That’s right, what we have here turns your iPad into an old time Space Invaders arcade cabinet. The cabinet may only have one button and a ball-top joystick for your gaming, but it also offers a charging dock with stereo speakers and a headphone jack. This looks like a must-buy for Space Invader geeks like me.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

It will hit Japan on October 11. We have no idea if or when it will arrive on our shores. Unfortunately, the launch price for our Japanese friends works out to be about $205 (USD). Yes, that is more than twice the price of the iCade and Atari’s offering is expected to be  just $60. Both have more buttons. You are really paying for that Space Invaders branding. They may have to lower the price to compete, unless Space Invaders loving geeks are richer than I thought.

[@johnnyram via GameSetWatch via TUAW]

This thing of geek beauty from watchmaker Romain Jerome is being made in collaboration with TAITO, and they look awesome. Each one will feature a steel case “coalesced with fragments from the Apollo 11 capsule.” So these invaders have actually been in space to a certain extent.

Two versions of the watch are being made, one for day (the full color one), and one for night (with glowing “Superluminova” invaders). At as little as $10k a piece, why not buy both? Each Space Invaders watch is being made in a very limited run of just 78 pieces. Even so, if you do the math on that, once they sell out, Romain Jerome and TAITO stand to pocket a tidy sum $1,560,000. Not a bad days work for the Space Invaders, eh?

[via Obvious Winner]

The Tablecloth Hour features a red “tablecloth” controller which players (or red bears wearing red fezzes) yank from the front of the machine as you watch various tabletop items wobble on the screen above.

I like how the controller has a button on it labeled “POSH” – I’m assuming that’s Engrish for “PUSH”, but maybe it’s just a very swanky game.

[Source Room Aries (JP) via Arcade Heroes via Tiny Cartridge]

While these Bubble Bobble pillow covers probably won’t keep you quite on the edge of your seat as playing a game of Taito’s retro classic, they will look great sitting on your couch (or your cave of monsters). Each pillow case is quilted lovingly by Etsy artist raindrops23, and made up of 256 1-inch squares – each representing a pixel from the game. And you can count on your pillows being one-of-a-kind as raindrops never repeats the same combination of pixel fabrics.

The Bubble Bobble pillow cases sell for $38 (USD) each over at raindrops23′s Etsy shop. You’ll need to provide your own 16-inch square pillow inserts.

Created in collaboration with Taito, these Star Wars Lightsaber Hiraku pens not only write, but they light up thanks to a colorful LED insider the “sword.” They’re working on four different models, including both Jedi and Imperial sabers to sign your contracts with. They look a little fat and stubby compared to a “real” lightsaber, but then again lightsabers aren’t really real, so I’ll forgive Taito and Lucas on this one.

You’ll have to wait until October 2010 to get yours, but NCSX is taking pre-orders now for $9.80 (USD) per sword.

The officially-licensed Star Wars Lightsaber Kei MP3 Player (maybe they mean “mou kei“, which refers to a limb-dismembering lightsaber finishing move – let’s go with that) comes to us from the guys over at Japan’s Taito, the same guys responsible for licensing Space Invaders onto every item in the cosmos. These MP3 players look just like the handle off of a lightsaber, and are available in two different designs. Each one measures in at just over 3″ long, and can play songs stored on any microSD memory card. I actually haven’t found an officially-licensed Star Wars microSD memory card yet, but I’m sure there’s one out there. It probably has a picture of Jar-Jar Binks on it.

Want one of these? You’ll have to wait until February to get one. In the mean time, you can pre-order yours over at NCSX for $23.90 (USD).

I have no idea what the gameplay is like, but I imagine it has something to do with pressing those big pink and blye buttons at the bottom of the console.

The best translation I was able to come up with was “Specifications against two people were ‘happy button 2′, the four stations will be introduced gradually from Taito Mon”. Well, that explains it all.

That’s about all I’ve got. Anyone want to take a stab at figuring out how the heck you’d play this game? Feel free to improvise.

Taito is making these USB-powered desktop R2-D2 humidifiers for the Japanese market, but the fine folks over at NCSX have been kind enough to import these and make them available for the rest of us for just $20.90 (USD). Each R2 unit holds about 8 ounces of water, and sprays a fine mist into the air to keep things nice and humid. They’re not shipping until November, but for now you can drop off your pre-order and make sure you have yours in time for the cold weather when it really blows in.

This Space Invaders piggy bank looks just like a miniature cocktail table version of the classic arcade shooter. The 1/6th scale game has a tiny little version of the game on a built-in LCD screen. Just drop a 100 yen coin (between the size of a nickel and a quarter) into the slotto kick off the fun.

Each coin you drop into the slot adds another alien to the display – all the way up to 80 invaders. It also plays the familiar sounds of the retro classic. My Japanese isn’t very good, but from what I can tell from this press release, you might actually be able to play the game on the tiny LCD screen (please, oh please say it’s true!)

Scheduled for release later this month at a price of ¥5775 /$59 USD, the bank holds just enough to cover its own cost with a little bit to spare. No word on where you might be able to find these stateside, but if you’re willing to read a little Japanese, you can find more info over on the TakaraTomy website.

[via GamOvr]

I was hunting around looking for something entirely different when I spotted these limited-edition Invaders’ watches over at Japan’s ebten for ¥18,690 (appx. $207 USD).

The watch features an red dot-matrix display of the current time. With a press of the button, “Space Invaders” scrolls across the display, then a giant animated invader dances across the screen. And when it’s done, it’s “Game Over”, man. And before you start asking, the answer is “No,” you can’t actually play the game, so your score is permanently set to 240 points.

Only 500 of these extremely hard-to-find watches were ever made, so you better head on over to ebten with your Yen and your Japanese to English dictionary in hand if you want one before they all vanish.

The Anime-style video tells the story of a little girl and her encounter with those pesky Invaders. My favorite part has got to be the Vocoder-processed lyrics“We are Space Invaders. Here we come to be your friend. Space. There’s no need to be afraid…”

And now, sit back, relax, and enjoy – Space Invaders: The Music Video…

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I thought for sure they came to Earth to destroy civilization in a blaze of laser fire. But apparently, Space Invaders really here to tell us to pick up our trash. Really?

For some reason, the end reminds me of the scene where Ralphie decodes the secret B-E-S-U-R-E-T-O-D-R-I-N-K-Y-O-U-R-O-V-A-L-T-I-N-E message in A Christmas Story.

[Taito]

Japan’s LOTTE candy company recently partnered up with Taito to create a commemorative Space Invaders gum as part of the game’s 30th anniversary celebration. Other than the grainy product and assembly line photos above, I haven’t been able to find out anything else about this chewy treat.

What flavor is a Space Invader anyhow? I’m thinking maybe some sort of lime, since they’re probably filled with green space goo. What do you guys think?

[BTW - I'll give $10 bucks to the first person who can get me a pack of this rare gum.]

[via Taito Japan]

They come in the two designs shown above: one with a couple of large pixelated invaders, and the other design covered with tons of smaller alien dudes. Oh yeah, did I happen to mention that they glow in the dark? Sweet!

According to the product page over at importer NCSX, “The pillows are big enough to accommodate human heads, pets, and assorted wide loads,” making them perfect for use in my household.

They’re available for a limited time only and retail for $29.90 a pillow.

First of all, knowing that Space Invaders is 30 years old: how old does that make you feel? Me, um, I’d say I feel somewhere around super old. But let’s focus instead on everything cool that Taito is busting out in Japan for this special occasion: the Space Invaders KitKats, alarm clocks, iPhone wallpapers, neckties, and more.

But all of that pales in comparison to the special Space Invaders World War games they’ve released for play via the internet. Go you can choose from 3 different versions to play below (assuming you’ve got Javascript and Flash enabled).

Woohoo! Let the games begin. Happy Birthday, Space Invaders.

[via Trends in Japan]

But what’s in a name, really? Even if you are a stickler for factory-authorized products, these lamps are just too cool to pass up if you’ve got a serious retro-gaming obsession like me.

Space Intruderz are the brainchild of Yensen Páez and Chilean design shop Unison Idea Studio. And while it was difficult to find any details on where to purchase these lamps, a little bird told me they retail for around 23,500 Chilean Pesos (just under $48 bucks each). For more information on ordering, you’ll have to reach out to Unison via e-mail.

[via MoCo Loco]

Space Invaders Get Even puts you in command up to 300 individual pixelated aliens using your Wii-mote and Nunchuk controllers.

Using the Nunchuck, you direct a UFO to drop hundreds of aliens on forest, city and military targets, destroying everything in their path. You’ll be able to command the invaders to swarm and group in a variety of attack formations.

Taito hasn’t announced a release date for the game yet, but it’s expected to land sometime later this year (at least in Japan).

[Game Watch via VideoGamesBlogger]

Yep, Ted Baker is making these invader-inspired drawers, perfect for keeping your junk in check.

They’re available from Asos.com for £18 (about $35 USD – that’s some pricey underwear!) I guess we now know the right answer to the “boxers or briefs?” debate.

[via Wonderland]

Designed by Scandanavian design mavens Junk de Luxe, the shiny synthetic look kind of reminds me of those cheezy old Members Only jackets, only further reinforcing the 1980s theme.

Unfortunately, the only place I can find these is from Trendlovers in Denmark. So unless you happen speak Danish, you may be out of luck. If you absolutely must be kept warm by aliens this winter, you can always pick up a toasty Space Invaders scarf.

The latest in a series of merchandise Taito has issued for the 30th anniversary (now I feel really old) of the classic arcade game, these durable aluminum bottles are perfect for bikers, hikers or generally outdoorsy types. Now, the intersection of people who fit that description AND who like Space Invaders is probably close to infinitesimal, so I guess that’s why they’re only making a limited number of these.

Expected to ship in April 2008, you can pre-order one of the three designs from video game import shop NCSX for $12.50 each.

The Taito Transceiver hooks up to your mobile phone’s headset jack and lets you communicate with all the other truckers in your convoy. For those of you who weren’t around in the 1970s, the Citizens Band radio movement was the MySpace of the generation, starting out with truck drivers and hillbillies, but later spreading to suburban housewives.

Instead of emoticons and shorthand like LOL, OMFG and ROLFMAO, CB radio had it’s own language, inspiring such gems as “Breaker 1-9, there’s a Smokey in a plain white wrapper at your back door, so you better put the hammer down.”

Now that Judah Friedlander has succeeded in bringing trucker hats into fashion, why not pick one of these to complete the look?

[via CScout Japan]