Something simple and geeky to end the day.  A healed flesh peel by Kcir, alongside an excellent head crab removal tool.

“Area and state regulations do not allow the Companion Cube to remain here, alone and companionless.” - GLaDOS

Love is getting your wife’s name tattooed next to a weighted companion cube.  Just don’t drop her in an incinerator.

Tattoo by Joshua Ross from Mind’s Eye Tattoo in Emmaus, PA.

Let’s kick this week off on a fun note with this tattoo of Link from the gamecube Zelda game, The Wind Waker.

This game has the distinction of being one of the few Zelda games I never finished as the thought of spending hours digging up maps from the bottom of the ocean to give to a really annoying character in a green suit drove me batty.

Christina sent in her latest tattoo by Diego from Graceland Tattoo and Body Piercing in Wappingers Falls, NY; a very valentines inspired rocket.  World of Warcraft fans will instantly recognize it as the “Big Love Rocket”, one of the many ways to fly around the world.  Nothing says love like riding a big pink rocket.

You can see the love rocket in all its glory in the hearts and love tattoo gallery, although it could easily be placed in the geek tattoo gallery as well.

Fans of the Killzone video games will really get a kick out of this tattoo by Roopiec from Poland.

You can check out more geeky tattoos in the sci-fi tattoo gallery.

This week’s follow-up is going into the world of retro-arcade.  Well technically the Gameboy isn’t an arcade game, but it’s retro and it’s video game related so we’ll let it slide.

In what is becoming a trend, the first follow-up of the month is from IAM:Eroswastika.  About a year ago, Ighlif cut this first generation gameboy into the leg of one of his clients.

Want to see how it looks a year later?  Keep reading.

Read more…

First, some theme music for the post..

Now, I’m fairly certain that at some point every single ModBlog reader has either played Tetris, or at least is familiar enough with the game to know how it works.  A long time ago, back when Nintendo wasn’t even available in North America, and the cold war was still raging on, a Russian game designer named Alexey Pajitnov invented a game that would revolutionize gaming as we knew it.

You see, this simple block dropping game ended up becoming one of the most popular games of all time.  So it was only natural that something so popular would end up as a tattoo.

This image from the New Skool gallery was sent in by Chriz, also known as Ta2head from Buxe Voll? Tattooz in Germany.  I couldn’t find out a lot about Chriz, but from what I understand he works out of Rostock and Neubrandenburg, as well as doing guest spots.  According to his description, this piece was done also freehand.

This is going to be the first of a series of posts on Chriz as he recently uploaded a number of exceptional pieces to the galleries.

…to unite all peoples within our nation.

A few weeks back I featured an excellent scarification piece of a Pokemon by the name of Ninetails.  After seeing so many people chiming in on their love of all things Pokemon, I knew it was only a matter of time that I’d see more Pokemon related images in the galleries.  What I wasn’t expecting was this image sent in by IAM: Dead Filmaker.

As the self-professed “biggest nerd ever!”, Dead Filmaker had these implants inserted underneath his Pokeball tattoos a mere 5 days before attending the 2010 National Pokemon Championships.  I can only imagine how fun it must have been to have Brian insert the one closest to his wrist from an opening up by the elbow.  Not seeing any other sutures I’m assuming that they were all done using the same point of entry.

Now I’ll admit I was never a huge fan of Pokemon, at least nowhere near as big a fan as Mr. Filmaker there, but I did enjoy the games and show.  I only had the original gameboy game, so I never got to see Team Rocket appear in the games, but Jesse and James were easily the best thing about that show.  It’s a shame they always failed so spectacularly, the show would have been so much better if they had won much more often and Ash and co. were the ones screwing up trying to get their Pokemon back.

You can check out more photos like this, including more work by Mr. Brian Decker, in the 3D implant gallery.

Raise your hand if you’ve heard of Pokemon.  Good.  Now if you’ve never seen the TV show, lower your hand.  Finally, if you’ve never played any of the games (card or video) lower your hand.  Those of you with your hands still up.  You should probably put them down, people will start staring at you wondering why there’s a crazy person starting at their computer with their hand in the air.

Now if you raised your hand at any point, congratulations, you’ve been exposed at some point in your life to the cultural phenomenon that’s been going on almost as long as that documentary about Allen has been in existence.  I think what is interesting to note at first, is that the first generation of kids that got into Pokemon are well into their 20s.  So it should come as no surprise that Pokemon related modifications are becoming more prevalent.

When it comes to a pop-culture related mod, a lot depends on context.  I know that if I had gotten say a River City Ransom or Clash at Demonhead tattoo 10 years ago, only people my age would have a clue as to what they were a reference to.  Now with films like Scott Pilgrim coming out (seriously, best movie I’ve seen in 10 years, go watch it) you have this resurgence of classic pop-culture being exposed to a generation that wasn’t even born before the N64 was released.  Now when it comes to Pokemon, you’re seeing a completely different type of generational culture attachment.  Pokemon is still going strong today.  We’re at a point with it where the kids who were part of the first wave of fans, are now sitting down with their own children to play the games.  For someone my age it’s hard to imagine that occurring for me.  While Pokemon is still popular with the young folk, the shows and games I grew up on are only getting a resurgence in popularity due to nostalgia.  Some may argue that the exposure is still present, and while it may be, the children of my generation will only be able to watch the shows and play the games we grew up on if we were able to hold on to our childhood possessions.  Granted, I personally thought ahead.  If I ever have a child, when they’re old enough to play video games, the first game they will play will be Super Mario Bros on my original NES.  When they want to watch a cartoon, I’ve got the full collections of GI JOE and Transformers sitting on a shelf waiting for them.  So yes, the exposure to these classic pop-culture icons will essentially be forced, it’s nice to know that with the digital age those younger than me can enjoy the games they played as a child with their children, at it will still be culturally relevant.

Now, seeing as how I may have exposed myself as a geek, let me distract you with a picture of one of those Pokemon fans that has grown up and gotten a scarification piece done of their favorite Pokemon, #38 Ninetails (I had to look that up).

So, those of you who raised your hands, what was your favorite Pokemon?

Now you can lose even more productivity at work by playing Tattoo City!  No seriously, I wish I was making this up.  Some company has decided to create a Facebook game in which you customize your character, then manage and operate your very own tattoo studio.

The goal of the game is simple – create the biggest and best tattoo parlor in existence by tattooing your customers and earning money. The game requires more actual interaction on your part than other Facebook games, as you’ll earn money by taking “shifts,” which are active periods when your Tattoo Parlor is open.

Now if that doesn’t seem addictive enough for you, it looks like the game has additional mini-game, and all sorts of other things designed to make you keep playing.  I’m sure there’s an option in there that will let you spend money on things to make your shop the best digital shop around.  Don’t forget you’ll also have something else to flood your friend’s walls with, so you may want to cut back on some of your other game.

Now of course, it would be interesting to walk into a studio one day and see the staff all working away in the virtual studios, although come to think of it, I do know a couple of shop managers that probably will get a kick out of this game.  It is interesting to think that a company put a lot of development time into a game that for the most part would only appeal to a very niche audience.  Then again, after that story earlier in the week about the parents getting their children tattoos for going back to school, nothing should surprise me.

Just keep in mind, that if you do decide to play this game, you will be giving the company that owns it free access to all of your information, as well as any public information your friends may have that you have access to.  There’s your obligatory paranoid non-endorsement of the game.

So, is anyone playing this?  Is it enjoyable, or just another farmville clone?