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At the CenterParcs I visited recently there was a Space Invaders machine. Clearly a modern retro machine (it could play Qix as well), it was a bit-perfect rendering of the 1978 Taito original. It was the upright version, buttons for direction control, and coloured bands of invaders (although I suspect this was controlled by software and it used a colour monitor, rather than having transparent coloured plastic taped across the monochrome monitor.)
I can clearly recall the first time I played Space Invaders. It was the spring of 1980, making me 12 years old. I had heard about the existence of such games for a while. I was on a Scout camp somewhere in the Midlands, where it rained constantly. On the Saturday morning there was a trip to Hinckley Leisure Centre for some reason. I think some people were going to do sporty-type-things there. I tagged along on the basis that it could do something like sit in the café and be at least warm and dry. I took a wander around the place and discovered a Space Invaders! It quickly ate all my spending money.
I was never very good at the game. I always found I could be good at some arcade games, rubbish at others. There's a Midway game called Gorf I was excellent at, but I never really got into Space Invaders. I also love Defender, and I'm equally crap at playing that. Back in the early 80s, it was a rare day I even managed the 1500 points for an extra base.
So it was interesting to stick a coin in (50p a game!) in 2006 and see how I got on, seeing as the last time I think I did this was probably at least 20 years previously. The bizarre thing was that I'm a far, far better Space Invaders player now than I ever was when I was serious about it! I immediately went into the standard game play (clear the second and third columns, then move back and clear the first column) and racked up enough points for an extra base without even trying. Sadly, I couldn't remember the number of shots you needed to count to get maximum points on the saucers. I cleared a couple of levels and died with about 3400 points. I never got that many points in the 80s.
Obviously, the huge amount of games playing I've done over the last 26 years has simply honed my reflexes and skills. My neural net has forged new pathways, specific to making something on a monitor move about and shoot at other things. I'm not even a particular serious game player these days, and anyway I prefer strategy games like Civilization to first person shooters. Somehow, there's been enough shooting over the years to fundamentally change me, probably the many spaceships I destroyed playing Elite. Not that it's a particularly marketable skill though...
I can clearly recall the first time I played Space Invaders. It was the spring of 1980, making me 12 years old. I had heard about the existence of such games for a while. I was on a Scout camp somewhere in the Midlands, where it rained constantly. On the Saturday morning there was a trip to Hinckley Leisure Centre for some reason. I think some people were going to do sporty-type-things there. I tagged along on the basis that it could do something like sit in the café and be at least warm and dry. I took a wander around the place and discovered a Space Invaders! It quickly ate all my spending money.
I was never very good at the game. I always found I could be good at some arcade games, rubbish at others. There's a Midway game called Gorf I was excellent at, but I never really got into Space Invaders. I also love Defender, and I'm equally crap at playing that. Back in the early 80s, it was a rare day I even managed the 1500 points for an extra base.
So it was interesting to stick a coin in (50p a game!) in 2006 and see how I got on, seeing as the last time I think I did this was probably at least 20 years previously. The bizarre thing was that I'm a far, far better Space Invaders player now than I ever was when I was serious about it! I immediately went into the standard game play (clear the second and third columns, then move back and clear the first column) and racked up enough points for an extra base without even trying. Sadly, I couldn't remember the number of shots you needed to count to get maximum points on the saucers. I cleared a couple of levels and died with about 3400 points. I never got that many points in the 80s.
Obviously, the huge amount of games playing I've done over the last 26 years has simply honed my reflexes and skills. My neural net has forged new pathways, specific to making something on a monitor move about and shoot at other things. I'm not even a particular serious game player these days, and anyway I prefer strategy games like Civilization to first person shooters. Somehow, there's been enough shooting over the years to fundamentally change me, probably the many spaceships I destroyed playing Elite. Not that it's a particularly marketable skill though...