Tag: The Strong Museum of Play

Silent Hill, Dragon Quest, Skyrim, and More Announced as Finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026

The World Video Game Hall of Fame has announced the games that will be competing for induction as part of their Class of 2026, and with five returning finalists, this year’s theme seems to be second chances.

So which games will get another chance to earn a plaque on the wall at the Strong Museum of Play’s World Video Game Hall of Fame? Rovio’s Angry Birds, Electronic Arts’s FIFA International Soccer, and Konami’s Frogger will all be going through the voting process for a third time, while NanaOn-Sha’s PaRappa the Rapper and Konami’s Tokimeki Memorial are both getting their second shot at induction.

That leaves seven newcomers to the process and they’re pretty impressive bunch. Konami’s Silent Hill could probably be considered something of a frontrunner after the excellent showing of Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill F in recent years. But the Hall of Fame will also consider Enix’s Dragon Quest (released in North America as Dragon Warrior) for the first time, as well as Bethesda’s oft-re-released The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Namco’s Galaga, Riot’s League of Legends, Capcom’s Mega Man, and Jagex’s RuneScape.

The vote now goes to the Hall of Fame’s International Selection Advisory Committee, but the public will also get two chances to have their say in the final inductees.

As always, the Player’s Choice Ballot will be available until March 13th, giving the three games that receive the most votes equal standing with the ballots from the rest of the committee members. And for the first time this year, the World Video Game Hall of Fame is taking a road trip to the Game Developers Conference, where attendees will have the opportunity to vote for the games they’d like to appear on another public ballot.

The World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026 will be announced on Thursday, May 7, at 10:30 AM (Eastern Time). And if you’re unfamiliar with any of this year’s finalists, you can learn more about them after the break.

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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 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.

World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Finalists for Class of 2025 Include Angry Birds, GoldenEye 007, Quake, and More

I can’t say that I blame them, but it sure looks the World Video Game Hall of Fame would like it to be 2023 again. The finalists for the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025 were announced earlier this week, and six games that failed to make the cut from 2023 are getting another try this year. That crop of titles includes Ensemble’s Age of Empires, Rovio’s Angry Birds, Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Rare’s GoldenEye 007, Visual Concepts’s NBA 2K, and id Software’s Quake.

They’ll be competing against two other returning finalists, Konami’s Frogger (which was last up as a finalist in 2020) and the Mattel Football handheld .

Unorthodox handhelds are something of the theme this year, as Bandai’s Tamagotchi digital pet is a finalist (for the first time) as well. It’s joined by a trio of other first-timers including Midway’s Defender, Incredible Technologies’s Golden Tee Golf, and Natsume’s Harvest Moon.

“This year’s finalists span the decades and range from arcade classics to one of the most popular mobile games of all time,” said Jon-Paul Dyson, the Director of The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games. “All of these games have enormously influenced pop culture or the game industry itself. Frogger was popular in the arcades of the 1980s, but an iconic Seinfeld scene in 1998 made it unforgettable. The brilliant coding of the first-person shooter Quake enabled unforgettable multiplayer matches that have mesmerized players and influenced many games that followed. Then there’s Tamagotchi, which bridges the gap between video games and digital toys, changing the way we think about games.”

The Hall of Fame’s International Selection Advisory Committee, a body made up of journalists and scholars from around the world, is currently debating which of these games to induct as part of the Class of 2025, and you can help. A Player’s Choice Ballot will be available until March 13th and the three games that receive the most votes will be submitted alongside the other ballots from the committee members.

The World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025 will be announced during a ceremony at The Strong on Thursday, May 8, at 10:30 AM. If you’d like to study up on this classic games, the curators at the Strong Museum have put together a cheat sheet describing each of games. You can find it after the break.

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World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024 Includes Asteroids, Myst, Resident Evil, SimCity, and Ultima

Once you see this year’s crop of inductees to the Strong Museum’s World Video Game Hall of Fame, you might be surprised that they didn’t get the call as part of an earlier vote. But less than four dozen titles have been selected to join this inner circle, so it’s also easy to see how some groundbreaking games could slip through the cracks.

And that’s where we are with the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024, which welcomed Atari’s Asteroids, Cyan’s Myst, Capcom’s Resident Evil, Maxis’s SimCity, and Richard Garriott’s Ultima into the fold during a ceremony earlier today. It’s true… but I can hear the questioning tone in your voice.

Wasn’t Asteroids the game that solidified the space shooter as the dominant style of arcade game in 1979? Yup. Didn’t Richard Garriott practically invent the RPG with Ultima? He did. Wasn’t the CD-ROM-powered Myst more popular than any other PC game in the 1990s? You got that right. And aren’t Resident Evil and SimCity beloved classics that people continue to replay every year? That’s a big yes.

The curators and researchers at the Strong Museum also filled in some gaps and had a few nice things to say about each inductee.

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Here’s the Finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024

Spring is in the air, and that means it’s time for the curators at the World Video Game Hall of Fame to unveil this year’s ballot of possible inductees. The Class of 2024 will be the tenth to be welcomed into the Hall, and this year’s competition will include a grab bag of previous finalists and a eclectic slate of newcomers.

Leading the pack is a trio of two-time finalists, including Capcom’s Resident Evil (previously up for consideration in 2017 and 2022), Harmonix’s Guitar Hero (2020 and 2021), and Cyan’s Myst (2017 and 2019). All three have a strong case for induction, but they’ll be competing against a few other previous finalists, including Elite (which was a finalist in 2016), Asteroids (2018), and Metroid (2018).

But don’t count out the rookies, who come from some of gaming’s less-crowded corners. There’s a browser-based classic from the early 2000s (Neopets), the original city builder (SimCity), an early dating simulation (Tokimeki Memorial), a big name in extreme sports (Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater), Richard Garriott’s groundbreaking RPG (Ultima), and the chaotic trivia game that inspired the Jackbox franchise (You Don’t Know Jack).

“Even ten years in, there’s no shortage of deserving contenders that have had enormous influence on pop culture or the game industry itself,” said Jon-Paul Dyson, the Director of the Hall of Fame’s parent organization, the International Center for the History of Electronic Games at the Strong Museum. “These games span decades. Asteroids is an icon of the late 70s arcade. Myst showed the potential of CD-ROM technology in the 90s. Neopets became a staple of browser-based, free games as we entered the 2000s. And Guitar Hero, which is less than 20 years old, has already proven its staying power.”

As always, the World Video Game Hall of Fame is opening up the voting to the general public between now and March 21. Make your choice at WorldVideoGameHallOfFame.org, and the three games that receive the most votes will be submitted as a Player’s Choice ballot alongside the other ballots from the Hall of Fame’s International Selection Advisory Committee.

The World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024 will be announced on Thursday, May 9, at 10:30 AM (Eastern Time). And if you’re unfamiliar with any of this year’s finalists, you can learn more about them after the break.

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The World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2023 Inducts The Last of Us, Wii Sports, Barbie Fashion Designer, and Computer Space

I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us has had a pretty good year. An enhanced remake known as The Last of Us Part I helped set new standards for accessibility in games when it debuted on the PS5 in September. HBO’s hugely popular live action adaptation followed in January to rave reviews and some of the highest ratings in the network’s history. And now, it has been inducted into the Strong Museum’s World Video Game Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2023.

Three other games were inducted this year, and each one sparked a revolution in video games in their own way.

Nintendo’s Wii Sports launched alongside the Wii in 2006 and popularized motion controls in a big way. Not only did Nintendo’s traditional audience love it, but the game also became a favorite of seniors and inspired Sony and Microsoft to introduce motion peripherals later that generation.

Like Wii Sports, Mattel Media’s Barbie Fashion Designer also opened up video games to a new audience in 1996. The dress-up game sold more than half a million copies in its first year (more than megasellers like Doom or Quake over a similar span of time), kickstarted a conversation about gender and gaming, and served as an introduction to technology for many women.

Finally, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabny’s Computer Space, the first commercially-available video game, has made its way into the World Video Game Hall of Fame

The historians and curators from the World Video Game Hall of Fame spared a few thoughts about the Class of 2023, which you can find after the break.

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The Last of Us, Quake, and Computer Space Lead 2023’s Crop of Finalists for Induction into the World Video Game Hall of Fame

HBO’s live-action adaptation of The Last of Us completed its first season to widespread critical acclaim this past weekend, and now it looks like the original game is a finalist for induction into the World Video Game Hall of Fame.

Naughty Dog’s groundbreaking action game is part of a dozen finalists vying for a spot in the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2023. It was joined by a cadre of other first-time finalists including Ensemble’s Age of Empires, Mattel’s Barbie Fashion Designer, Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Nutting’s Computer Space, id Software’s Quake, and Sir-Tech’s Wizardry.

The remaining slots on the shortlist were filled out by five returning finalists, including a few others that have recently been in the spotlight.

There’s GoldenEye 007 from Rare, which will get its second chance at the Hall after a highly-anticipated re-release for the Xbox and Switch in January 2023. Rovio’s Angry Birds is also up for its second shot at induction alongside the surprise delisting of the game from the Google Play Store. And FIFA International Soccer is taking its third shot at the Hall of Fame in the final year before the publisher rebrands the franchise as EA Sports FC. Rounding out this year’s finalists are Visual Concept’s NBA 2K and Nintendo’s Wii Sports.

As always, the World Video Game Hall of Fame will give the public a voice in the final vote from now until March 22 with the Player’s Choice Ballot. The three games that receive the most public votes will be forwarded to the final tally, and they’ll will be weighed alongside the other ballots submitted by the Hall of Fame’s International Selection Advisory Committee.

The inductees to the Class of 2023 will be announced on May 4. And you can learn more about this year’s finalists after the break.

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World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022 Includes Civilization, Dance Dance Revolution, Ms. Pac-Man, and Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Put on your dancing shoes, the Strong Museum has announced the four inductees for the World Video Game Hall of Fame‘s Class of 2022.

After coming up empty in two previous years (2018 and 2019), Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution finally boogied its way into the Hall of Fame. It was joined on the virtual stage by Sid Meier’s Civilization (2016) and Bandai Namco’s Ms. Pac-Man (2018), two other titles that fell short in previous years.

For the fourth inductee, the Hall of Fame’s International Selection Advisory Committee chose Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in its first year as a finalist.

Historians and curators from the World Video Game Hall of Fame put together a short presentation video highlighting this year’s inductees, as well as shared some of their thoughts.

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Finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022 Include Zelda: Ocarina of Time, PaRappa the Rapper, Minesweeper, and More

It’s that time of year again… the curators of the World Video Game Hall of Fame at the Strong Museum of Play have announced the finalists for this year’s class of inductees.

The games fighting for a spot in the Class of 2022 are all classics, but many of the titles have been here before. For Civilization and Dance Dance Revolution, this will be their third attempt to gain entry into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Sid Meier’s Civilization was previously a finalist in 2016 and 2019, while Dance Dance Revolution tried to groove its way to immortality in 2018 and 2019.

Four other titles are also getting a second chance on the World Video Game Hall of Fame shortlist, including Resident Evil (which was a finalist in 2017), Ms. Pac-Man (2018), Candy Crush Saga (2019), and NBA Jam (2020).

With six slots spoken for by repeat finalists, there were a few surprises among the games that are brand new to the process. That includes Microsoft’s beloved timewaster, Minesweeper, which could be considered something of a frontrunner after Windows Solitaire‘s inclusion in the Class of 2019. The 1990s as a whole were well-represented on the shortlist, which also included appearances from PaRappa the Rapper, Sony’s funky PSone era rhythm game, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the first 3D adventure from the Zelda franchise.

Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed, Michael Toy and Glenn Wichman’s Rogue, and Zynga’s Words With Friends rounded out this year’s list of finalists.

As in years part, the general public will be able to vote for their favorite finalist by visiting WorldVideoGameHallOfFame.org between now and March 24. The three games that receive the most votes will be submitted as a Player’s Choice ballot alongside the other ballots from the Hall of Fame’s International Selection Advisory Committee.

This year’s inductees will be announced during an online presentation on Thursday, May 5, at 10:30 AM (Eastern Time), and you can learn more about all 12 games after the break.

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