It is a game about love and identity, but it also has forklift truck races. It is a game about bloody revenge, but while you're waiting to retaliate, you can buy lottery tickets and visit the arcade. When Bafta recently asked gamers to vote on the most influential game of all time, I'm not sure even the most ardent Sega fans would have gambled on the success of an idiosyncratic Dreamcast adventure from 1999. Yet the results, released on Thursday morning, show Shenmue at No 1, with perhaps more predictable contenders Doom and Super Mario Bros coming in second and third respectively. How has this happened, especially considering the game was considered a financial failure at the time of its release, falling short of recouping its then staggering development costs (a reported 70m, which would now get you about a third of Horizon Forbidden West or Star Wars Outlaws)?

Grand Theft Auto III, 2001 Building on the cult success of DMA Design's first two gangster adventures, GTA III takes the series into 3D, filling the Liberty City streets with drug smugglers, thieves and corrupt cops and letting the player find their own way through the chaos. The structure and style of the game inspired countless imitators, with its division between main story missions and optional side-quests. The collision between action adventure, shooter and RPG conventions would later be refined by Ubisoft with its fast travel and "tower unlock" mechanics, but GTA III is the godfather.

Mario the plumber may have got there first, but Sonic was always going to catch up. The Strong museum in Rochester, New York, has announced the latest six inductees to its video game hall of fame – and Sega's iconic hedgehog is among them. Also making the grade for this renowned collection of seminal game titles is interactive soap opera The Sims, gangster adventure Grand Theft Auto III, role-playing favourite Legend of Zelda, educational title Oregon Trail and one of the titles that helped kickstart the video gaming industry, Space Invaders. Strong began its world video game hall of fame last year, introducing the concept with the opening six entrants: Doom, Tetris, Pac-Man, Pong, Super Mario Bros and World of Warcraft. The nomination process is open to the public, but the final annual inductees are chosen by a panel of journalists and game scholars.

Space Invaders has been inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame, almost 40 years after its release. The 1978 space shooter was honoured alongside Sonic the Hedgehog, The Legend of Zelda, The Oregon Trail, Grand Theft Auto III and The Sims. They join the six inaugural titles from 2015: Doom, Pong, Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros, Tetris and World of Warcraft. Titles are selected for the US-based museum based on their status among players, longevity and influence. Hall of fame games become permanent exhibits at The Strong museum of play in Rochester, New York.

A video game that allowed players to zap marching aliens with dot lasers and another that gave them flamethrowers and put them in the driver's seat in a violent 3-D world are among six games inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. 'Space Invaders' and'Grand Theft Auto III,' along with'The Oregon Trail,' ''Sonic the Hedgehog,' ''The Legend of Zelda' and'The Sims,' were honoured Thursday for their influence on gaming and pop culture at the hall inside The Strong museum in Rochester. 'Space Invaders' wasn't the first shooter game when it was introduced in Japan in 1978, but it spurred many imitators and a craze for arcade games, said Jeremy Saucier, assistant director of The Strong's International Center for the History of Electronic Games. In this April 21, 2016 photo provided by The Strong museum in Rochester, N.Y., the 2016 inductees to the World Video Game Hall of Fame are displayed. From top left, clockwise, are'Grand Theft Auto III,' 'Space Invaders,' 'Sonic the Hedgehog,' 'The Sims,' 'The Legend of Zelda,' and'The Oregon Trail.'

In this April 21, 2016, photo provided by The Strong museum in Rochester, N.Y., the 2016 inductees to the World Video Game Hall of Fame are displayed. From top left, clockwise, are "Grand Theft Auto III," "Space Invaders," "Sonic the Hedgehog," "The Sims," "The Legend of Zelda," and "The Oregon Trail." Ask video gamers or programmers today what a teletype printer is and you're sure to get blank stares in a time when games are created on super computers that can be played on vibrant color monitors that can cover entire walls, or on mobile devices that can fit in the palm of your hand. The Oregon Trail, designed to be a fun way for children to learn about American history, hit the market in 1971 at a time when computers were in rare supply. With more than 65 million copies sold, it has stood the test of time as technology has exploded, and Thursday morning, the game was one of six that were inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame at The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, N.Y. "The fact that this has been used in classrooms over so many years is quite gratifying to us," said Rawitsch, who attended the induction ceremony with his son Jeff.

NEW YORK – A video game that allowed players to zap marching aliens with dot lasers and another that gave them flamethrowers and put them in the driver's seat in a violent 3-D world are among six games inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. "Space Invaders" and "Grand Theft Auto III," along with "The Oregon Trail," "Sonic the Hedgehog," "The Legend of Zelda" and "The Sims," were honored Thursday for their influence on gaming and pop culture at the hall inside The Strong museum in Rochester, New York. "Space Invaders" wasn't the first shooter game when it was introduced in Japan in 1978, but it spurred many imitators and a craze for arcade games, said Jeremy Saucier, assistant director of The Strong's International Center for the History of Electronic Games. A virtual universe away, "Grand Theft Auto III" armed players with flamethrowers and assault rifles. "By providing players with a license to do virtually anything they wanted to do on foot or behind the wheel, 'Grand Theft Auto III' renewed debates about the role of games and violence in society while it signaled video games aren't just for kids," Saucier said. The hall of fame inductees were chosen from among 15 finalists culled from thousands of nominations from around the world.