𝗘𝗫𝗣 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗼𝗵𝗼 𝗪𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗗𝗧𝗟𝗔 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀
Classic video games, rooftop sunsets, and tunes by @_mel_city_ … What more could you ask for on a Sunday?
Shoutout to everyone who pulled up. See y’all at the next one! 🫡
𝗘𝗫𝗣 🤝 𝗦𝗼𝗵𝗼 𝗪𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗗𝗧𝗟𝗔
Real Gamer Hours touched down on the West Coast, bringing people together over classic games, cocktails, and music by @_mel_city_ .
Sometimes IRL > online… 😏
See you at the next one!
Handheld Summer is around the corner 👀
Back in 2008, BAPE and Nintendo collaborated on a special DS Lite. The launch coincided with BAPE’s 15th anniversary. At the time, the DS Lite was the prime handheld from Nintendo, as the collaboration launched months prior to the DSI’s launch in Japan.
As with any hype collaboration, the BAPE Baby Milo DS Lite was an instant need for gamers and hypebeasts alike. The handheld was released on April 1, 2008, exclusively in Japan (peep the last slide for a look at the lineup). The white model was made available only at the @bapexclusiveaoyama location in Tokyo, with the gold model only being available for BAPE CARD holders. Reports suggest that the gold model was limited to around 100 units total.
As gamers rekindle their love with vintage handhelds, the price of the Baby Milo DS Lite has shot up. Currently, you can find the console for around $1,000. Listings that include the complete packaging are closer to $2,000, though. As a result, the Baby Milo DS Lite has become a grail in the gaming space- especially now that seemingly every gamer is back on handhelds.
Hayley Williams has been a barrier breaker.
Back in 2008, the lead singer of Paramore was riding a high tide. The band’s debut album “Riot!” was a massive success. That year, the band also had the privilege of being featured on the Twilight Movie soundtrack with the song ‘Decoded’. @yelyahwilliams would be presented with a special opportunity that year.
The development team behind the Guitar Hero games approached her to appear in their game, Guitar Hero World Tour. Hayley would take them up, getting really into the project. It was only after she signed up that she realized how big a deal it was: Hayley would become the first female artist to be featured in a Guitar Hero series.
Of course, this was a massive deal. The series was at its peak, putting out title after title of games that allowed fans to feel like they were in a band. This was no different. Fans could rock out with Hayley and play Paramore’s biggest song ‘Misery Business’.
Paramore fans were obsessed. Her appearance would become popular fodder for Tumblr. Fans would even make sprites of Hayley’s character in the game.
Hayley would call it an honor to work on the game. She would joke about how the game would immortalize her. Little did she know that she was always on that path.
Twenty years later, Hayley Williams is a multiplatinum recording artist, a Grammy winner, and a critically acclaimed songwriter. She is currently on pace to sell out her Second Solo Tour in as many years. Talk about being immortalized.
Did you score any tickets to the @hwhq Show Tour coming later this year?
Sega and Swatch almost gave us the first internet watch back in 2000.
On February 14th of 2000, Sega and Swatch held a joint press conference to announce their ambitious project. They wanted to provide a watch with internet access.
Though using a smartwatch today may be part of our daily routine, this was almost unheard of at the beginning of the Internet age.
The idea was to use the internet to link the Sega Dreamcast with the collaborative watch. The Dreamcast’s built-in modem would download information, like movie showtimes, from the internet and transfer it into the memory chip on the watch.
The scope of the project was ambitious, as Sega and Swatch intended to place special adaptors where you could connect your watch to popular areas like movie cinemas and museums. That said, it was not unrealistic, as Swatch was already using something they called “Swatch Access” that stored ski passes at 500 Sky resorts in 30 countries.
Special prototypes of the watch and the connecting accessory were made and displayed at the press conference. There was even a special Dreamcast console that was created for the announcement. None of that was ever released to the public, though. The watch, which was going to retail for between $130-$180, never officially launched, though. There was never an official reason given for the cancellation. It is speculated that the cancellation was related more to the discontinuation of the Dreamcast rather than the project being too ambitious.
Ultimately, the only watch to release from the partnership then was a Sonic the Hedgehog watch in 2001. It had no internet access, unfortunately.
Welcome to EXP Samples- our new series that will highlight our favorite video game samples in music.
For our debut volume, we are covering a song that was so moving that it became a canvas for rappers to tell their stories.
When Kingdom Hearts II launched in 2006, it was met with big expectations. Those expectations were met, and to this day it is regarded as one of the best games of all time.
The soundscape was as fascinating as the gameplay, too. Yoko Shimomura returned as the composer. Hikaru Utada was tapped by Shumomura to create the game’s theme. That theme ended up becoming ‘Sanctuary’. The titular song evoked feelings of longing, feelings of growth, that resonated with fans. It also resonated with several artists in Hip-Hop.
At the peak of the ‘Blog Era’ @xtothev sampled ‘Sanctuary’ on his break-out mixtape ‘Zero Heroes’. XV, who was known for his punchlines and clever references to pop culture was one of the faces of the ‘Backpack Rap’ era of the time. And on a mixtape loaded with features from the likes of Pusha T, Kendrick Lamar, and J.Cole, ‘When We’re Done’ became a standout track. Held together the ‘Sanctuary’ sample, the song reflected on life- and what it means to truly live.
In 2016 @frenchmontana sampled ‘Santuary’ for a song titled ‘Sanctuary 2’. French was firing on all cylinders at the time- becoming the face of consistency in Rap. ‘Sanctuary 2’, though, allowed him to slow down- and reminisce on those we have lost.
Houston Rapper @sauce_walka102 would arguably make the most of the sample in 2018, though. The Kingdom Hearts II theme would become ‘Ghetto Gospel’ which to this day is Sauce’s most popular song. That year Jay-Z would name the song one of his favorites of the year, a compliment Sauce took in stride.
Sanctuary’s beautiful composition made for an iconic song. The legacy of the song lives through one of the best video games of all time- and the emotional and reflective Rap songs that sampled it throughout the years.
Most people born after 1990 met him on a screen before they ever saw him on a ramp. Today, the Birdman turns 57.
Tony Hawk landed the first 900 in competition at the 1999 X Games. A month later, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater hit PlayStation. He peaked as a skateboarder and became immortal as a character in the same summer. One version of him retired. The other one never did, and to be honest, he’s still out there RIPPING!
This game put his talent in the hands of millions of kids who had never watched a Bones Brigade tape, never been to a park, never heard of vert style, or thought goofy footed was talking about Mickey’s best friend. He taught us trick names, gave us a legendary soundtrack, and handed kids who didn't skate a piece of skate culture they could actually access. Whether that's beautiful or complicated probably depends on who you ask.
Happy birthday to @tonyhawk 🦅
We are officially a month out from the 2026 FIFA World Cup, but one of the best parts about the tournament is not returning.
The first World Cup stand-alone game was launched in 1986, the last time Mexico hosted the World Cup.
EA’s partnership with FIFA took these World Cup titles to the next level. The 2002 edition had arcade-like skills, all the while an orchestral performance played out when you scored a goal.
With expansive rosters, immersive environments, additional face scans, and official jerseys, the World Cup titles truly felt like a chance to be a part of the biggest tournament in sports. These games allowed a world where our underdog nations could finally lift a World Cup trophy- an experience several countries will not get to live, unfortunately.
Things changed in 2018, when the 2018 World Cup's game was added as DLC to the yearly FIFA Soccer launch. In 2022, the pattern held. No special packaging. No massive promotional campaign.
When EA Sports and FIFA severed ties in 2022, it became clear that we would not be seeing World Cup titles from EA Sports. That reality is now here.
Every FIFA World Cup game expanded on the one before- honoring cultures, finding new ways to visually improve on FIFA titles. All the while, they remained fun and immersive.
Now that they are gone, their absence is truly felt in recent FIFA titles and football as a whole.
Our Pokémoms really held us down.
Whether they were guiding us in-game by hooking us up with essential gear or reminding us to be grateful for our beloved Pokémon, they were always there.
Some moms, like Delia Ketchum, liked to troll their kids. Despite that, they always came through when it mattered most.
Happy Mother’s Day to the Pokémoms.
Being serious, though, Happy Mother’s Day to the maternal figures in our lives who guided us, uplifted us, motivated us, and allowed us to spend countless hours on our games.
Before sneaker heads had disposable income, they had the NBA Store in NBA Live ‘05.
The NBA Store allowed players to purchase items like headbands, socks, sneakers, and classic jerseys for points earned by completing tasks during gameplay.
For young, impressionable sneaker heads, the NBA Store was the closest they could get to having a sneaker collection. By grinding out the game or using a cheat code that unlocked all shoes, sneaker heads could unlock classic sneakers like the Black Cement 3, the Bred 11, the Olympic 7s, and many, many more.
Through the NBA Store, NBA Live ‘05 allowed fans to feel connected to the world of sneakers in ways plenty of sneaker fans could not afford at the time. 🏀
Studios really used to use video games to market their movies.
Video game tie-ins were a quintessential part of the Blockbuster movie marketing campaign. For kids growing up in the 2000s, these games provided a unique opportunity to expand on the films that were forming our tastes and eating up our attention span.
Games like GoldenEye became the golden standard, in more ways than one. King Kong had the film's superstars involved. Meanwhile, Rockstar Games made an epic video game in The Warriors that launched 26 years after the movie came out.
By the mid 2000s, as many as 40 movies a year were receiving a video game tie-in. Not all of them were good, of course, but they serve as a representation of an era of film that is long gone. Because of that sheer volume and the reception, games based on movie IPs are now developed with more care.
Several of these games changed video game IPs forever- like Spider-Man 2’s revolutionary web-slinging. And though that era is long over, we miss booting up our consoles to play the game attached to whatever movie we are currently obsessed with.
In 2010, CTA Digital Launched the Inflatable Kart for the Nintendo Wii.
Known for creating immersive accessories for the Wii console, the Inflatable Kart took the immersion to the next level.
At E3 2010, the Kart was the talk of the convention. Virtually all blog coverage from that year's event at least mentions the CTA Inflatable Kart in passing. Many of the pictures from that convention on the internet actually feature media members trying the cart firsthand.
Many reports from E3 credit the Kart for how fun it was to actually experience Mario Kart on the Wii on another level. The spinning steering wheel was designed to hold your Wii remote- only further bringing the feeling of driving a kart to life.
The Inflatable Kart could hold up to 300 pounds and retailed for a reasonable $40. Pump sold separately, of course.
CTA’s Inflatable Kart is now remembered for how ridiculous it truly was to visually see an adult in an inflatable. That said, it was an era-defying accessory that complemented one of the biggest franchises in gaming with Mario Kart, as well as other WII racing titles.
