Robots are cool. Consoles are cool. We brought them together in our Game Bot t-shirt design. You can get your hands on it here.
RetroGT Blog
Revision 2014 – officially underway and rocking the house
The opening ceremony was 2 hours later than scheduled, which was just fine by me, as it allowed me to finish a heap of writing before the obligatory doors were called and the consumption of the wine lake could begin.
After the initial opening ceremony, there was a prize giving for the DUB Awards, a comic collection of half a dozen prizes (a free bottle of beer or something equally small) in categories such as Best Scener Beard, Biggest Loser (of weight) and similar titles.
The next item was a new departure, a live coding competition. Eight coders were given 25 minutes each to come up with a graphic, head-to-head in pairs. The winning four went forward to the finals to be held later today (Saturday). It seemed to go down quite well, with many people gathering at the front to take note of the code used to produce the effects and cheer on the participants. The event also gave some of the resident DJs the chance to provide the background music to the coders as they worked.
A couple of hours’ serious drinking time ensued, before the first concert of the weekend. Gasman (Matt Westcott) uses a Sinclair Spectrum, a guitar synth (he informs me the proper term is ‘a keytar’), a Mac and a good deal of fun to ‘make stuff do things it patently shouldn’t’. The end result is an eclectic mix of self-written tunes and covers (including Hung Up and Thriller) backed with graphics and footage from any number of places around the world. This concert showcased part of a Japanese fire festival in the footage, and I didn’t know whether to concentrate on what my feet were doing or watch the screen. The result was a convoluted effort that might have resembled Irish dancing if I hadn’t been wearing unlaced purple patent DMs!
More of the same later, including the quarter finals and finals of the live coding, more concerts and even some seminars.
Revision 2014 – Return of the Geek
So, here I am once again at the E-Werk in Saarbrucken, to attend another Revision Easterparty.
This year I have the suitable gear (the Geek leggings, the retrogaming T-shirts, the statement purple patent DMs) and the suitable gear (a laptop with a backlit keyboard, a lava lamp and an LED polar bear to mark my space) and a brain full of ideas needing to be let out to an unsuspecting world.
Of course the live blog is back again too, as befits a digital arts party with so much access to technology of all eras. This weekend I expect to see ground breaking uses for unusual items and machinery doing things its inventors never thought possible.
I expect to hear great electronic music and see colourful demos, enjoy a few drinks (!) and catch up with many friends.
Live stream coverage can be found at: youtube.com/user/RevisionParty for interested viewers. SceneSat radio is also going to be broadcasting from the party starting with the opening ceremony tonight. (6pm Central European Time).
More to come once the party gets underway in four hours or so.
Sinclair Weekend at the Centre for Computing History
The Centre for Computing History in Cambridge, England, hosted Sir Clive Sinclair and Christopher Curry earlier today as part of the Sinclair Weekend. A showing of Micro Men is scheduled for later for those geeks still around, and a special display has been put together to mark Sinclair’s place in the history of computer games. Photos to follow…
For geeks and gamers everywhere, the Centre for Computing History is like revisiting their teenage bedroom. Most of the gaming machines work and there is a selection of unusual consoles plus examples of early business machines and mobile phones to remind you just how they used to look.
I’ve written extensively about the museum and other retrogaming events on another site where most of my articles are found these days. The museum is run by Jason Fitzpatrick, who also runs a company supplying 80s techy props for use in TV shows and movies.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be off to help the team set up for this evening’s screening.
Classic Arcade Gaming T-Shirts added
Bubble Bobble t-shirts back in stock with new sizes
Legendary Video Game Composers To Be Celebrated In Kickstarter Bid
A new project which aims to create a video game music album hits Kickstarter. It is set to feature work by over 20 artists including Commodore 64 legend Rob Hubbard. Read on for more information. Read more
Have I gone through gamer puberty?
As hard as I try, I can’t get excited.
No, that isn’t a common complaint of mine. I’m struggling to get excited
about Nintendo. There I said it. Maybe I’ll regret publishing this here, but I’m surely not alone in feeling a bit “meh” about Nintendo’s latest offering.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted, and bought, each Nintendo console. But I find myself eagerly anticipating the release of the PS4 and not thinking one bit about the Wii U. Has Nintendo abandoned me or am I leaving Nintendo behind?
New T-Shirt and Card Holder Designs Added
It has been a busy couple of months. We got deep into design mode and have brought new additions to our t-shirt and card holders ranges.
Earlier on in the year, navigating a giant furniture store evoked memories of Doom, complete with gloomy corridors and shuffling demons. We eventually made it to the exit and hence the IDKFA t-shirt was born. And, as fans of Starcraft we couldn’t resist creating the Micro Marines t-shirt in anticipation of the new Heart of the Swarm expansion. Our last two t-shirts were inspired by notorious graffiti artist (or vandal) Banksy. Whether you love him or hate him, the work of this mystery artist is both eye catching and thought provoking. We love him, so we created our own take on his masterpieces with added video game flavour. Read more
Gamerdisco X Random
Gaming night organisers Gamerdisco announces their next awesome event:
GAMERDISCO and VIRTUAL BOY PROMOTIONS are excited to bring you the most unique night of 2013, when acclaimed US Nerdcore rapper RANDOM (a.k.a Mega Ran) drops into London as part of his Spring 2013 UK tour, supported by Cambridge’s nerd-rap hero MC I Pod.
On 28th April the Random/MC I Pod tour rolls into The Book Club in Shoreditch, and we’re celebrating with a huge blowout gig and clubnight! Alongside live sets from Random and MC I Pod, we will be running Gamerdisco’s legendary gaming clubnight, featuring the best old-skool games on a big screen to play with your mates, alongside DJ’s, competitions, tournaments, and retro consoles.