Despite the protests of several high-profile critics — including Roger Ebert — the question over whether video games qualify as art has been answered with a resounding "yes." Just a few months after the Smithsonian wrapped up its popular exhibit on "The Art of Video Games," the Museum of Modern Art in New York Cityhas acquired 14 video games as a "seedbed" for a collection that Senior Curator Paola Antonelli says will eventually include "about 40" games. (Read the full list of games, and watch gameplay footage of each, below.) The 14 games, which span from 1980's Pac-Man to 2009's Canabalt, will be installed in the museum in March 2013.
MoMA's selections are "an intriguing — albeit rigidly anti-narrative — catalogue of the first three decades of popular interactive entertainment," says Darren Franich at Entertainment Weekly. Gamers should bear in mind that the museum is "looking for specific design traits," says Esther Zuckerman at The Atlantic Wire, which means that popular titles like Halo or Call of Duty may be omitted in favor of experimental games that, in the museum's words, emphasize everything from "the elegance of the code to the design of the player's behavior." But don't worry, gamers — there are more than a few beloved classics on MoMA's list of desired future games, says Eddie Makuch at Gamespot, including Pong, Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and Street Fighter II.
Watch gameplay footage from each of MoMa's new video game acquisitions:
1. Pac-Man (1980)
2. Tetris (1984)
3. Another World (1991)
4. Myst (1993)
5. SimCity 2000 (1994)
6. vib-ribbon (1999)
7. The Sims (2000)
8. Katamari Damacy (2004)
9. EVE Online (2003)
10. Dwarf Fortress (2006)
11. flOw (2006)
12. Portal (2007)
13. Passage (2008)
14. Canabalt (2009)
