game over skull gaming

I hate skull t-shirts, but I love video games.

So while this t-shirt from bytelove should cause extreme ambivalence, the execution of their design theme was done so well, I'm no longer on the fence. I'm a fan.

Most everyone has memories of playing "Pong" or "Pitfall" on their old Atari 2600 systems, but for me, some of my fondest gaming memories came a little later on in the arcade timeline.

The first is playing a game on my first "real" computer (with a keyboard and a floppy disk drive :), an Atari 1200XL. The game was called Bruce Lee and it was freakin' awesome. Just seeing the screenshots from the glorious 8 bit game gives me the chills and makes me want to go on an eBay treasure hunt to get my hands on the necessary gadgets needed to get that game up and running again!

I can remember hours spent playing at the computer sitting on my parent's kitchen counter (that's where they kept computers back in the day) trying to master a level or kill a boss, with the electronic game soundtrack playing with the floppy disk sounds spinning like a DJ's turntable in the background. To this day, if I find a great videogame, I can pretty much say goodbye to my productivity over the next few days.

My next 2 favorite gaming memories came a few years later during middle school. Around 6th or 7th grade, the best thing in the world to do was to head down to the local 7-Eleven or the local mall and spend countless hours and quarters playing coin-op games. I remember handing the cashier at the convenience store dollar after dollar, day after day saying "Can I get 4 quarters?"

The 2 games I played the most were Solar Warrior and Ten Yard Fight. Solar Warrior had levels and levels of different types of arcade fun: space shooting, side scrolling action, tough bosses at the end of each level...oh man! 10 Yard Fight was actually a pretty crappy top down view football game, but I remembered playing it because while you were playing offense, in order to fight off a tackler, you had to shake the joystick all around.

To me, good t-shirts can be like great music: when you wear (hear) one, it can bring back fond feelings and memories almost instantly. I think that's why so many t-shirts sell at live musical concerts. Not only is it a great convergence of t-shirts and music, but the shirt also serves as a memento of the unique experience that you have when you see music performed live.

If you're a fan of video games, fond memories, or even if you're a fan of skulls, check out this Game Over t-shirt that mashes up some of the greatest video game controllers of all time into a colorful skull t-shirt design that just works. Big thanks to the folks at bytelove for sending one my way!