It seems strange that Wii, which has done so well in Japan, wouldn’t have done at least passibly in the rest of Asia. Wii, on the other hand, had just one slot in the rack, filled with just one trashy title: Alone in the Dark. Alongside the Bollywood box were a ton of titles for PS2, PS3, and Xbox 360. The game industry in India is an interesting thing. So, I guess I shouldn’t have surprised me to find the Bollywood Playstation in Delhi. You see it on TV, in stores, on the streets. For more on 8-bit culture, see Past Prefect and Blip! Until then, us New Yorkers will have to settle for late nights of classic gaming at the fabulous Barcade Brooklyn. (I still sport my pixelated excitebike shirt from the first show in 2005.) But I’ve never seen it in person. Ia8b amplifies those memories it’s made me an addict. (Maybe that’s why I like that Dig Dug piece so much, eh?) Remember when the visceral feel when Daytona USA first took hold? You never forget your first time. (The pages of JoyStik capture it well.)īack then, it seemed like every week brought a new game: ones that felt flawless (the neon vector spikes of Theurer’s Tempest) and others hopelessly broken (days lost misjudging wall heights in Zaxxon).

There’s something about those dark rooms punctuated by luminous screens mapped onto mesmerized player faces that home games will never quite duplicate. Still, you gotta miss the arcades we used to live in. Nearly forgotten, I love seeing the most memorable bits of games I grew up with carried forward to become part of pop culture once again, in art, music, clothes, Honda ads. (Could anyone who’s played Dig Dug not have seen this coming?) Not everything hits a home run, but that’s what makes the whole thing fun. Past years have had a broad spectrum from cutesy to badass to rude. The fourth year of I Am 8-Bit opens tonight in LA - the ever-creative art show featuring videogames re-imagined by artists who grew up with them (or wish they did).

Wii play tanks song