As video games continue to grow as an industry, there is a stronger effort than ever to make sure that we remember our gaming history. Game preservation is a prominent issue these days as we begin losing games to time due to the increasing digital presence in gaming. While preservation itself, and how to best take on that challenge, are fiercely debated in the gaming community, there is at least one organization that highlights many of the industry’s most important titles: the World Video Game Hall of Fame.
On Thursday, four new titles were inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame, helping solidify them as some of video games most iconic titles. They are:
- Ms. Pac-Man
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
- Dance Dance Revolution
- Sid Meier’s Civilization
In a blog post, the Strong National Museum of Play explained its reasoning for why each game was inducted into its Hall of Fame, but they historically have looked at how each game has impacted gaming. Their criteria includes how iconic a game is, its global reach, longevity, and influence on the industry as a whole. With those guidelines in mind, it’s not a surprise at all to see why these four games were chosen to make the hall.