So Cool

Games finally get the Museum Treatment in Game Story: A History of Video games

I was lucky enough to catch an exhibit at the Grand Palace in Paris entitled Game Story: A History of Video Games. It’s not often that you see video games celebrated in such a way, and I was lucky that my Paris layover was on the last day of the exhibit. This was a really cool experience, and it was probably one of the best layovers ever, because this exhibit was not only informative and thought provoking, but also interactive, with tons of different games systems new and old (especially old ones) that you could play for free after paying your entrance fee of 8 Euros. I took a few pictures, and instead of giving you a whole run down of game history like the exhibit does (which you probably already know) I’ve decided to just post the pictures I took. I hope gaming gets more exhibits like this!

 

The first ever home console, the Magnavox Odyssey on the left and an original Pong machine on the right

The Originators! These were the first commercial gaming machines, sadly they weren’t for play, I would have loved to play Pong on a real machine. They also had a Pong table that wasn’t working… My Dad actually told me about the Pong table that he played in his college bar days. Sadly it wasn’t working either.

Game Story History of Video Games Pong Clones

Pong Clones and Home consoles

These were the first forays into the home gaming market by Atari, they were licensed to department stores and were sold by the millions as Christmas gifts.

The Vectrex

The Vectrex with Mine Storm. This was playable, and actually it was loads of fun, and it ran so fluidly too! It was probably running at 60 FPS! Mine Storm is an asteroids clone for those interested.

Atari's bad bet.

The game that single handedly destroyed the American games industry, and allowed Japanese companies like Nintendo and Sega (originally American!) to dominate it even today… well… not Sega…

Megaman Origins

The exhibit did this really well, showing how games that were popular in the West were based off Japanese Manga, and other cultural influences like films. This one showed how games like Megaman were based off of (or influenced by) properties like Astro Boy, also Metoid and Asteroids.

 

Still playable and fun after 23 years!

I must have played Tetris for about 20 mins until I reluctantly set it down for others to enjoy it… I wish they still made these, and that PSMini Tetris game looks a lot more tempting now…

Forgotten and unpopular Consoles, All playable!

These were actually really cool to play, the different controllers were interesting to find as well. I never thought I’d be able to play an Atari Jaguar, sadly the only thing they had to play on it was the original Rayman, so you couldn’t see the embarrassing attempts at 3D graphics that the Jaguar had.

How could you have a games exhibit without Goldeneye?

This thing was probably one of the most popular consoles of the exhibit, with no surprise.

Fighting games! SoulCalibre on the beloved Dreamcast

I got my ass thoroughly handed to me in the fighting game exhibits. Especially on Tekken. Maybe it’s high time I grab that one as a PSOne Classic…

Crazy Taxi, still a ton of fun,

It’s crazy that all these games get me to look at more PSP games. Crazy Taxi made it to the PSP as Crazy Taxi Fare Wars. It’s only $9.99! Sadly I have way too many games and barely any time… damn… Looking at the text on the upper right, it says the “arrival of 3D”.

A fitting end?

 

So overall, was Game Story worth seeing?

You’re damn right it was. Game Story is sort of a mile stone as far as gaming history goes as well, there are museums for games of course, but what makes Game Story: A History of Video Games special is the fact that it wasn’t in a strange small place in the middle of no where, it was an exhibit in a respected and internationally renowned museum, and it was popular! As far as I know it isn’t heading off to any other museums any time soon, but that’s a great start for games being considered as a real art form. I hope to see more of this in the future. It was a lot of fun, but luckily there’s a museum in the rooms of many readers of this very blog.

 

PSOneClassics.com

If you’re looking to see something like Game Story come to a museum near you, talk to your museum! I’m planning on doing the very same thing where I live.