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First Games Inducted Into the World Video Game Hall of Fame

Posted by samzenpus on from the best-wasted-hours dept.

An anonymous reader writes: From 15 finalists, the first inductees to the World Video Game Hall of Fame were picked for 2015. Only one of the titles added to the list of legends was launched in the last 15 years. The six games inducted this year are: Pong, Pac-Man, Tetris, Super Mario Bros, Doom, and World of Warcraft. The World Video Game Hall of Fame says it recognizes games across all platforms, and all have the possibility of being included.

17 of 277 comments (clear)

  1. WoW? by DigiShaman · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I disagree with WoW being on the list. All others are legit entries.

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.
    1. Re:WoW? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Name the single most iconic MMO of all time. WoW. "They have to be iconic, have longevity, have reached across international boundaries and also have exerted influence on the design and development of other games, on other forms of entertainment or on popular culture and society." Yes it strongly fits in all of those categories. You can't say that for any other MMO.

    2. Re:WoW? by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yeah, absolutely. If we're doing introductory inductees (say that 10 times fast) WoW doesn't really belong with Pong and Pac Man, especially in the abscence of Space Invaders and/or Galaga.

    3. Re:WoW? by ogdenk · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What about EverQuest? It predates WoW and had quite a following. Both games suck IMHO but people liked them. I would also argue that Everquest influenced WoW's development.

      WoW is too modern to be a "Hall of Fame" contender and many games like it have existed over the years.

      Personally I think BattleZone, Tempest or the Star Wars Arcade Game should have been on the list. Vector games never get any love in popularity contests targeted at today's 12 year olds though.

    4. Re:WoW? by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What about EverQuest? It predates WoW and had quite a following.

      EverQuest and Ultima Online have the same problem. Outside of gamers, only in one or two countries do people other than gamers know anything about them. But WoW is culturally pervasive across much of the world. The same logic must have placed Doom over Wolf3D.

      Personally I think BattleZone, Tempest or the Star Wars Arcade Game should have been on the list. Vector games never get any love in popularity contests targeted at today's 12 year olds though.

      The problem with any of those games is that they don't have cultural influence. Only gamers know about them. (The SW arcade game is still one of my favorites of all time, if I could own just one cabinet...) Space Invaders, on the other hand... that's got some influence, I think it ought to have made the list.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    5. Re:WoW? by Akaihiryuu · · Score: 4, Insightful

      WOW wasn't included because it was the first, or even close. It was included because it broke MMO's into the mainstream and had a 10-year run. Prior to WOW, MMO's were an extremely niche thing, that only nerds and hardcore gamers ever played. While I don't agree with what WOW has become in the last expansion (in fact, I will go so far as to say it's a terrible game now), you can't deny that it broke down barriers and opened up MMO's to people who had never even considered playing them before.

    6. Re:WoW? by germansausage · · Score: 4, Informative

      That's not how I remember it. There were arcades everywhere and video games in every bar back in the 80's and everybody (not just nerds) dropped quarters in them. Pac man and even more so ms pac man, pole position, galaga, sinistar, tempest, defender, asteroids and a pile of other games being played non-stop by all sorts of people, not just so called nerds.

    7. Re:WoW? by Darinbob · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Wouldn't have existed if it weren't for adventure games either. At least one of them should have been on the list. Either Zork or Colossal Cave. MMOs are too new, with huge fanbases that go after each others' throats like it was politics. Adventure games was a full genre that includes later RPGs and MMOs and MUDs, and whatnot.

    8. Re:WoW? by sound+vision · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Really I think that part of the issue is they have no guidelines or limitations on the nominations. With the Rock & Roll hall of fame, there is a rule that a band or performer has to have released its first music at least 25 years ago to be nominated. The time aspect is important, it helps you recognize which releases are truly important and influential, and which ones are catchy but short-lived. The reason this game inductees list looks weird is that it's got WoW listed next to Pong and Tetris. Give it another decade, and it won't be so weird to see WoW in there. IMO they shouldn't be considering anything newer than the 90s for a few years.

    9. Re:WoW? by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I can't believe they didn't include Goldeneye on those criteria. The game made more money than the movie, and brought the multi-player deathmatch model to the masses

      No, stop right there. The masses didn't have an N64, so the masses couldn't even play Goldeneye. It was the least popular platform of the generation. That the game made so much money on it is a testament to its popularity, but it's another thing that nobody but gamers knows about. If you say Goldeneye, they will say "movie".

      Goldeneye was also an awful game compared to FPSes on the PC at the time. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Goldeneye was the defining moment in the "Console vs. PC Master Race" war, although we didn't call it that. That's the precise moment at which the split occurred. Console gamers were all excited by their new toy, and PC gamers were looking at them like "are you new?"

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    10. Re:WoW? by ReeceTarbert · · Score: 3, Informative

      Fact: I'm older than you are and I was around when Pac-Man was brand new. Nobody but arcade-going nerds played Pac-Man or any video games, really.

      That you are older than the OP might even be a fact, but another fact is that a song about a video game that, according to you, "nobody played" peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in March 1982.

      RT.

  2. what? when did this happen? by Karmashock · · Score: 4, Insightful

    when did a hall of fame for games get created that wasn't just some guy's opinion?

    Where is this?

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    1. Re:what? when did this happen? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      ... I know but... like... I've seen nothing about this until now and who the fuck are these people... and etc etc?

      I mean, should I take this more seriously than any jackass saying "I like this"... is this supposed to be like the academy awards or golden globes or something?

      The very idea of this thing is baffling to me because I don't think the community or industry is organized enough to have such a thing.

      I don't really have a problem with their selections, I just think the way in which they go through this needs to be declared and obvious.

      It's at the Strong Museum of Play which is the recognized Toy Hall of Fame by the International Toy Industry and the Strong Museuem is also home to the International History of Electronic Games. The Strong also has over 65,000 video game artifacts in its collection which is the largest collection in the world. It's a world-class museum. So yes it is worthy of creating this Hall. You should check it out if you ever have a chance. It's arcade game collection is also amazing.

  3. ...and the award for Lifetime Achievement goes to: by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 5, Funny

    Duke Nukem Forever!!!

  4. Re:leisure suit larry by viperidaenz · · Score: 3, Informative

    Don't forget learning useless trivia from the previous generation to get past the age check before you discovered the key-combo to bypass it.

  5. Missing? by MouseTheLuckyDog · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Zork. It just has to be there. It's like having a basketball hall of fame, and not having Michael Jordan in it.

    Miner2049er. Again iconic.

    Myst, I'm not a big fan, but in it's time it was iconic.

  6. Interesting list of game choices by BevanFindlay · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Hmm. That list seems to make sense, though WoW is perhaps the outsider.

    But, what about Asteroids, Space Invaders, even Street Fighter? Civilization or Sim City? No love (yet) for strategy games at all, which should probably start with either those or Dune II, or perhaps something from the Command & Conquer series (either C&C1 or Red Alert 1). Although, maybe I'm a bit too much of a geek - quite likely, Age of Empires would beat some of those to the list.

    However, these, and most of the other suggestions being made, are more about iconic or revolutionary (started a genre) games, as opposed to simply famous. And, they put the requirement of it influencing outside culture (so recognisable by more than gamers). The Sims, Minecraft, Sonic, and yes, as much as we geeks don't want to admit it, Angry Birds (as derivative as that is - i.e. there's no Scorched Earth, a much earlier artillery game) are all legitimate nominations I think. Perhaps they might have had less ire if they kept to solely classic games for the first round, although I do remember hearing something about an unofficial WoW theme park in China... Interesting that WoW gets in before Warcraft though.

    I can see how difficult it would be to be objective on something like this, so I applaud their attempting it, even if I don't entirely agree with the choices. Maybe they included WoW to try and have something relevant to a modern audience? (Although, arguably Minecraft is more recognisable today, if perhaps still a little new. I expect it will get there soon enough though).