Blog

If you haven’t spent the last week in a galaxy far, far away, you have probably heard that on November 15, Star Wars action figures joined the 50 other august toys honored in the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong. It seems like big honors for such itty bitty, 3.75-inch toys, but these figures demonstrate the iconic stature, longevity, and creative play essential to earning Hall of Fame status. Given their inauspicious beginnings, however, these action figures might […]

Continue Reading about Star Wars Action Figures: A 2012 National Toy Hall of Fame Inductee Published on:
November 20, 2012

ICHEG’s website now features a new timeline charting the development of video games from the experiments of a few early computer pioneers to the products of a multibillion dollar industry. Some years on the timeline present an important or groundbreaking game or system; other entries symbolize a trend, such as the development of social and mobile gaming.
Some years presented easy and obvious selections. The home version of Pong, for example, stood out in 1975. Nintendo’s Game Boy was a sure […]

Continue Reading about Timeline of Video Game History Published on:
November 19, 2012

Did you wear a wristwatch when you were a kid? I recall owning at least half a dozen watches, all prized possessions, but I don’t remember checking my wrist very often. When a collections project here at the National Museum of Play at The Strong unearthed a Funtime Barbie watch that sent me into a fit of nostalgia, I started thinking about how kids perceive time—and it rarely has to do with clocks.

Sure, kids have to live by clock time […]

Continue Reading about About Time: How Kids Perceive It, and Why They Wear Watches Published on:
November 13, 2012

Since the 17th century, individuals have discussed the possibility of extraterrestrial beings. What is the possibility of extraterrestrial life? “Guaranteed,” Harvard physicist and search for extraterrestrial intelligent life leader Paul Horowitz declared in a 1996 interview with Time Magazine. It is “so overwhelmingly likely that I’d give you almost any odds you’d like,” he said. Not everyone shares Horowitz’s confidence, but most people still delight in films, books, TV, and educational programming about the subject. From Space Attack to Aliens […]

Continue Reading about Aliens, Astronauts, and Video Games Published on:
November 9, 2012

When I came across a 100-year-old paper dining room play set in the National Museum of Play’s collections recently, the paper dog begging beside the table got me to thinking about the dogs in my life. When I was a child, there always seemed to be a dog waiting patiently every night a few steps from our dinner table, too. Dogs also played a role beyond dinnertime. Living in a small, rural hamlet, my few nearby friends weren’t always available […]

Continue Reading about Go Play with the Dog! Published on:
November 7, 2012

Recently ICHEG added a display of rare PlayStation software development materials to its eGameRevolution exhibit.  Among these materials are an MW.3 or “PS-X” and blue and green debugging stations on loan from the PlayStation Museum. These artifacts shine a light on the often overlooked game developer, while illustrating the ways in which software development helped establish the PlayStation as one of the best-selling, and for many gamers—essential consumer products of the 1990s.
Before Sony launched its PlayStation in Japan in December […]

Continue Reading about How Software Development Helped Make Sony’s PlayStation the King of 1990s Consoles Published on:
November 5, 2012

Few people today know that Rochester, New York, was once home to a football team that became part of the American Professional Football Association (APFA), eventually known as the National Football League. The story starts in the early years of the 20th century when the Rochester Jeffersons took their name from their practice field’s location on Jefferson Avenue. The Jeffersons enjoyed about 10 years of competition with other small-town teams and provided plenty of entertainment for Rochester’s avid sports fans. […]

Continue Reading about Rochester’s NFL Football Team and a Hometown Sports Hero Published on:
October 30, 2012

It’s almost Halloween. My neighborhood is filled with decorative plastic ghosts, goblins, and skeletons. Advertisements for scary movie marathons inundate television channels, and bookstores carry special displays of Dracula and Frankenstein. As a gamer, this is the best time to play chilling classics like Resident Evil, Silent Hill, or Left 4 Dead. But not all Halloween games fall into the traditional survival horror genre. I recently discovered a game that calls attention to my favorite part of this holiday: costumes.
Costume […]

Continue Reading about Costume Quest: Nostalgic Halloween Gaming Published on:
October 26, 2012

For almost a quarter century, I’ve divided my time between Rochester and Buffalo. This gave me the opportunity to observe the contrasts of two cities so close together yet so different culturally. If Rochester is the East Coast of the Midwest as some have joked, then Buffalo surely must be the West Coast of the East. Rochester could be transported to Rochester Minnesota and feel at home. Buffalo could move closer to New York and still feel comfortable. Rochester’s history […]

Continue Reading about A New Stadium and a New Museum Can Co-Anchor the Toronto-Buffalo-Rochester Mega-Region Published on:
October 25, 2012