There are literally thousands of video games, and gamers spend their entire hobby sorting through the crud to find the best. Fortunately, professionals are in the mix to help out, and the World Video Game Hall Of Fame just got some new inductees.
Every art form needs a hall of fame, and for video games, it’s in Rochester, New York. And it’s not just some dude in his basement: Founded last year, the World Video Game Hall Of Fame is run by The Strong National Museum of Play, a museum dedicated to the history and social relevance of toys. It runs a scholarly publication about toys, and it also runs the National Toy Hall of Fame. And this year, the post-docs and professors have picked six games to join.
They’re all pretty much no-brainers: The Legend of Zelda, Sonic The Hedgehog, The Sims, Space Invaders, Grand Theft Auto III and The Oregon Trail are the 2016 class. To qualify, they had to meet fairly specific criteria. They had to be iconic, popular over a long period of time, had significant influence on the development of video games, and be internationally known. Rocking a microphone is optional.
They’re all solid choices, and it’s nice to see them not shying away from controversy. Grand Theft Auto III remains controversial today, for example, but there’s no denying that it fits the above criteria to a tee. It joins Doom, Pong, Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros., Tetris, and World of Warcraft on the shelves. That said, it’s light on a few genres, so maybe next year, RPGs will finally get their due.
(Via The Strong)