GoldenEye 007 And Quake Beat These Classic Titles Into The World Video Game Hall Of Fame

With the gaming world is buzzing over the second trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI, the Video Game Hall of Fame at the Strong National Museum of Play announced some new additions. The new inductees for this year are Defender, Goldeneye 007, Quake, and Tamagotchi. This group of games had some serious competition to make the final cut, which included Call of Dury 4: Modern Warfare, Frogger, Age of Empires and several other classic titles.

All four of the inductees are worthy additions. Defender brought fast-paced, challenging gameplay to arcade, opening the door for others to follow. Meanwhile, Goldeneye 007 showed that first person shooters were viable on consoles, even with the awkward Nintendo 64 controller. In the PC space, Quake was a groundbreaking, fully 3D shooter, that needs no introduction around here.


The most unconventional choice was Tamagotchi, which is an entirely different experience from the other three. It was a fusion of toy and video game that didn’t require an arcade cabinet, a PC or console. Because it was fairly inexpensive it opened the door to more players, while introducing the concept of a pet simulation that would lead to games such as Neopets.

An interesting aspect about these latest additions is that three of the four inductees were released in 1996 or 1997. Taking a closer look at these two years shows the embarrassment of riches gamers had during this time frame. It includes classics, which have already been selected as inductees in prior years, such as Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, and Final Fantasy VII. The crazy part is that there are still games from these two years that will likely be inducted in the future, such as Diablo, Wave Race 64, and Fallout.

It's fun and exciting having new games that continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in the medium, but it’s important to remember the classics. The museum has done a great job of doing just that with this year’s choices.