I remember where I was that fateful day.

It’s the last week of June! By this time next week, we’ll be close to celebrating America’s birthday. Because freedom. And Merrica. And burgers and hot dogs and good times.

– As reported by pretty much every blog about vidya games on the Internet, GameStop now has a classic games section. For the most part, their prices seem on par with eBay and Amazon, so feel free to scoop up some games the next time you get a gift card from a relative. The “PowerUp Rewards” discount does apply, and you do get points for buying used games.

– Andrew Schartmann at Slate has a cool article on how Koji Kondo composed the first true video game score, the “Game Over” theme from Super Mario Bros.

– Some people like to mod their NES with skins. Here is one with an apocalyptic theme.

– On Digg, the very first Japanese commercial for Super Mario Bros. (Speaking of Mario’s creator, he’s interested in designing theme parks.)

– And on MTV.com, they have nine things you can throw away after graduating college, instead of keeping in your parents basement. (They’re totally wrong on that Bluto from Animal House poster though, that’s gonna be a babe magnet.)

ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…

– In 2000, Kirby 64 and Crystalis for Game Boy Color were released. The latter is a cool cult classic that originally came out for the NES in July 1990. Unfortunately, the GBC version is a bit inferior overall, changing some elements of the game, but it or the original are still worth hunting down and playing in some sort. The game also somewhat famously predicted that the Earth’s axis would shift and cause mutations in 1997, which we’re a little bit past at this time…

– Astrotit came out in 1987 for the PC computer. I never played it, and apparently, it’s a topdown arcade adult shooter. And it has a silly name.