The Strong Museum in Rochester, New York, recently introduced a self-proclaimed "Official World Video Games Hall of Fame", coming with a series of first-class video game legends. This list includes the following games:

• Pong
• Pac-Man
• Tetris
• Super Mario Bros.
• Doom
• World of Warcraft

What do you make of this list? Do you feel other games would deserve a place in this list?

Source: http://www.museumofplay.org/press/r...orld-video-game-hall-fame-inductees-announced

 

[pokemoner2500]

The Strong Museum in Rochester, New York, recently introduced a self-proclaimed "Official World Video Games Hall of Fame", coming with a series of first-class video game legends. This list includes the following games:

• Pong
• Pac-Man
• Tetris
• Super Mario Bros.
• Doom
• World of Warcraft

What do you make of this list? Do you feel other games would deserve a place in this list?

Source: http://www.museumofplay.org/press/r...orld-video-game-hall-fame-inductees-announced

View attachment 19969

I say Pokemon but i doubt it.

 

[RustInPeace]

Well this is the inaugural class, there's no point in complaining about exceptions and snubs, they'll come next year, or the next, or the one after that, you get the idea. It's a strong first class, though I would've added Sonic 1, Pokemon Red/Blue/Green, and Megaman (2). But again, maybe next year.

 

[zoogie]

For the particular time period of each of these games, sure they're justified being in the hall of fame. Each of those games were the best of their era and highly influential, just maybe not the best games right now.

 

[chavosaur]

I think those games are perfect, they are all truly huge innovators in all respects.

 

[Rockhoundhigh]

It's not about being the greatest. It's about having the most substantial impact on the general public possible. In that sense I think this list does that justice. Besides, Pokemon is bound to be be a shoe-in if they ever choose to add more. That and for better or worse probably Call of Duty.

 

[Nathan Drake]

Pong is pretty much as iconic as games get, so I'd say it belongs. Pac-Man, I suppose. It was one of the most popular arcade experiences around, even if in the modern day, the character is finding it hard to reestablish itself. Tetris is pretty much what people think of when they consider video game puzzlers, and considering people have gone so far as to try to recreate it on a building (even if the results were less than stellar), I'd say it's made its mark as a series. Super Mario Bros deserves in if for nothing else than being a key title on the system that helped to revitalize the game industry that had been on life support. That doesn't speak for the fact that it was the first game to launch an iconic character that has done more genre hopping than most. Doom is the classic FPS title. Considering people port it to absolutely everything, I'd say it's a treasured title. As for World of Warcraft, love it or hate it, it's made its mark as an MMO even if it is having a much harder time retaining subscribers ten years after launch.

That said, I think the title is a little off. They aren't claiming these are the best games, but rather, they're some of the most influential. Much like with other halls of fame, the goal is to chronicle games of interest for various achievements in the gaming industry. There are quite a few more classics that could easily make the cut in the future that introduced other aspects prevalent in games throughout the past few decades, but I'd say they did a good job here, even if the selected title were a little bit on the obvious side of things.

 

[Veho]

From the About page for the Hall of Fame:

The World Video Game Hall of Fame at The Strong recognizes individual electronic games of all types—arcade, console, computer, handheld, and mobile—that have enjoyed popularity over a sustained period and have exerted influence on the video game industry or on popular culture and society in general.

Can't argue with any of that for any of the titles listed. They were some of the most influential games in the industry.

 

[endoverend]

um...yes? I would dare to add Pokemon to that list but I know some would disagree.

 

[RevPokemon]

Greatest? Debatable but definitely most important

I'd add Sonic (for making Sega legit so to speak), Halo (for making Xbox a contender),Half Life (truly a great game), Oot ( made major changes in 3d games and one of the best of all time), Metal Gear solid ( for modern stealth games) , Street fighter 2(for proving fighting games were big), and maybe GTA (for defining sandbox games)

 

[p1ngpong]

If Killzone 2 isn't on that list then the list is a fraud!

 

[SavvyTaco]

Where's Street Fighter II?

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Pong and Super Mario Bros definitely deserve their spots.
Pong after all introduced people to both arcades, and also in a way home consoles (with the Magnavox Odyssey which was just a somewhat weird version of Pong with multiple rule sets, some weirder than others, although that's not exactly Pong but I like to group them together because of the similarity)
Super Mario Bros was not only very innovative and complex for its time, but was introduced with and bundled with the NES which many would claim saved the video game industry.
Doom I'm not sure about, one could argue that Wolfenstein 3D deserves the spot more since it was the very first FPS game, although Doom was more advanced it wasn't as revolutionizing, but it's the one everyone seems to remember the best.
As for Pac-Man and Tetris, I know they were massively popular but did they really revolutionize gaming? I don't think so, but if I lived at the time I guess I might think otherwise.

I don't think these games deserve the spots for being the greatest games in history, far from it -- but that doesn't seem to be the focus of the list either. It's more about games that had a big impact on the industry because they were new, innovative and unique, and those games certainly fit the bill.
Well, except for World of Warcraft. There were other MMORPGs that came out before it, introducing the genre and setting the bar for everything else. And I'm not familiar with most of them, but at least some of them had a huge game world with a lot of things to do, different professions you could improve to collect higher level materials and craft armor and weapons, cook food, etc. Basically all the things we have come to expect in today's MMORPGs have been around since before WoW, all WoW really did was improve upon what already existed. Not to say it wasn't great for its time, but some of the earlier MMORPGs deserve the spot more.

 

[scotch]

Space invaders? Oh, and where is E.T.?

 

[tots]

Yeah I'd give the MMORPG spot to Everquest. It's a solid list though and I'm interested to see what is next. Street Fighter 2 surely must be coming before too long. Final Fantasy 4 is a good shout too I think.

 

[Adeka]

Cubic Ninja

 

[CathyRina]

Cubic Ninja

Life's good when you're a Ninja Block. ;D

I believe the list is good as it is but there are a few titles missing like Half Life.

 

[Nathan Drake]

Yeah I'd give the MMORPG spot to Everquest. It's a solid list though and I'm interested to see what is next. Street Fighter 2 surely must be coming before too long. Final Fantasy 4 is a good shout too I think.

I was thinking Everquest as well, but I don't think any MMORPG has gathered a following like WoW has. I'd say earlier MMORPG's like Everquest certainly paved the way for WoW, and Everquest could deserve a spot of its own for being the first 3D MMORPG in existence. At the same time, I'd argue WoW does deserve a spot, but perhaps it shouldn't have been one of the first inductees. When you consider though, what did the likes of Everquest truly do different besides being the first to go fully 3D? That's interesting sure, but if that was all it took, then the standards wouldn't be too terribly high.

On the other hand, WoW has successfully popularized MMORPG's like no other did before it. It helped make the genre become more noticed in the mainstream than it had been prior. WoW is also one of few MMORPG's, if the only, that has received new content, tweaks, and design upgrades for a decade to the point where modern WoW only vaguely resembles vanilla WoW of old. In that respect, it has set a standard of sorts within the rather confined genre that is MMORPG's.

There were other MMORPGs that came out before it, introducing the genre and setting the bar for everything else. And I'm not familiar with most of them

This actually proves exactly why WoW deserves a spot. You can't name these older MMORPG's, so were they really have that great of an impact in the long run? In the end, I feel the games that will deserve spots are not just games that helped shape a genre, but games that are known for it. It's more than mechanics, but societal reception to a title that will impact whether a game is Hall of Fame worthy or not.

 

[Seroczynski]

Normally with these things they tend to be all wrong, but it seems like they've really put some thought into this and while the list may not reflect my personal views I do think this is pretty right.

As for MMO's go, it's too bad none has mentioned Ultima Online yet. One of the first solid and great MMO's, which received content for a very long time after the update and which introduced many people to the concept of monthly fees.

 

[Vipera]

Where's Street Fighter II?

Which one?