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May 19, 2015 Bucky Turco

“Learn how a single delayed train can cause delays throughout an entire subway line — and one strategy that train dispatchers use to get service back to normal,” writes the MTA in the YouTube description of a new 8-bit style video it produced. Apart from associating itself with the 1980s, a time period in NYC […]

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August 25, 2014 Sophie Weiner

Chiptune or chip music — produced by manipulating or emulating the sounds of video games — was once an incredibly niche genre, something you had to trawl the internet to find. Nowadays, Skrillex uses video game-like noises in hit songs and chiptune superstars Anamanaguchi soundtrack movies. This success and the legitimization of video game-inspired music and video […]

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July 21, 2014 Sophie Weiner

The YouTube channel Thug Notes usually comments on famous great works of literature but has branched out into exploring philosophy. 8-Bit Philosophy explains philosophical concepts like “Is anything real?” and “Do we enjoy being free?” with original 8-bit, vintage video game-style videos. The newest video discusses Hegel and wrestles with the question “Is there an end to history?” Many attempt […]

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June 13, 2014 Sophie Weiner

Mean Girls, the quintessential teen film of the 00’s, works surprisingly well as a Super Nintendo-style 8-bit game. The newest entry in CineFix’s 8-Bit Cinema series allows you to collect items like “Pink Shirt,” write in the Burn Book and try to make fetch happen. It’s a lovingly adorable ode to the film that CineFix […]

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May 16, 2014 Andy Cush

Remember Game Boy Camera? Released in 1998, it plugged into a Game Boy like any other cartridge, transforming the handheld device into what was the smallest digital camera on the market at the time. Its capabilities weren’t great in any traditional sense, but there was something neat about the way it rendered scenes from reality […]

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April 28, 2014 Andy Cush

8-Bit Philosophy, a new web series, aims to teach basic philosophical concepts through classic video game imagery. The first episode explores Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” using visuals from The Legend of Zelda. I like it a lot more than Thug Notes, the creators’ previous series, which uses a lazy, totally unfunny caricature of a black “thug” […]

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March 21, 2014 Marina Galperina

While the 8-bit “pick your perspective” RIOT game for iOS and Android is still being developed, the updates are getting surreal. What is RIOT about? As the economical crisis advances, the discontent of an entire population cannot help but outburst in Riots, where the sounds of many voices get heard at once… What is that triggers such a strife? […]

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February 20, 2014 Andy Cush

Here’s a cool emulation of a Commodore 64 synth that lives in your browser, as spotted by Evolver.fm. If you want those sweet, old-school sounds, but can’t be bothered to pony up for vintage hardware, you could do a lot worse than this. As Evolver points out, the thing is especially fun on an iPhone […]

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February 17, 2014 Andy Cush

The very bad Jamaican bobsled team has a very good promotional video courtesy of their country’s tourism board and the legendary music producer Sidney Mills, who has worked with the likes of Steel Pulse and Boogie Down Productions. Set to a bouncy reggae-flavored tune by Mills, we see 8-bit versions of the team cruising down […]

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January 8, 2014 Marina Galperina

Here’s a fun new clip from CineFix “gamifying” Pulp Fiction as a 8-bit NES-inspired arcade action game. It’s got all the key scenes — from the shoot-out with Honey Bunny and Pumpkin to Vincent and Mia dancing to bang bang bang bang bang bang, blood. They’ve also done Hunger Games, The Dark Knight, The Shinning and more, but I could actually play this one […]

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