Space invaders compie 30 anni 16 Giugno 2008 in Curiosità /Foolish, Esteri, News, Tecnologie | 1 comment Spente le trenta candeline, il videogioco, creato dalla Taito Corporation e lanciato il 16 giugno 1978 rappresenta ancora oggi un mito per gli appassionati. A giudizio di molti esperti è uno dei padri dei videogiochi attuali. Space Invaders, sviluppato da Toshihiro Nishikado per la Taito Corporation, ha generato in pochi anni un fatturato di 500 milioni di dollari. Tra il 1979 e il 1980 è
For the ward located in Tokyo, Japan, see TaitÅ, Tokyo. For other uses, see Taito (disambiguation).
Taito Corporation
Type
Subsidiary
Founded
1953
Founder
Michael Kogan
Headquarters
Industry
Software & Programming
Parent
Square Enix
Website
http://www.taito.co.jp/
The Taito Corporation(æ ªå¼ä¼šç¤¾ã‚¿ã‚¤ãƒˆãƒ¼,kabushikigaisha taitÅ?) is a Japanese developer of video game software and arcade hardware. Taito Trading Company was established by a Russian businessman named Michael Kogan. Taito also imports and distributes American coin-op video games in Japan, as well as their own games all around the world. Taito Corporation was acquired by Square Enix in 2005.
History
The company was founded in 1953 by a Russian businessman named Michael Kogan as Taito Trading Company (æ ªå¼ä¼šç¤¾å¤ªæ±è²¿æ˜“,kabushikigaisha taitÅ bÅeki?). Taito started out importing and distributing vending machines. Later, they began leasing jukeboxes and they eventually started to manufacture their own.
Although Taito was already making coin-op mechanical and pinball games during the 1960s, it wasn't until 1973 that Taito introduced their first video arcade game. It was also in 1973 that they changed their name from Taito Trading Company to Taito Corporation. In 1978 Toshihiro Nishikado, a designer at Taito, created Space Invaders which became the company's most popular title ever and one of the most memorable games in arcade history. This game was published in the US by Midway. Space Invaders was inspired by an earlier 1972 electro-mechanical game by Taito called Space Monsters.
Due to the huge success of Space Invaders, Taito opened in 1979 an American division called Taito America Corporation in order to release games in North America. Taito America was based in Wheeling, Illinois and was handling the arcade sector of the company in North America. While the majority of the games Taito America published were games developed by its Japanese parent company, they did also publish games that they licensed from third-party companies, as well as games that were developed in the U.S. for Taito.
Besides Taito America, Taito had another division in North America called Taito Software Inc that was in charge of the non-arcade sector of the company. Based in North Vancouver, British Columbia and established in 1988, Taito Software released Taito games exclusively for home computers and consoles. Prior to Taito Software, the consumer side was also handled by Taito America. Like Taito America, Taito Software's catalog was mainly games developed by the Japanese parent company and occasionally games licensed from other companies.
1995 marked the last year that North America saw the Taito label on new games as Taito America and Taito Software closed down their offices at the same time. Video games developed by Taito are still available in North America to this day but they now bear the name of other publishers.
Taito has had a big influence on the course of videogame history, developing some very innovative games. Space Invaders is probably the most notable, but games such as Qix, Bubble Bobble, Jungle Hunt, Elevator Action, and Puzzle Bobble also introduced unique and innovative gameplay ideas.
In 1992, Taito announced a CD-ROM-based console system named WOWOW, that would have allowed people to play near-exact ports of Taito's arcades (similar to the Neo Geo), as well as download games from a satellite transmission (as the Satellaview would do later). It was named after the Japanese television station WOWOW and would have utilized its stations to download games. The WOWOW was never released.
On August 22, 2005, it was announced that gaming giant Square Enix would purchase 247,900 Taito shares worth ¥45.16 billion ( See also
List of Taito games
Square Enix
References
^ Hernandex, Christopher. Taito WoWoW. PSXFantatics.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-26.
^ Jenkins, David (August 22, 2005). Square Enix Makes Bid For Taito. Retrieved on 2007-08-26.
^ Carless, Simon (September 22, 2005). Square Enix Nears Takeover Of Taito. Retrieved on 2007-08-26.
^ Klepek, Patrick (September 28, 2005). Square Enix Swallows Taito. Retrieved on 2007-08-26.
External links
http://www.taito.co.jp/ - Company homepage (in Japanese)
The Taito Project from Emulation Status
Taito Corporation at MobyGames
Games Manufactured by Taito at Killer List of Videogames
