Ahh, Japan. Land of perpetual bad luck. Apocalypses? Secret robot-magic-ancient-schoolgirls? Gigantic robot developments? All Japan. And this time once again, we’re getting another alien invasion. Only this time it’s from the aliens of Space Invaders and they’re going to be there, live, on television. And YOU can possibly help stop them.
That is, if you happen to be watching it and get in on the action with a smartphone/PC version of the game over here (Note: You’ll want to use either Safari or Chrome to play it, though smartphones and tablets can access the page as well). This is done alongside the on-air show and is a new kind of TV programming they’re calling “hybrid-cast”.
The first episode went on air in Japan at 11.30pm (GMT+9) on Friday night and was called “ Space Invaders With Everyone”. It has an appropriately crazy story, too. On New Year’s Day in 2014, it was predicted, aliens would arrive from space to attempt to take over the Earth. This was predicted some 50 years ago, and a Earth Defense Force taskforce secretly set up in preparation for it. Their cover? TV Tokyo itself! When the aliens arrive, they’ll be fighting against the Earth Force, and viewers will be able to do so alongside them by playing the game.
In order to play the game, when you see these aliens during the TV programme, you’ll want to hit the appropriate buttons within the game to help the TX7 fend them off. Participants also stand a chance to win prizes such as Ponta points which, if you’re living in Japan, you can trade in for various vouchers and so forth.
