Smithsonian Wants Your Vote for Gaming Exhibit
The Smithsonian is calling for your vote for The Art of Video Games exhibition launching next year.
Monday the Smithsonian Institute called out to gamers for their vote on titles that will be featured in "The Art of Video Games" exhibition taking place next year at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Opening to the public in Washington, D.C. on March 16, 2012, the exhibition will be the first to explore the 40-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium. The exhibition will focus on striking visual effects, the creative use of new technology, and the most influential artists and designers. Chris Melissinos, founder of Past Pixels and collector of video games and gaming systems, is the curator of the exhibition.
"I want this exhibition to include the collective voice of the video game world, which is not limited to the developers, designers and artists but also the game players," said Melissinos. "It is important to me that when gamers visit the exhibition, they find the experiences that most matter to them."
Voting will begin on February 14 and end April 7 through the Art of Video Games website. Out of a pool of 240 proposed choices, only 80 games will be on display across five time periods: the 1970s to early 1980s (START!), the early 1980s to early 1990s (8-BIT), the early 1990s to the mid-1990s (BIT WARS!), the mid-1990s to the early 2000s (TRANSITION), and finally the early 2000s to today (NEXT GENERATION).
The results of your voting will be online in May, and will appear as screen shots and short video clips when the exhibition goes live next year. “Playing video games involves many personal choices, so, in keeping with the spirit of the exhibition’s content, we want to involve the public in helping us select games for the exhibition,” said Elizabeth Broun, The Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
To place your vote, head here. Currently the site is experiencing technical difficulties due to an "overwhelming" response. Voting has been disabled for now until the Smithsonian addresses the trafic issue on the back-end.
"The Art of Video Games" will take place on the North 3rd floor of the American Art Museum on March 16, 2012 to September 30, 2012.
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Go Pong!!!
world of the warcraft
Metal Fatigue! (PC)
They're asking me to choose between Portal and Half-Life 2. Where's the humanity?!
Wow, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons on the Intellivision, I sank many house into that one!
wtf no Crysis?
As stated above, Crysis really changed graphics. If they put Half life 2 over Crysis for artistic advancement, they have some moronic workers.
O.K. I voted but there were a lot of stinkers in there and a lot of great hugely epic games missing.
I think there going by more than just how pretty a game looks. Things like story and mood start to could a lot in the later generations.
Augh some of these choices just aren't fair... JSRF vs Phsychonauts... this will be a while.
Video games as art? An interesting concept but americans gamers have never played anything outside COD, Halo, and MADON. There are games that I would consider art but I'm sure the rest of the world hasn't played them or don't consider them that great.
The Classics need to be on there without a doubt though. Pacman, pong, digdug, galaga, all amazing.
Wolfenstien and Doom better make those lists!
Bioshock epitomizes the transcendence of video games as merely forms of entertainment to an artistic medium.
MGS is a necessity
I can't help but notice a whole era missing in PC gaming. They start it in mid-90s, but a lot of great games were done in the 80s and early 90s, including the whole adventure genre. Where is King's Quest, Space Quest and the like?
Also they have a bit of an issue with naming. 8-bit was 70s, not 80s -- that was 16-bit, while the 90s introduced 32-bit games, at least on the PC platform. (Anyone remember Watcom's dos4gw? Doom used it for example.)
Ah, and it's open for voting now!
Something is wrong with the world if FFVII doesn't make it.
Some of the game comparisons are really lame... Under Playstation -- C&C Red Alert vs Final Fantasy Tactics... Red Alert was primary for the PC... so having it listed under Playstation would be as dumb as listing Doom under Sega Genesis...
I love my Company of Heroes. It might not have the userbase of Starcraft but I think CoH is the best RTS ever.
They're asking me to choose between Portal and Half-Life 2. Where's the humanity?!
There were a couple hard choices.
I feel as i my heart has been ripped in two. A tear and a moment of silence to those who have fallen, we will miss you.
Through all I'm concerned though, Diablo II and Half Life 2 are my favorites.
Some tough choices. Had to pick MULE over Pirates for C64. DOS Adventure category was particularly tough with three great choices, but I went with Baldur's Gate 2. I'm confused why there are two nearly identical Zelda games for N64 Adventure genre.
Finally our work is being recognized for what it really is!!
A lot of tough choices and many epic games missing from that list.. FFVI (3 in the USA) for one, but at least they had Chrono Trigger in there.. Tie fighter made it in, which shows that at least someone was thinking things through at the time they created that list though I gotta say it took me a couple of minutes to pick between it and Diablo 2, also KOTOR, thank god they didn't leave that out! Also, weird that Mass Effect 2 made the list but Mass Effect 1 didn't.
Also, unfair to make me pick between Final Fantasy and Legend of Zelda for the NES..
Still, overall I gotta say it will be an interesting exhibition.
A lot of the game choices seemed pretty random. There were some glaring omissions and questionable entries. Myst was missing, which is a quick example I can think of for games as art. But E.T., regarded one of the worst games ever, was in there. It literally seems like they picked 3 games out of a hat with maybe a few token "popular" choices.
No duke 3d. It was good to see eternal darkness for the gamecube on there. An excellent game that really screws with your head.
I suggest Blade Runner pc game from 1997. Not very many know that game but it is worthy choice that is all gore and violence.
Pong, Pac-Man, Mario Brothers, Wolfenstien, Doom, and World of Warcraft should all be there imo.
As stated above, Crysis really changed graphics. If they put Half life 2 over Crysis for artistic advancement, they have some moronic workers.
When Doom 3 came out, almost all graphic card can't handle it and this is the same situation with Crysis. Crysis didn't change graphics, it just demanded too much of it when no graphic card was up to the task.
IMO, games that make into the actual exhibit needs to have a impact on the entire gaming world as a whole, not just towards a individual. So Crysis for you may be important, but not everyone thinks that is the case. And for a game that has a strong impact, PacMan is one of them.
There were some groups where I didn't like any of the three, and a number where there were multiple very deserving games.
Myst and Donkey Kong Country need to make it
Both used pre-rendered graphics, but they opened the eyes of gamers as to what would be possible in the future when graphics engines would be able to render those in real time.
Myst blew me away when it first came out
Something is wrong with the world if FFVII doesn't make it.
That and Light Crusader for the Genesis. Amazing Puzzle/RPG. Cmon', a Sega game long enough to have save slots!
Why is this focus all on graphics, anyway? It's supposed to be games as an ART FORM, not games that happen to contain artwork. BIG difference there. For a game to truly be a work of art, even the non-media aspects must be artworthy.
One game that pops to mind (which IS listed) is Shadow of the Colossus: when it came out in late 2005, its graphics, limited to what the PS2 could do, were distinctly dated compared to the then-hot Half-Life², let alone F.E.A.R., which was the Crysis of its time. But the way it used them, and told a story and gave an EXPERIENCE to match. So it wasn't what graphics it had, it was how it used them. For me, the most impressive part might've been the battle with Phalanx, the 13th Colussus. The thing was a good fraction of a mile in size, and you could see it all, no tricks. The sheer sense of scale the game managed to convey is something that no flashy FPS today has managed to match.
Overall, some of my picks worth commenting on:
*VCS, a.k.a Atari 2600 - What in the hell were they THINKING? Both Pac-Man and E.T. are on there. Wouldn't be surprised if the latter gets voted to #1 in its category through "troll votes." Both games were terrible, and best symbolized the problems that caused the video game crash of 1983. Most of their choices were good, but these two... tsk, tsk. (note to Pac-fans: Pac-Man was a legend in the arcades: the problem was that the Atari port of it was about as horrible as could be, cutting and butchering everything that made it good. Ms. Pac-Man is the Atari game that brought a much better adaptation, featuring vastly improved graphics and gameplay)
*C64 - tough choice between Wasteland and Bard's Tale III; the former won out for me. Pirates! was an easy choice; Raid on Bungeling Bay, while not quite as much a great, was also an easy choice.
*NES - Wow, they made good picks, especially for Action. Very tough, as they basically picked the NES's three most defining later-life games. Eventually, keeping an eye on how the game itself was a piece of art, I went with Metroid, noted for being perhaps the first game to truly bring a sense of desolation without necessitating description text.
*"Bit wars" (aka 16-bit/4th generation) - Where are the old late-80s/early-90s DOS games? And where are the Amiga & Atari ST? Plenty of artful games forgotten here. A major shame. A personal favorite pair for the Amiga & ST would be Millenium: Return to Earth and its sequel, Deuteros.
*Sega Genesis - Easy choices here. Earthworm Jim and Gunstar Heroes; the former was a clear example of a true take of "make a game into a piece of art." (even if very avant-garde art) Similarly, in the end I took Herzog Zwei over Dune II, as the former invented the RTS, and the latter owes a LOT to it.
*SNES - CT vs. Zelda vs. EB... One of the best match-ups too, though CT was the most artistic. In reality, an unmentioned game, Terranigma, would give it a run for its money, but this is the Smithsonian, (aka the national American museum for those who don't know) and the game was only released in Japan and Europe somehow. Also, Sim City wasn't unique to the SNES, so I favored ActRaiser, especially for its blend of strategy and action.
90s PC - Deus Ex vs. Unreal... Another tough call. As was BG2 vs. Fallout. However, due to their unique emphasis on the game as a storytelling medium, TIE Fighter and StarCraft were easier picks.
*N64 - So many problems. The platformers were a poor choice: Rare got better with age, so the cynical feel of Banjo-Tooie and Conker's Bad Fur Day really contributed much better. And where the heck is Perfect Dark? It took everything GoldenEye 007 did, and made it better.
*Dreamcast - Why is this thrown in here? It's a 6th-gen (so-called "128-bit") like the Game Cube and PS2. Sure, it's far weaker, but still...
*Modern Windows - Poor genre selections: Portal's a puzzle game, and placing it separately from the action games would've saved us all a lot of trouble in choosing!
*Missing Games - Aside from the above-mentioned Perfect Dark, there are some other worthy games left off... Though possibly, in some cases, for lack of an American release. One major glaring exception is Super Metroid for the SNES: widely considered on the console's very-short-list for "best game," most consider it better than Super Mario World. Also, where was Guauntlet? Sure, it was an Arcade-first game, but that didn't stop OTHERS from appearing. And then let's also not forget the ORIGINAL Half-Life. Oh, and Myst; why the heck isn't the world's first successful CD-based game there? Lastly, I noticedIkaruga & Espgaluda give a nod to attempts to use modern-day computing firepower to turn old-school scrolling shooters into art, though the Japanese-only Touhou Project games are likewise known for their extreme artistic (as well as memetic) value. Of course, there's still also the slew of titles for the Amiga, Atari ST, and older DOS titles that were COMPLETELY forgotten... Like all Ultima titles save one.
[*]Wrong Platforms A lot of games were shown under a platform other than what they were originally made for, a few examples, (not counting arcade-first scrolling shooters) with the shown/original platforms: Rampart (Arcade/Master System), Flashback (Amiga/Genesis), Nobunaga's Ambition (MSX/Genesis), Sim City (Amiga/SNES), Syndicate (Amiga/SNES), Worms Armageddon (Windows/N64), Rainbow Six (Windows/N64), SimCity 2000 (Mac/Saturn), Command & Conquer (PC/Saturn), Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete (Saturn/PS1), Grandia (Saturn/PS1), Command & Conquer: Red Alert (PC/PS1), Shenmue II (Dreamcast/Xbox), Pirates! (PC/Xbox), Ikaruga (Dreamcast/X360), Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox/PC), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, (Xbox/GameCube) Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (PC/PS3). That's a lot of mis-placed games!
Arg, Chrono Trigger or Zelda? Starcraft of C&C? Please don't make me choose!
Ditto on the big list of missing games. What about the old Doom & wolfenstien games that started the big FPS revolution?
And same for RTS games on PC: C&C? TA? AoE? Civ?
Portal vs Halflife? HL won only because I played it first