The Art of Video Games

At last! Video games == art! Of course we knew that already, but the world of art seemed to have picked up on the idea as well. The Smithsonian American Art Museum will host an exhibition called: "The Art of Video Games" and will feature the games that changed the gaming world.

To decide what games to put on display, games were divided over 5 eras and the best games for each genre per console or platform were chosen from 240 candidates. Personally, I was very happy to see Zelda winning in every applicable category. The voting resulted in a great list of great games portraying the evolution of video games and you can find it here.

I can't agree with all the games that won no matter how great they are. While Minecraft is one of my personal favourites, I do not think it deserves to win over StarCraft II nor Ages of Empires 3. It isn't even a full game yet. Don't get me wrong I absolutely love Minecraft, but wouldn't calling Minecraft superior to StarCraft II be the same as calling Duke Nukem Forever superior to a game that actually has been released?

 Another minor disappointment was the fact that Chrono Trigger didn't win in the category 'Adventure' on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. I really love that game and even now I still play it on my Android phone. I visited the local game shop last week, they actually had Chrono Trigger figurines! I nearly went crazy! The insanely high price as well as its sheer awesomeness are to blame. Right, so even though I was bummed about Chrono Trigger losing in the adventure category on the SNES, I did find some comfort when I saw the winning game. It was Zelda: A Link to the Past. Figures...

I was most excited about Zelda: Ocarina of Time winning in category N64, Adventure. This is probably one of the best games ever made and it totally deserves to win. Its enticing tunes still accompany me on a  daily basis as ringtones and such and still manage to make me happy each time I hear it. No other game could do what Ocarina of Time did and still does for me. I've actually bought a N64 recently, just so I could play Ocarina of Time again. Pity I won't be able to play for a while, breaking your arm isn't good for teh gaming...

Another one of my favourites won in a different category namely XBOX, Action: Halo 2. For me, this is the precious sequel to the game that kicked off my gaming era. Having been brought up quite rigidly, allowing no games or whatsoever to enter the household, my first actual gaming experience was on the XBOX. The first console I ever owned, was my precious XBOX. Do note, by first actual gaming experience, I mean the experience of being able to play a game long enough to actually complete it. Sure, I had played the Mario's and whatnot at friends, but I wasn't actually allowed to own a console at home and therefore had never really experienced the joy and excitement of playing and completing video games. I had and still have quite an awful lot to catch up with. At least this list will give me some idea of where to start!