The Strong National Museum of Play has inducted the video game Animal Crossing into its Hall of Fame, saying that the game enabled a world locked down by the Covid-19 pandemic to experience “neighborly sociability.”
THE Strong National Museum of Play has announced the 2021 inductees into the World Video Game Hall of Fame: Microsoft Flight Simulator, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, StarCraft and Animal Crossing.
The four games were honored for their influence on popular culture and the video game industry over a list of finalists that included Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, and FIFA International Soccer.
Each year, the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York inducts games into its World Video Game Hall of Fame.
Three finalists are voted by the public while the rest chosen by members of the International Selection Advisory Committee.
This year’s inductees join the ranks of former inductees including Bejeweled, The Oregon Trail, Mortal Kombat, and Pong.
In their press release, the Strong Museum cited that Animal Crossing has a leisurely pace that appeals to a wider range of people than other titles.
“These elements may help explain why its latest installment proved such a huge hit during the Covid-19 pandemic, when everyone was searching for a little neighborly sociability," Racquel Gonzales, research historian at The Strong museum said.
She also said that the Microsoft Flight Simulator provides realistic recreations of actual aircraft and is also the most popular and longest lasting simulator since its launch in 1982.
As for StarCraft, digital games curator Andrew Borman said it’s the “best real-time strategy games of all time and significantly impacted many of the real-time strategy games that have followed in the past two decades."
Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? debuted in 1985 and has become an “edutainment" franchise that has inspired a show on American Public Broadcasting in the 1990s and an animated series on Netflix.
The World Video Game Hall of Fame, established in 2015 recognizes electronic games of all types — arcade, console, computer, handheld and mobile.
The International Selection Advisory Committee is made up of journalists, scholars, and experts in the industry. (HD)
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