Bejeweled, Minecraft among games inducted into hall of fame

World Video Game Hall of Fame inducted Bejeweled, Centipede, King’s Quest and Minecraft in a virtual ceremony Thursday that recognized ir influence on industry and gamers who have spent tens of billions of hours playing m.

hall of fame's Class of 2020 was chosen from a field of 12 finalists that also included Frogger, Goldeneye 007, Guitar Hero, NBA Jam, kia Snake, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Uncharted 2, and Where in World is Carmen Sandiego?

Atari’s Centipede is credited with bringing more female players into arcades when it debuted in 1981, challenging players to fire on an insect as it zigzagged down screen. Developer Ed Logg’s team included Dona Bailey, one of decade’s few female developers.

“It’s also one of best-selling arcade games of that era and its fast-paced, bug-blasting gameplay is as challenging and satisfying to play today as it was decades ago,” Jeremy Saucier, hall of fame’s assistant vice president for electronic games and interpretation, said in a news release.

King’s Quest, designed by Sierra On-Line co-founder Roberta Williams, was hored for its continuing influence on adventure games since introducing players to fantastical world of Daventry in 1984.

“More than any or game of its type, King’s Quest established or reinforced many of conventions of adventure games that followed it,” World Video Game Hall of Fame archivist Julia vakovic. “Many games still today can trace ir line back to King’s Quest.”

Seven sequels followed from Sierra On-Line, which Williams ran with her husband, Ken.

Bejeweled, created as a web-based Flash game in 2001, is first mobile game to be added to 6-year-old World Video Game Hall of Fame, recognized for popularizing “match three” puzzle game. game’s developer estimated in 2013 that it had been downloaded more than 500 million times.

“Players from around world have devoted tens of billions of hours to playing Bejeweled and games that it inspired. w, Bejeweled and its successor puzzle games seem commonplace—a regular part of all our lives,” curator Shann Symonds said.

building game Minecraft has found its way onto devices around world and into schools since 2009, letting players build elaborate structures out of pixilated blocks y mine. Students have honed STEM (science, techlogy, engineering, and mamatics) skills replicating ir entire schools in game. By last year, it had sold more than 176 million copies across all platforms.

“ success of Minecraft speaks to maturing of video games as a cultural touchstone,” digital games curator Andrew Borman said. “ longer do game creators need to be obsessed about having most realistic looking graphics. .... Minecraft came of at a time when indie gaming had emerged to give individual developers a greater say in games y developed, and game is a better representative of this movement than this bestselling hit creation.”

World Video Game Hall of Fame is located at Strong museum, which also houses National Toy Hall of Fame. video hall recognizes electronic games of all types - arcade, console, computer, handheld, and mobile - that have had sustained popularity and influence on industry or popular culture.

Anyone can minate a game. final selections are made on advice of journalists, scholars, and ors familiar with history of video games and ir role in society.