News Vintage Video Games Go Highbrow

How about a bit of lunchtime culture? Wired reports on the 'i am 8-bit' art exhibition that opens Today at LA's Gallery 1988, which features exhibits that pay tribute to computer games from the '70s and early '80s:

Pac-Man just turned 25, but he's looking older. Much, much older. He's haggard and wrinkled and toothless, and he's being fed power pellets through an IV drip next to his rocking chair.

At least that's how the arcade icon is depicted in Pac-Man in Hospice, a new painting by artist Greg Simkins. "I thought back to how much these games meant to us as kids," said Simkins. "And I wondered, what happened to the characters in old games while we all grew up?"

Actually, they seem to be doing just fine. That's the impression viewers get from the i am 8-bit art exhibit, opening April 19 at Los Angeles' Gallery 1988. Simkins and more than 100 other artists contributed to this show that pays homage to video games of the late '70s and early '80s.

"That era represents such a mysterious and innocent time for technology," said Jensen Karp, co-owner of Gallery 1988. "Kids like me saw Intellivision and NES as pure miracles. We thought that was as good as it was going to get, and we were pretty happy with that. We're doing the show to bring back that naïve innocence." ​

More culture and artistic looks at games of yore here

 

Link straight to the artwork (from goo's post) if you are lazy like me:
http://www.wired.com/news/images/67251_eightbit1.html

Also, a guide for a modded 8 foot nes controller including circuit diagrams.
(They are trying to get into Guinness)