I had an Apple Watch for a little while and got pretty bored of it. All it did was tell me to get up and walk every hour or give me notifications from emails about food subscription services. Admittedly, I got rid of it before emulators became available on Apple Devices and saw Brandon bending over his wrist to play Pokémon Gold. Still, if there had been more games and less ‘smart’ features that I didn’t actually need, I would have been a lot more keen on using it.
Well, it turns out that I didn’t need a smart watch, I just needed a play watch, and F84 (Floor 84 Studio) has teamed up with Taito to launch a Kickstarter campaign to make 1978 the only time you need on your wrist. With interchangeable bands and watch faces that are super nostalgic and send you right back to the golden days of the arcade hall, it’s a slick little timepiece that allows wearers to play Space Invaders anytime, anywhere. Space Invaders is a pretty simple game to play too, so I can see this being easier to use than Pokémon Gold… hopefully.
Dubbed the first of its kind by digital media experts and game creators F84, this piece of cutting-edge technology comes with fitness tracking and time functions but is based around the iconic arcade game. It pays homage to the game watches of old like the Nelsonic Zelda Watch while incorporating new features for a modern world and is a stylish tribute to TAITO’s impressive legacy.
F84 has a very impressive list of clients including Disney and Warner Brothers, so they’re certainly used to working with big names in the media space. One thing that excites me is that it says ‘1st edition’ on the official Kickstarter page; maybe we’ll be getting more games dropping after the initial launch for us to collect too! The campaign hasn’t launched yet, but you can register your interest to find out more about pricing when it goes live!
On a similar note, we recently got hands-on with Nubeo’s Space Invaders watch, a luxury timepiece that, while unable to play Space Invaders, is certainly a showstopper!
