Update [Fri 10th May, 2024 11:00 BST]: And there you have it! The Strong Museum has just revealed that Resident Evil, Asteroids, Myst, Ultima, and SimCity are this year's Hall of Fame inductees. The announcement was made yesterday at the museum, which is located in Rochester, New York.
In response to the news, some of the developers behind these classic titles have taken to social media to thank fans for their votes.
The Ultima creator Richard Garriott, for instance, posted a photo of the Hall of Fame award on Twitter and expressed his appreciation to the Ultima community (including the long-running Ultima Dragons fan club).
Meanwhile, the Myst co-designer Robyn Miller tweeted, "This is unreal. So many awesome games and incredibly talented people have been inducted. Rand and I are humbled and proud to be among them!
Thank you to the Strong Video Game Hall of Fame! Thank you to everyone who played (and who continues to play) Myst!"
What are your thoughts on the class of 2024? Let us know in the comments!
Original Story [Thu 14th Mar, 2024 10:15 BST]: Earlier today, the Strong Museum announced the 12 finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame Class of 2024.
According to the announcement sent out to the press, the museum assembled this collection of titles from thousands of nominations, with the shortlist taking into account the game's iconic status, longevity, geographical reach, and influence.
The oldest game to appear on the list is Atari's Asteroids (released in the arcades in 1979), while the newest is Activision's 2005 rhythm game Guitar Hero which saw second-hand video game stores flooded with countless plastic guitars.
The full list includes:
- Asteroids
- Elite
- Guitar Hero
- Metroid
- Myst
- Neopets
- Resident Evil
- SimCity
- Tokimeki Memorial
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater
- Ultima
- And You Don’t Know Jack
If you want to cast your vote on your favourite, you can do so now over at the Player's Choice Ballot. The top three games from the player vote will be counted as one ballot and join other ballots submitted by members of the International Selection Advisory Committee (which is comprised of journalists and scholars).
Voting is open until March 21st. The final inductees will be revealed at The Strong Museum on Thursday, May 9, at 10:30 a.m. (EDT). You can view some of the previously inducted games here, which notably include heavy hitters like Final Fantasy VII, Street Fighter II, and Sonic the Hedgehog (among others).