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Space Invaders: The Anniversary Show Commemorates by Blowing Up World Trade Centre
Posted by Mark Wilson at 5:02 AM on August 21, 2008
This year Space Invaders is celebrating their 30th anniversary. And over at the Leipzig Games Convention, they're housing an exhibit called Space Invaders: The Anniversary Show to commemorate the event. But a bit surprisingly, one included interactive exhibit labelled "Invaders!" depicts the generally lovable but pesky aliens destroying the Twin Towers. (Because, uhh, how else would you celebrate a video game turning 30?) From the artist:
The World Trade Centre attacks mark a deep cut in our recent history that is still being processed. The French-American artist Douglas Edric Stanley has found an unusual - though obvious - metaphor with his work "Invaders!", which is based on the 1978 arcade original. In his interactive large installation, the players must prevent the catastrophe by controlling the well- known cannon at the lower screen border with their bodies and firing it using arm movements. Like the original, this trial is ultimately
unsuccessful, thus creating an articulated and critical commentary about the current war strategy. In this regard, Douglas Edric Stanley sees Space Invaders as "a social tale that can be related to historical tales without losing its poetic power" (D.E. Stanley).
If by "poetic power" the artist meant "Mad Libs," then we're in total agreement. [GC Germany via Kotaku]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
lpranal
Posted 5:44 AM 21/8/08
C'mon people get over it. Unless there are people jumping out of the towers or anything, I really think people are just being way too sensitive and politically correct. @helldiver: Actually it's about the same as having the game in 1949, since we're coming up on 7 years since 9/11
Does it make a point? Not really, but I don't see anything worth condemning these people over.
lpranal
Sqube
Posted 5:43 AM 21/8/08
It's not too soon. It's in poor taste, corellating Space Invaders to 9/11 (no matter your "explanation") is tenuous at best and, overall, it just seems like a completely unnecessary thing to do. Space Invaders is pretty much awesome no matter what you add to it.
On the other hand, we live in an age where any publicity is considered good publicity, so I have to grudgingly give him respect for coming up with something so inflammatory. The talking heads and the blogs will be all over this one.
Good show, cheese-eating surrender monkey. Good show.
That said, I now return you to an orgy of "Fuck France, US rawks" and the like. That's going to be most of what's posted here.
Sqube
Monty
Posted 5:37 AM 21/8/08
Grade: F+
(The + is for the Space Invaders part.)
Monty
Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish
Posted 5:37 AM 21/8/08
From the creative minds behind Duke Rapem and Sim Oklahoma Federal Building.
Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish
qbrad
Posted 5:34 AM 21/8/08
@isoSasquatch: I thought DopeWars - Afghanistan (Better opium crop each year the US is fighting Bin Laden) would be the sequel. Baghdad gets Part III
qbrad
Jrsy
Posted 5:33 AM 21/8/08
I agree, bad taste. He should have used Missle Command as a better match to his statement; "a social tale that can be related to historical tales without losing its poetic power".
Wish I could play with video games and be called an Artist....
Jrsy
isoSasquatch
Posted 5:31 AM 21/8/08
Can't wait for the sequel: Missile Command Baghdad.
isoSasquatch
Con Seannery
Posted 5:30 AM 21/8/08
SPACE INVADERS WAS A GOVERNMENT CONSPIRACY!
Con Seannery
Rabid Penguin
Posted 5:29 AM 21/8/08
@qbrad: I saw that coming lol. Touche.
Rabid Penguin
qbrad
Posted 5:28 AM 21/8/08
@Rabid Penguin: Yeah, based on actual events. I recall seeing multiple 8-bit ships coming down from the sky and moving laterally back and forth while dropping poops made of light down upon the twin towers. And then a cannon (which was only on top of Bush's BOAT in Florida) moving to destroy the ships on that day. Totally based on the actual events.
qbrad
GHETTO.CHiLD
Posted 5:25 AM 21/8/08
Give me the controls, I'll make sure they stay safe my babies, then I'll kick that dudes @ss.
GHETTO.CHiLD
bobojuice
Posted 5:22 AM 21/8/08
How to make an awesome game even more awesome...
bobojuice
Con Seannery
Posted 5:20 AM 21/8/08
Wow...bad taste...
DAMN YOU BIN LADEN! I RAN OUT OF QUARTERS!
Con Seannery
Hectorvex
Posted 5:17 AM 21/8/08
@Simpsons-Movie-ruled: Is there anything Fox News doesn't blow out of proportion?
This artist's interpretation is quite simple if you think about it. That is, he probably designed it, then added the poetic crap.
Hectorvex
Rabid Penguin
Posted 5:17 AM 21/8/08
@qbrad: The game is based on actual events, so probably not.
Rabid Penguin
Simpsons-Movie-ruled
Posted 5:12 AM 21/8/08
Uhhh, wow. Too soon?
But seriously, this is just tasteless and coming soon to a TV near you: FOX NEWS making an even bigger deal for the next uhh 2yrs or so.
Simpsons-Movie-ruled
helldiver
Posted 5:10 AM 21/8/08
kinda makes sense, 9/11 was a historical event, Germans weren't much affected by it... I mean they make games about Pearl Harbor nowadays. Imagine if someone would market a 'Battleships' game of US vs Japan in 1942.
Well, maybe there was one, what do I know?
helldiver
qbrad
Posted 5:09 AM 21/8/08
Does it have a prelude that shows the "Invaders!" planting explosives in WTC1, 2 and 7?
qbrad
Zaxxon Q Blaque
Posted 5:08 AM 21/8/08
"When Bad Taste Goes F*@#ing Ape S#!t!"
Zaxxon Q Blaque
Cupajo
Posted 6:06 AM 21/8/08
That reminds me of a joke about Bernie Mac and the sax player from Dave Matthews Band.
Cupajo
VakeroRokero
Posted 6:03 AM 21/8/08
Microsoft is planning to release it on Xbox Live so the xbox360 sells better in Asia...
VakeroRokero
vgart
Posted 6:03 AM 21/8/08
wow that's pretty awkward
vgart
unibrow4o9
Posted 6:02 AM 21/8/08
Maybe when Pac Mans anniversary arrives, he can make an interactive Pac man eat baby fetuses, or maybe use Mario's fire power to burn the Koran.
unibrow4o9
someToast
Posted 5:51 AM 21/8/08
Yes, tasteless.
Now, let's let the kids get back to playing on the inflatable Titanic slide.
[www.flickr.com]
someToast
BigViper
Posted 6:37 AM 21/8/08
springtime for hitler is however the ecxeption to the rule....
BigViper
BigViper
Posted 6:37 AM 21/8/08
you know I get soooooo annoyed when people think that if something is complete SHIT that you can label it as a form of art and everything is ok.....
BigViper
efenili
Posted 6:34 AM 21/8/08
Ya its no "too soon" its just in bad taste period. Its a horrible "art" piece to boot.
efenili
qbrad
Posted 6:32 AM 21/8/08
@bemused0: Ask Rudy Giuliani. His mantra is September 11th. I think he said it about 40 times during the 2004 RNC.
qbrad
bemused0
Posted 6:27 AM 21/8/08
I have a hard time choosing which side of the fence to be on about this one. The message is valid, the presentation is pop-culture-y enough for the audience...
But I have to wonder about choosing the 30th anniversary event as the venue for this piece. It's a little late to the point, and it bears no relevance what-so-ever to the Space Invaders anniversary....
I hate calling things tasteless just to agree with the other kids, but .... ya....
Is there a Meme for this sort of thing yet?
'The 911 Troll' ?
bemused0
ddaq89
Posted 6:15 AM 21/8/08
FAIL
ddaq89
QuailRider
Posted 6:50 AM 21/8/08
Nope, not cool. Not cool at all. Combining one of my favorite childhood games with one of the most serious and sobering world events to happen in recent memory is exploitation, not art. I'm not even an American, and I'm pissed off about it. I can only imaging how hurtful this would be to someone from the NY area.
QuailRider
chrism123
Posted 6:47 AM 21/8/08
I still go by the hole in the ground that used to be the WTC twice a day on the NJ Path train. The re-construction still hasn't broken street level. I'd say such a game will always be in very poor taste for any New Yorker.
chrism123
THLinTX
Posted 6:43 AM 21/8/08
I am neither impressed nor offended.
THLinTX
Dr.Blip
Posted 6:41 AM 21/8/08
Too soon... no!
Bad taste... we've seen worst from video games.
Maybe playing this game will be like a therapy for people who can't get over 9/11.
Dr.Blip
Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish
Posted 6:41 AM 21/8/08
@BigViper: Isn't it just a comedic spinoff of Fatherland?
Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish
archercc
Posted 7:22 AM 21/8/08
@qbrad: No but they have an awesome game called "Foil Hat."
archercc
Nathan Drake
Posted 7:10 AM 21/8/08
This is in very bad taste. Labeling it as "art" isn't fooling anyone.
Nathan Drake
skrat5
Posted 7:47 AM 21/8/08
You have a choice to play it or not. As for me; NOT.
skrat5
Gunsmoke
Posted 7:47 AM 21/8/08
Is there going to be a sequel where we stomp all over the invaders' homeworld...then maybe find their leader in a hole somewhere?
More importantly, how much Martian oil can we get out of this?
Gunsmoke
JEmlay
Posted 7:36 AM 21/8/08
I understand the whole point of making GAMES based on past horrible experiences. However, I doubt there are many Vets that play a Perl Harbor game.
By someone saying this is "TOO SOON", they're stating that too many people having to interact with it have been personally affected by the said experience.
With that said, who (especially Americans) would have FUN playing this game? 30 years from now, a whole new generation might be enticed by it as they didn't have to live through it.
JEmlay
Chromeo
Posted 7:35 AM 21/8/08
@BigViper:
"Springtime for Hitler" a gay romp with Adolf and Eva at Berchtesgaden... Wow! I want to play THAT game!
Chromeo
Hiphopopotamus
Posted 7:31 AM 21/8/08
Come on now - That could be any number of buildings with the initials WTC.
Hiphopopotamus
moviscop
Posted 8:36 AM 21/8/08
That quote is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard.
Are and therapeutic value from Space Invaders....ok
moviscop
MarkB
Posted 8:17 AM 21/8/08
Looks like we gotta go back to "freedom fries" again.
MarkB
SlimDan22
Posted 9:18 AM 21/8/08
I wonder how the Germans would feel if Activision released a Anniversary Edition of Pitfall
With the "Artistic Taste" of the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre
Terrorism could be the new theme for Commemorative Editions of all the classic games!!!!
SlimDan22
chasmm
Posted 10:55 AM 21/8/08
Sorry...that we still have only a "hole in the ground"...
chasmm
chasmm
Posted 10:54 AM 21/8/08
As a New Yorker, this is no more distasteful to me than the fact that we we have only "a hole in the ground" almost seven years after the fact.
Now that's a disgrace...
chasmm
whiteknight89
Posted 11:30 AM 21/8/08
I was in the 6th grade that day. I cried during every class, and through most of the night. This is definatly too soon, at least for me. Bad taste and aweful judgement on behalf of the "artist."
whiteknight89
pop-pop-pixel
Posted 12:59 PM 21/8/08
I don't know, maybe this doesn't compare at all. But look at games like Call of Duty, and other games based off horrific battles long past, where thousands of people died. One could say, that those games mock, or trivialize something that our grandparents and great grandparents lived through.
I'm sure there might be some Germans out there who might think games about killing Germans (even if they are Nazi scum) aren't so cool.
Anyway, I'm not defending Le Douche up there, his French ass should stick to what the French are good at... making really good bread and weird pornography. For arts sake.
pop-pop-pixel
kakarotthemonkey
Posted 2:40 PM 21/8/08
@pop-pop-pixel: Yea but WW2 is something that happened over 60 years ago so there is a huge disconnect. I live in NYC and I still remember waking up to go to high school and seeing the two towers burn. The fact that he calls himself an "artist" to try and get away with this instead of a game programming @sshat is even more insulting.
kakarotthemonkey
lordofthetoast
Posted 9:28 PM 21/8/08
When can I order my copy?
lordofthetoast
brodie123
Posted 12:37 AM 22/8/08
goooooooo art.
brodie123
king_of_fools
Posted 2:43 AM 22/8/08
i think one of those invaders is wearing a turban ...
king_of_fools
pop-pop-pixel
Posted 3:30 AM 22/8/08
@kakarotthemonkey: I guess you're right. I don't think twice about sniping a Nazi in a watch tower. But, there are more recent games, where people are not fighting old wars, but new ones,and wars that haven't even happened yet. You get to kill people of middle-eastern decent. I know there's a fine line between taste, entertainment, I just think that sometimes, Americans look past our own "bad-taste" as acceptable entertainment or art.
pop-pop-pixel
man in gauze is king ramses II, silly.
Posted 11:04 AM 22/8/08
@helldiver:
The artist is French-American. Which means that he's a douchebag, mostly.
Giz has made me realize how much I hate most "artists", at least most artists that Giz features.
man in gauze is king ramses II, silly.
Nathan Drake
Posted 11:08 PM 22/8/08
@chasmm: You are absolutely right. What the hell have they been doing all these years?
Nathan Drake