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.
 

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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If you are in Tokyo on 26th march you should head to Akiba UDX for the TAITO HAPPY STATION: a freeplay marathon organized for the 30th annyversary of Space Invaders! The event is co-hosted by Arino San from Game Center CX fame!

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!

I'm sure this is old but living in Japan I'm impressed that on US Amazon is possible to buy these uber geek Nintendo GameCube retrogame candies!
_

Legacy Engineering is producing an Atari USB Joystick compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux. it works with any emulator out there. It's a really cool controller and it costs just $14.99 !



http://www.legacyengineer.com/store.html

This new Ipod app (LCD Football) is a must for any retrogamer over 35 who played the american LCD game from Mattel in the 70s!

USAopoly has just released a brand new Donkey Kong themed JENGA box!

(via Create Digital Music) Since I made techno records with an Amiga 500 at the beginning of the nineties I love creating something with tools that are meant to do other things. Db3ll has just posted a great retrogame themed video made with Ableton Live (that's anything but a video animation editor)...

Madrigal, the italian coder who created the very first Game & Watch simulator, just sent an email to inform the he released  his 42th simulator: Condor (VTech, Time & Fun) Simulator - version S4/1.00 (Standard 4, final). An this time he release also the Source Code so if you are interested you could even create yoru own simulator starting from Madrigal work.

Download Condor Simulator here. 

Today Bandai Namco has released Game Center CX for Nintendo DS. The game is based on the omonimus japanese cult TV show.


Akiba OS posted a series of photos of the package  and  manual: I love the retro design that resembles the old Famicom and PCEngine user manuals!
This month's Wired magazine has a feature on Game Center CX (tv show) written by Brian Ashcraft from Kotaku fame. Instead Wired game guru Chris Kohler has just posted his first impressions on the game (with a very usefull walktrough if you can't read Japanese at all).


from Crunk Games:

"Japan has given us a few television gems over the years. A lot of memorable anime series, sure, but a fair share of live action programming as well (what, you want me to make a list?). But for the country that redefined "game culture," not a lot of interesting game-related programming has come through. Can we blame them? Just like the rest of the world, most of the video game stuff that’s been produced are kids shows, a TV news story every so often or, these days, nerdy Famitsu DVD segments — nothing really, truly memorable.

Game Center CX is different. It’s comedic, dramatic, even a bit mental, but altogether it’s an unforgettable show about what sounds like a forgettable concept: a guy trying to beat old Nintendo games. I was late to the party when I saw it, but once I did, I had to see all of it. After that, I decided I had to share it the best way I could, and this episode guide is the result. You could call it "spoiling," also "insane," but I’ll gladly wear those badges if anyone else finds the show and loves it as I have." –Ray Barnholt

Don't miss Crunk Games Game Center CX Episode Guide: simply the best and most complete guide out there!

There are many You Tube videos here.

TV NIHON is hosting a fansubbed episode (torrent).

Dead Frog is hosting some torrents of the latest shows (RAW) 
 

Nelle settimane precedenti, negli USA, si sono tenuti due eventi dedicati al retrogaming e al retrocomputing: il Vintage Computing Festival e il Midwest Gaming Classic (le foto sono della scorsa edizione). Si tratta pero' solo di eventi minori in attesa del leggendario Classic Gaming Expo che si terrà il 28 e il 29 luglio a Las Vegas (purtroppo in contemporanea dell'imperdibile Comicon di San Diego). Che dire: questa estate, per il geek jet set luglio si trascorre negli USA (vedi anche E3 ridimensionato) mentre ad agosto la tappa obbligata è Tokyo (Comiket e WonFes)...