Save Points Vol. 1
Recent Gaming x Style Moments Worth Saving
The gaming and style landscape can sometimes feel like a speedrun at 3 in the morning, in a dark room, seven Monster Energy’s deep. It’s forever on the move, but it’s elusive and erratic.
That’s why we’re introducing Save Points; an irregular format that captures recent gaming x style moments that might otherwise circumvent the memory card. In other words, it’s an ICYMI piece. Less analysis, more stock take.
Let’s dig in!
Timothée Chalamet, Modded Controller Merchant?
Timothée Chalamet had an unexpected past resurface as an…Xbox 360 controller modder? For the uninitiated, modding controllers is the gamer talk equivalent of tuning cars at the auto shop or even bedazzling your Motorola Razr at the slumber party. While modding enthusiasts can go deep (changing controller interfaces all together), Timmy kept it to aesthetics. He had his own YouTube channel called ModdedController360 where he sold custom painted Xbox 360 controllers - apparently making $30 bucks during this short lived hustle.
While this little nugget of internet fodder has been known for a while, the hustle mindset of his Marty Mauser character was the perfect moment to resurface this story in full editorialised form for W Magazine. Teaming up with Josh Safdie (director of Marty Supreme), Chalamet reimagined his life as a high stakes modded controller salesman. He goes by the name Shend and resides in Brighton Beach, where he lives with his mother. He has a pet rabbit named Otter and a day job as a doorman. But by night, he modifies controllers, which he sells out of the back of his car. Shend seems to be part fact, part fiction — a strange blend of Chalamet’s take on ping pong god Marty Mauser and Chalamet himself.
“I always like imagining alternate paths for Timmy,” Safdie told W. “Shend is inspired by a younger Timmy. A Timmy who had a YouTube channel where he tried to sell custom mod controllers. He saw money there.”
So you’re happy to talk smack on the opera and ballet - but the modding controller scene is totally fine huh? Interesting priorities Timmy.
Brain Dead x Adidas and the DDR-Inspired Launch
A small but lovely nod by Brain Dead x adidas to the step based rhythm games like Dance Dance Revolution. For the release of their FW25 collaboration, the store transformed into an oversized competitive rhythm dance game where players move through custom difficulty modes on exclusive tracks from LA’s favourite sunshine boy, Toro Y Moi - the perfect personality for a DDR homage.
I feel brands have started to play it a bit too safe when it comes to video games. It’s all Roblox this, Fortnite that. Let’s not forget that there’s other games out there with deep fan bases! Dance Dance Revolution is one of these. When it came out in 1998, it ushered in a new era of foot-tapping gamers, fighting to keep rhythm with a soundtrack of pumping dance tracks in front of an arcade of onlookers. So many first dates, friendships and rivalries were experienced on these dance pads. Though the DDR arcade scene in the West has since died down, in Japan it still thrives. There’s a great VICE mini doc on it.
Puma Blue’s PS1 Music Video For Croak Dream
Puma Blue’s Croak Dream was described to GrabMyPepsi (the music video’s animator) as an “ambiguous dream where each member marked their ending without actually revealing if it would happen.” Feeling lost? Same. But the execution of it is a low poly beauty (something we love here at DD). GrabMyPepsi channeled games like Silent Hill, Final Fantasy and GTA from their childhood days on the PS1 to create foggy draw distances, lonely spaces and weird emptiness in this Croak Dream music video. I conducted a short interview over on Drawn Distant’s IG with GrabMyPepsi, go check it out if you’d like!
A$AP Rocky and the PS1 Bootleg Aesthetic
Speaking of low poly inspo, A$AP Rocky’s rollout of Don’t Be Dumb has been gleefully PS1-pilled. We already dove into the PaRappa the Rapper and GTA bootlegs in an earlier write up, but since then we’ve also spotted Syphon Filter-inspired artwork attached to “Stole Ya Flow,” and a Crazy Taxi-esque bootleg for “Black Demarco”. Similarly to Brain Dead’s DDR nod, Rocky’s bootlegs of these cult PS1 titles shows a level of fluency in gaming culture that the deeper fan appreciates. It’s a less “measurable” move than launching a skin on Fortnite or designing a game on Roblox, but that’s kind of the point. Sometimes you gotta just do it for the culture, not just the KPI!
.SWOOSH & The “Touch Grass” Slides
.SWOOSH have been clever in leaning into gamer lore and building products out of it. Just take their “Rage Quit” Total90’s or their “Big Head” Air Max 1’s - the former pokes fun at a poignant part of gamer culture where controllers get tossed at screens after losing, the latter is a niche multiplayer feature in Goldeneye’s 007 on the N64. Their “Touch Grass” ReactX Rejuven8 Slides are yet another nod to the gamer experience. While this term applies to anyone who spends too much time on the screen, the gamer very much overindexes here. As you can see above the pine green slide itself actually mimics the texture of grass, which enables the player to stay glued to their game while touching grass at the same time. Brilliant!.SWOOSH proves that to connect to gaming culture, you don’t always need to create or be inside a game. Great ideas also exists beyond the pixels.
And there you have it! I’ve spared you the lengthy, metaphor minefield of a conclusion on this one - something I tend to over indulge in. I hope you enjoyed it.
Keep a look out for these more casual Save Points pieces ongoing.