Video Games Archive

Nearly 600,000 guests come to The Strong annually, and many consider a visit to the arcade in eGameRevolution the highlight of their trip. Some visitors favor new games—slashing fruit on the giant touch-screen version of Fruit Ninja, munching opponents in the four-person Pac-Man Battle Royale, or playing the only Sega Giant Tetris game in North America. Old-school players make a bee-line for classics like Lunar Lander, Asteroids, or Gauntlet. The dozens of games featured in the exhibit give guests plenty […]

Continue Reading about Now Playing Published on:
May 3, 2012

Players disagree about what constitutes cheating. In her book, Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames, Mia Consalvo defines cheating as an action that “breaks the magic circle,” meaning players leave the imaginary world to reach outside for answers. This “magic circle” concept originated in Dutch historian Johan Huizinga’s book Homo Ludens, in which he explains how play takes place in a closed-off area, separated either physically or mentally from the rest of the world. Consalvo further defines cheating as an action […]

Continue Reading about The Magic Circle: Cheating in Video Games Published on:
April 20, 2012

Recently, Minecraft fever struck my house. All four of my children now play the game and one Saturday morning my kids showed me the houses, sheep farms, mines, and other creations they built in the game using blocks they mined or harvested from stone, ore, wood, or other materials. The buildings were creative, beautiful, and strong enough to survive late night monster attacks.
While Minecraft is relatively new, what strikes me most about it is how ancient the game play is. […]

Continue Reading about Minecraft and the Building Blocks of Fun Published on:
April 4, 2012

With more than 10 million subscribers and a Guinness World Record for most popular MMORPG, Blizzard’s World of Warcraft (WoW) ushered in a new generation of online gaming. Last year, Blizzard auctioned approximately 2,000 original WoW server blades (stripped-down server computer) to benefit St. Jude’s Research Hospital, and ICHEG was pleased to add one to our collections. Our WoW server blade represents the North American Barthilas Realm, in use from June 9, 2006, until June 9, 2010. Although no longer […]

Continue Reading about WoW Server Blade and the History of Role-Playing Video Games Published on:
March 22, 2012

Here is a list of cliché complaints that you likely hear on a daily basis:

I was so worried about such and such, I couldn’t sleep.
I got so bored running on the treadmill, I just wanted to slide off the back of it at full speed.
I should not have ordered that ______ (fill in the blank) last night.

For most of my adult life, I have said at least one of these each week. However, I have found a few fun, innovative […]

Continue Reading about Video Games for Your Health Published on:
March 9, 2012

Temple Run, an iPhone game, was recently the rage at my son’s school, so he downloaded it to my phone. It’s a basic survival game in which the player, an explorer, flees with the idol from a jungle temple. The game rewards quick decisions as the player tries to stay on the path and jump or slide under obstacles while attempting to outrun a pack of man-eating monkeys. The monkeys always win, but it’s a lot of fun trying to […]

Continue Reading about Fun with Video Game Versions of Archaeology Published on:
February 27, 2012

From Man Ray and Elizabeth Lee Miller to Picasso and Marie-Therese Walter, the story of an artist and his muse proves just as striking as the artwork itself. Today, video games both inspire art and serve as a muse. Three different video game projects recently caught my fancy.
A few years ago, I went to see The Artist is Present at the Museum of Modern Art. Marina Abramović sat in a chair for nearly three months, and as part of her […]

Continue Reading about Video Games aMuse Me Published on:
February 3, 2012

When I heard about Bioware’s 2011 release of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic (SW:TOR), nostalgia consumed me and I immediately added it to my wish list. This holiday season, the game proved the shiniest toy under my tree.
SW:TOR puts the player in the center of conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire as they battle one another for preeminence in the galaxy. Aside from the epic battle, I most enjoy the variety […]

Continue Reading about Star Wars: The Old Republic: A Force-Filled Video Game Published on:
January 13, 2012

We do! Recently, news reports cited as wasteful spending a $113,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games to preserve video games. We disagree. We believe video games not only are the most dynamic, exciting, and innovative form of media today but also an important form of play and a driver of cultural change.
Games sharpen people’s ability to solve problems and overcome challenges. Games teach people […]

Continue Reading about Do You Think Video Games Are Worth Saving? Published on:
December 22, 2011