My nephew's 16th birthday is coming up and he always asks for, and gets (from me) gift cards from Game Stop. But I just gave him one for Christmas and wanted to at least do something fun with the rather bland "here's some cash in plastic form" gift.
We both love The Simpsons. In the seventh season episode "Marge Be Not Proud", Bart wants a violent game called "Bonestorm" but all Marge knows is he wants a game, and says "Now, I know you love video games, and I asked the clerk which is the one every boy wants."
He thinks it's going to be "Bonestorm", but gets this:
(he pretends to be happy and the episode ends on a touching note. Under the end credits, we see just how lame the game is.)
Soooo, I thought I'd duplicate the experience for my nephew, with the added twist of him already being familiar with the source material (even though the episode first aired when he was 3).
Viola:
I went to the flea market and grabbed an old Nintendo cartridge for $5 (which I thought was a little much). I wanted an old game not just because of cost, but also as part of the "clueless adult" joke, that I'd be so out of it that I didn't know the difference between an X-Box 360 and a 23-year old gaming system.
A screengrab, some Photoshop time, and a printout to decal paper later, I had my label! (I know I didn't match the fonts precisely but I didn't feel like doing a ton of hunting for them. The type from the screengrab wasn't translating well as-is.)
I considered making packaging for it as well, but it would've been a LOT more work and wouldn't really add anything to the joke.
I completed the joke by including a hand-written letter in cursive (which I haven't used to that extent in years), stealing Marge's line and adding other "you kids and your penny whistles and 23 Skidoos" exaggerations of our generational gap. I signed it "Love, Uncle Jay (age 87)"
I'm sure he (and his dad) will get a kick out of it.
Oh, and I taped the Game Stop card to the back of the cartridge.
We both love The Simpsons. In the seventh season episode "Marge Be Not Proud", Bart wants a violent game called "Bonestorm" but all Marge knows is he wants a game, and says "Now, I know you love video games, and I asked the clerk which is the one every boy wants."
He thinks it's going to be "Bonestorm", but gets this:
(he pretends to be happy and the episode ends on a touching note. Under the end credits, we see just how lame the game is.)
Soooo, I thought I'd duplicate the experience for my nephew, with the added twist of him already being familiar with the source material (even though the episode first aired when he was 3).
Viola:
I went to the flea market and grabbed an old Nintendo cartridge for $5 (which I thought was a little much). I wanted an old game not just because of cost, but also as part of the "clueless adult" joke, that I'd be so out of it that I didn't know the difference between an X-Box 360 and a 23-year old gaming system.
A screengrab, some Photoshop time, and a printout to decal paper later, I had my label! (I know I didn't match the fonts precisely but I didn't feel like doing a ton of hunting for them. The type from the screengrab wasn't translating well as-is.)
I considered making packaging for it as well, but it would've been a LOT more work and wouldn't really add anything to the joke.
I completed the joke by including a hand-written letter in cursive (which I haven't used to that extent in years), stealing Marge's line and adding other "you kids and your penny whistles and 23 Skidoos" exaggerations of our generational gap. I signed it "Love, Uncle Jay (age 87)"
I'm sure he (and his dad) will get a kick out of it.
Oh, and I taped the Game Stop card to the back of the cartridge.
