12 finalists for Video Game Hall of Fame announced

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — The Strong Museum of Play and The World Video Game Hall of Fame announced the 12 finalists for induction Thursday:

Animal Crossing, Call of Duty, FarmVille, FIFA International Soccer, Guitar Hero, Mattel Football, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Pole Position, Portal, StarCraft, Tron, and Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?

These finalists were chosen from thousands of nominations, and players can vote in a “players’ choice” poll from March 18 to March 25 here.

Last year’s Hall of Fame winners were Bejeweled, Centipede, King’s Quest, and Minecraft.

Like every year, the games are judged based on four categories:

Icon-status: the game is widely recognized and remembered
Longevity: the game is more than a passing fad and has enjoyed popularity over time
Geographical reach: the game meets the above criteria across international boundaries
Influence: the game has exerted significant influence on the design and development of other games, on other forms of entertainment, or on popular culture and society in general

You can find a breakdown of all the games here. Each are provided by The Strong, but you can find comments from your favorite News 8 employees here as well:

Animal Crossing

Nintendo’s Animal Crossing debuted in 2001 and found mass appeal with its open-ended social simulation and leisurely gameplay. Players took on the role of a human moving into a village filled with anthropomorphic animals. The game had no specific objective, giving players the freedom to complete activities and collect objects as they liked. The mellow gameplay proved a success with casual and advanced gamers alike, and it bred numerous sequels. The game’s latest installment for the Nintendo Switch proved a huge hit during the pandemic isolation of 2020, breaking the record for the most digital downloads of a console game in a single month (31 million worldwide).

Call of Duty

Released by Infinity Ward/Activision in 2003, Call of Duty helped popularize the cinematic, first-person war genre. Set during World War II, the game combined fast-pace action with a deep, rich narrative. Its squad-based, multiplayer mode provided a reason for gamers to return again and again. Call of Duty continues to generate sequels and spinoffs, and it was the catalyst for one of the best-selling electronic game franchises of all time with more than 300 million total units sold.

Dan says that the collective sigh of this one comes from the games’ reputation that overly competitive college students are the main players.

FarmVille

This free-to-play game from developer Zynga changed the video game industry and how people play online with its debut in 2009. Millions created their first social media account just to play this simple Flash game on Facebook. The basic mechanics of the game—plow, plant, and harvest to expand your agrarian business—charmed a wide range of social media users and made “gamers” out of people of all ages. In 2010, a year after launch, FarmVille boasted nearly 83 million active users per month, and it was succeeded by several sequels.

Alex says this “was a complete waste of time.”

FIFA International Soccer

FIFA International Soccer was not the first sports simulation video game—nor even the first one about soccer—but it is the most popular sports game franchise of all time, with sales continually bolstered by annual releases from publisher Electronic Arts. First launched in 1993, the game garnered worldwide success and launched a franchise that has sold more than 325 million games by 2021.

Guitar Hero

Launched in 2005, Harmonix’s Guitar Hero challenged players to unleash their inner rock star by following on-screen notes and strumming to the beat of popular music on a plastic guitar. Its wide appeal, licensed music, and social gameplay spawned other similar titles, including the popular Rock Band. Activision, which acquired the game’s rights, released versions of Guitar Hero for nearly every platform, including home consoles, computers, and handheld and mobile devices. The Guitar Hero series has sold more than 25 million units worldwide and more than 60 million tracks, earning more than $2 billion.

Olivia, upon reading this, threw up two “rock on” hand signs upon reading this.

Mattel Football

Released in 1977, Mattel Electronics Football was the first blockbuster handheld electronic game and introduced millions to portable gaming. Its popularity generated an entire segment of electronic toys and games and paved the way for handheld systems like Nintendo’s Game Boy and today’s mobile devices. In 2010, Time magazine named it one of its “All Time 100 Gadgets.”

We haven’t asked Mark or Adam about this one year.

Microsoft Flight Simulator

For nearly four decades, Microsoft Flight Simulator has provided millions of players endless hours of game play by providing highly realistic but intuitive recreations of real-life airplanes. Its simple premise and accessible content disguises the advanced programming that has made it so successful. Since its launch in 1982, the game has been regularly updated and remains the most popular, longest lasting, and most influential flying sim of all time.

Pole Position

First hitting arcades in 1982, Pole Position motored to the top of the racing game genre with its realistic gameplay. The game came in two configurations, and both included a steering wheel, gear shift, and gas pedal, thrusting players into the driver’s seat. Created by Namco and distributed in North America by Atari, the game became the highest grossing arcade game of 1983 in the United States. Atari ported the game to console systems, and it has been rereleased numerous times in the past three decades. It inspired many of the 3D racing games that followed.

Portal

Released by Valve Corporation in 2007 as part of a five-game compilation entitled The Orange Box, Portal became an unexpected breakout, often receiving more critical acclaim than the other four titles combined. Viewed as a major advance in puzzle games, Portal provided a unique gaming experience accompanied by witty dialogue, an ever-twisting plotline, and unforgettable characters. It sold a respectable four million copies, but it was most lauded for its technical and design achievements.

Dan put in a shocking number of hours into “Team Fortress 2” on “The Orange Box,” and loves this one as a dark horse winner.

StarCraft

California-based developer Blizzard Entertainment took the real-time strategy genre to new heights in 1998 with the debut of StarCraft. The single-player mode of the immersive, science-fiction game proved popular, but the multiplayer mode, which included a ladder ranking system, turned it into the largest e-sports title of its day. Starcraft won multiple Game of the Year Awards, and generated its own lines of novels, graphic novels, licensed toys, clothing, and gaming accessors.

We all think that this one is a shoe-in.

Tron

Midway’s Tron was the first arcade game paired with a Hollywood movie. When it entered the arcade in 1982, its combination of challenging gameplay, innovative cabinet design, and unique control grip made it a hit with gamers. The film entered theaters two months later, riding on the back of the game’s buzz, but the game ultimately outshone the movie, earning more than $60 million to the film’s $33 million in the U.S.. The film and game inspired a new film version in 2010—which spurred a new wave of console, PC, and mobile games—proving its cultural relevance even decades later.

We can all agree the game is better than the remake.

Where In the World Is Carmen Sandeigo?

Released by Brøderbund in 1995, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? spawned one of the best-selling “edutainment” franchises, combining education and entertainment. Designed for the first generation of graphic-enabled personal computers, the title made learning world geography fun for millions of students as they searched for the whereabouts of the mysterious Carmen Sandiego. The game, which launched several sequels, also inspired a hit show on American Public Broadcasting in the 1990s and an animated series on Netflix (2019-2021)—helping propel Carmen Sandiego and her world-traveling ways into the cultural zeitgeist.

A multiple time finalist, this one will see increase pressure to get in.