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VideoGame2Play

Video Game Ads: 1977-1995

Take a trip down memory lane with the following video. The trip begins with some of the first Atari 2600 television advertisements and continues with almost 20 years of video game commercials. This great compilation of ads reminds us of our gaming past with legends like Mickey Mantle selling on demand intellivision, and Phil Hartman playing a wide range of characters for Philips CD-i. There is even a young Tobey Maguire cutting class to play the huge Atari Lynx in the boys room.

Some great early ads demonstrate families playing video games together, while classic GameBoy ads remind adults that your never to old to play games. The video comes to a end with Jaguar & Sega’s crass advertisements during the 90’s that I remember liking at the time, actually were really pretty awful.



Top 100 Reasons Fanboys Hate Nintendo



History of Video Games (1972-2007)

Watch this timeline on video games spanning 35 years, from Pong all the way to our current generation of titles - it’s quite apparent that we’ve come a long way. How many of the games featured have you had the opportunity to play?



NPD Group: Xbox 360 Officially Wins September

Xbox 360 outsells Wii and PS3 according to NPD Group September 2007 numbersThe official NPD numbers are in for September, and the Xbox 360 swept, even beating out the Nintendo Wii for that month.

NPD September sales numbers:

Hardware

Xbox 360: 527,800
Wii: 501,000
Nintendo DS: 495,800
PlayStation Portable: 284,500
PlayStation 2: 215,000
Playstation 3: 119,400
Game Boy Advance: 75,000

Console/Handheld Software Top Ten Unit Sales

Halo 3*
3,300,000
Microsoft
Xbox 360

Wii Play w/Remote
282,000
Nintendo
Wii

Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
224,000
Nintendo
DS

Madden NFL 08
205,000
Electronic Arts
PS2

Skate
175,000
Electronic Arts
Xbox 360

Madden NFL 08
173,000
Electronic Arts
Xbox 360

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
167,000
Nintendo
Wii

BioShock
150,000
Take-Two Interactive
Xbox 360

Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day
141,000
Nintendo
Wii

Heavenly Sword
139,000
Sony Computer Entertainment
Playstation 3

(*Includes Collector’s & Legendary Editions)

PC Software Top 5 Unit Sales

The Sims 2 Bon Voyage Expansion Pack
121,500
Electronic Arts

World Of Warcraft*
69,200
Vivendi

World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack
56,800
Vivendi

World In Conflict
43,600
Vivendi

Bioshock
43,200
Take-Two Interactive

[source]



The Simpsons: Tetris



Real World Mario



Top 10 consoles of all time



Pwnd

This is a very well done documentary filmed by Southern Illinois University student John Scott. This 20-minute video a product of his senior thesis takes a look at how video games can and do effect individuals and our society.



Top 10 Strangest Custom Gaming Systems

If you have seen these already I appoligize in advance, these are from an OLD TechBlog post. I think some of these mods are pretty amazing… some are just plain strange.

Enjoy this collection of oddities and observe what gallons of caffeine and countless hours of free-time (I’d imagine most of that time spent would have been female-free as well :)


#10

Colecovision Portable


Yes, this will play all your old school Colecovision games like “Donkey Kong”, “Galaxian”, and “Zaxxon” in all their 16 color glory.

Ben Heckendorn, creator of the NES Micro, made a custom case, tore apart an old Colecovision system, designed his own controller, and put it all together into the sleek package you see above.

It features A/V outputs, an auxiliary power input, and a reflective black vinyl case with brushed aluminum accents.

Unfortunately, this one-of-a-kind system was built by request and has already been sold.

[Source]


#9

NEStation

The NEStation is one of the most unique custom systems we’ve ever come across.

A French modder painted his NES completely black with blue accents, created a custom vertical stand, installed four blue LEDs, and than carved in a PS2-style logo on its side.

[Source]


#8

The nPod

The nPod

The nPod is Ben Heck’s latest gaming console, featuring a 3.5-inch LCD display, custom machined case (only 41mm thick), and a rear-loading cartridge slot.

It’s powered by 4 AA batteries and can play any NES game.

[Source]


#7

Portable Sega CDX


Most of you may not remember the CDX, it combined the Sega Genesis and Sega CD into one console.

SegaSonicFan’s portable CDX sports a 5″ display, JP/US import switch, second headphone jack, S-Video output, external controller switch, and a built-in automatic scan FM radio.

It even plays 32X games.


#6

Gamecube-to-Go


Gamelver spent a great deal of time constructing this portable Gamecube — especially the case.

It looks to feature external controller ports for multiplayer action, along with a pair speakers.

Other specifications have not yet been released.


#5

NESPlusSega


This all-in-one machine can play both Sega Genesis and NES games.

The case was made from custom molded ABS plastic and features controller ports for both systems.

[Source]


#4

Handheld Atari Jaguar


The Jaguar was the world’s first gaming system with two 32-bit processors.

Unfortunately, the system met its demise in early 1996 due to poor sales.

Well Dave decided to pay tribute with this portable Jaguar.


#3

Sega Genesis/Mega Drive Mini


Kotomi took one of those 6-in-1 Sega TV game devices and turned it into a Genesis/Mega Drive mini, complete with cartridge slot.

One potential drawback, he doesn’t mention if the cartridge slot is functional — it’s an interesting project none the less.


#2

Dreamcast Portable


Dave took on an ambitous project when he created this portable Dreamcast from scratch.

It features a custom designed case, 5″ LCD display, and a built-in 16MB memory card.

Powered by two rechargeable batteries, its good for up to 1 1/2 hours of playtime.


#1

PlayStation 2 Portable

PS2P: The PlayStation 2 Portable

Click the above picture to watch the 10 minute demonstration of the PlayStation 2 Portable - our #1 pick for custom system.

Enjoy!



EB Games flyer defies logic


Wait, you didn’t know? The future is where all the fun is. It’s where children laugh in unceasing delight, merrily skipping through the radioactive wastelands with their DS Lites held tightly in at least one of their seven hands. Indeed, a copy of Hotel Dusk is just the thing to idle the day away and distract from the impending threat of multi-headed toaster beasts roaming the world.

Thus is the picture painted by a recent EB Games flyer posted in the NeoGAF forums, urging consumers to trade in the past and embrace a more touchy-feely sort of future. As if hurling the PSP into “the past” wasn’t confusing enough, the original version of the DS also finds itself traveling through time. Doesn’t that create some sort of inconceivable time paradox?