First and foremost are the two scenes with Ben Stiller talking to his agent. In both scenes, the agent, played by Matthew McConaughey, is wailing away at different mini-games in Wii Sports while talking on the phone with Stiller. He's playing on a pretty large screen in his office so there's no way you can miss it, so let's chalk that up as product placement.

Next comes this odd dialog that occurs about a third of the way through the movie with one of the characters trying to explain why Blu-ray won in the format war. His answer? Porn and video games. Porn backed it and Sony backed it with their... but he never quite says PlayStation 3.

Finally, and this one is just odd, during the credits they show a bit player, a non-speaking part mind you, and when his name pops up it does so on a background riddled with old-school Space Invaders. Invader invades Tropic Thunder? Hells yeah!

Update: Nintendo tells me that the Wii Sports in the movie was indeed the product of some sort of deal between Nintendo and the movie studio.

[Thanks James]

Oooooh, this one looks vintage! This invader comes from Ulix, a Kotaku commenter, who saw this little gem on vacation in Paris near the Church "Sacre Coeur". Since Invader, the artist, started putting these tiles up in Paris in 1998, this could be one of the originals as time has obviously seen the wear and tear of time (and possibly vandalism). This inspires me to do some tiling in our new apartment or at least getting a few Space Invader pillows for the living room.

Thanks, Ulix! Kim Phu

Maybe I'm not totally hormonal. One reader actually got the same warm and fuzzy feeling encountering a little invader of his own.

In response to your Invader - Amsterdam story, this is a picture we took in Lausanne, Switzerland. Right around here.

Thanks for making me aware of the artist. We thought we stumbled upon one-of-a-kind video game art, but it's cooler knowing that there are others like this out there.

That's so touching, I think I'm going to cry. Like a lot. Thanks for the tip, Ramdust! Kim Phu

French artist(e) Invader has made a name for himself with his mosaic bitmap "graffiti" found plastered all over the world. Invader even had his own shoe, which our fearless leader often struts around in to gain street nerd cred. Now he's collaborated with Parisian skateboard company Mekanism once again to create a limited (there are three) series of skateboards with his trademark tiled treatment.

From left to right, the pieces are titled Matrix, Above the City, and Rubik, with the final of the three crafted from "repurposed" Rubik's Cube pieces. The first two are created with more traditional tiles, with Matrix featuring mirrored eyes to differentiate it from the previous Matrix 100-edition series of boards from 2005.

The three pieces are for sale at the Mekanism web site, with detailed pics of each available for your ogling pleasure. No prices are listed, but I'm guessing that if you have to ask, you can't afford 'em. Michael McWhertor

Invader x Mekanism Skateboards [via Cool Hunting]

The mosaic mushroom was submitted by Kotaku reader Ola who "found this shroom on the side of a tunnel going under one of the bigger streets in central Malm , Sweden".

More pics after the jump.

Also, reader Fernando spotted the following mushroom defacing the rear walls of the stadium at Florida State University.

You damn kids! Your graffiti is going to make all those Nintendo fanatics look like a blight on our society! Michael McWhertor

We just love French Gorilla artist Invader, the guy who's taken the iconic aliens from Space Invaders and made them a trendy form of graffiti. His latest daring escapade appears to involve slapping one of his trademark Invader tile mosaics on a wall in Times Square. More importantly, he managed to do this under the constant survellience of more than 300 cameras and the every present NYPD.

I know he hit NY back in 2000, slapping his art up in a bunch of locations, but I hadn't heard, and he hasn't mentioned, returning to do Times Square. Maybe this is one of his many minions.

Good Invader [Thanks Bucky]

Becky Young, marketing guru over at Video Games Live, posted up a sweet picture of some new Space Invader shoes on her blog. Damnit, now I need to buy another pair of shoes. I'm not sure if I can pull off the pink stripe, but I bet they come in other colors. Anybody have any clue where you can still find these?

Our Team [VGL]