The Tribune

A VIDEO game that allowed players to zap marching aliens with dot lasers and another that gave them flamethrowers and put them in the driver’s seat in a violent 3-D world are among six games inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame.

“Space Invaders” and “Grand Theft Auto III”, along with “The Oregon Trail”, “Sonic the Hedgehog”, “The Legend of Zelda” and “The Sims”, were honoured last week for their influence on gaming and pop culture at The Strong museum in Rochester, New York.

“Space Invaders” was not the first shooter game when it was introduced in Japan in 1978, but it spurred many imitators and a craze for arcade games, said Jeremy Saucier, assistant director of The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games.

A virtual universe away, “Grand Theft Auto III” armed players with flamethrowers and assault rifles.

“By providing players with a license to do virtually anything they wanted to do on foot or behind the wheel, ‘Grand Theft Auto III’ renewed debates about the role of games and violence in society while it signalled video games aren’t just for kids,” Mr Saucier said. The title sold 14.5 million copies by 2008.

The Strong opened the World Video Game Hall of Fame last year to recognise electronic games of all types - arcade, console, computer, hand-held and mobile. To get in, games must have had sustained popularity and influenced the video game industry or society.