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Retromania — 3D pixel (voxel) art tribute to the 8-bit gaming era.
Available as a high-quality art print.

More images: MetinSeven.com.

Author Blake J. Harris surrounded by Sega and Nintendo.

By: Nick Eskey

Once upon a time, Nintendo resurrected what remained of the home console market, and thus ruled the gaming world. Almost 95% of the market belonged to them. People didn’t play videogames, they played “Nintendo.” But then, a competitor slowly loomed in sight. Sega’s star was on the rise, threatening the hold that Nintendo held over the industry. And a war was on. It wasn’t fought on any battlefield with guns, but in the retail market.

Blake J. Harris lived in the time where Nintendo and Sega’s war was at its peak. In his adulthood, Blake realized that there wasn’t anything officially written with a deep level of research regarding that time. So he took it upon himself to take three years to write what he later entitled “Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and The Battle that Defined a Generation.” But aside from himself, Blake also collected a few others who actually “fought” in the battle: Bill White and Perrin Kaplan on behalf of Nintendo of America, and Tom Kalinske and Al Nilsen on behalf of Sega of America.

During the high sales of the NES, Sega wanted to create a mascot of their own. Nintendo had Mario after all. Al Nelson was presented with two possible candidates: Something that as Al put it looked a lot like “an egg shaped, weeble-wobble character,” and a spike-haired hedgehog that dated a human girl. “I chose the lesser of two evils.”

Around the same time, president of Sega Japan approached Tom Kalinske and asked him to help place his company in a prime position in the market. Tom had worked with Flinstones Vitamins and Matel (on their franchises such as Barbie, He-man, and Matchbox). The president of Sega had heard of Tom when he was with Matel, and sought him out after he left the company. Tom Kalinske suggested to the board that they take out Altered Beast (the game that originally was bundled with it) and replace it with Sonic. He also wanted a lowered price for the system, aggressive marketing that called out Nintendo, and more games made for adults. The Japanese executives didn’t agree with him, but the president had brought him on to help Sega, so he allowed the moves.

It was Bill White of Nintendo who had to steer the marketing when Sega had started to exert itself. He first came in 1987 when Nintendo was attempting to resurrect the collapsed home console market. Bill tried hard to advertise the titles themselves, which he knew would “drive the hardware.” He also helped to sell the movie rights to Mario, which lead to the box office flop “Mario Bros. 2000.” “I was told to not get anything less than $100,000,” said White. “But at the end of the day, it really was about using it in hopes of further driving the brand.”

When Sega started to gain ground on what use to be Nintendo territory, Perrin Kaplan was brought in as someone who was outside of the industry. “I was a fresh face,” she said. “And I definitely didn’t play games.”

When Tom’s aggressive marketing started, they boasted about their faster processes, and poked fun at how slow Nintendo’s hardware’s was in comparison. The aggressive marketing was paying off. “It was an exciting time where we felt we could get a piece of the pie,” said Al Nelson. Bill White pushed for the Super Nintendo which was in the works to get released sooner. “Our competitor was 16 bit… I felt we needed to match it, but the executives felt that the NES still had legs. That there were still homes that it could still find itself in.” So instead, Bill pushed for large marketing campaigns. They did the Nintendo Championships that toured the malls, “so people could play the game.” Bill continued to use the games as a big focus.

Sega took to another tactic and marketed their system more to teenagers. “Nintendo marketed more for kids,” said Tom Kalinske. “We decided to be unique… We were on college campuses and concerts… it was very grass roots.”

Eventually, Sega had claimed a good slice of what use to be Nintendo’s. This became a wakeup call to Nintendo. “Nintendo was poked, made fun of. And when awakened, it went back to what it was best at.”

Today, we all know how the wars ultimately ended. But for the time, it created competition, and forced videogames into new directions that are still felt today. So even though Sega is no longer in the console industry where Nintendo still is, the war they fought definitely shaped the generation we live in now.

For more on battle between the two, go and pick up Blake J. Harris’ book, “Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and The Battle that Defined a Generation.”

So you thought you used to play 2D games. If you had taken a look behind the screen, then you'd have seen this. The featured game is Donkey Kong from Nintendo, a classic 8-bit video game for the arcades, released in 1981.

You're invited to Sevensheaven.nl for more imagery.

So you thought you used to play 2D games. If you had taken a look behind the screen, then you'd have seen this. The featured game is Donkey Kong from Nintendo, a classic 8-bit video game for the arcades, released in 1981.

You're invited to Sevensheaven.nl for more imagery.

So you thought you used to play 2D games. If you had taken a look behind the screen, then you'd have seen this. The featured game is Donkey Kong from Nintendo, a classic 8-bit video game for the arcades, released in 1981.

You're invited to Sevensheaven.nl for more imagery.

Illustration and graphic poster design.

More at Sevensheaven.nl

Style experiment with 2D and 3D elements, reflecting the legendary computer game Donkey Kong (1981).

More at Sevensheaven.nl

3D pixel (voxel) art experiment.

More at Sevensheaven.nl

So you thought you used to play 2D games. If you had taken a look inside your monitor, then you'd have seen this.

The featured game is Donkey Kong from Nintendo, a classic 8-bit game for the arcades, released in 1983.

Would be great to see a series of these scenes released as tangible designer gadgets. If anyone is interested to realize that, just get in touch with me. I can deliver the 3D scenes ready for rapid prototyping.

I'm planning to create more scenes like this, derived from other 8-bit classics, so stay tuned. Here's Impossible Mission.

More at Sevensheaven.nl

I'm super proud to announce that I'm one of the three Iam8bit artists selected to "perform" at the Nintendo DS1 Launch Event. It's this Saturday (April 4th) at Universal City Walk 9PM to 1AM.

To celebrate the newest Nintendo System, a lucky few (maybe even you) will receive a free poster...


...and to make it extra cool, I won't be just signing them, I'll actually drawing you people into the poster! So, make sure you wear your best outfit to be immortalized!

Here's the exclusive shirt and stickers as well that will only be available Saturday!


I feel super honored to be a part of this, and hope all of you can come and have fun! Hope to see ya there!

Here's my pieces for this year's I Am 8-Bit art show this Thursday!

Wooden Mario:
(Acrylic on wood)



Yes, I did all the cutting, carving, sanding and screwing together all of these pieces. It was super time consuming, but totally worth it.

Wooden Luigi:
(Acrylic on wood)




Oh, and they are kinda big.

Luigi is almost 4' tall.

Wooden Link:
4" x 6"
(Acrylic on wood)


The fun part of Link was carving out the shield and sword.


All of this woodworking actually reminded me of making Pinewood Derby Cars for Cub Scouts with my Dad. We would spend weeks in the soggy basement with a radial saw, jigsaw, a scale and sandpaper. That was fun and almost won best of show too!


Next up: TRIBUTE TO GYGAX show

"What the Shell?!" has won Cartoon of the Month on Frederator!

Wow! I didn't even know that there was such a thing! Look at all this loot!


I would like to thank everyone that worked on the short, Channel Frederator, and especially all the viewers that voted! This is a big honor. Thank you!

Here's the interview if anyone missed it.

This is a short film I directed for the King Of Kong DVD.




I don't know if you're familiar with this movie, but it is great. It's an epic battle of good and evil. It's about Steve Wiebe vs. Billy Mitchell for the highest score on Donkey Kong. The movie is really more about the players.

After watching this movie, I think that Weibe deserves the title, BUT I also think the Billy Mitchell is an AMAZING gamer! One of the top of our lifetime. He's portrayed as the villian, but he is still deserves the recognition for his gaming feats. Just to put it into perspective, there probably wouldn't even be competative arcade gaming if it wasn't for Billy Mitchell.

Jon felt that the movie needed some kind of historical perspective of the actual Donkey Kong game, so the short was born.

I sure didn't do this short alone! We were under the gun for this one. We turned it around in 2 weeks--and that's all after hours work! It was a huge labor of love for everyone that worked on it at I Am 8bit Studios:

Written and Produced by Jon M. Gibson
Told by Eric Bauza
Music by 8 Bit Weapon
Designed by Steve Lambe and I
Animated by Tony Mora and I
After Effects by Matt Gadbois

Here's my animatic, just be warned, the whole thing is rough and on yellow post-its.



Every short starts with what is called a color script. This is a way to keep and overview of the whole film's color. It's a way to plan out the intensity and relationships of all the colors in all the scenes in order. Color is SUPER imporant. It basically dictates the emotions in the film--all following the story that is.

"Shiggy" Shigeru Miyamoto. I hope I've done him proud!


I loved designing DK. I must say that I despise the new DK design--ruined by RARE.


Here's some of Steve's Nintendo businessmen:

Thanks again everyone for such a fine job, and especially New Line for paying for it!

By Anatoly Liberman

Insanity is a relative concept. What’s meat (normalcy) for one is insanity (poison) for another. Language shows how fluid the boundaries of madness are in human consciousness. One can rise from the abyss or fall into it depending on the caprices of the speaking community. Especially characteristic is the history of the adjective mad. (more…)

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