8-bit

Tetris coming to a T-shirt and waterbed near you

Tetris has a very special place in my heart. As a child, my parents wouldn't buy my brothers and sister and I a Nintendo. They wanted us do "play outside" and "enjoy our youth" and "build character." We, of course, wanted to play Punch-Out!!!, Duck Hunt, and Metroid.

Then my cousin introduced my grandmother to Tetris. She was hooked. When we asked our grandparents for an NES they basically told my mom and dad that if they didn't get us one they were bad parents. Thanks Grandma, and thanks Tetris.

And now … Read more

Dark Side of the Moon goes 8-bit

Adding to all the cover versions of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" that are out there--the recent one by the Flaming Lips and guests, the dub version by The Easy Star All-Stars, the brilliant parody by The Squirrels--comes this.

Video game programmer Brad Smith has taken the Pink Floyd classic and reworked it as a bunch of sound files for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Nintendo's classic 8-bit video console. And he has posted the whole album as a YouTube playlist. (YouTube seems to be having some technical issues as I write this, … Read more

8-Bit NYC is the coolest map--ever

I'm not one to fawn over online maps, but 8-Bit NYC appeals to my two loves: usefulness and 1980s adventure video games.

The 8-Bit NYC map is simply fantastic. The service displays New York City in a depiction that's modeled after maps in adventure video games from the 1980s. Even better, all the content in 8-Bit NYC is accurate, making it a viable mapping tool, as well.

"I hope to evoke the same urge for exploration, abstract sense of scale, and perhaps most importantly unbounded excitement that many of us remember experiencing on the Nintendo Entertainment System, … Read more

Gadgettes Podcast 164: The Kill Me - Holiday Gift Episode

We spend most of today's show covering holiday gifts you won't want to stuff in the stocking of someone you care about... and a few that you might.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 164

ThinkGeek 8-bit tie

Necktie for music-loving commuters

Blacksocks — the Sockscription ™

The Cushy Tushy

Passive aggressive gifts for tardy geeks

The H1N1 Destroying UV Wand

My DNA Fragrance lets you smell like a celebrity… Read more

Jay-Z's latest track hit: 8-bit NES-style hip-hop

Well, other than the fact that both Mega Man and Jay-Z were pop-culture icons of their respective eras (yes, people, Jay-Z is that popular), they now each have 8-bit, NES-style music associated with them.

Video game music from the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) era had a very distinct style. Even music on other 8-bit consoles like the Sega Master System could not match it.

Anyone who at least played an NES back in those days (pretty much every kid, at least in the U.S.) will immediately recognize the style of that sound after just a few bars.

It'… Read more

Shirt lights up when love is near

With Valentine's Day just two weeks away, ThinkGeek is stepping to the aid of the gift-challenged with a proximity-based T-shirt that lights up when your paramour is near.

Suffering the aching emptiness and despair of being apart from your loved one? The 8-Bit Dynamic Life Shirt will register a meager two and a half pixelated hearts. But snuggle up to the object of your affection (who, incidentally, must be wearing a matching black and red T-shirt for this display of devotion to work), and all five hearts on both garments light up in a blaze of cheeky romance and … Read more

DIY video synthesizer looks and sounds like your busted Atari

Make magazine--purveyor of awesome and amusing DIY projects and kits--has added a new product to its online store -- the Cellular Automata video synthesizer kit. It may look like a hippie guitar pedal, but actually it creates endearingly retro (but mostly annoying) audio and video akin to an Atari 2600 meltdown. The kit offers RCA audio and video outputs, costs $50, and is mostly preassembled. You will have to find your own enclosure (the rainbow-colored wooden box is only a suggestion) and solder on the knobs and a reset button.

The video synthesizer works off a mathematical idea called … Read more