The 30th anniversary of seminal arcade game Space Invaders is to be marked, writes Karlin Lillington

IF YOU are in Tipperary next week and see someone walking around in a Space Invaders costume, rest assured: you aren't hallucinating. The legendary arcade game with its familiar pixelated aliens and red flying saucer turns 30-years-old this year, and the Tipperary Institute of Technology is officially endorsed by Space Invader parent company Taito in Japan to celebrate the event.

Event organiser and programme director for the institute's new degree in game design, Phil Bourke, confesses that there will indeed be costumes - he's already had a fitting - as well as plenty of Space Invaders gameplay, games workshops, and some special commemorative 100 yen coins.

The original Japanese arcade machines used 100 yen coins and, when the game was released in 1978, it was so popular that it caused a drastic shortage in the currency, requiring the Japanese government to quadruple production, he says. So minting a commemorative coin is an insider's nod to the game's history (see panel).

While there will be of plenty of fun - and yes, games - the centrepiece of the celebration is the institute's annual XNA game coding competition next week, which will honour Space Invaders by making it the key element of the challenge.

Third-level student competitors nationally have downloaded a basic version of the game, and will use it to inspire and further develop their own game. These will be scrutinised by judges from several major gaming companies, including sponsors Microsoft and Disney Interactive's Blitz Games.

Bourke says Space Invaders is the perfect choice for the competition because it is simple in construction and is familiar to just about everyone. In addition, as a model of perfect gameplay, Space Invaders has iconic status.

He considers it so central to a gaming mindset that he began to plan two years ago to have the game be part of this year's competition to celebrate the game's 30th anniversary. "It's one of the first games that nailed the right game balance, and made you want to play it again and again and again and again," says Bourke. "It's such an iconic game. Everyone knows it, everyone knows how to play it. It's one of the games that hasn't been corrupted."

Like many a gamer old enough to have played on the original arcade machines, Bourke sinks into a reverie as soon as he's asked to recall his first encounter with the game. "I ran out of money the first time I played it," he says, recalling that the gaming arcades formed a bright, warm place of retreat in grey midlands towns when they arrived. "Kids were just drawn to them."

In a pre-internet Ireland, gaming communities formed that met in the arcades to trade hints and tips on how to conquer each level and get the highest scores.

Few people Bourke knew had the money for gaming consoles like the Atari - "It would have been a month's wages" - so, while the game was the first to make the jump to a console format, the arcade version of Space Invaders ruled for many years.

Philip Oliver, chief executive of Blitz Games, has similar memories. "There used to be a Space Invaders cabinet in the Kwik Save supermarket in Trowbridge, which my brother Andrew and I would play when our mum was shopping. Obviously, this was an arrangement that we were all very happy with."

Why does the game remain so inspirational to today's games designers? "The game has a simple premise and was very addictive," he says. "It was the first mass-market game worldwide and that's why it was so important."

Bourke notes that the games industry, like many other IT sectors, finds it a challenge to get the highly-skilled employees it needs. An event like this allows companies to check out fledgling game designers and students to place an active portfolio in front of many companies, he says.

Blitz will be one of the companies attending the event because the company sees it as a way of nurturing future talent in the games industry. "It's also a good way for us to meet students who might be interested in looking for a work placement or a job with us," Oliver says.

XNA Ireland Challenge 2008 takes place at Tipperary Institute on March 13th.