Hasta La Gadget!

Back in the day, all a guy (or girl) had to do was buy a ring and get down on one knee to propose to the love of their loves. Things have gotten more complicated these days, and proposals are no exception. But more than that, they’re also getting even more creative. So how do proposals work for two massive gamers? Mario-style, of course.

The image above was posted by Redditor urotsukidoji, who explained that the image showed how her gamer friend proposed to her gamer boyfriend.

Even in proposals, it seems like Player One always get the fancier controller, yes?

Best wishes to the now-engaged gamers (assuming he said yes, of course.)

[via Reddit via On The Level Gaming]

It is perhaps one of the greatest cult classics ever released on the Sega Genesis, and one of the most heralded titles that never spawned a successful spinoff or even franchise continuation. We’re talking about ToeJam & Earl, and it looks like it will be re-released for the first time ever on the PS3, as a downloadable promotion along with other vintage Sega games.

The publisher is apparently planning to launch a series of titles called Sega’s Vintage Collection. Jet Set Radio is another of the games allegedly set to launch on the PS3. But it is ToeJam & Earl that is gaining the majority of the attention. It has won all sorts of love for its two-player split-screen adventure gameplay, with randomized settings and goals that assured you’d have a different experience every time you played.

There was a largely unsuccessful sequel that also launched on the Genesis, and then the entire franchise was reborn on the original Xbox with a new game simply titled ToeJam & Earl, but that one was also a commercial flop (though potentially because the Xbox just didn’t have a wide enough audience at the time). Regardless, for fans of the original, this should be very welcome news. Stay tuned for official words from Sega.

[via Siliconera]

ToeJam & Earl reportedly coming to PS3 is written by Mark Raby & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Enough with that silly fake money in Farmville and the lack of real-world thrills in Zynga Poker. The country’s favorite social game company is looking to expand into the world of sin and will offer a poker game that allows players to gamble actual money sometime in the first half of 2013. However, don’t expect it to be hosted – or perhaps even playable – in the US, where online gambling is all but expunged due to several state laws banning the practice.

The announcement came from Zynga CEO Mark Pincus during a conference call today with investors. Just looking at some of the reports when it comes to this market makes it very easy to realize why the company would want to go down this new path. For example, Zynga users currently spend an average of $2 – $3 per month. Of course, multiply that by millions of users and you’re doing pretty well. But by comparison, online gambling sites typically see revenues of around $300 per paying user per month.

It will be the first time such a major name outside the world of gambling hopes to make it big in the online gambling world. Every other noted video game publisher has shied away from it because of many issues, not the least of which is that real-world gambling gives publishers an automatic “AO” rating from the ESRB, and most publishers are ingrained in the video game rating system so deeply that they don’t dare launch a game that doesn’t have that group’s stamp of approval. Of course, the legalities also play a huge role in this. This is going to be an interesting story to watch.

[via VentureBeat]

Zynga to offer real-money gambling in 2013 is written by Mark Raby & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

No one is expecting the innovative Android-based Ouya game console to be huge in size, but it might be even smaller than you’ve pictured. “Our console is quite small, around the size of a Rubik’s cube, and so it will easily fit anywhere in a room, or be easy to throw in a backpack,” said hardware designer Yves Behar in an interview.

The interview was posted on Kotaku. The Ouya – which boasts a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage – was first tipped off earlier this month when listings from AngelList.com referenced the device. Since then, it has been made official and gained viral attention since it was added to Kickstarter to earn development funds from people wanting to get in on the ground floor.

There are tens of thousands of investors in the Ouya project on Kickstarter. Most investors have plunked down at least $99, at which point the company says it will provide a console and a controller. Streaming video game devices appear to be the big thing these days. Onlive is as popular as ever, and is poised to get a large boost when it fully integrates with Google TV. So Ouya is entering this space at just the right time.

[via Kotaku]

Ouya will be about the size of a Rubik’s Cube is written by Mark Raby & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Say the words Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Dig Dug, Centipede, Galaga or Joust, and you’ve just named some of my all-time favorite arcade games. So when I stumbled onto these unusual variants of these 1980s classics, I was at once befuddled and at the same time intrigued.

These mash-up prints were created by 9times1minus1 (also known as “eight”) over on Etsy, and they envision the characters from iconic arcade games invading other games. So for instance, there’s Donkey Dug, which puts Pooka, Fygar and Dig Dug on Donkey Kong’s girders.

Then, there’s Joust Bros., which is the perfect synthesis of Joust and Mario Bros. I always thought those levels looked similar, and flinging turtles into the lava pit below makes just about as much sense as ostriches anyhow.

Other mashups include Donkey Burger (DK x BurgerTime), and the oddly named, but somehow appealing Ms. Paciaga (Ms. Pac-Man x Galaga).

While I’m not sure that I would have wanted to play all of these games, I have to say that some of them look like they would have worked just fine as 9times1minus1 envisions them. When you really think about it, did the plots and characters in any 1980s video game really make that much sense? Why couldn’t Jumpman have been a chef on a quest to make the perfect hamburger? I would have ponied up a quarter to try my hand at that.

If you’d like to line your walls with these unusual video games, they’re available for $25(USD) each as 16×20 digital prints over on Etsy.