Big Changes Ahead for The Dot Eaters

Hello there.  I wanted to give anyone reading the blog and history articles a heads-up that we are in the throes of a redesign of the site.  The relaunch will be happening on May 1st, but there is a lead-time to get everything up and running.  To that effect, I have exported  the Blogger blog to the hosted TDE blog, and hence will not be making any further major updates to this one.

You can still keep tabs on us through our social media hooks, a la:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedoteaters

Twitter: https://twitter.com/doteaters

As for the redesign, you can expect a much better navigational scheme, and a much cleaner, more dynamic and just plain better-looking presentation of the content.  We will also be doing some giveaway contests when the site launches in May, so keep an eye out on those social media sites above for your opportunity to win some TDE swag.

To facilitate your winning of said loot, as well as receiving a heads-up when the new site (still www.thedoteaters.com) goes live, you can hit our contact page through the link at the top of the screen, leave your email, and we'll give a shout out when it happens.

Thanks for reading the Blogger blog, and for continuing to relive video game history at our site throughout the 15 years of its existence.  Game on, people!

Amazon Opens Retro Game Store

Having long since moved on from just being a simple online bookseller, Amazon has gradually expanded to become the Wal-Mart of online businesses, shilling everything under the sun.  The company has recently made a move to become a one-stop shop for retro game collectors with their new Retro Gaming store.   From Atari to Zelda, mint boxed systems to boxes of motherboards, they seem to have it all.

If you want to skip the hassles of online auctions and relive your video game memories with quick, impulsive one-click purchases, check out the store here.

Source: MTV Multiplayer

Game On 2.0 Lands at the Ontario Science Centre

Coming across the pond from London, England is Game On 2.0,  an interactive exhibition featuring the history of video games.  Starting tomorrow, it will run at the Ontario Science Centre here in Toronto until Sept. 2.

The exhibit contains over 150 playable games from across 60 years of amusement gaming history.  Along with featuring a section of early video game standard-bearers such as PONG and Space Invaders, Game On also studies important game and system entries by genre, as well as taking a look at the creative process and  marketing side of gaming.  A look into the possible future of video games rounds out the exhibit.

This will be the first appearance of this exhibit in Canada, and looks to be a can't-miss proposition for aficionados of video game history, as well as for gamers in general.  Look for a more detailed review of  the show from TDE in the coming days.

Ontario Science Centre Game On page:

Just Say Yes, An 80's Drug Message Remixed

Reverberating throughout the 80's landscape of bleeping arcades and flashing colours of home video game consoles is Nancy Reagan's simplistic anti-drug slogan "Just Say No".  Every First Lady needs a bugaboo to pursue while the President rules in office, and Reagan's was youth drug use.  I'm not saying that trying to reduce drug abuse among youth is akin to merely chasing a boogeyman, but if you reduce your anti-drug campaign down to a catch-phrase, well then that's how the public is going to perceive it.  It no doubt went in one ear and out the other of kids impatiently waiting to drop a quarter into Dragon's Lair and Afterburner.

 On the evening of Sept 4th, 1986 Americans turned on their TVs and were visited by President Reagan and his wife Nancy, sitting on a couch in the West Hall of the White House, espousing the dangers of drugs to the nation's youth.  Known as the "Just Say No" speech,  it reverberated particularly fiercely a couple of years later inside the head of a man named Cliff Roth.

At the time Roth was teaching audio engineering at the Millennium Film Workshop in New York City, and gave his students an assignment to re-edit the audio track of the speech to reverse the message and have the Reagans espouse the benefits of drug use.  Subsequently getting ahold of a film reel of the speech, Cliff then took two years to painstakingly edit the visuals to the joke audio track.  Released in 1988 to film festivals and public television stations, the video Roth named The Reagans Speak Out On Drugs slowly became an underground, viral sensation; a meme before easy access to editing technology and the global distributing power of the Internet made such creations commonplace.

Roth's video is both amazing and hilarious to watch.  Naturally, it has circulated on YouTube for quite awhile, although Roth has now uploaded a high-quality version of it to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its creation.  It is a pinpoint example of culture jamming in a fun, important and creative way, one every lolcat mememaker should take note of:





Source: io9

Image from swanksalot's Flickr photostream.

Monday Meme: Family Portrait

If it's Monday, it must be another video game retromeme:

Source: Ry-Spirit via Reddit

Hard Wares: Star Wars/Pac-Man iPad Back Cover

Hey, you got Star Wars in my Pac-Man!

Hey, you got Pac-Man in my Star Wars!

Hey, I have a cool iPad back cover!

You can pick them up at Redbubble.  May the force be absorbed by your iPad cover.

Source: a_man_oxford via Reddit