLA title and adds new modes including same-screen or Live multiplayer; Ecco the Dolphin boasts enhanced graphics and sound plus a “Best Time” leaderboard.

These games join more than 75 others on the service which has been a huge success for Microsoft as detailed in a lecture by Marc Whitten this week at GameFest, where he discussed the company’s plan for attracting the casual gamer to the XBox 360. Whitten stated that they’ve seen a 156% average financial return in the past year on XBLA titles, earning more than $30 million to date. Based on this success they expect revenue on XBox Live Arcade to double in the next fiscal year and predict that by the end of this year they will have reached 45 million downloads of over 100 available titles.

On Nintendo’s similar download service, Virtual Console, they’re dropping three new games this week including the original NES classic Metroid (500 Wii Points), plus the Sega dungeon crawler Shining in the Darkness (800 Wii Points) as well as the TurbGrafx-16 game Cratermaze (600 Wii Points). Nintendo is choosing now to push the original Metroid title onto the VC as a means of keeping their Metroid brand fresh in gamers’ minds as they prepare to release the marquee Wii game Metroid Prime 3: Corruption in two weeks. As part of this effort, next week’s VC title is expected to be the SNES sequel, Super Metroid.

Read More | Gamasutra

California Extreme Channels a Simpler Time

Posted by Paul Hamilton
Categories: Culture, Editorial, Retro

Pinball Players at California Extreme 2007

Gamers of a certain age, if given half a chance, will gladly recount grand tales of smoky rooms, dimly lit by a few dozen cathode rays where the only sounds are the white noise of competing digitized soundtracks, crude speech sythesizers, blips and bells, pings and whistles and artificial arpeggios rolling down an electronic scale.

The misty sincerity of those gamers who cut their teeth on the quarter-munching cabinets of Space Invaders, Asteroids, Missile Command and Sinistar is almost enough to make one forget what a mess the modern arcade equivalent has become. The gargantuan interface machines with their elaborate weapon approximations and physical demands juxtapose over a likewise spectacular price per play resulting in a hollow shell of what the old guard knew so well. These are not arcades as exist in those guarded memories, they are interactive entertainment experiences: The kind of branded, marginalized speciality device that has been focus tested and trade-show marketed to get the premium floor space right out front in view of the mall concourse is showpiece here.

Even those arcade machines which can still accurately be described as video games compete for the higher-yield ticket-generating skill games (which ironically involve very little skill). Most of those who recall the days when 3D graphics referred to the vector lines of Tempest pass by these modern emporiums. Perhaps they shake their heads a little or make a disparaging comment. Kids these days. Get off my lawn. They don’t enter; inside is only heartbreak.

Perhaps what hurts the most is that it is a heartbreak we chose. We have no one to blame but ourselves, for while the arcade as it was may be dead, ultimately it is us who killed it.

We wanted the more valuable entertainment experience. We asked for and then demanded a perfect replica of our arcade favorites that we could play at home from the comfort of our couches. We pressed for more arcade-quality graphics on our home consoles until our set top boxes had visuals that outpaced anything showcased on a standalone machine. We asked for, and received, greater narrative depth in our games and as a casualty for our insistence we killed the arcade—the very entity we now mourn.

Click to continue reading California Extreme Channels a Simpler Time


Virtual Console 8/6: Wave Race 64, Galaga ’90, And Adventures of Lolo

Posted by Chris Pereira
Categories: Action, Driving, Nintendo, Puzzle, Retro, Virtual Console, Wii

Wave Race 64 Virtual Console screenshot

Okay, this week’s crop of games on the Virtual Console is pretty simple: one game you might care about, and two you shouldn’t. Galaga ’90 (TurboGrafx16, 1 player, 600 points) is an updated version of the arcade Galaga, so unless you’re infatuated with Galaga, chances are it isn’t worth your Wii Points. Adventures of Lolo (NES, 1 player, 500 points) is a strange puzzle game that’s only going to get in your way of Wave Race 64 (Nintendo 64, 1-2 players, 1000 points). It’s two players and was pretty fun in the day, and just happens to be the type of game that still holds up today. If you enjoyed the GameCube sequel, are looking for some VC fun or are a fan of jet-skiing, give Wave Race 64 a look.

Click to continue reading Virtual Console 8/6: Wave Race 64, Galaga ’90, And Adventures of Lolo


Track & Field Hits Xbox Live Arcade This Week

Posted by Chris Pereira
Categories: Microsoft, Release Dates, Retro, Screenshots, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade

Track & Field Xbox Live Arcade screenshot

This week the Arcade goes retro with the 24-year-old Track & Field. For 400 Microsoft Points you’ll get the classic button-masher, complete with 4-player split-screen and Xbox Live support. Along with this announcement, Microsoft has revealed some of the XBLA games we’ll be seeing in August and by summer’s end.

Headlining releases this month is Hexic 2, sequel to the XBLA launch game, Hexic HD. We’ll also receive Ecco the Dolphin and War World during August.

And “in the coming weeks,” we’ll see Geon: Emotions, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, Space Giraffe, Streets of Rage 2, and Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. (That one’s a mouthful.)

Check after the break for a brief description of all these games, and a few more screenshots of Track & Field in action.

Click to continue reading Track & Field Hits Xbox Live Arcade This Week


id Games Now Available On Steam; Super Pack Is A Super Deal

Posted by Chris Pereira
Categories: Action, First Person Shooters, Hot Deals, PC, Retro

Steam id Super Pack

It’s great enough to see the rumors come true of id’s games getting up on Steam – after all, id is the company that was behind Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein and Commander Keen(!), among others. Many of these classic games (from Doom and Wolfenstein on up to Doom 3 and Quake III) are now available for purchase on Steam. Or, if you’re into super-awesome-sweet deals, you can buy the id Super Pack and get all of the id games on Steam for $62.95 (for a limited time, then the price will bump up to $69.95). That includes a ton of content, to say the least, which would otherwise cost $213.90 to pick it all up on Steam individually.

The list of id content on Steam and in the Super Deal includes:

  • Commander Keen
  • DOOM 3
  • DOOM 3 Resurrection of Evil
  • DOOM II
  • Final DOOM
  • Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders
  • HeXen
  • HeXen II
  • HeXen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel
  • Master Levels for Doom II
  • QUAKE
  • QUAKE II
  • QUAKE II Mission Pack: Ground Zero
  • QUAKE II Mission Pack: The Reckoning
  • Quake III Arena
  • QUAKE III: Team Arena
  • QUAKE Mission Pack 1: Scourge of Armagon
  • QUAKE Mission Pack 2: Dissolution of Eternity
  • Return to Castle Wolfenstein
  • Spear of Destiny
  • Ultimate DOOM
  • Wolfenstein 3D

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