Joystiq is there: "I Am 8-Bit" opening party

All we can say is, thank god they let press in a bit early, because once the exhibit opened up, you couldn't move inside. Even breathing was a chore, not to mention the heat of a thousand bodies crammed into a tiny place -- and we're pretty sure some of those bodies had never heard of hygiene.

But we digress, what was really awesome here was all the art on display. Over 200 pieces, all new for this show. Some of it was pimped out at GDC, but the several artists we spoke to said that almost everyone works down to the wire to get their pieces done in time. The work was worth it in our opinion. There was an abundance of Mario and Pac-Man themed artwork, but we were happy to see a Dragon's Lair piece, a series of Punch-Out portraits of all the fighters in the game, and even a version of the Last Supper with gaming characters. The giant Atari 2600 Joystick was quite a hit, and we rocked some Pitfall on it. Cool stuff.

Check out our "I Am 8-Bit" gallery below, and after the jump for some video goodness from the show.

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