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Pixels (2010) - Easter Eggs
Rory Joscelyne • Jan 31, 2024
VGMP: 3D Pixels are actually called Voxels
Before Adam Sandler got his pizza-cheese encrusted fingers on the property, PIXELS existed as an experimental French independent film.
While set in Manhattan, this movie stars some very European-centric videogame references.
For those who wish to watch the short, you can do so for free here;
BASIC (Coding Language)
The short begins with a coding reference. BASIC was a coding language common in the early to mid 80s, and was even available on SEGA's first home computer - the Sega SC3000. While this names the language as BASIC, the blue background with yellow font reminds me more of MS DOS.
ATARI BOMB
An interesting reference, the Atari Bomb is a reference to the Atari ST. The number of bombs on screen indicated the severity of an error on the computer.
One Atari Bomb would indicate a need to reset.
We see this bomb twice. Just before the story begins, appearing on the dumped CRT TV. And a 3D Voxel/Pixel model that leads to the film's conclusion.
SPACE INVADERS
The classic Arcade shoot-em-up, Space Invaders, is one of the first video games directly referenced in the film. We see these guys several times, including in an added scene of them shooting the Hollywood Sign.
COMMODORE
This is the first reference that reveals the European origins of this movie. While Commodore did have an American presence, they were much more popular in Europe - with the Commodore Amiga series of home computers leading the breakbeat, techno and rave music scenes of the late 80s.
The logo above the subway is the official logo of the company itself.
PAC-MAN
Pac-Man gets some strong representation in this film. He has a Subway Traffic video, which has been modified to show Pacman eating the "pellets" that make up each subway stop. He also appears physically in the subway with a small sticker on the wall (to camera right) with his logo referencing Rodenticide.
Finally, one of the Subway stairwells has a poster of Pacman's Cherry collectable.
OCEAN
Another European-centric gaming reference, again on a Subway billboard. Ocean Software were a British (Manchester based) company that were known for licenced-titles such as Rambo III. At the time, they were one of the biggest developers and publishers of the late 80s/early 90s.
They were folded into part of Infogrames in 1998, which itself has been folded into Bandai Namco.
PSYGNOSIS
Another British developer, famous for it's unique artwork, Shadow of the Beast and Lemmings (to name a few). Psygnosis were known as one of the most artistic companies making games for the Commodore Amiga, and were eventually bought out and absorbed into Sony in 1993.
They continued on as Sony Studio Liverpool, making the Wipeout and Formula One franchises, until they were merged into the rest of Sony in 2012.
TETRIS
The Soviet classic makes a well deserved appearance, matching up lines and deleting floors of apartment building across the Manhattan skyline. This was copied verbatim in the 2015 Adam Sandler remake.
ARKANOID and ATARI
Arkanoid put in an appearance, delting bricks from the Brooklyn Bridge until it begins to collapse under it's own weight. A version of this scene was remade in the 2015 movie, with Arkanoid deleting the Taj Mahal instead of the New York bridge.
In the background you can also see the Atari logo emblazoned atop another skyscraper building.
DONKEY KONG
Towards the end of the movie, we see Donkey Kong throwing barrels onto the street from the Empire State Building. This is one of the few shots where you can see the building is CGI, due to the low resolution textures.
FROGGER
Akin to the road section of the original game, we catch a glimpse of Frogger jumping across the road in front of pixelated cars. Sadly we don't get to see more than this.
ASTEROIDS
The final reveal is that the now perfectly cubed Earth is just a pixel in the background of a game of Asteroids - a game that didn't use pixels to generate it's graphics and instead uses Vector lines to draw the game (This is the reason it has no colours).
And that's everything visible in the 2 minute short film. They really managed to pack a lot in to such a short timeframe.
What do you think of these? Did you spot these when you watched the movie? Where do you think this movie could have gone, if fleshed out as a feature, other than the Sandler version? Join our Discord on the link below and let us know!
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