The 8-Bit Cubist

Lego Man Version 3 Wallpapers and Avatars

Mr Benja — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:33:51 +0000

Raph has been working on some pretty nice projects lately, and to tide you guys over for a while, he decided to put together a set of wallpapers and avatars to make your computing day happy.

Gemini Laser

Wallpaper 1600 x 1200
Wallpaper 1024×768
Avatar 250 x 250

Hard Snake

Wallpaper 1600 x 1200
Wallpaper 1024×768
Avatar 250 x 250

Magnet Missle

Wallpaper 1600 x 1200
Wallpaper 1024×768
Avatar 250 x 250

Needle Cannon

Wallpaper 1600 x 1200
Wallpaper 1024×768
Avatar 250 x 250

Search Snake

Wallpaper 1600 x 1200
Wallpaper 1024×768
Avatar 250 x 250

Shadow Blade

Wallpaper 1600 x 1200
Wallpaper 1024×768
Avatar 250 x 250

Spark Shock

Wallpaper 1600 x 1200
Wallpaper 1024×768
Avatar 250 x 250

Top Spin

Wallpaper 1600 x 1200
Wallpaper 1024×768
Avatar 250 x 250

Click here to go to the Download Page for more.

Mr Benja.

Podcast 26 – Life As An Interactive Movie

Mr Benja — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 18:14:13 +0000

Frank Silas is an interesting dude. He’s been making games and movies for quite a few years now, so we got together to talk about games, films, and what they can learn from each other. Also, this is one of those insightful podcasts, so you’ll listen to it and then feel good about going out and making something awesome happen.

Download this episode (57 min)
Click here to view the list of all podcasts.

Linkage:
The SLEDGEHAMMER Sci-Fi Kickstarter Project
Frank Silas on Twitter
Portal Trailer
Double Fine Adventures Project Backing
Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Mr Benja.

Podcast 25 – Mass Characterization

Mr Benja — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:58:13 +0000

Part 2 of our Black History Month podcast. I get together with Jeff, Raph, and Marcellus to talk some ish about black characters in games. We go across a wide variety of games and mostly complain about Japanese characterizations. Of course, we get into Native Americans, Asians, and wonder whether or not Abobo is Filipino.

Download this episode (1 hr 35 min)
Click here to view the list of all podcasts.

Update: The character is Bust-A-Move is named ‘Hamm’, not Burgertime as the Internet led us to believe

Linkage:
Bust-A-Groove: Hamm’s Ending Cutscene
John Gabriel’s Greater Internet Dickwad (Fuckwad) Theory
Kevin Kelly TED Talk: The Next 5000 Days of the Web
Group Think
Racist Comments on Yahoo! News?
Penny Arcade’s Mike vs Ocean Marketing
X-Clan – Xodus
Complex’s 50 Most Racist Movies

Mr Benja.

PS Vita PreLaunch Party by Shifted2u

Mr Benja — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 10:36:58 +0000

Last Friday night in Santa Monica, the 8-Bit Cubist crew got together with Shifted2u and GameFanatics to host a PS Vita PreLaunch party. They know how to put on a party, so when they asked us to get involved, we were there. This is our record of that event.

Art by Raph and Mr Benja. More on this soon.

Darion

Team LoveHate was on hand to show off their Infiniti G35 Panty & Stocking Itasha. This thing was pretty dope. At one point, we started blasting the radio, and all the building owners ran outside and started yelling at us. We laughed. We laughed so hard that we decided to do some projects in the future.

The Gamer Girl’s Aubree

Amber

Ryan and Bryan

There were plenty of gamers on hand to try out the Vita in person. People really seemed happy with how the system felt and played.

These two guys are actors that showed up and were talking to us about life, art, and Lil Wayne playing the guitar. If you know who they are, be sure to let us know.

Raph and Shifted2u’s Shayne

And all through the night, the founder and owner of Shifted2u, Tony Money, held it down. As hectic as the night was, he maintained his awesome energy and kept things happening, even when The Man tried to bring us down. You’ll be hearing more about them in the future.

There are a few extra pictures here on our Facebook page. Take a look.
Until next time. Take care.

Mr Benja.

Podcast 24 – Gaming With Virtual Feelings

Mr Benja — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 03:49:31 +0000

In this podcast, Maggie aka Luperza aka @PurrfectStorm aka Crazy-Cool Gamer Girl is the featured guest. Valentine’s Day is discussed. Maggie also tells about her path into the video game industry even though she was studying to enter the medical field. She has also maintained a relationship with another gamer for nine years without either of them getting choked out with a controller cord. It gets philosophical, and a few topics are discussed. This podcast clocks in at about 2 hours. It was pretty good that way.

Download this episode (1 hr 53 min)
Click here to view the list of all podcasts.

Linkage:
Maggie’s website
Maggie on Twitter
John Gabriel’s Greater Internet Dickwad (Fuckwad) Theory
The emoticon that not everyone understands
Women In Gaming International
Pro Gaming Overview.
The Foundry in San Diego
One-In-Six Parents Don’t Understand Their Childrens Technology
Dating for Gamers

Mr Benja.

Podcast 23 – The Minority Report

Mr Benja — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:31:17 +0000

This is Part 1 of our Black History Month podcasts, so we get the crew together to talk about…some black shit. Marcellus, Jeff, Raph, and I convene to cover a couple topics and have a good time. We focus on our separate experiences as three black people and one Filipino in the industry.

Download this episode (1 hr 5 min)
Click here to view the list of all podcasts.

Linkage:
V-Nasty (Kreayshawn’s sister that doesn’t drop the “n-bomb”, but says nigga all the time)
Blacks In Gaming bringing up black video game characters
Morgan Freeman on Black History Month
Tavis Smiley on Obama
Man Dies After Eating Cocaine Hidden In Brother’s Butt
Chocolate Shop Wine
Dylan Ratigan Loses It
A Typical Yahoo! News report
It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia – The DENNIS System

Mr Benja.

Podcast 22 – I Laugh At Your Dream

Mr Benja — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:34:52 +0000

Artist Josh Lange (8-Bit Legends creator) joins me so we can talk about following dreams and laughing at problems along the way. You have to laugh at problems when you’re obsessed with fulfilling your dreams, so Josh and I talk about that. We also talk a bit about getting into the game and movie industries. You want to know what that’s like? Josh tells you how it is.

Download this episode (1hr 3min)
Click here to view the list of all podcasts.

Linkage:
Josh Lange’s Blog
Josh’s 8-Bit Legends Series
Star Wars Chess Scene
WIRED Article on Heavy Rain’s Story
A Good Table Tennis Rally
Obama and Pac-Man
Steve Jobs on Following Your Dreams

Mr Benja.

Podcast 21 – The Progeny of Digital Art

Mr Benja — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:25:26 +0000

Sat down with Marcellus to talk a bit about moving from art school to an art job to art in the galleries. We’ve both been in the industry for a while, so we go back and forth on some perspectives. And as usual, we bring in some crazy San Diego stories and talk about how we utilize television series as an art aid.

Download this episode.

Click here to view the list of all podcasts.

Linkage:
Krav Maga Ass Kicking Defense
Blog mention of Super Marcel Bros.
It’s Mahvel Baybee – Classic video on competitive gaming like EVO.
Podcast 10 – Gaysian (The Gay Podcast)
The Boston Bonus Podcast
Last King of Scotland Trailer
Sons of Anarchy Promo
Battlestar Galactica Promo

Mr Benja.

Rant: That Old 8-Bit Wasn’t That Great

Mr Benja — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:59:30 +0000

by Chris

Do you really miss all of those old games? We have been talking about the old school this week here at the 8-bit Cubist and it has been quite fun. Thinking about all the old video games that we used to love, telling epic stories of how we beat this game this way or some trick we did not think people knew about. But I need to point something out, nostalgia is a helluva drug! Nostalgia lets us block out all of the crappy things about the games we used to play. But I have not forgotten them, and here are some of the things that I don’t miss about old school games.

1. Passwords

Before we could save data on a cartridge we needed someone of restoring a player’s save game. This way was long ass passwords that the player had to put in with the damn controller. Not only did you have to write down these long codes but it took time to input them with the controller, worst part is that this was not like the Game Genie where I was going to get some sweet boost to the game after all of this work. This was just going to let me pick up where I left off. I should not be to hard on the passwords, at least they let you continue your game!

2. No save game

I just got done complaining about how long the password were but I will gladly take that over having no save game at all. Granted some games did not really need a save since they were really short or just fun to play over and over again. I am looking at you Super Mario Bros 3. But at the same time there were some games that had that level that you dreaded playing and would love to never have to play it again. I could list a bunch of games that needed a save feature but I am just going to point out the biggest one of them all. Battletoads, if thinking back to this game does not make you mad about something I don’t think you played it enough.

3. Artificial Intelligence

Let’s face it, Artificial Intelligence (AI) did not even really exist in old games. It was all patterns that the enemies followed. You can call this a form of AI (it is) but that is not the AI I am talking about. What I am talking about is when games started making the move to 3d. It was so easy to get them stuck running into boxes or falling into pits. God forbid you had to escort someone. There was a good chance the mission would fail because they would go full retard and kill themselves. Remember hockey game AI? Now I am a huge hockey fan and have been playing them since NES Ice Hockey, but only recently have goalies have been able to stop the infamous wrap around shot aka “I win the game and there is nothing you can do about it because you missed one check”.

4….

Furthermore…(Item Omitted)

I am sure this list could be much longer but I don’t know if I want to think about the bad anymore. I want to go back to remembering how amazing Mega Man and River City Ransom were. If you have things that you used to hate about old school games leave a comment below.

Chris.

Podcast 20 – Once A Fanboy…

Mr Benja — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:03:52 +0000

After arguing talking about politics, Jeff started to tell me some stories about the Sega vs Nintendo days. These stories were too good, and before I knew it, we were sitting down to record. As a former Sega employee from the 90s, Jeff had a front row seat to all the action going on in the early console wars. He also tells us how he ran into a member of NWA during his time in the industry. If nothing else, YOU MUST LISTEN to the very end of the podcast to hear the final question of the Q & A portion. Jeff will tell how he worked on the voice overs for Shining Force 3. Pure Gold.

Download this episode.
Click here to view the list of all podcasts.

Linkage:
Two Party System as explained by Chris Rock
SEGA Commercial Attacking Nintendo
90s Report on Violent Video Games w/ Peter Jennings
Arabian Prince: She’s Got A Big Posse
Chad Warden.
Fanboy.com’s definition of ‘fanboy’

Note: I realize the current use of the word “fanboy” is much different from the old sports term and the fanzine called Fanboy. And both of those terms are not quite the same as using fanboy as a general concept relating to a two-sided, brand-fascination logic.

Mr Benja.