Pixelated PC Engine

Anyone who has been coming to this blog for any amount of time knows that I'm a big fan of the 16-bit system called the PC Engine. (Hell, I even started a second blog--I Was a Teenage PC Engine Fan--dedicated to this awesome console, although I haven't updated it in ages.)

There are a ton of reasons I've been enamored with this "little system that could" since I was a teen, of course. The main one is that the console itself--which is the size of about three CD cases stacked on top of one another--is the definition of cool (and sleek). Another reason: Its games are packed onto credit-card-sized cartridges known as HuCards. Oh, and then there's the content of said HuCards: Colorful, quirky titles like Coryoon, Hany on the Road, Obocchama Kun and PC Genjin are the rule rather than the exception when it comes to the PC Engine catalog.

I bring all of this up in order to explain the illustration below, which otherwise may confuse some of you.

It was created by a German artist who calls himself (on Flickr, at least) bartotainment. It caught my attention while perusing Flickr recently because I could tell what the illustration was supposed to represent even before I saw its (rather straightforward) title.

To see more of bartotainment's work, check out his Flickr photostream or what I believe to be his blog, PIXELkitsch.

See also: Previous PC Engine posts

Happy New Year!

Happy new year, everyone! Are you ready for 2012 to rock your world? I hope so, because it's here whether you're ready for it or not.

In terms of games and systems, are you looking forward to anything in particular this year? For instance, are you looking forward to the release of the Vita or the Wii U? Or maybe you're looking forward to the release of a certain title (or two or three)?

Personally, along with the games I wrote about in this post and in this post, I'm very much looking forward to learning more about the Wii U. I'm also looking forward to learning more about Microsoft's and Sony's next-generation consoles.

The image above was created by bartotainment, by the way. It's actually an animated GIF, but apparently Blogger doesn't like such things. (Either that or I just don't know how to imbed them properly, which wouldn't surprise me at all.)

Anyway, if you'd like to see how the Galaga-esque (or maybe I should say Aleste-ish, thanks to the ship?) creation is supposed to look--you know, moving and all that--check out this post on the artist's blog, PIXELkitsch.