Last night I checked out the opening Game On exhibition at acmi. After the opening speech, of which one of the speakers was one of the founding fathers of video games Al Alcorn, creator of the first commercially available version of Pong, I got to go down and check out the exhibit. I have to say it was really humbling to be amongst the vast array of games that have shaped history through the years. From games that put Australia on the map as a games developer such as The Hobbit, and Way of the Exploding Fist, to revolutionary music games like Rez and Guitar Hero, to icons like Mario, Sonic and Lara Croft. The Game On exhibition does a fantastic job of covering all bases. You’d be very hard pushed to find a console that wasn’t represented there, they had covered the next-gen of course, but there was also a section dedicated to tried and failed virtual reality systems, such as the Virtual Boy, and mobile games got a look in as well, alongside console greats such as the Atari 2600 and ZX Spectrum (running The Hobbit).
I honestly thought I would be a lot older before I saw an exhibition dedicated to the history of games, and as I walked among the games that have shaped our industry, I could not help but feel proud to be part of such a rich and culturally significant industry. Game developers aren’t just making games, they’re making a part of history, which is as culturally significant as music, literature of film, in fact, when you think about it, it takes all those mediums and adds one significant element which sets it apart, interactivity. Other art forms are passively appreciated, while games are actively appreciated, and will continue to be for quite some time.
For a better coverage of Game On than we at Sumea have time to provide, check out ScreenPlay. They have been covering the event all this week and have interviews with key organisers as well as Al Alcorn. And if you have the opportunity, go check it out yourself. It’s on for the next 4 months, and ends on the 13th of July.
And for those of you who don’t have much on this Friday (like, I dunno, work), you can check out a talk with Al Alcorn at acmi at 12pm as he is interviewed with Swinburne University’s Christian McCrea about Pong and Atari.