Hasta La Gadget!

What are crop circles trying to tell us? I have no idea, but I know that this HUGE Space Invaders art that takes up a whole mountainside can only mean one thing. The aliens are finally invading. And this is likely a signal for their human collaborators.

Remember when you used to make words or shapes in the snow by stamping your boot tracks or lying in the snow? Well, you never created anything halfway as cool as this. Sorry. This just blows your stupid snow angels away. Simon Beck is a snow art boot tracking pro. I mean that pro part. This guy walked and walked and walked, creating each little pattern piece until he created these incredible gigantic Space Invaders on the side of a mountain.

What the hell did you do today? Did you make aliens on the side of a mountain? With your feet? That aliens can see from space?

[Inhabitat via io9 via Obvious Winner]

…no, not that Alien Queen, just the pixelated 8-bit type appears on these fun, officially-licensed Space Invaders playing cards.

Designed by Pieter Woudt, these playing cards have a cool perforated design which lets you see through them, without being able to see the rank or suit of the card from the back. They’re actually even waterproof, so you can take them in the pool if you think you’ll be safer from the alien invasion in the water.

Each of the face cards features a different alien design, and the Joker is most definitely that little bugger of an invader who’s the last one left on the screen and races at you at what seems like 1000mph.

They’re available over on Amazon for about $9(USD) a deck.

Looking for a way to keep cosy as the temperature starts to drop? Well snuggle up in front of your gaming system and bust out some classic games with one of these awesome video game inspired blankets or throws to keep you toasty.

They’re handmade by artist Ana Petree Garcia of iamduckydale, and feature scenes from classic arcade and console games from the 8-bit era. Each one is very well detailed, and every pixel you saw on screen appears in the acrylic yarn patterns you see here. My personal favorite is the Donkey Kong blanket, but her Space Invaders, Pac-Man/Ms.Pac-Man and Mario/Peach designs are also pretty great.

Each piece is made-to-order so can take up to a month for the throws and up to two months for the blankets to be completed. Prices range from $120 to $260(USD), and you can find them all over at iamduckydale’s Etsy shop.

While we’ve definitely seen our share of video game themed bathrooms here on Technabob, all of the ones I’ve come across seem very much like they were intentionally done that way. Not so much with this bathroom, which has a subliminal message for all fans of retro gaming…

Look carefully at the tiny blue tiles, and you’ll see a Space Invader lurking there, right in front of the toilet. The guy who snapped this picture says his employee that installed the tiles in the bathroom of this drug treatment center is a video game fan, so he suspects it was intentional, but I like to think that it was totally random. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stared at the marble tiles in my bathroom and tried to imagine a pattern was there, like a demonic human face staring back – but it’s always my mind playing tricks on me – like the man on the moon, or Jesus on a grilled cheese sandwich.

Have you guys come across other video game characters lurking in seemingly random patterns? Feel free to post in the comments if you find any cool ones out there. And installations by Invader don’t count.

[via Reddit]

Retro gamers looking for the perfect thing to hang on the wall, look no further! This Space Invaders chalkboard is a great combination of gamer art with practical utility.

Created by 265design, the Space Invaders chalkboard is a dead ringer for one of the game’s numerous aliens, and provides ample writing surface for keeping track of shopping lists, reminders, or alien battle plans. I’m happy that they chose to go with this particular Invader, as some of the other shapes wouldn’t have provided much space to write notes. Can you imagine how little you could write on that pointy invader from the top row?

The Space Invaders chalkboard measures 23-1/2″(W) x 17″(H), is made from 3/4″ plywood and coated with primer and six coats of durable chalkboard paint, so it should stand up to plenty of writing and erasing over the years. You can grab it over on 265designs’ Etsy shop for $43.50(USD).