TIPPERARY MAY be the home of hurling, but some 300 students made the trip to Tipp yesterday for something light years removed from the GAA - the celebration of 30 years of space invaders at the Tipperary Institute.
The game's developer, Taito Corporation, endorsed the annual Computer Games Fleadh, which took place at the institute's Thurles campus, as the official international celebration of the video game.
The game's designer, Tomohiro Nishikado, sent a message of thanks by video link to the festival yesterday, which was organised by the institute's information technology department.
Philip Bourke, the event's organiser and co-ordinator of the degree in computing and game design and development at the institute, said that the event surpassed the institute's expectations.
"We are honoured to have been endorsed for this event . . . our main objective is to raise awareness of the accessibility of technology to all students and to encourage more students, through gaming, to consider information technology as a career," he said.
The highlight of the event was the Microsoft XNA Challenge, where students had to design their own version of the classic space invaders game. By doing so, they also put themselves up for recruitment with some of the world's top gaming companies.
However, for many students there was only one reason to attend - to play space invaders, a game that continues to hold a fascination, even though it was designed in the 1970s. "It's a classic, an absolute classic. After 30 years it still has a huge entertainment value and I love playing it. In many ways, it's the original of the species," said Graham Taylor, a student at Ulster University.
