The first inductees have just been entered into the World Video Game Hall of Fame.
The inductees include Pong, Doom, Super Mario Bros., Pac Man, Tetris, and World of Warcraft.
Pong
First released in 1972, Pong is known as one of the first arcade games and sports games. Similar to tennis, pong required the virtual paddles to hit the ball across the screen. If the ball didn’t touch the paddle, it would count as a loss to the player who missed it. The first player who got 10 points won the game.
Doom
Doom is considered to be the game that brought popularity to first person shooters. The game was considered too violent for its time in 1993 with pixelated blood and killing demons from hell. Religious groups detested it and it was blamed for the 1999 Columbine Massacre. Despite the controversy, it received a lot of positive reception from gamers, earning itself high ratings.
Super Mario Bros.
The 1985 classic Super Mario Bros. is said to be the pioneering video game and highly influential. It made platformers popular, brought Nintendo fame, and is one of the best selling games for thirty years. There are over 100 different games featuring Mario and his friends, countless spinoffs, party games, sequels, and stand alone titles.
Pac-Man
Created in 1980 as an arcade game, Pac-Man sold 400,000 arcade machines worldwide, is known as a huge pop culture icon (particularly in the 80s), and made way for stealth based games. There is an enormous amount of Pac-Man merchandise, cosplays, movie appearances, sequels and spin-offs. Pac-Man himself is one of the most recognizable video game characters.
Tetris
Tetris was originally a Russian game released in 1984. Since its conception, there are many different gameplay styles available, like classic, sticky (blocks of the same colour stick together), and catch mode (falling Tetris blocks stick to a pivoting center and the player must not let it get too large). It’s said that Tetris has positive effects on the brain, making it more active during gameplay.
World of Warcraft
Since 2004, World of Warcraft has spawned a huge video game franchise and become a large part of gaming culture. As of May 2015, there have been 7.1 million subscribers to the game. The MMORPG has received high praise over the years from players, and won several awards over the years.
The exhibit is inside the Strong Museum in Rochester, New York. It’s also known as the National Museum of Play and is home to the National Toy Hall of Fame.
The panel of judges consisted of journalists, scholars, and other experts on video game culture and history.
Unsuccessful nominees included Minecraft, The Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, and Space Invaders to name a few.
Nominations for next year will be open now until March. Anyone can nominate games.
