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Indie game shirts (with games) now available at Target
Next time you're running around your local Target, keep an eye out for some indie gaming love. The Experimental Gameplay Project has recently launched its own clothing line: EGPApparel. The shirts are appearing in Targets all across the United States, each featuring a particular independently-developed title. As if that wasn't filled with enough awesome on its own, each shirt includes the full version of the indie game. That's an awesome t-shirt, and an awesome game, for only $12 USD.There are currently eight shirts in production, featuring indie titles like Tower of Goo, Big Vine, Gravity Head, Gish, and more. According to Tower of Goo developer Kyle Gabler, the shirts are appearing in Target stores nationwide, but have not yet reached every last chain location. Of course, the more people who run out and feverishly buy all eight designs, the more likely Target will be to ramp up distribution. We're just saying.Check out a full list of participating Targets in California after the break.
Nihon Uni shirts resist stabbing, make you feel like a superhero
Mind you, this isn't the first time we've seen garb constructed to withstand vicious knife fights, and apparently a few Japanese streets are becoming just as frightening as some in London. Reportedly created to provide protection against stabbers following an "increasing number of malicious crimes that have victimized children and late-night convenience store clerks," Nihon Uni has developed a t-shirt crafted from "ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene fiber." Aside from rendering blades useless, the material is also completely machine washable and lightweight; still, the fabric can be penetrated by "sharp points," so it's up to you to steer clear of rooftop archers. Nevertheless, long-sleeved versions can be had this June for ¥22,000 ($221) to ¥59,000 ($593), while the way less protective short-sleeved variety will run you between ¥19,000 ($191) and ¥52,000 ($522).[Via Slashgear]
The doctor is on (your torso)
Love Dr. Mario above all others? Then this might be the most awesome thing you've ever seen -- or at least one of the most unique. It's a handmade tunic accented with bits of a licensed Dr. Mario fabric. Obviously, at $60, it's a little pricier than most of the gaming-related items like this we've seen, but in our esteemed opinion, it's as incredible (or more so!) than some. It's also nice and stretchy -- the better to fit a variety of sizes.
Dynamic Life shirt clearly shows you're taken by a fellow nerd
Oh sure, we've seen proximity-based clothing before, but for the couple who just can't help but express their intense adoration for technology (and each other), we present the $24.99 8-bit Dynamic Life shirt. This wonderful piece of garb, which is obviously designed to be purchased in pairs, sports six whole hearts on the chest. When your lover strays, both sets of hearts slowly fade away, but when he / she comes running back for one more steamy round of Wii Boxing, the combined dozen lights up to signify precisely how geeky you two truly are. You do know what's coming in a fortnight, right?[Via Shiny Shiny]
Insider Trader: Chic choices
Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.It looks like the grumbling was on target – many players really were raiding simply to get epic gear (and not for the sheer joy of raiding). Now that they can get epic gear easily through PvP, the herd is turning away from PvE raiding and signing up for Arena teams in droves. What drives players toward the purple clothes? Is it symptomatic of PvE ennui? Is it indicative of the relative ease of the Arena reward system? Insider Trader has another theory, drawn from the observations of those unassailable sages, ZZ Top: Every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp-dressed man.Pure and simple – packaging sells. And when you want your character to look his or her best, what you need is a tailor. This week, Insider Trader reviews the wardrobe a well-dressed citizen will want to have banked for all sorts of events, from the festive wedding celebration to the everyday restocking trip to town. Ever wondered who uses all those weird dyes on the General Trade merchants? That would be you, once you discover the pure panache of the perfect shirt. L2Bchic, after the break.
NiGHTS into T-shirts
Japanese game shirt maker extraordinaire The King of Games is producing a special shirt in celebration of Sega's newest mascot revival. This NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams shirt comes in black or white and features glow-in-the-dark elements (NiGHTS and the text area on the black shirt, the moon and stars on the white shirt). Unfortunately, it not only costs 4,200 yen ($38), it's only available in Japan. Also, preorders for the thing opened two days ago and most sizes are already sold out.Does that translate into interest in the game? We hope so! Does it translate into inconsolable sadness for us, sitting in stupid America with no NiGHTS shirts? Definitely.
Now you can wear your social networks
In a world of Web 2.0, it can be a little intimidating trying to find others on the social network that you love. Doubly so if you're looking for a real life friend that shares your interests. Why wear your heart on your sleeve when you can wear your web presence on your shirt?Aram Bartholl compiled a list of the best known social networks, including their icons and coloring, and put them on a shirt with checkboxes. There are the obvious ones, such as Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn, but there's also a box for Second Life! In my vision of a perfect world, I hope to run across at least a few people wearing these shirts with the SL box checked while I'm out and about. Get yours today and help me live my dream![Via Gizmodo]
CSIRO developing power-generating shirts
We've seen a plethora of shirts made for more than just satisfying a core necessity in life, but a team of scientists over at the CSIRO's Energy Technology Division are hoping to have "power shirts" at your local flea market (or other fine establishments) within five years. By using piezo electrical materials, the garb could reportedly "produce electricity as you move," enabling users to juice up their DAPs, mobiles and air conditioned pants just by staying active. Other potential applications include powering battlefield-related equipment on soldiers and monitoring systems on the elderly, but making sure it can handle the oh-so-intimidating wash cycle remains a challenge. [Via PopGadget, image courtesy of CSIRO]
UFO Catcher Tengoku
We still haven't heard word on whether or not Nintendo will ever bring Rhythm Tengoku to the states (Highly unlikely), but Sega has been keeping the rhythm-action title going in Japan with its GBA-to-arcade port and, according to this new find, UFO catchers filled with Rhythm-Tengoku-themed prizes!Provided that you're proficient with maneuvering a claw to pick up crap, you'll be able to win a number of brightly-colored, long-sleeved shirts with the minigame collection's characters screen-printed on them, as well as pillows shaped like Rhythm Tengoku's iconic, hairy onions. Click the link below to the beat, and check out more photos of the vending machine goodies past the post break.
We bet this Mother 3 shirt is awesome
Since we've never been given the opportunity to play Mother 3, we aren't really able to gauge the thematic radness of Edit Mode's new Mother 3 "Emergency" shirt. Still, just as we know that all shirts sold on The King of Games are awesome, we have an inherent knowledge that everything about this shirt is wonderful, except the $50 price tag. We know that the design is pretty nice, and that the warning text on the back is adorable. The other new Mother shirt, featuring a logo for "The Sharks," comes from Mother 2 a.k.a. Earthbound, and is therefore easily verifiable as being great. You can totally pretend you're in an arcade-occupying, hula-hoop wielding gang led by a smilin', knifin' Frank Fly.[Via GAME Watch]
Tetris shirt reveals puzzling dreams
One summer night about nine years ago, I decided to try to play some Tetris DX to help me get to sleep; it was late and I had to go to work early. So I propped a pillow against the wall, sat up, and turned on my Game Boy Color expecting to relax with some falling blocks.The game that followed was the longest Tetris game I ever played; I couldn't begin to estimate the time it lasted, but by the time it was over, I had amassed over 1,000 lines. I could have paused the game and turned the system off, but I didn't want to risk failure when I came back to zippy level-30 gameplay. At the same time, I was tired.This shirt from Huzzah Goods reminded me of that night. Even if you haven't spent hours and hours battling Tetris for sleep time, Tetris dreams are probably a fairly common experience. It's a really cute shirt too.
New WoW class shirts at J!NX give a stat buff
The official WoW webpage is sporting a new advertisement for some class-themed T-shirts available at J!NX for priests, druids, shamans and paladins. They say that these shirts come with "a +20 buff to pwnage," which is quite a lot, so for those of you out there is running short on pwnage, be sure to wear these shirts at all times! Also, if you need glowing eyes and wings sprouting out of your back, be sure to buy the priests' shirt in particular, as seen in this photo displayed at their website.The designs actually look pretty cool. I've taken the liberty of copying them for you below so you can see what I mean. Even if you don't need any extra pwnage, one might want to buy a shirt just for the beauty factor alone.
I read the classics of Japanese literature and all I got was this lousy t-shirt
Spike's Nihon Bungaku 100 Sen (100 Selections of Japanese Literature) is a pretty cool product to start with. It contains 100 classic works from famous Japanese writers like Natsume Soseki and Akutagawa Ryunosuke in a single, tiny DS card.It gets cooler, though, but, like the software, is of precious little use to non-Japanese readers: in order to promote their game reading, Spike is giving away some clever Nihon Bungaku 100 Sen swag to people who can answer questions about the readings on their site. Correctly completing the quiz enters players for either a DS Lite carrying case, a waterproof DS holder (for reading in the bath, of course!) or a t-shirt featuring one of the authors whose works appear in the program. We're partial to the Natsume Soseki Wagahai wa neko de aru shirt, ourselves. [Via Dengeki]
Mario reps for his profession
Despite our insistence that game t-shirts with jokes on them are terrible, we like this Mario shirt from Jeffrey Rowland's TopatoCo. Maybe it's because it implies Mario's skill in his apparent real job rather than his night gig as a princess-saving, kart-racing, tennis-playing, golfing, typing-teaching doctor. We also like that it appropriates something that, as Reggie's famous E3 line, has become a mantra for crazy Nintendo fans.What we like about this shirt the most is that it comes in your choice of Mario red or Luigi green. We wish everyone would be so thoughtful!
Vote for juvenile Mario humor on Threadless
The problem with gaming shirts is that even when they have fantastic art, they usually also involve some puerile joke. This one on Threadless is no exception! Oh, drug humor. It's a shame, because this artist draws Mario in a unique and cool-looking way, but we'd never wear this particular shirt.Your mileage may vary, however. If you're into this design, you should vote for it at Threadless, because the number of votes will determine whether or not it gets printed. More gaming shirts on Threadless is a good thing, because it'll lead to better ones.[Via GoNintendo]
It's dangerous to go half-naked! Wear this!
Why don't more t-shirts take this Wind Waker shirt's example? It uses official art from the game, and doesn't add any silly slogans. There's nothing here about how the 1980's were neat, or about being a "player" or anything. It's just a cute image of Link in some tall grass. We would totally wear this shirt, even to the grocery store.Oh, we also like the shirt because the Wind Waker/Phantom Hourglass art style is incredible, but you knew that. [Via Wonderland]
More fan-created Phoenix Wright: Ace Apparel
We're slowly gathering entries for our yet-to-be-announced Phoenix Wright Shirt Makers' Club. These elite crafters have decided to express their fandom for Capcom's graphic adventure series and its characters in the most reverent way they know: by giving Phoenix Wright a place of honor on the front of a t-shirt. The latest, from reader Maxy, goes beyond the limitations of home crafting. Maxy's sister has access to professional apparel-printing machinery at a uniform company, and transferred this iconic image of Phoenix on what looks like a 3/4 sleeve baseball shirt. Maya Fey, as pictured on the Gyakuten Saiban boxart, appears on the back. It's kind of unfair that we can't follow Maxy's example and make one of these! It may be unfair enough to warrant an OBJECTION! No, it's just kind of unfair.
This is why we're dorks
Considering the amount of remixes Mims' hit rap single "This is Why I'm Hot" set off -- R. Kelly's "This is Why I'm Cold," the NBA's "The Phoenix Suns Are Hot," and Chubbs' "This is Why I'm Fat" for example -- we're surprised that it took this long for its catchy hook to reach video gaming's catch-phrase-hungry communities. Mirroring Mims' insipid lyrics, the simplicity of SnorgTees' shirt design leaves no room for confusion on its message or the company's plans to rake in crazy money by exploiting our nostalgia-addled minds. We can imagine the office congratulations and "props" received by the young designer who paired the 8-bit fire flower with the narcissistic mantra. They all agree, this is why he's hot. The $16.95 shirt comes in royal blue and black, its lowercase Myriad Pro text staying chalky white on both colors. If you haven't heard the song several hundred times already, you have the option of checking past the post break for an embedded music video of the club track.
Make a pixel t-shirt
The title is imperative for a reason. Seriously, you should either be working on a t-shirt right now or headed out to Michaels to pick up supplies. Oh, or reading this post. That's totally fine.To make this Princess Peach shirt, HackerZen user Lenore adapted the technique used by a very faithful reader to make his Phoenix Wright shirt, adding the extra step of drawing a grid on the shirt with a washable marker, then filling in pixels to make a big sprite. Excellent.But don't just default to Mario. There are a lot of sprites out there. Get creative![Via GoNintendo]
Limited edition PaRappa tee by Paul Frank
Want this ill-lookin' PaRappa the Rapper tee? We sure do. To help promote the upcoming PSP version, Sony has contracted Paul Frank Industries and PaRappa's "co-creator and artist", Rodney Alan Greenblat, to create a limited edition t-shirt. The shirt will display Paul Frank's signature character Julius and Sony's adorable PaRappa the Rapper. According to Sony, there will be several PaRappa promotions throughout the summer: both online and at numerous PlayStation promotional events including Wizard World, ComiCon, LollaPalooza, PAX and more.We begged Sony to give us a couple of shirts to give away to our readers. Let's hope they've heard our pleas.
