Ready Player One is a futuristic novel by Ernest Cline (writer of Fanboys) that presents a dismal future in which most of the population spend all the time inside a vast virtual world called the OASIS. The eccentric inventor of the game was obsessed with 80s pop culture. Upon his death he devised a game to pass off his massive fortune to someone who could beat a series of challenges designed to test the player’s knowledge of the geeky bits of culture he was so obsessed with. Join Rob, Tim, and Tommy as they discuss the book, including spoilers, and try to decide if the pop culture references make the book unique or ruin the whole story.

Here’s proof that everything is done better with 8-bit graphics and chiptunes. Witness this “Fox Retro” video created by production company PUNGA. It reimagines classic ’80s TV shows like Happy Days, Diff’rent Strokes, and The A-Team as lo-res video game graphics. They get mashed up with the likes of Pac-Man, Galaga and Donkey Kong.

Via Laughing Squid

Lots of video games have a “God mode” where you have infinite lives and the game is a breeze to complete. What about the opposite? What if all the classic games had an extra, super-hard mode? That’s what this video from animator Volker Thimm asks. The results are pretty hilarious. The new twist on Frogger has to be my favorite.