13:57
MrJoseph
Space Invaders, this was the
first video game I ever played and a good one at that. I played this back on my
Uncle’s old Atari 2600 back in 1995, the game however was already
popular and was released in Japan 1987 on arcades made by the Taito
Corporation. These was released on many different platforms and there are still
remakes of Space Invaders to this day. This game has had a huge cultural,
technical and creative impact on games today and it showed that games are not
novelty and that there is real money to be made in the games industry. Take the
famous games designer Shigeru Miyamoto, he has been influenced by this game since
he saw it as a revolutionary step for video games and he hasn't been interested
in the games market until he saw Space invaders appear.
The basic premise of
the game is that you have to shoot enemy ships that slowly creep down
the screen in two dimensions and you can move between 4 blocks which will
protect you from incoming fire. Once you win a round the music and game speeds
up, the game was simple but because it was so basic it worked well and the
mechanics where solid. The game also had a high score system integrated into
the game itself which was common place back then and it gives a level of competition
and replay value. This fixed shooting game was perfect for its time with the
introduction of the analogue stick for better control. It did have some
disadvantages however, you cannot play with multiple people at once which could
be well suited for a game like this.
When I first laid my eyes on the
screen and my uncle passed me the controller I was amazed how I could move the
object on the screen. This was a new sensation altogether which was much
different than just watching TV. Being able to interact with object was
fascinating to me at the time. I was a kid age 4 so my imagination played a big
factor in enjoying this game so much. I imagined the ships where
alien monsters and ships was a fully functioning space craft. That's how I got
most of my fun out of this game as a child. When you play a game like this
today it looks quite simple and primitive, but back then you could use your
imagination like I did, rather than having every detail handed to you like
today.
Overall this game has left a mark
on the market and it has made a mark on me as well as my first video game. This
gave me the passion for playing games and looking for new and unique
experiences of interaction. The game has used it’s simple mechanics to appeal
to large audiences at the time and it showed what video games were all about.
