Crafting a Miniature Pac-Man Arcade Game Drink Coaster

Posted on 15/11/2022 by hite

Ever wanted to craft your own miniature Pac-Man level drink coaster? Who hasn’t? It’s a universal human dream. And to help us achieve that dream, YouTuber The Avid Creator avidly created this video detailing how he made one. Just follow along to make your own! Will yours turn out as well as his did? Yours might, but mine definitely won’t.

He constructed the base and walls of the level from finely-cut wood pieces, while the pellets, ghosts, and Pac-Man are made of polymer clay, with everything painted and then sealed with epoxy resin. Admittedly, that is a good-looking drink coaster. Way nicer than my coaster, which just looks like a water ring on the coffee table.

Does anybody want to make a bunch of these for me to give out as Christmas gifts this year? I can promise you’ll be handsomely rewarded. With praise, just to be clear – not with actual money. Come on, Santa doesn’t even pay his elves!

VHS Pillowcases and Duvets: Be Kind, Relax and Rewind

Posted on 22/09/2021 by Paul Strauss

While VHS tapes clearly won the format war against Betamax, I was always more of a Beta fan because I’ve always been an outsider-slash-tech snob. Regardless of the kind of videotape you chose back in the day, your blank tapes almost certainly came in a boldly designed box with colorful line art graphics. Now, you can enjoy the classic VHS tape look every time you lie down to go to bed.

Clothing and accessory brand MoonLambo makes a variety of fun items decked out to look like classic VHS art, including a VHS tape pillowcase, and two different VHS-inspired duvet covers: one in a white/yellow/orange/red color scheme, and another in a black/gold/RGB combo. All three are labeled as “T-120” which means that they can record up to 2 hours of low-quality video in SP mode, 4 hours of mediocre video in LP mode, and 6 hours of “shot on a potato” quality video in EP mode. And if you start to see squiggly lines while you drift off to sleep, try adjusting the tracking control.

And if you have a particularly memorable dream of Heather Locklear coming out of the swimming pool that you don’t want to forget, be sure to punch out the write-protect tab to prevent someone in the house from overwriting your precious fantasies with a bad episode of Silver Spoons.

Galaga Enamel Pins Bring the 8-Bit Goodness

Posted on 12/09/2021 by Paul Strauss

I’ve played a whole lot of arcade games in my lifetime, but one that I always go back to is Namco’s classic Galaga. It’s every bit as playable and challenging today as it was the day it came out in 1981, and now I don’t even have to spend quarters to play it. If you love Galaga as much as I do, check out these enamel pins inspired by the game.

Etsy seller Wardingers creates these awesome pixel art pins based on enemies like the Bee, Butterfly, Scorpion, Galaxian, and Bosconian. I never knew the names of these characters before now – it was easier to kill nameless, soulless aliens. Now every time I go to shoot at them, I’m going to think about that Bosconian’s wife and kids. Thanks, Wardingers, thanks.

The Galaga enamel pins sell for $9.25 each, or you can buy them in sets, with the full 7-piece collection selling for $52.75. Of course, I’d need to buy two fighters because I always joined mine together for maximum firepower.

A LEGO Sony Walkman Sounds Like a Great Idea

Posted on 02/08/2021 by Paul Strauss

Back in the days before streaming, MP3s, and CDs (and dinosaurs still roamed the Earth), all the cool kids had a Sony Walkman. This portable cassette player was a revolution for those wanting to listen to their tunes on the go and sold more than 200 million units by the time Sony stopped production of its cassette-based Walkmans in 2010. Now, thanks to one clever LEGO creator, we could soon be carrying a Walkman again. This 1:1 scale replica is based on the Walkman WM-22, which wasn’t the first Walkman, but it was the first truly affordable model, and it also looks pretty great in this red color with matching LEGO headphones.

Of course, there are two big differences between brick-builder Jerac’s LEGO Walkman and a real Sony Walkman: 1) you have to assemble this one yourself, and 2) the LEGO one doesn’t play music. Of course, it’s possible that if LEGO decides to build this – and Sony decides to play ball with the licensing – that they could come up with a clever way for it to play music. Wouldn’t it be cool if it worked as a digital media player, and the controls actually worked? And to show your significant other that you love them enough to make them a mixtape? Well, I can dream, I suppose. But even if the LEGO Walkman doesn’t play music, I’d still buy one. I mean, look at it. It’s too cool not to.

If you dig the idea of a LEGO Sony Walkman, take a stroll over to the LEGO Ideas site and show your support with a vote. If the project gets enough votes, it could go into production. It’s already got more than 4,000 supporters, and once it hits 10,000 it goes to LEGO’s expert review team for consideration. Cast your votes and let’s see if we can help make it a reality.

[via Gizmodo Japan]

DitherPaint 1-Bit Paint App Takes You Back to the Days of MacPaint

Posted on 15/06/2021 by Paul Strauss

I remember back in 1984 when I got my hands on the first Apple Macintosh computer how excited I was to use MacPaint. I had seen it demonstrated at a convention, and the idea that I could create my own artwork on my computer was pretty awe-inspiring to me as a 16-year-old kid. Over the years, I’d abandon MacPaint for more sophisticated apps like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. Still, there’s something kind of special about working within the limitations of black-and-white pixel art. So if you long for the simplicity of MacPaint and 1-bit painting, check out DitherPaint.

This browser-based drawing app was created by BeyondLoom, and lets you create black-and-white images using various primitive brushes and dithered patterns. For those unfamiliar with the term, dithering is a technique of using patterns to create in-between shades. In the case of 1-bit art, you get shades of grey. DitherPaint lets you apply these patterns to your brushes too. It’s also got a nifty tool that lets you create animated patterns by listing the sequence of patterns you want to use. You can also load in existing color or greyscale images, and it will automatically dither them, giving them that awesome 1980s Macintosh look. So what are you waiting for? Head on over to DitherPaint now and see what kind of creations you can come up with.

[via AdaFruit]

Finally, The Neon Laser Wireframe Dinosaur Shirts We’ve All Been Waiting For

Posted on 15/02/2021 by hite

Looking for a new favorite shirt? Well, look no further than this neon laser wireframe dinosaur shirt from MerryBlue. The $40 shirt is available in all sizes from S – 5XL and is the perfect wardrobe choice for letting your boss know you will be getting that raise, it will be a big one, and it will come with more vacation days so you can also wear this shirt on a tropical beach.

Now I know what you’re thinking, “Gosh, but I’d really like a matching hat and swim trunks to complete the look.” And you’re in luck because those are also real products that exist and are available for $30 and $40, respectively. Now if they just made matching loafers.

It’s like the ’80s and Jurassic Park had a baby. A perfect, beautiful baby. I just asked my wife if she’d buy us each a shirt and hat so we could match on our next date night out and she just turned away without responding which I can only assume means she’s going to surprise me with them down the road.

Voltron Castle of Lions PC Case Mod: Activate Interlock!

Posted on 27/01/2021 by hite

There are good ideas, and then there are great ideas. And modder Robdp82 building a gaming PC (mostly emulation with some light e-gaming) into a 1984 Voltron Castle of Lions playset transcends even a great idea, and we can only hope when aliens finally visit earth this is the first thing they see so they don’t just immediately death-ray us all.

Photos by Robd82

The computer is powered on by opening the jaws of the Black Lion emerging from the front of the castle to access the power button. The entire PC is built into the middle of the castle, with a wing that opens on each side. The wing on the left opens to expose the Blue, Green, Yellow, and Red Lion M.2 SSD cards and Yeston RX550 GPU, and the right side opens to reveal the Gigabyte H370N motherboard (with onboard Black Lion M.2 SDD) and two Corsair Dominator 8GB RAM sticks. The Dominator RAM was chosen specifically “for the ability to individually address the lights for the colors of Voltron (RGBY) and went with pink for the 5th color to represent Princess Allura.” Now that’s dedication to a build!

What a glorious computer. And to think I still use the same Dell Dimension desktop I got in college back in 2006. Granted I only use it as a footrest, but still. The wired mouse also makes a great doorstop. Reduce, reuse, recycle – that’s my motto. Captain Planet even sent me an ‘Honorary Planeteer’ sticker last Earth Day.

[Robd82’s Voltron PC Project via Kotaku]

Commodore 64C Beige Paint Lets You Go Crazy with a Classic Computer Color

Posted on 22/09/2020 by Paul Strauss

Back in the 1980s, computers were largely shades of beige or grey plastic. While this look might seem dated by today’s standards of slim, glass and metal devices, there’s no question that these retro color schemes immediately bring back fond memories of the early days of personal computing. Well, now it turns out that you can paint whatever you want in the color of the classic Commodore 64.

Polish company Retrohax sells this spray paint that’s aptly named “Commodore 64C Beige.” It’s actually the color of the C64C, which came out in 1986, rather than the exact color of the original 1982 C64, but it’s close enough for me. The spray paint produces a nice satin beige finish, though priming is recommended to ensure good adhesion.

Retrohax also offers classic computer paints in Atari XE/ST Grey and Amiga 500 Beige. Unfortunately, due to flight restrictions, the paint is currently only available in Poland, but its makers hope to ship it to other countries at some point. For now, maybe we can find some off-the-shelf beige paint that’s similar in color.

I think this stuff would look great on all kinds of modern devices. I’m considering painting the aluminum parts of my iMac with this, or maybe the back of my iPhone. What would you paint with this stuff?

[via CoolMaterial]

Mini Commodore 64 Gets Another Launch Date

Posted on 24/07/2018 by Shane McGlaun

We’ve expected to see the tiny, retro Commodore 64 game console land for us to buy for a while now. We first talked about it back in October 2017 when it was promised for early 2018. That window later turned into March 2018, and still no launch happened. Now the 50% scale Commodore 64 called THEC64 Mini is promised for an October 9, 2018 launch.

The machine will come with a joystick, two USB ports, and the console itself. The USB ports can be used to connect joysticks, a keyboard, perform firmware upgrades, or to load your own software. When you connect a keyboard to one of those ports you can use the console like a home computer with C64 BASIC programming capability.

The system offers 720p HD output via HDMI, but a CRT filter is offered for those who want real old-school graphics. You can also save games, something we would have killed for growing up. There will be 64 games pre-installed on the console including many of the cool ones from back in the ’80s that I wanted so badly. Sadly, I don’t see the flight simulator the kids were always playing in Sears back in the day.

Pricing and retailers aren’t announced for the US yet, but in the past, it was rumored to cost just $69.99. That price, coupled with its new October release date should make this a killer Christmas gift for retro computer and gaming fans.

[via THEC64.com]

What Amazon Would Have Been Like in the ’80s

Posted on 22/05/2018 by Conner Flynn

The 1980s. That decade gave us some of the coolest things ever like The Empire Strikes Back, The A-Team, Back to the Future, arcades everywhere, computers with graphics that we thought were so awesome, and Amazon. Wait, what? Well, we didn’t have Amazon in the 1980s, but if we did it would look like this.

Jo Luijten of Squirrel Monkey has imagined a world that gave us Amazon in the decade of Pac-Man and Rubik’s Cube, and it looks pretty awesome to me. I would have loved to order my items using my old Commodore 64 or Amiga computer. The latest episode of the Wonders of the World Wide Web series shows us what it would have been like.

It may take about 15 minutes to load for the first time, but once it does, just hit the spacebar and get shopping. You’ll be able to take the elevator to all of the different departments. Wow. A virtual store that you can shop from on your computer. This just blows my mind.

I hope it’s safe to use my credit card. Yeah, I’m sure it’s all good. My 56K modem will surely protect me. What I’m really fascinated with is how many people will probably think this is a real video from the ’80s.

[via Laughing Squid]

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