Oh, hi there. My name's Zen. 
How Many Stars is a game made by intrepid programmer Steve Jenkins (High Strangeness, STFUAJPGM) in 24 hours. The music is by Rich Vreeland (aka Disasterpeace), and was written within the same timeframe.
Download: How Many Stars
Summertime, during a late night bus ride at sleepaway camp in mid-July. The game was Kirby’s Dreamland. I had borrowed my bunkmate’s Game Boy light attachment so that I could continue playing deep into the night. It must’ve been nearly 4 AM. After hours of toil, the naughty King De De De fell from his decrepit throne of lies and landed at my feet. It was the first game I had ever played from start to finish in one sitting. My silent cries of jubilation were of an unmatched intensity …But all of my comrades were asleep, and none would share in my triumph. Silently, secretly, I let myself slip. Dreamland was saved. And ironically enough, it was my next stop.
In case you haven’t noticed by now, people really love the Game Boy. Back in April, I wrote an article about the Game Boy and its astounding impact on culture in celebration of the system’s 20th birthday. Now I’m proud to report that Nintendo’s incomparable 8-bit handheld has been inducted into the Museum of Play’s National Toy Hall of Fame. The trusty old grey brick will join the Atari 2600 in the museum’s gallery, claiming its rightful place amongst the most influential entertainment products of all time.
Brainchild of Nintendo designer Gunpei Yokoi, the Game Boy set a bold precedent for portable interactive entertainment, and continues to be revered as the system that catapulted portable gaming into the multi-million dollar market it is today. 20 years after its inception, the Game Boy is no longer just a platform — It’s an icon of classic gaming that continues to inspire games, art music and culture.
So pull out that ‘ol ‘Brickboy’ from your closet tonight and join me in celebrating another milestone for Nintendo’s legendary handheld.
Chiptune cover songs abound in STFUAJPGM Episode #7
The latest episode of Crystal Labs’ chipmusic podcast, STFUAJPGM is a tribute to tributes, featuring a collection of low-bit cover songs from Nordloef, Sloopygoop, Syphus and Buskerdroid. It’s also got some pretty rad pixel art, seen above. Hit the link to hear what Ween, The Beatles, Duran Duran and Madonna sound like on obsolete computer hardware.
“i got game n kil rat mutate over n over untl bad dude kil me ouch. i like game lot n rats r cool n stuff wen thety mutate n try to kill me daed ouch! It ok to play n shoot bad dude n i get game n tell u to get game to kil rat an bad dudes in ur guns u kill rat. Ok great good but no ok good great just ok good great good. Get.”
And just like that, any remaining doubt you once had about purchasing Borderlands is gone. Thank you and good night.
‘Little Red Voxel Hood’ by Sevensheaven.
“Voxels are volumetric pixels” — I learned something new today.
(via brandonnn)
Spotted on GoNintendo, these videos show some pretty gnarly NSF versions of music from the Okami soundtrack. Try as I might, I can’t find a source on any of these. However, one commenter claims that all of the tracks were found hidden on the official Okami website. You can listen to all of the covers on MasatoHyuga’s YouTube channel.
Giant Robot & Attract Mode hosting West Coast Chiptunes Micro Tour
Evidence found on ancient stones suggests that the rivalry between the East and West Coast chipmusic scenes dates back to primordial days, when Game Boys were made of rocks and used as weapons against hungry Velociraptors. Now, after a millennia-long standstill, New York ambassadors minusbaby and Paris Treantafeles will be embarking on a diplomatic mission to the hostile West to join its natives in a chiptunes micro tour.
The tour kicks off on November 7th in Los Angeles, with a chipmusic workshop at the Japanese American National Museum, presented by the fine folks from Attract Mode. Afterwards, head over to the Chop Suey Cafe for a live show featuring Trash80, minusbaby, StarPause and Crashfaster with visuals by Daniel Rehn and Paris.
The boys will also be making appearances in San Francisco, Portland and Seattle in the coming weeks. Check Databeez.com for more details.
(via minusbaby)
Since everyone I know had their awesome Halloween parties yesterday, I’m currently cooped up in my quaint Brooklyn apartment, still hung over from last night, watching horror movies and slowly working my way into a candy-induced diabetic coma. If you’re finding yourself in a similar situation, you’ll be happy to know that OverClocked ReMix is serving up a Halloween treat of their own, and it’s way better than those nasty candy corn things (which I’m still convinced were all made prior to 1986).
Enter the latest OverClocked remix project, ‘Castlevania: Sonata of the Damned.’ Arranged, performed and mixed by the insanely talented Joshua Morse, Sonata of the Damned offers 7 tracks of re-imagined Castlevania music, including tracks from Dracula’s Curse, Symphony of the Night and even some of the newer titles like Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclessia. Go to the project’s official site and download it for free.
Download: Torrent
Download: OverClocked Remix
