Aussie trains 6 months to break video game record

In a back room of his cottage in Australia Phil Day has just broken the world record on the 28-year-old classic arcade game and successor to Space Invaders, Galaga.

Passing the previous mark of 2.7 million set by an American, Andrew Laidlaw, in 2007, Mr Day's score of 3.44 million is the culmination of six months' training and practice.

There were few signs of celebration at 12.30am on Saturday when, after playing for two hours and five minutes, Mr Day finally passed the score.

"There was no one else around. I wanted to signify that I had reached the 2.7 million mark for the video recording of the attempt, but I couldn't get too excited and I was pretty exhausted," he said.

Galaga Tournament was released in 1981 by the Japanese game creator Namco as an update to 1979's Space Invaders. It quickly became one of the most popular games of the decade and appeared in arcades around the world.

Mr Day started playing Galaga when he was seven and has had an affinity with the machine ever since.

"In Goulburn, near where I grew up, someone opened up an arcade, and that's where I first played it. When I went to uni it was still lingering around. The popularity of the game kept a few machines going. In Canberra there used to be an old machine in the nightclub Heaven. They only used to charge 20 cents a game."

To qualify for a world record, the game must be played on an unaltered 1981 machine, complete with original circuit boards. The technology predates the mobile phone, email and the internet.

Players must video their record attempts. Mr Day's score has yet to be verified by Twin Galaxies, the world authority for computer game records.

- © Fairfax NZ News