New York City Art Museum Adds Video Games Collection
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JupiterImages/Brand X Pictures(NEW YORK) — Are video games art? The Museum of Modern Art in New York City definitely thinks so, and has selected Pac-Man, Tetris and 12 other video games for inclusion into its Architecture and Design collection.
In announcing the acquisition, the museum published a statement on its blog, saying the video games selected are “outstanding examples of interaction design — a field.”
The museum says the criteria for selection emphasizes “not only the visual quality and aesthetic experience of each game, but also the many other aspects — from the elegance of the code to the design of the player’s behavior — that pertain to interaction design.”
In many cases, the video games will be playable so museum visitors can get the full experience, but a spokesman said the MoMA won’t be turned into an arcade.
Here’s a list of the games selected for exhibit at the MoMA and the year they debuted:
- Pac-Man (1980)
- Tetris (1984)
- Another World (1991)
- Myst (1993)
- SimCity 2000 (1994)
- vib-ribbon (1999)
- The Sims (2000)
- Katamari Damacy (2004)
- EVE Online (2003)
- Dwarf Fortress (2006)
- Portal (2007)
- flOw (2006)
- Passage (2008)
- Canabalt (2009)
The museum says the 14 games selected are part of an initial wish list of some 40 games to be acquired in the near future for a new category of artworks. The games will go on display in March 2013.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio