8-bit

All Aboard, Next Stop: Retroville

July 5, 2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

Stockholm’s Thorildsplan Tunnelbana (or ‘Tunnel Rail’) station is a thing of 8-bit beauty. The station is covered in mosaic pixel art by Swedish artist Lars Arrhenius featuring Mario Bros and Pac-Man, among others. If you’re ever in Sweden, be sure to stop by Thorildsplan a.k.a. ‘Retroville’!

Video source: MadCraft on YouTube

Source: Digital Versus and Laughing Squid

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ms. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.

Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter

Exotically Cool Commodore 64 cases

July 2, 2015 By ausretrogamer

The ingenuity of the Germans is second to none! Deviant artist, Thomas Boisse is no exception to this rule! Thomas (aka: Ernie76) has created a number of beautiful and very cool Commodore 64 case paintings, which you can check out below for your viewing pleasure.

With all of these awesome cases, it is difficult to pick a favourite. If we were pressed to choose one, it would be the Ghosbusters case – oh those keys! Which case would you pick as your favourite?

The Great Giana Sisters

The Last Ninja

Airwolf

Bubble Bobble

Back to the 80s

P.P. Hammer

Ghostbusters

Maniac Mansion

Donkey Kong

Source: Ernie76 on Deviantart

Music Videos: 8-Bit Style

June 20, 2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

Blur is back, a whole 16 years after their last record as a four-piece with a new album The Magic Whip (released 27 April 2015). The album’s eleventh track, Ong Ong, has an adorable music video featuring the band members as bosses in an old-school platformer where Mr OK fights his way past the band to rescue Ms OK.

Mr OK

Bosses: Damon Albarn as Mr Cream, Graham Coxon as Mr Brown, Alex James as Mr Red, Dave Rowntree as Mr Black

Video source: Blur on YouTube

But blur is not the only band getting nostalgic with their music videos – Afro/Euro music duo The Very Best‘s gorgeous video for Let Go portrays an old-school 8-bit game with the characters and landscape made out of pixel beads.

Video source: The Very Best Vevo on YouTube

Finally, enjoy Danish pop duo Junior Senior’s Move Your Feet from 2003.

Video source: Crunchy Frog Records on YouTube

8-bit style music videos… all we can say is ‘please keep them coming’!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ms. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.

Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter

A Welcome Invasion: 8-Bit Street Art By ‘Invader’

May 1, 2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

French artist ‘Invader’ identifies himself as an ULA or an ‘unidentified living artist’ – he always uses his pseudonym and appears behind a mask. Invader has been working on an awesome, enormous, ongoing street art project, code named ‘Space Invaders‘, since 1998.

‘Space Invaders’ is about liberating art from museums and bringing our 8-bit friends into the real world. Invader creates 8-bit images with tiles and installs them on on walls in cities around the World (currently 3096 works in 64 cities)! In his own words: ‘Each of these unique pieces become the fragment of a monumental installation.’

The project is brilliantly chronicled on the fantastic interactive map on the ‘Space Invaders’ website.

As well as city walls and bridges, there are mosaics installed 2362 meters above ground in the village of Anzère in Switzerland, on a series of underwater sculptures in Cancun Bay in Mexico (installed with the help of sculptor Jason deCaires), and even on the International Space Station!

Anzère, Switzerland

Cancun Bay, Mexico

International Space Station, Space

Each piece is given a score of 10 to 100 and every city has an overall score which is the sum of all the Space Invaders on its walls.

Melbourne, Australia
(See this map for some of Melbourne’s Space Invader locations)

Vienna, Austria

Côte d’Azur, France

Miami, USA

Bangkok, Thailand

Tokyo, Japan

London, UK

NYC, USA

Paris, France

Take a look around your own city, you may find some unexpected friends!

Source: Space Invaders

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ms. ausretrogamer
Editor and Researcher at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.

Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter

Winter Is Coming: 8-Knit Art

April 27, 2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

Winter is fast approaching in the Southern Hemisphere and we are on the lookout for cool ways to keep warm. With just a few weeks to go, you had better get knitting (or crocheting) if you want to be able to rug up with one of these 8-knit retro beauties.

Looking Hot In Contra & Super Mario Sweaters By Sweaterrarium

Don’t Let The Cold Invade Your Feet Or Head (Space Invaders Socks & Woolly Hat)

Wow! A Multi-Panel, Queen-Size Super Mario Bros. Blanket

A Beautiful Mario Tunisian Crochet Blanket (With Pattern)

If I Made This, I Would Be Thinking ‘Waka’ Every Time I Made A Stitch!
(Pac-Man Blanket By PiNiKoLi On DeviantArt)

This Super-Cute Pikachu Blanket Contains 1,680 Crocheted Squares & Measures 2.5 x 2 Metres! (Pikachu Blanket By PiNiKoLi On DeviantArt)

Awesome Donkey Kong, Pac-Man & Space Invaders Crocheted Gamer Blankets
(Via Nerd Approved)

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ms. ausretrogamer
Editor and Researcher at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.

Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter

Video Game Of Thrones

March 30, 2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

We are eagerly anticipating the fifth season of HBO’s Game of Thrones which is scheduled to premiere very soon – 12 April, 2015!

One of the best parts of watching Game of Thrones is the fantastic opening sequence. To keep us going for the next 2 weeks, here are some adorable retrogaming-style tributes – Dah Dah da da da Dah da da Dah Dah…

Hero of Time

The clever people from The Pixel Kingdom have created a Zelda-themed version.

Source: The Pixel Kingdom on YouTube

Super Mario Game of Thrones

NicksplosionFX shows us what GOT would look like in Super Mario World.

Source: NicksplosionFX on YouTube

Game of Thrones 16-Bit RPG

Reminisce with DoctorOctoro’s (slightly NSFW) 16-Bit RPG retelling of Season 1.

Source: DoctorOctoroc on YouTube

Game of Thrones: Donkey Kong-Style

Source: Pixel Baz

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ms. ausretrogamer
Editor and Researcher at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.

Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter

Brutal 8-Bit Fatalities

March 6, 2015 By ausretrogamer

Could you imagine the media frenzy if our beloved 8-bit video games had gruesome fatalities just like in Mortal Kombat? Now that would be an awesome dream come true. You can never have enough fatalities in video games (Ed: settle down!). I would personally like to see those pesky Galaga bugs get obliterated in the most brutal way!

Hang on a second! Steven Lefcourt has made this dream come true in his great artwork depiction of 8-bit fatalities. Splat – take that Goomba! Damn the ignorant media!

source: Steven Lefcourt

8-Bit Mixtape

November 30, 2014 By ausretrogamer

I must admit, I prefer my chiptunes to be emitting from the wonderful SID chip inside the C64, but then I get surprised with mixes like this one from Eclectic Method.

If you are a fan of gaming beats and audio effects, your prayers have been answered. Kick back and chill out with this awesome 8-bit mixtape!

Eclectic Method – 8 Bit Mixtape from Eclectic Method on Vimeo.

Jason Paul’s Arcade Run: Free Running In 8-Bit

September 23, 2014 By ausretrogamer

You got to hand it to Red Bull, they know how to excite, and I am not talking about the Taurine in their drinks!

Red Bull is synonymous with adrenaline rush and death-defying events, from freestyle motocross to base jumping. You want excitement, Red Bull delivers it in spades.

It was about time Red Bull incorporated their hardcore sporting elements with video games. The product that they have come up with is some very cool free running (parkour style) in the form of an 8-bit platformer. Take a bow Jason Paul and Team Farang!

Warning: Do not attempt this at home!

source: Red Bull

If you want to know how this Arcade Run was done, check it out here.

Bender’s 8-Bit Brain

August 5, 2014 By ausretrogamer

There was a microprocessor arms race in the early seventies. Both Intel and Motorola lead the way, but that all changed in 1975. MOS Technology (MOS) introduced us to the 6502 microprocessor – the world’s first affordable 8-bit microprocessor. An interesting fact about the 6502 is that the designers were ex-Motorola employees.

The trusty 6502 became the brains of seminal computer systems like the Apple II, the Commodore PET, the BBC Micro, and the Commodore VIC-20. It was also the precursor to the Commodore 64’s 6510 microprocessor!

The 6502 microprocessor also went on to power a very famous fictional machine: Bender Bending Rodriguez, or simply just, Bender – the belligerent robot from the sci-fi animated comedy Futurama.

Long live the 6502!

8-bit

Footer

Support This Site