The Strong National Museum of Play announced the first inductees to its World Video Game Hall of Fame, begging the question: How have we gone so long without a World Video Game Hall of Fame?
The games in the inaugural class of inductees span decades, origin countries, and gaming platforms, but they all have one thing in common: their significant contribution to the video game industry, pop culture, and society in general (not to mention all of our childhoods).
The six games inducted include Pong, Pac-Man, Tetris, Super Mario Bros., Doom, and World of Warcraft. These six games were chosen from a group of 15 finalists, including games such as Angry Birds, FIFA, The Legend of Zelda, Minecraft, The Oregon Trail, Pokémon, The Sims, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Space Invaders. You can read all about the inductees and their significance on The Strong’s site.
The World Video Game Hall of Fame at The Strong was established this year to recognize individual electronic games of all types—arcade, console, computer, handheld, and mobile—that have been popular over a sustained period and have influenced the video game industry, popular culture, and society as a whole. The inductees are on permanent view in the museum’s eGameRevolution exhibit.
If you’re wondering who picks these winners, the final selections are made on the advice of journalists, scholars, and other individuals familiar with the history of video games and their role on society. Honestly though, if you really think about it, choosing the most influential video games in history has to be equal parts best job ever and hardest decision ever made, right?
