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Space Invaders Alarm Clock is absolutely delightful
While we were just sitting around, waiting oh-so-patiently for some more information about Space Invaders Extreme, we came across this spiffy alarm clock. Not only is it Space Invaders themed, but it's also pretty adorable. Yeah, we never thought we'd use the words "Space Invaders" and "adorable" in the same sentence either, but just look at the little guy! Of course, you should know by now that cool things aren't cheap, and this alarm clock is no diffferent. It costs 3,990 yen (approximately $35 USD), and it's only available in Japan.Check after the break to see a Cheapy D review of this product. It may not be practical, but that noise is sure to wake you up in the morning.
Space Invaders Extreme screens describe our feelings toward them
The screenshot speaks the truth: we've got Space Invaders Extreme fever. When we first heard about the game, we couldn't possibly have rolled our eyes any harder without hitting our desk; then the first screens came out of what appeared to be a somewhat rhythm-based 2D Rez-alike and we perked up; then when effusive TGS impressions of both the game and the DS paddle controller started coming in, our turn was complete. Space Invaders Extreme went from a footnote on Taito's TGS lineup to one of our most anticipated DS games.We are pretty sure this game is going to be extremely awesome and usher in a new age of fixed-screen shooters (well, maybe not that far). We love the idea of scoring extra based on shooting complete color, row, and column combinations; we love the variety of enemy patterns, and the idea of powerups in a Space Invaders game. More than anything, we love the idea of playing a shooter with that paddle controller. It'll be like playing Arkanoid with the "laser" powerup all the time.Hey, we're a fanboy site-- we're allowed to have hyperenthusiastic fanboy reactions every now and then.
TGS07: Kohler validates our enthusiasm for Arkanoid and Space Invaders
Whereas we must be content to sit here and tell you how awesome we think Arkanoid DS and Space Invaders Extreme will be, people like Chris Kohler get to go walk up to the things and play them-- with the Arkanoid paddle controller. He played the demos of both games at TGS and came out with positive impressions of both. He described Space Invaders Extreme as "a light-and-sound-orgy, frenetic, what-is-going-on, super fun shooter that spans both screens of the DS." It's a mix of, say, Rez, Galaga, and Space Invaders, in which waves of invaders swoop in, all in different shapes and sizes, and you shoot them, which creates sound effects that play along to the beat of the music. There are weapon powerups and semi-random bonus stages. It all sounds a lot more involved than the original Space Invaders, or any of its extremely similar sequels, while maintaining the hypnotic rhythm. Could this be a good Space Invaders for 2008? If this is marketed correctly, a well-updated Space Invaders on the DS could generate bajillions in Japan.Kohler's Arkanoid impressions weren't as detailed, focusing instead on the peripheral, about which he was more than effusive. He says that the paddle is "literally just like standing in front of a miniature arcade machine." The dial spins on "ball bearings or something," so you can spin it like the steering wheel on a Super Off-Road machine.Read - Space Invaders ExtremeRead - Arkanoid DS
Play Arkanoid DS right now
The websites for Taito's largely retro-tastic DS lineup have all appeared, just in time for TGS. Unfortunately, the text is not going to be of much use to anyone who can't read Japanese (or, as personal experience can attest to, anyone who can only kind of read Japanese). And even if it were, most of the links in the sites are still greyed out, awaiting updates. However, the site for Arkanoid DS contains treasure in the form of a generous five-round Flash demo. We are impressed, both with Taito's largesse and with the actual game. New additions to Arkanoid include a robotic voice that announces the name of every powerup you pick up, and thumping, hypnotic techno music courtesy of Zuntata. We didn't even know Arkanoid needed techno music, but it turns out it totally does. Speaking of thumping techno music, the Space Invaders Extreme site is basically a browser rave-- which works, for us. Here are all the new Taito DS game sites: Arkanoid DS Cooking Mama 2 Exit DS The Legend of Kage 2 Pet Shop Story DS Space Invaders Extreme A demo for Exit DS will be on the game's site soon, but the link is inactive at the moment. May we suggest playing the Arkanoid demo as a way to pass the time? [Via GoNintendo]
DS Daily: Is Space Invaders extreme enough?
The new version of Space Invaders has new enemy designs, new music, strikingly new graphics, and some kind of bizarre music/gameplay integration. But it appears to still be your basic Space Invaders-- moving left and right, and shooting at enemies as they descend in formation. It's the same game, at heart, as has been around since 1978. Plenty of people still love Space Invaders today, and we count ourselves among that "number," though we haven't built a career in art out of it or anything. But we also know that we (I) can be a little more retro-oriented than most people. Which is why we're asking you: does Space Invaders Extreme have any chance of holding your interest based on what you've seen (which, at the moment, isn't too much)? Is the basic game too antique for you? What would have to change to suit your tastes?
Space Invaders Extreme gets a techno-fabulous makeover
What's the Extreme part of Space Invaders Extreme? We believe it's an extreme visual similarity to Q Entertainment's stylish puzzle games like Lumines, Every Extend Extra, and Gunpey. Or, to make a more direct connection between shooter and shooter, Space Invaders Extreme looks a lot like Rez. And you will never hear us say that's a bad thing.In fact, Extreme looks pretty cool, and not just in its presentation. The movement of the Invaders is now tied into the game soundtrack (another nod to Rez), adding a new element to the already-hypnotic Invaders experience. And, yes, the Arkanoid DS paddle controller works.
Space Invaders clock tells time, invades spaces
Jason Hickner, a DIY'er with possibly more "time" on his hands than most, has created a clock which is not very easy to read, but a lot of fun to look at. Using a Propeller chip (as featured in the XGS Hydra) and what appears to be a oscilloscope (but is actually a wild old Sony TV), Mr. Hickner has hard-coded a Space Invaders timepiece. The clock uses the attacking aliens to represent minutes, and the extra lives in the left-hand corner for the hours. It's unclear whether or not shooting the aliens produces any type of time-dampening or reversal effect, but since this is based around the Propeller chip, it seems likely. See it in action on video after the break.
Stranglehold cover system is a lot like Space Invaders
The latest post in the development blog for John Woo's Stranglehold explains the action game's cover system with a rather ingenious analogy: Space Invaders.More specifically, Senior designer Patrick Curry is describing medium-sized objects (e.g. couches, concrete columns) that you can use for cover and are destructible. "As your cover shrinks Tequila will automatically crouch down to use whatever cover's left," he said, "but in Stranglehold no cover lasts forever." It was lead designer Neill Glancy who came up with the analogy, which explains how gunfire will slowly whittle down cover that either you or your opponents may be using.We know what you're thinking: will you have the cojones to blast through your own cover, just like in Space Invaders? Real-world application of retro gaming skills embedded after the break.
Mac ASCII Invaders
If you're in the mood to shoot down some aliens, Mac ASCII Invaders plays exactly the way you expect it to: left and right arrows to move your weapon, the space bar to fire. This is Chuck Houpt's Macintosh port of Thomas Munro's ASCII version of Space Invaders.It's a "termlet"; you install the software into your Applications folder and double-click to run. It then launches Terminal for you and loads up all the backgrounds, font colors and the software you need to run the game. You'll see the Mac ASCII Invaders icon close from your dock and be replaced with the Terminal icon.Mac ASCII Invaders is SmileWare. Houpt writes: "If it makes you smile, please pass the smile along."
Space Invaders doormat threatens visitors with its retroness
The familiar Space Invaders aliens have already laid their mark on more than a few public places, but the folks at La Tête Au Cube look to be extending their reach even further, with the design firm busting out this doormat to bring a bit of pixelated intimidation straight to your front step. While it unfortunately won't let your visitors try their hand at a game while they wait for you to answer the door (or collect quarters from them), the animated antics on display on the mat's built-in LED screen should at least be enough to remind some of 'em to wipe their shoes before they enter, and leave other less geeky visitors of yours completely perplexed. It seems that you may have a bit of trouble getting your hands on one at the moment, however, as it's currently sold out despite the hefty $110 price tag.[Via Uber-Review]
Taito gets in on the old-school resurgence
It seems like Sega Genesis Collection, EA Replay and Metal Slug Anthology have been getting all the attention lately. However, some of you may not know that Taito is throwing their hat in the ring with Taito Legends.Legends packs in 25 classic Taito games ranging from Space Invaders to The Legend of Kage. And although the game won't feature multi-player support, players can share up to 21 games wirelessly with other console owners via the PSP's game-sharing function. Also, Cameltry, Crazy Balloon, Balloon Bomb, and The Legend of Kage have each received graphical upgrades along with being adapted to the PSP's widescreen.Gamespot, who just recently previewed the game, said "It's also a shame to see that little effort has been made to expand Taito Legends beyond including emulated versions of classic games. It's good to see that the PlayStation Portable's features have been used to allow wireless game sharing, but aside from the games themselves, there's little to keep you going for a long time."It looks like the retro compilations are starting to pour in, but I think companies will have to do more than stuff a bunch of their old games onto a UMD and send it out the door for them to be successful.
Teenager plays Space Invaders with only his brain
While having a robotic assistant play video games for you might sound novel, it's certainly not as thrilling as interacting with the 1s and 0s yourself. A team of researchers, engineers, and students at Washington University in St. Louis have crafted a brain-computer interface system that allowed a 14-year old gamer suffering from epilepsy to cruise through the first two levels of Space Invaders using only his imagination. Rather than picking up an Xbox 360 and perusing through the Xbox Live Arcade, the crew went back to their roots and programmed an Atari 2600 to interface with the brain-sensing apparatus. The headgear boasted a grid of sensors that monitored "electrocorticographic activity" from the brain's surface to detect signals based on thought processes that were going on. By calibrating his thoughts with video game triggers, the teenager was able to learn the ropes "almost instantaneously," and had no qualms demolishing the competition while twiddling his thumbs. The group plans to use this successful experiment to further understand the mysterious signals of the mind and give physically disabled individuals a chance to show of their mental sharpness, but we're hoping to see this thing bundled in with the sure-to-be-delayed PlayStation 8 that should hit shelves sometime before 2040 2050.[Via MedGadget]
Scenes from Barcelona: Space Invaders invade clothes shop
I ran into these blocky Space Invaders-inspired aliens near the escalator at a clothing shop in Barcelona's Las Ramblas shopping district. Why anyone thought these would complement the haute couture surrounding them is beyond me, but I still enjoyed the unexpected gaming reference. Continue reading for another shot of the wall monsters.
Save penguins, fight aliens & change fonts in new 2.80 homebrew
We've been reporting on new homebrew on a nearly daily basis ever since the libtiff exploit was discovered. There are two more games to report about today. First is Penguin Scramble, which has you saving penguins Al Gore style. As with all of these TIFF games, it should be fairly simple to play. Another addition to the ever-growing collection of TIFF games is Space Invaders. This classic arcade game has you fighting off an incoming alien invasion, and as an episode of Futurama has shown us: the skills you learn from this game can be life-saving. Finally, we have an application to present to you: Font Hack Installer, which lets you change the fonts used on the XMB screen [screenshot]. While not revolutionary, it's nice to see more inventive ideas coming for users with 2.80 firmware. As always, save the appropriate files to your PSP's PHOTO folder to launch these applications. See also:TetrisPongSnake [Thanks steve!]
The LED Pong hat
If for some reason you feel the need to sport a set of obnoxious LED displays on your head, you might as well go all out and embed them in the ugliest hat you can find. Iain over at LushProjects is one person who felt such a need, and spent over six months designing and building the, um, unique piece of headwear you see pictured above -- which besides displaying the text message of your choice, also throws down a pretty mean game of Pong or simulated Space Invaders. To liven things up a bit, Iain even tossed in a microphone and amp, so that fellow concert-goers need only glance over at his creation for a graphical representation of the music blasting at a show. We're not sure if the hat actually lets you play a real game of Pong or not, but even if it does, having strangers stand inches from our face while tugging on our ear flaps doesn't sound all that appealing - we'll stick with our Pong clock for now, thanks.[Via Make and Hack-A-Day]
Rock these Space Invaders sneakers
These are the Steve Madden Joggers, a sneaker with a "unique design exclusive to Steve Madden." Of course by unique to Steve Madden, they mean unique to Steve Madden and classic arcade title, Space Invaders...and everything else that features the ubiquitous, pattern-loving invaders. "Drop down! Increase Speed! Reverse Direction!"If you grab a pair of these and that Asteroids-themed Burton jacket, you'd be a huge nerd all set for E3.[Via Resident Gamer]
Space Invaders wall decals invade your living space
blik surface graphics is selling these 13" blick INVADERS for your walls. They come in packs of 8 for an unreasonably steep $45, leading us to ponder who their intended market is. What would one do with these? If they're just decoration, a simple stencil and some cheap paint seems like a far more economical solution; however, since they're decals, it follows that you're supposed to move them around. Every morning, right after feeding the pets and watering the plants, you could remove some of the invaders and drop the rest down a line. [Via Boing Boing]
