The ArduinoBoy, developed by Timothy "trash80" Lamb, is a device based around the Arduino microcontroller that allows one to use their GameBoy as a musical instrument.  It translates MIDI signals from a computer, keyboard, sequencer, or other MIDI device into a language that the GameBoy, specifically trash80's mGB application, can understand, allowing the GameBoy to produce a sound in response to the MIDI signal.  Not only can it be used with mGB, however, it can also be used with Nanoloop and LSDJ, two very popular GameBoy music creation apps in use by chiptune composers.

Click here to buy an ArduinoBoy or here to download the schematics to build one.
via TCTD

It's January so it's again time to head to Kichijouji (Tokyo) for the Fami Mode party!!! My osusume is OMODAKA (fareastrecording.com) probably the best Japanese underground live act out there (produced by my old friend Terada who is the producer of several Playstation games soundtracks)!
^_^

Kotaku Japan posted about 8Bit Love: a doujinshi about retrogames toys and gadgets produced by 3 of my best friends in Japan: Oikawa (sernior editor of the cult videogame magazine GameLabo), Mushia (from Gizmodo Japan) and the super kawaii photographer Julie (aka Amano Ai). This book has been released on 31th december during the winter Comiket 77.
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Tonight, my friends chiptune superstar duo JulieHally performed live in Sweden at DREAMHACK: the world biggest LAN party with over 10.000 computers!!! Awesome chiptune show!!!!
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My old friends Okubo San (author of mecha design for cult games like Tekki for xbox and Infinite Sapce best selling DS game. REcently he published the book Industrial Divinities) and Kentao "Ani" Fujimoto from Nendo Graphixx (the designer that over 10 years ago started the pixel/famicom design boom) are goin to partecipate to natsu comi and will sell a doujinshi called The eightbit fighters Chonicles Vol1. This mini book will feature Okubo 3D reproductions of the best spacecrafts from 8bit shooting games.
 

Game developer legend Andre Lamothe has developed two new Retro AVR and PIC development boards in collaboration with Atmel and Microchip respectively. The two kits are very complete and come with power supply, programmer, API, printed manual and more. If you are interested in videogame developing or your just love retrogames these kits are perfect to learn the basics of the videogaming development poetry.

XGS AVR 8-bit Official Page 

XGS PIC 16-Bit Official Page
 

My old friend and super sweet Japanese Idol Amano Ai made a private video dedicated to her love for 8bit videogames! She is a cosplayer (and a well know underground photographer) so she made the Famicom bikini few minutes before shooting the her new video called PLASTIC CANDY!

Beside being a Japanese sexy Idol she is a retrogaming maniac and underground photographer (under the name of Julie). Her photos, like the ones from SAMURAI GIRL photobook, always feature techno feticism (8 years ago she has been the very first photographer taking photos of semi nude videogame girls)

http://www.amazon.com/Samurai-Girl-Julie/


Retrogames + sexy idol = 100% success!
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Dundeejam ha created a GameBoy Audio emulator. You can download Reason Patches and load em in to Reason (if you want you can use also the free demo version) to play with a virtual Game Boy sound chip! After, download Ableton Song Files  (Reason is controlled trough Ableton to create a song).
Damn great!!!
Sample Virtual chiptune tracks: Tune #1 - which is a live performance (not a recording) of the tune built to sound like a Game Boy.  Tune #2 - which is a live performance (not a recording) of the tune built to sound like a Game Boy Plus.
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Yesterday I went to the press preview show organized by VORC RECORDS at the beautiful Synra Dome at Tokyo Space/Science Museum (Super Lisa Katayama posted about his Planetarium on io9. This dome has been created by two guys: Hikaru Okuda set up the hardware while Toshiyuki Takahei does all the software programming, including hooking the images up with complex calculations done by a giant supercomputer called the MDM, Molecular Dynamics Machine, which sits just outside the theater). The chiptune show is really outstanding and after you put on the 3D glasses you take a dive in a psychedelic retro futuristic 3D universe with simply the best chiptune/8bit soundtrack I ever heard in the last 10 years! Outani San, the mastermind of VORC Records, has really took the chiptune scene to the next level and BLIP FESTIVAL should really do something with him to make the US chiptune scene reach the SUBARASHII level of the Tokyo's VORC chiptuners!

If you are in Tokyo on 21th December  you can miss this show!

Tomorrow I'm going to an event organized by my favourire Chiptune label: VORC RECORDS (I'm double happy since this event is held in my new favourite club in Tokyo Amate-raxi that's basically the legendary Maniac Love moved to Shibuya)...

A very old hentai game for the Famicom Disk System produced by Hacker International...

Our Japanese otaku idol photographer friend Julie has posted about a really cool retrogame called DON JOUAN. This videogame appears to be the very first dating sim produced in the west (way before my old friend Peter Payne started the localization of Japanese bishoujo games for the western markets).
DON JOUAN runs on the old Oric 1 microcomputer  and if you got a flashcard for your DS you can play it on the new DSORIC emulator!
It seems a really cool way to celebrate San Valentine for all retrogamers out there (and remember: with hentai games you don't even need to spend money on a date with your girlfriend)! Happy Valentine day and don't eat to much chocolate!!


Note: In the last few days Julie (aka Amano Ai) has been busy working as a model at the Osaka Automesse and as a Race Queen in several races so she couldn't update her Besidegames page ans slipped to number two spot in the Besidegames Highscore ranking so, as a San Valentine virtual present to our lovely idol photographer,  we should help her go back to number one trough clicking the score buttons in all the posts on her blog as many times as we can!

Yujin has just announced a new Time Capsule gatcha gatcha series dedicated to the  chiptune legends YMCK. This cool 8bit toys will be released in February.

Famison 8bit is going to release 5 CDs with Idolmaster songs reproduced in 8bit/chiptune. The first CD of this series will be released on 25 march and will be distributed by the Japanese cult label 5pb.Records.  Hardcore chiptuners who are into Blip Festival maybe like rawness of classic chiptune, but I'm sure acts like Famison 8bit and YMCK (who recently signed with the super evil pop label AVEX) represent the next level of chiptune production with albums selling thousands of copies. Meanwhile, in the west, idiots like Justin Timberlake can steal chiptune samples, without giving any credit to the scene and thge original producers, since the genre is totally off mainstream radar... 

Yesterday, the Japanese satellite TV Mondo 21 has announced Game Generation X : a documentary dedicated to 8 bit videogames that will be releases next February. The DVD, created with support of 8bit legend Shin Masaru, will feature 18 of Xevious perfect play and a brand new nes-like game called  Mr Splash.
Looks like Game Center CX finally got a real competitor!

My good friend Madrigal pointed me to his Creativision special Multicard auction for the Gamesniped Christmas charity.
This special cartridge is truly one of a kind that will even show the name of the owner inside the welcome message and a special-expressively made-Xmas demo by Kurt Woloch. Inside the box you will find the greeting card signed by us to wish you a very 8 bit Merry Christmas!

Tag: 8bit madrigal

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