The Adventure Log: A Game History Blog

Meet the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025: Quake, GoldenEye 007, Defender, and Tamagotchi

The James Bond films famously open with 007 dispatching another would-be assassin and a wisp of white smoke escaping from the barrel of a Walther PPK. This cinematic bit of tradition was also used to open Rare’s GoldenEye 007, and it helped set the stage for one of the greatest video game adaptations of all time.

Today, as wisps of white smoke also floated over the Vatican after the conclusion of the papal conclave, the Strong Museum’s World Video Game Hall of Fame announced that GoldenEye 007 had been selected as part of the institution’s Class of 2025.

The classic Nintendo 64 game was honored alongside three other title, including the other dominant shooter from the late 90s, id Software’s Quake. Williams’s Defender and Bandai’s Tamagotchi digital pet also got the nod as part of the Class of 2025. This year’s induction ceremony included appearances from Eugene Jarvis, the team on Defender; John Romero, the co-creator of Quake; and Tara Badie, the head of Tamagotchi for Bandai Namco.

After the ceremony, curators and historians from the Strong Museum attempted to place these games in their proper context within the history of video games.

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The BAFTA Games Awards Polled the Public and Shenmue is “The Most Influential Video Game of All Time”

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts did more than select the winners of the 2024-2025 BAFTA Games Awards last month (once again, congratulations to Astro Bot).

In the leadup to this year’s ceremony, the group gave the public a chance to vote for “The Most Influential Video Game of All Time“. With all the votes now tallied, Sega’s Shenmue appeared at the top of the list, and it was followed by 20 additional titles.

Chris Schilling, formerly of Edge Magazine, helped introduce the breadth of games on display:

As more than one responder said, it’s unfair to have to choose just one. Do you pick the pioneers that shaped the early days of the medium, the innovators that were ahead of their time, the ones that proved formative to your own creative journey, or simply the ones that made you most emotional? As might be expected, among the extraordinary number of responses we received was a staggering variety of games — ranging from titles that launched the industry to contemporary giants released mere months ago. The top ten alone spans multiple genres, from platformers to shooters, sandbox adventures to simulations.

Shenmue launched to near universal acclaim in 2000 and is ostensibly about Ryo Hazuki’s search for his father’s killer. But the game also works as a massive life simulation, giving players the opportunity to also play arcade games, chat with NPCs, and even drive a forklift. It’s a bit of a surprising choice for the top spot, but also not, as you can see the ripple effect that Shenmue‘s open world design and focus on minigames caused in the 2000s (and beyond). Shenmue‘s influence can be seen clearly in subsequent games in the Grand Theft Auto and Yakuza franchises, but also in Animal Crossing, Final Fantasy, and the games of Quantic Dream.

“The Most Influential Video Game of All Time” is actually a pretty solid list top to bottom, with foundational games like Pong (#13), Tetris (#11), and Super Mario Bros. (#3) sitting alongside newer classics like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (#20) and Baldur’s Gate 3 (#16). Doom (1993) (#2) and Half-Life 2 (#9), two games that often make the cut on lists like this, were also well-represented in the top ten.

Though I have to admit, I was a bit baffled that you’ll also find Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (#7) sandwiched between Super Mario 64 (#8) and Minecraft (#6) in the top ten. Warhorse’s sequel has received some fantastic reviews so far this year, but it’s also only two months old and hasn’t influenced much of anything yet.

The complete list of games from BAFTA’s “The Most Influential Video Game of All Time” can be found after the break.

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2024 GOTY Scoreboard: Astro Bot, Balatro, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, More

People who focus on the business side of games predicted that 2024 would see fewer AAA releases than 2023 and more layoffs throughout the industry. Sadly, they were right on both counts. It’s rough out there for people who make games.

But the dour cloud that’s currently hanging over the industry is all the more reason to celebrate the developers that did great work last year.

The year’s biggest success story might be the most surprising, as Team Asobi’s Astro Bot collected the most “Game of the Year” hardware from journalists and players, as well as three of the four major awards (The Game Awards, the DICE Awards, and the BAFTA Games Awards). But there was plenty to celebrate from 2024, with a dozen other games earning at least one “Game of the Year” accolade and dozens more appearing further down the lists.

That cohort includes LocalThunk’s Balatro (which won “Game of the Year” at the GDC Awards), Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Atlus’s Metaphor: ReFantazio, and MachineGames’s Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

The latest adventure starring everyone’s favorite archeologist is an interesting case, as it released so late in the year that many outlets (including The Game Awards) were unable to properly evaluate it. Will its recent launch on the PS5 give a boost to its 2025 GOTY Scoreboard crusade? I wouldn’t rule it out, but it’s possible that Nintendo’s shiny new Switch 2 will steal this year’s spotlight.

But that’s a conversation for a year from now. For now, you should definitely check out more of last year’s most-acclaimed titles after the break.

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The Strong Museum of Play Acquires Prototypes and Development Documents from Volition’s 30-Year History

Volition opened their doors in 1993 and they spent the next 30 years developing a slew of critically-acclaimed action games such as Descent, Red Faction, and Saints Row. But that all came to an end in 2023 when the studio was shuttered by parent company Deep Silver. In the year-and-a-half since that closure, curators at the Strong Museum of Play have been in contact with many former developers from he company to collect and catalog Volition’s expansive history.

Earlier this week, the museum’s Director of Digital Preservation, Andrew Borman, announced the acquisition of the Volition Collection on LinkedIn:

While we have only just begun to process the collection, I am beginning to understand some of what it might contain. […] We can explore games that were unreleased and never made it to market, such as various Saints Row spinoffs and their prototypes, many of which haven’t been seen before. We are honored to preserve the history and legacy of Volition, and the work of many Volitionites that made such incredible games.

The Strong was given a massive trove of discs containing game builds and other supporting documents, including an early prototype of Saints Row (which was then known as Bling Bling) and development materials connected to Descent 4 (an unreleased prequel that was reworked into Red Faction).

Staff members at The Strong are currently working with the collection and “organizing, cataloguing, and migrating data from optical discs and other storage formats” to make it available to researchers and museum guests at a future date.

Minecraft’s Volume Alpha Soundtrack Has Been Added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry

Two years ago, Koji Kondo’s “Super Mario Bros. Theme” became the first piece of music from a video game to be added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry. But it definitely won’t be the last.

The National Recording Registry’s Class of 2025 was announced earlier this week, and Minecraft‘s Volume Alpha soundtrack by Daniel “C148” Rosenfeld was among the inductees. Here’s what Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden had to say about the selection:

Since its official release in 2011, Minecraft has grown into a cultural phenomenon, building its legacy as one of history’s most successful video games one voxel at a time. Key to the game’s early success is the ambient-style soundtrack, created by German producer Daniel Rosenfeld under his alias, C418. The gentle electronic score lends itself perfectly to the game’s open-ended design and sandbox environment, which invites players to interact, explore and build, free from any specific narrative constraints.

Inspired by pioneers of intelligent dance music such as Aphex Twin and the ambient music of Brian Eno, Rosenfeld’s original soundtrack to the game, compiled on the 2011 release “Minecraft: Volume Alpha,” provides a soothing and inviting backdrop to the video game’s open-world environment, creating instant nostalgia in the process. The influence of C418’s music can be traced through the proliferation of ambient scores appearing in video games since Minecraft’s initial release, as well as the cultural phenomenon of “lo-fi hip-hop,” which grew in popularity during the late 2010s and shares many of the same calming and nostalgic musical aesthetics as those found in Minecraft’s original score.

Minecraft’s soundtrack will be joined in the Class of 2025 by a wide variety of recordings, including Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Tracy Chapman’s self-titled album (which includes “Fast Car”), Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On”, Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black, the Original Broadway Cast Album of Hamilton, and the “Reboot Chime” from Windows 95 (which was composed by Brian Eno).

BAFTA Games Awards: All the Winners from 2003 to Today

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has presented the BAFTA Games Awards almost every year since 2003 (they skipped 2005 for some reason). “The BAFTAs” are one of the game industry’s most prestigious awards, and they’re awarded each Spring, honoring games released during the previous calendar year.

Since 2016, the BAFTA Games Awards ceremony has coincided with the London Games Festival.

A secret ballot cast by the British Academy’s membership, which includes “experienced games industry practitioners from a range of backgrounds in game development and production,” chooses the nominees and winners each year. A variety of sponsored awards are also offered by the BAFTAs, and the winners are typically decided by a public vote.

All the “Best Game” winners from the BAFTA Games Awards can be found here…

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The 2024-2025 BAFTA Games Awards Goes With the Flow as Astro Bot is Named “Best Game”

The voting body behind the BAFTA Games Awards has gained something of a reputation as a group that is always interested in the road not taken. Just look at these examples…

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a certifiable phenomenon at this point, but the BAFTA Game Awards chose to honor Portal 2 as the “Best Game” from 2011. And while we all got swept up in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in 2017, the “Best Game” statuette at the BAFTAs went to What Remains of Edith Finch. Even two years ago, while everyone else was gushing over Elden Ring, it was Vampire Survivors that won “Best Game” at the BAFTA Games Awards.

But what happened at the 2024-2025 BAFTA Games Awards? This year, the folks who make up the British Academy chose to join the crowd and give the “Best Game” statuette to Team Asobi’s Astro Bot. Sony’s robotic mascot took home four additional awards last night, including “Animation”, “Audio Achievement”, “Family”, and “Game Design”.

Did any other games win some awards last night? You bet!

The Chinese Room’s Still Wakes the Deep led the rest of the pack with wins in three categories (“New Intellectual Property”, “Performer in a Leading Role” for Alec Newman, and “Performer in a Supporting Role” for Karen Dunbar). Arrowhead’s Helldivers II also picked up a pair of awards (“Multiplayer” and “Music”) during the show.

And then there was Balatro.

The game’s pseudonymous developer, LocalThunk, was a no-show at the BAFTA Games Awards, but he sent actor Ben Starr (dressed as Balatro‘s Jimbo the Joker) to the show in his stead. So it was Starr who accepted the “Best Debut” statuette for Balatro on LocalThunk’s behalf and delivered an acceptance speech for the ages:

“I can say having met him personally, LocalThunk is really rich now. He has shoes made of gold and he thanks you for making him that way. He says here at the bottom, he wishes he could thank more people, but if he’s being honest, it was just him who made it. Everyone else is a freeloader, especially you, PlayStack.”

It was all fun and games until the end, when Starr closed by saying, “Play more independent games like Animal Well. They are the lifeblood of this industry and they deserve your respect.”

The 2024-2025 BAFTA Games Awards marks the end of awards season, and you can find a replay of the ceremony, as well as the rest of the winners and all the nominees, after the break. The extended Longlist, which includes more than 60 titles, is also available on BAFTA’s website.

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GDC Awards: All the Winners from 1996 to Today

Chris Crawford opened the doors to the very first Computer Game Developers Conference after welcoming two dozen other developers into his living room in 1988. The annual gathering has grown considerably in the years since (including being rechristened the Game Developers Conference in 1999), though Crawford bowed out of organizing the event in 1994.

UBM TechWeb, a company that specialized in trade shows and conferences, took over organizing the Game Developers Conference in the 1990s and they launched the Game Developers Choice Awards (GDC Awards) in 2001. Informa Tech, a British publishing company, took over as the organizer of the Game Developers Conference in 2020.

The GDC Awards are awarded every Spring at the Game Developers Conference, and both the nominees and the winners are selected by a group of “leading game creators from all parts of the industry.” Membership in this panel, which is known as the International Choice Awards Network, is available by invitation-only.

Before the creation of the GDC Awards, the Game Developers Conference hosted the Spotlight Awards from 1997 through 1999.

All the “Game of the Year” winners from the GDC Awards and the Spotlight Awards can be found here…

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Balatro Draws “Game of the Year” Honors at the 2024-2025 GDC Awards

It was a tale of two games last night in San Francisco at the 2024-2025 Game Developers Choice Awards. As they’ve done throughout awards season, Team Asobi’s Astro Bot was competing head-to-head with Localthunk’s Balatro in most categories, including “Game of the Year”.

Astro Bot was victorious at The Game Awards and the DICE Awards, but the little automaton couldn’t go three-for-three as Balatro won “Game of the Year” at this year’s GDC Awards. The poker roguelike also went all in to collect the “Innovation Award”, “Best Design”, and “Best Debut”.

But don’t worry, Team Asobi didn’t go home empty handed last night. Astro Bot was the only other game to win multiple awards as it took home two statuettes for “Best Technology” and “Best Audio”.

The rest of the ceremony spread a handful of awards among some of 2024’s most acclaimed titles including Black Myth: Wukong (“Best Visual Art”), Metaphor: ReFantazio (“Best Narrative”), Life Is Strange: Double Exposure (“Social Impact Award”), and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (“Audience Award”).

Balatro has reshuffled awards season with the BAFTAs still ahead of us, and it’ll be interesting to see if it and Astro Bot can continue their winning ways in London.

A complete list of all the nominees and winners from the 2024-2025 GDC Awards, as well as a short video montage of the winners, can be found after the break.

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Zelda: Ocarina of Time Takes the Top Spot in Indy100’s “The Best 100 Video Games of All Time”

We’re just three months into 2025 and we have yet another new Best Games list to dissect and debate.

This time it comes from Indy100, a Digg-like viral news portal from British newspaper The Independent. “The Best 100 Video Games of All Time” sounds a little backwards to my American ears, but it’s business as usual at the top of the list as our old friend The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time took the #1 spot.

The list actually feels pretty traditional as you move through the rest of the Top 25. There’s Super Mario World at #3 and Half-Life 2 at #4 and The Last of Us at #9. Mainstays like Mass Effect 2 (#12), The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (#15), and Elden Ring (#17) can also be found in this stretch of the list.

But after that, more than 10% of the list is devoted to games that have never appeared on a Best Games list before. 2025’s Monster Hunter Wilds (#73) is the newest game on the list, but Indy100 also made room for 2024’s Astro Bot (#68), and 2023’s Alan Wake II (#77) and Spider-Man 2 (#72).

This batch of never-before-seen games also includes old favorites like 2000’s Spyro: Year of the Dragon (#81) and the incredibly-underrated Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil (#69) from 2001. Other new additions include God of War: Ragnarok (#16), Horizon: Forbidden West (#44), Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (#95), Devil May Cry 5 (#87), and Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (#88).

While a lot of new additions and old favorites dot the Indy100 list, the most unique part of “The Best 100 Video Games of All Time” might be the one game that didn’t make the cut… there’s no version of Tetris anywhere on the list. It’s a bit surprising, but it does happen.

The games from Indy100’s “The Best 100 Video Games of All Time” will be added to the Video Game Canon as part of the 2026 update.