The World Video Game Hall of Fame class of 2023 has been announced by The Strong National Museum of Play. This year’s inductees are The Last of Us, Wii Sports, Barbie Fashion Designer and Computer Space, all chosen for their popularity and influence over time.
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The Last of Us, an action-adventure game set in a post-apocalyptic world, was released in 2013 by Naughty Dog. The game has garnered significant attention over the last decade, including a hit TV series that debuted on HBO in January 2022. The game was remade for PS5 in September 2022 and PC in March 2023.
Wii Sports, released in 2006 by Nintendo, was included with the hugely popular Wii console, making it one of the best-selling games of all time. Nintendo released a similar game titled Nintendo Switch Sports for the Switch console in 2022.
Barbie Fashion Designer was released in 1996 by Mattel and Digital Domain, and it allowed players to design clothing that they could print and dress their real-life Barbie dolls with. The game sold over 500,000 copies in just two months, and it sparked discussions and debates around gendered games and their implications.
Computer Space is the first commercially available video game and was released in 1971. The game was based on Spacewar! which was primarily found on the DEC PDP-1 minicomputer in computer labs. The success of Computer Space led its creators, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, to found Atari.
The other finalists for this year’s induction were Age of Empires, Angry Birds, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, FIFA International Soccer, Goldeneye 007, NBA 2K, Quake and Wizardry.
The Strong National Museum of Play, located in Rochester, New York, will display the 2023 inductees in a new permanent World Video Game Hall of Fame space, which is set to open on June 30th.
