Category: Geek Art + Craft

Back in the day, Pole Position was one of my all-time favorite arcade games. Not only was it the first full-color POV racing game, it had some of the most groundbreaking graphics in its time. With today’s photorealistic racing games like the Gran Turismo and PGR series, it’s amazing how far we’ve come.

Do you like tiny art with vintage robot and video game themes? If you do, please enjoy the pop arty, old-timey stylings of Singapore artist JoE, aka Etsy seller monstergallery. These fun prints measure a wee 3 1/4″ x 3 1/4″ and are available in limited editions of 100 pieces. I love the fadey-scratchy finish on these pieces and the limited color palette.

While games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band are a blast to play, their out-of-the-box guitars don’t have a tremendous amount of personality. Now you can get your hands on some beautifully handpainted guitar controllers that’ll have all of your friends green with envy. Each limited edition $399 ArtGuitar is individually painted with logos and imagery from popular rock icons.

Even though we’re a couple of days into Spring, for so many of us in Northern climates, it still feels like the dead of Winter. It’s not too late to keep yourself toasty with one of these warm and wooly Space Invaders scarves. Handcrafted by Edinburgh textile artist Catriona McLaughlin (aka Wildcat Designs), this new Space Invaders scarf (version 2.0)

Check out these tiny little clay versions of video game consoles and their controllers. They’re so small that they’ll literally fit in the palm of your hand. These tiny consoles may look like the work of Dr.

If you’re like me, you probably killed more than a few weekends back in the Fall playing Portal. As you probably know by now, the cake promised as the reward for completing all the puzzles was a big fat lie.

[Update 4/1/2008: The contest is now closed. Thanks for all the great entries. The winning entries have been posted here.] Nintendo fanboys and fangirls, here’s a chance for you guys to win some awesome prizes. Just share your fondest Nintendo-related memories (by posting a comment below) and you could win an original custom Nintendo collage by fan favorite artist Chris Lange. Chris has generously donated the following prizes for the best entries that we receive: 1 Grand Prize winner Custom handmade ‘mini’ collage of any Nintendo character you want 5 Runner Up winners Signed 8×10 digital print of Mario, Yoshi, Waluigi, or Peach Plus, if we get at least 100 contest entries, we’ll throw in a random drawing for $50 Amazon certificate which you can use to buy a new Nintendo game with.

Looking for a way to make your game room really special? Look no further than these original 3-dimensional arcade artworks by sign maker Melissa Jones. Melissa creates original wood carvings of classic arcade characters, then creates a resin casting of the original and hand paints each one with bold acrylic colors. Her arcade designs include classics like Donkey Kong, Galaga, Robotron 2084, Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Q*Bert and Burgertime among others. Prices for individual castings range from about $20 to $60 a piece, but complete sets with a matching canvas backdrop run from $225 to $375.

For those of you out there who never played the 1989 Japanese game Zero Wing, “All your base are belong to us” might not mean anything (not like it made much sense even if you did play it). Then again, the awesomely bad Engrish phrase has permeated geek culture for quite some time now, so if you’re not familiar with it by now, you’ve been living under a rock for the last 7 years.

Ok, this has got to be the most wacky Nintendo-inspired item I’ve seen in a long time ever. Apparently somebody out there with a serious Mario fetish has decided to create a corset using his likeness.

Check out these fun Gameboy plush toys I came across in my recent Web travels. Featuring a whimsical, cartoony take on the classic hand-held gaming system, they’re the perfect gift for the Nintendo Fanboy or Fangirl in your life. Created by Wisconsin crafter KungFuCowgirl, each of the squishy game systems has its own unique personality, thanks to the slight variations in each handmade Gameboy. They measure in at just a wee-bit bigger than an original Gameboy and come in red, yellow, green, pink or teal.

Look at this fun squeezy Mac plush toy, made by talented crafter Maitreya over at craftlog. The idea was borne out of a need for a baby shower gift for a computer scientist and bioinformaticist. Being a nostalgic girl and Apple fan, the idea to make this old school design came naturally to her. Bonus: this was a patternless, freestyle creation.

USB memory sticks are a dime a dozen these days, so you’ve really got to stand out from the crowd if you want to get noticed. These soft, fuzzy critters will definitely latch on to your digital memories in a way you won’t soon forget. Designed by artist Nifer Fahrion of NifNaks, these invertebrate USB drives are handmade using wool felting techniques.

Who says arcade cabinets need to be made out of wood and metal? Why can’t they be soft and squishy? That’s what this crafter thought when she created this fun plush Pac-Man machine. Created by Lady Harvatine, the stuffed arcade machine captures the spirit of some of my fondest arcade memories.

I think some of us in the world would be likely to 1) get frustrated and/or 2) discard a broken handheld electronic game pretty quickly if we couldn’t fix it. Or is it just me? Whatever the answer is, I know the resourceful Josh Burker would bust a different move.

If you’ve got a serious Mario addiction, you might just have to break open your piggy bank for this. This fun quilt features the likenesses of Mario and his foes in the context of the NES platformer that really put the little Italian plumber on the map. It looks like Mario just hopped out of his green drain pipe, only to have to face a tough decision.