Old Man 50 Years in the Future: Back in my day there were only two dimensions. You could walk forward or you could walk backwards…level permitting. I mean that ish was linear! None of this fancy sideways, loosey goosey, 4D, spacetime crap that you hooligans play these days. There was a nasty word for people like us. It had many more negative connotations then than it does now. It began with the letter n. Any guess? Bobby, go to your room! I never want to see you again! You have to eat this bar of Astronaut Soap while you are at it. The word was nerd. N-E-R-D. And to describe it in my old man lingo, it was a M-M-M-M-Monster KILL Kill kill kill kill *Grandpa dissolves into the atmosphere*
Make what you will of those two exchanges but—actually just completely ignore them. I don't know what I'm doing. But let’s see *shuffles through notes* ah, yes. So you know how a lot of people like video games, right? And like how popular culture has assimilated video games into everything from music, to clothing, to movies, and even those things called books? Well, I guess I just find it interesting that when the video games are directly referenced in another medium, it tends to reference games from the 8-bit days. Ya know, the Mario, the Sonic, the Pac Man with his Mrs. Man. Why is this?
RIP Tonight Show with Conan O Brien
Well, for one can you think of a style in recent video games as distinctive as any of that released after SNES and Sega Genesis? Sure games have improved in terms of how realistic, or at least how clear everything looks. But take a look at that jagged block world of the 8-bit. Somehow a bunch of red, blue, and peach colored squares make up an Italian plumber.
The aesthetics of a classic retro 8-bit game could be compared to the cubist movement. I mean, why not?
Even the 8-bit soundtracks have become iconic for their distinct synth sound. The film adaptation of Scott Pilgrim Vs the World, a comic that essentially takes place in the environment of a video game, even takes the Universal Studios logo and remakes it into an 8-bit graphic, complete with the distorted NES soundtrack. These beeps, bleeps, and boops occasionally find their way into songs as well. The band Crystal Castles, as a matter of fact, specialize in creating haunting electronic beats with old school game soundtracks mixed with distorted sound effects from said games. ( Their song entitled Vanished: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56E8yYgLNHE&feature=related)
Even game developers are finding themselves steeped in the nostalgia of the side-scrollin’ old days. With the release of the Scott Pilgrim game, Super Mario Bros. Wii, Shadow Complex, and the soon to be released Sonic 4, side scrollers still remain a classic way to have fun. It is a nice change of pace to have games as linear as these, opposed to the seemingly endless choices that are provided in World of Warcraft, GTA, and Fallout 3. Less can be more on some occasions. Or maybe developers figure it is generally easier to make side scrollers and, in effect, easier to make some quick money to feed their drug addictions. Or their children.
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