The excellent, and affordable, line of Sega shirts from Japanese retailer UNIQLO are now available for purchase via the company's website. Sure, they only deliver within the United Kingdom, but that's a big step closer to, say, Texas, just to name a random location where someone might want to buy a shirt with the House of the Dead 4 logo on it.
Besides, we're mature enough to let our UK friends know about things they may enjoy, even if it doesn't benefit us in the least. Or if, among us, it just benefits Chris, as is the case this time. The Japanese shirts, by the way, come in Sonic-emblazoned bottles -- no idea if UNIQLO is doing the same in the UK.
Publishers in South Korea are pulling out all the stops to make sure gamers pick up their launch titles when the Wii officially debuts in the country on April 26. Though these aren't as glamorous (or as scandalous) as the Zack & Wiki pearl necklaces, Tecmo is giving away free shirts featuring characters Kooh and Arin with preorders for Swing Golf Pangya 2nd Shot.
Interestingly, the golf title will be released in Korea four months after the game arrived in the states, despite being a console spin-off of a Korean MMO. At least they'll get free shirts to make up for the delay! And they're still getting it before Europe (July 4th)!
The King of Games' "Get Ready" shirts, like all of their shirts, are mindblowingly awesome. The designs are attractive and interesting -- much more so than most gaming shirts. To us, they look a lot cooler than most non-gaming-related shirts. The new shirts from Meatbun are similarly spectacular and arty, while also being undeniably aboutvideo games.
Our discussion question comes in two parts: first, is it worth the premium "fashion" prices to get awesome, fashionable gaming shirts? Second, can a video game shirt be cool? We don't mind being visibly nerdy to an extent (though we have a rigorous Shirt Nerdiness Rubric), but then we don't really have to leave the house that often.
We've been drooling over the pictures of The King of Games' "Get Ready" line of t-shirts since 2006. Now we might have the chance to drool over an actual shirt! The company has announced that they're now selling the gorgeous t-shirts, featuring designs celebrating iconic Sega classics After Burner, OutRun, and Fantasy Zone, worldwide.
Unfortunately, shirts of this mindblowing quality come at a premium. KOG is selling the Fantasy Zone and OutRun shirts for 5040 yen ($50) each, and the After Burner design for 5775 yen ($57).
On an unrelated note, would anyone like to donate to the "Buy JC a Fantasy Zone shirt" fund? Don't mind the name -- the money goes to feed orphans or something.
As part of a "unique" t-shirt line, Japanese clothing retailer UNIQLO has unveiled a series of t-shirts celebrating three of Sega's iconic series: Sonic the Hedgehog, The House of the Deadand Virtua Fighter. The shirts feature simple, iconic designs (like Sonic's face, seen here, or individual VF characters), come in multiple colors, and cost only 1500 yen ($14.65) each. In short, they're just the kind of thing we'd like to see.
We'd say that, as usual, these are only available in Japan, but UNIQLO actually has stores in the UK, as well as one in New York. It is, then, possible that these have made it outside Japan, or may soon! We're just glad to be reminded of a time when Sega fandom was possible.
Gaming apparel. It's often only attainable through various specialty websites or other, more dastardly means. It appears that things are about to change, at least regarding indie games, as retailer Target is now carrying gaming apparel. Even better, each shirt only costs $12 and comes with a full version of the game. As you can see in the above picture, we think World of Goo is awesome. Also, you can see other gaming-related shirts.
As for whether your local Target is supporting this, unless you live in California, we can't tell you. Target has, for some reason, only included a list of CA stores carrying the merch. For that list, head past the break.
Love Dr. Mario above all others? Then this might be the most awesome thing you've ever seen -- or at least one of the most unique. It's a handmade tunic accented with bits of a licensed Dr. Mario fabric. Obviously, at $60, it's a little pricier than most of the gaming-related items like this we've seen, but in our esteemed opinion, it's as incredible (or more so!) than some. It's also nice and stretchy -- the better to fit a variety of sizes.
Japanese game shirt maker extraordinaire The King of Games is producing a special shirt in celebration of Sega's newest mascot revival. This NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams shirt comes in black or white and features glow-in-the-dark elements (NiGHTS and the text area on the black shirt, the moon and stars on the white shirt). Unfortunately, it not only costs 4,200 yen ($38), it's only available in Japan. Also, preorders for the thing opened two days ago and most sizes are already sold out.
Does that translate into interest in the game? We hope so! Does it translate into inconsolable sadness for us, sitting in stupid America with no NiGHTS shirts? Definitely.
Considering the amount of remixes Mims' hit rap single "This is Why I'm Hot" set off -- R. Kelly's "This is Why I'm Cold," the NBA's "The Phoenix Suns Are Hot," and Chubbs' "This is Why I'm Fat" for example -- we're surprised that it took this long for its catchy hook to reach video gaming's catch-phrase-hungry communities.
Mirroring Mims' insipid lyrics, the simplicity of SnorgTees' shirt design leaves no room for confusion on its message or the company's plans to rake in crazy money by exploiting our nostalgia-addled minds. We can imagine the office congratulations and "props" received by the young designer who paired the 8-bit fire flower with the narcissistic mantra. They all agree, this is why he's hot.
The $16.95 shirt comes in royal blue and black, its lowercase Myriad Pro text staying chalky white on both colors. If you haven't heard the song several hundred times already, you have the option of checking past the post break for an embedded music video of the club track.
Mark Newton and his coworkers at Gamestop received this "We're Building an Armii" shirt from their store's Nintendo representative, making sure to post a photo of their spoils for us to envy over with aching hearts. Thanks a lot, guys. Thanks for NOTHING.
We're not sure which war Nintendo plans on shipping these Miis to, but just how useful would these guys be in any combat situation? Playing Wii Sports: Tennis is one thing, but keeping your cool while you're under fire and your buddy next to you is filled with shrapnel, begging you to take him home and make things alright again like they were before, is another. March two klicks past the post break for a closer look at the shirt swag.
If this were anything but a Wii shirt, we might make some crack about objectifying women or stereotyping, or any number of -isms, because we're against badness in general. But we have to forgive this one, because frankly, the joke was begging to be made, and Nerdy Shirts gets a gold star for simplicity in presentation. Besides, a well-used dose of humor makes almost anything okay, as all of our favorite comedians have proved time and time again. Of course, not everyone will feel that way -- so feel free to let us know if you think this take on the Mii phenomenon is over the line.
Keeping track of all the Wii t-shirts being sold on the internet can be tough. Whenever we try to wade through our bookmarks to pick one out, it feels like we're drowning in a sea of outdated pages and bad puns.
OMG Tees has listed over a dozen of the best Wii-related apparel, providing photos, descriptions, and information on where to buy them. We've featured the Beatles and custom Mii designs before, but some of collected shirts (like the Bruce Wii one shown above) have managed to escape our attention until now.
Would you actually dole out cash for any of these shirts? Or are you more like us, always putting it off and telling yourself that you'll buy one as soon as you have a little more extra cash laying around?
Nintendo recently held a fashion show at their NintendoWorldStore in NYC, where gamers displayed clothing items for sale in the store, as well as fanmade creations. We've developed a new classification system for Nintendo fandom based on this event and the accompanying photo gallery:
People who play Nintendo games
People who wear Nintendo t-shirts
People who make their own Nintendo t-shirts
People who model those t-shirts at Nintendo events
We personally fall into level 3 of the Nintendo Fanboyism T-Shirt Scale. We think it's a pretty good measure of fandom, although it doesn't take into account the whole "working for a website called Wii Fanboy and writing about Nintendo all day" thing. Hmm.
This weird-looking t-shirt with the phrase "NO MORE HEROES" was spotted in Japan recently. Just from looking at the shirt, we have no idea if it's related to the Wii game, but the 4cr poster who purchased it seemed to think so, indicating that it is part of a line of No More Heroes shirts.
We'd like to see the full line of these shirts; we'd be unlikely to purchase this one, but we really like the idea of having some No More Heroes memorabilia. Suda 51's games and his company Grasshopper Manufacture's website prove that they are capable of remarkable stylishness. Check their shop for some amazing stuff that doesn't look like it was designed by a video game company. Of course, the store is for Japan only, but go and gawk anyway.
The best thing about the massive popularity of the Wii is that eventually we'll be able to wear something like this and not have to explain it. We can already imagine explaining to our grandparents that they're caricatures of prominent figures in a Japanese video game company, created using tools on that company's latest video game system. Oh, and we talk about these people a lot, for work.
This GDC '07 shirt features Mii versions of Satoru Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Reggie Fils-Aime. We'd totally wear it-- we're not out to win any popularity contests.
Mark Newton and his coworkers at Gamestop received this "We're Building an Armii" shirt from their store's Nintendo representative, making sure to post a photo of their spoils for us to envy over with aching hearts. Thanks a lot, guys. Thanks for NOTHING.
If this were anything but a Wii shirt, we might make some crack about objectifying women or stereotyping, or any number of -isms, because we're against badness in general. But we have to forgive this one, because frankly, the joke was begging to be made, and Nerdy Shirts gets a gold star for simplicity in presentation. Besides, a well-used dose of humor makes almost anything okay, as all of our favorite comedians have proved time and time again. Of course, not everyone will feel that way -- so feel free to let us know if you think this take on the Mii phenomenon is over the line.
Keeping track of all the Wii t-shirts being sold on the internet can be tough. Whenever we try to wade through our bookmarks to pick one out, it feels like we're drowning in a sea of outdated pages and bad puns.
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_thumbnail.jpg "Smash Bros. Brawl Snapshots")
