1978
SPACE INVADERS
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1978
SPACE INVADERS
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Space Invaders came to the U.S. in 1978 when the video game company Midway licensed it from the Japanese company Taito.
Space Invaders is widely considered to be the game that started the era known as the “Golden Age of Video Games”. Video games were no longer just technology but now had transitioned fully into a whole entertainment industry and culture. Space Invaders was the first game to record and display high scores, something that became very important to gaming culture. Additionally, the game also represents the growing commercialization of video games as Midway released it to compete with Atari. Space Invaders ended up being the 2nd highest-selling arcade video game of all time after Pac-Man.
Image 12: original Midway Space Invaders arcade machine
Image 13: Space Invaders
Image 12 Details:
Date: 1972
Location: Atari HQ, Sunnyvale, California
Physical Dimensions: 25” x 33” x 67”, black and white
Subject Keywords: video games, technology, research, machine
Publisher: Atari
Usage: amusement
Provider: [unknown]
Photographer: [unknown]
Original ID: [unknown]
Credits: Al Alcorn, Atari
Copyright: ©Atari
Citation:
"Midway Space Invaders Original Video Arcade game - coin operated, vintage
*REAL* full size game, working coin mechanisms, 25 cents." Etsy. Accessed
April 19, 2023. https://www.etsy.com/listing/1258298508/
midway-space-invaders-original-video.
Image 13 Details
Citation:
Grace, Lindsay. "The Original 'Space Invaders' Is a Meditation on 1970s
America's Deepest Fears." Smithsonian Magazine. Last modified June 19,
2018. Accessed May 2, 2023. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/
original-space-invaders-icon-1970s-America-180969393/.