BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center (SAAM) -- Exhibit: Art of Video Games

DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center (SAAM) -- Exhibit: Art of Video Games:

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Description of Pictures: The Art of Video Games
March 16, 2012 – September 30, 2012
Video games use images, actions, and player participation to tell stories and engage their audiences. In the same way as film, animation, and performance, they can be considered a compelling and influential form of narrative art. In this exhibition, the museum is the first to comprehensively examine the evolution of video games as an artistic medium. From the Atari VSC to the Playstation 3, this exhibition shows the development of visual effects and aesthetics since the 1970s, the emergence of games as a means for storytelling, the influence of world events and popular culture on game development, and the impact games can have on society. It includes multimedia presentations of video game footage, video interviews with developers and artists, large prints of in-game screen shots, historic video game consoles, and a selection of working video game systems for visitors to play. The public was asked to assist with the selection of materials for the show by choosing the 80 games that they feel best represent particular moments in the overall timeline. Voting for games to be included ended April 17, 2011; the winning games were announced May 5, 2011.

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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[69] SIPGVG_120319_162.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?) $Atari VCS Action: Pac-Man Pac-Man illustrates the design challenges in bringing a popular arcade game to a home console. Programmer Tod Frye was forced to make adjustments to replicate the colorful graphics and sophisticated gameplay of designer Toru Iwatani's arcade original on the far less-powerful Atari VCS. As a result, the maze had hard corners instead of rounded ones. The "dots" used the same graphic as the walls and appeared as rectangular bars. Most noticeably, only one of the four ghosts could appear at a time on screen -- causing them to flicker on and off. Pac-Man fans were disappointed by what they considered a pale imitation of their arcade favorite. However, the game is recognized today for Frye's determination and creativity in squeezing the entire game into just 4 kilobytes of memory -- a mere fraction of the original. Target: Space Invaders Many early video games, like Space Invaders, first became popular in arcades. In designer Tomohiro Nishikado's Space Invaders, seen here, your mission is to defend Earth from space aliens. As the home market developed in the late 1970s, the game world opened up to a vast new audience. The limited capacity of the early home systems required simpler design and graphics, but this version of Space Invaders adapted by Rick Maurer, still captured the core components of the arcade game. The ominous soundscape and increasing speed as the aliens approached heightened the tension of the conflict and set the standard for many subsequent space shooter games. Adventure: Pitfall! In the early 1980s, Pitfall's creator David Crane achieved a design breakthrough – the fluid animation of a running human form on a video game console. Crane was inspired by the adventures of Indiana Jones in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark, released the previous year, and imagined a treasure-hunting jungle adventure for Pitfall Harry. You must avoid a range of enemies and guide Harry past obstacles -- water, logs, and, of course, pits -- in a two-level maze as a clock counts down the seconds. With Pitfall, Crane created the first popular human video game character for a console and established the standard mechanics that continue to be used in action adventure games today. Tactics: Combat The designers of Combat used minimal pixels and colors to great effect. They appropriated elements of Pong, a widely popular video game, to create a two-player battle. Small alterations in the computer code allowed objects -- known as sprites -- to send out one-pixel projectiles rather than merely bounce a ball between them. Combat also included flying levels, in which projectiles could travel along straight lines as well as curved paths, suggesting guided missiles. The rudimentary graphics available at the time required a great deal of imagination on the part of the player. To help fill out the narrative, the box art for the game depicted a realistic battlefield alight with military machines in combat -- a far cry from the rudimentary vehicles that players controlled on screen!$	[70] SIPGVG_120319_165.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SIPGVG_120319_005.JPG: Christmas 1980 was the year that I received a gift of untold mystery and excitement that would ultimately chart the trajectory for my future career – the Commodore VIC-20. This amazing little device was able to transport me to worlds beyond my dreams; worlds that I could create, control and type into existence. Learning to program that little machine opened up a fascinating world and a love for science, storytelling, and art. The short, yet prolific forty-year history of video games offers some of the deepest personal and globally connecting experiences in human history. Of course, many games never aspire to be anything more than an adrenaline pump, where high scores rule and the loosest of stories hold the game together. The common thread, regardless of intent, is that they are an amalgam of disciplines-storytelling, animation, music and cinematography-whose sum are greater than its parts. This defines a new art medium that is beyond traditional definitions used in the fine art world. I find this fascinating and truly inspiring. Using the cultural lens of an art museum, viewers can determine whether the games on display are indeed worthy of the title of "art." Some visitors will encounter a game that transports them back to their childhood, or gain insight into how games are made. My hope is that people will leave the exhibition with an understanding that video games are so much more than what they first thought. They may even be art. -- Chris Melissinos, guest curator.
2. SIPGVG_120319_011.JPG: The Art of Video Games is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum with generous support from the Entertainment Software Association Foundation; Sheila Duignan and Mike Wilkins; Shelby and Frederick Gans; Mark Lamia; Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk; Rose Family Foundation; Betty and Lloyd Schermer; Neil Young. Promotional support is provided by the Entertainment Consumers Association. The C.F. Foundation in Atlanta supports the museum's traveling exhibition program, Treasures to Go.
3. SIPGVG_120319_045.JPG: People who donated to the exhibit had their names show up on the scrolling bar. The size of their name indicated the size of their contribution. Betsy Broun, who heads the Smithsonian American Art Museum, is included here.
4. SIPGVG_120319_046.JPG: Yeah, well, I'll take credit where I can...
5. SIPGVG_120319_062.JPG: Three Voices: Artist, Game, Player Video games combine graphics, sound, story, and interaction to create meaningful and immersive experiences. Imaginative artists and designers use this medium to create worlds and tell their stories. None of this is possible, however, without the participation of the player. Everyone who plays a game puts a little of themselves into the experience, and takes away something that is wholly unique. This conversation among the game, the artist, and the player is critical to understanding video games as art.
6. SIPGVG_120319_084.JPG: To Carl Laemmle -- In memory of the days when I produced Oswald for Universal -- Best Wishes always -- Sincerely Walt Disney
7. SIPGVG_120319_119.JPG: Pac-Man 1980 Toru Iwatani Pac-Man was the first game to achieve widespread popularity, appealing to women as well as men and to both serious and casual gamers. Designer Toru Iwatani was inspired by a children's story about a creature that eats children to protect them from monsters. Pac-Man's shape is derived from the character for mouth, or kuchi. This classic game introduced the "maze and chase" genre at a time when video arcade games were dominated by space shooters. Namco TM &� NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc.
8. SIPGVG_120319_124.JPG: Super Mario Brothers 1985 Hiroshi Yamauchi, executive producer; Shigeru Miyamoto, producer and director Super Mario Brothers was released into a market still listless after game sales crashed in the early 1980s. Its broad appeal helped to revitalize the industry, ensuring excellent sales of both the game and the Nintendo Entertainment System. Designer Shigeru Miyamoto created a sprawling fantasy world of hidden objects and secret areas for players to explore. The game's rich environment, with the engaging music of Koji Kondo, laid the foundation for many subsequent action-adventure games. Nintendo of America, Inc.
9. SIPGVG_120319_130.JPG: The Secret of Monkey Island 1990 Ron Gilbert, creator, designer, writer, and programmer; Dave Grossman, Tim Schafer, writers and programmers The Secret of Monkey Island offered gamers inside jokes that often poked fun at gaming conventions. In this playful pirate adventure, players navigate through realistic, animated environments by interacting with objects, locations, and people. Monkey Island used an innovative scripting language, known as SCUMM, which allowed players to control characters' action by pairing virtual objects with verbs. Courtesy of LucasArts, a division of Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd.
10. SIPGVG_120319_142.JPG: Myst 1995 Rand Miller, Robyn Miller, designers Robyn Miller, Chuck Carter, graphics and animation Myst's beautiful graphics and mysterious narrative captivated a new audience that helped drive the adoption of CD-ROM technology in the home computer market. This is a cerebral game with few instructions. Audio and visual clues help players solve cryptic puzzles to move through this game. The enigmatic story line, coupled with photo-realistic graphics and immersive audio, provided an almost limitless world for a patient player to explore. �Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000 Cyan, Inc. All rights reserved. Myst is a registered trademark of Cyan, Inc.
11. SIPGVG_120319_148.JPG: Flower (TM) 2009 Jenova Chen, creative director; John Edwards, lead engineer; developed by thatgamecompany, LLC Flower (TM) put the player in an unusual role -- that of the wind. The controller translates the player's movements into visual feedback, creating a gentle parting of the grass on screen. Director Jenova Chen wanted players to have a personal, emotional response to the idyllic world he had envisioned. The beautifully rendered landscape and the orchestral score, which also responds dynamically to the player's actions, become more colorful and vibrant as successive flowers are reached. Sony Computer Entertainment, LLC
12. SIPGVG_120319_151.JPG: Games have so much freedom. You can go anywhere you want. -- JENOVA CHEN
13. SIPGVG_120319_162.JPG: Atari VCS Action: Pac-Man Pac-Man illustrates the design challenges in bringing a popular arcade game to a home console. Programmer Tod Frye was forced to make adjustments to replicate the colorful graphics and sophisticated gameplay of designer Toru Iwatani's arcade original on the far less-powerful Atari VCS. As a result, the maze had hard corners instead of rounded ones. The "dots" used the same graphic as the walls and appeared as rectangular bars. Most noticeably, only one of the four ghosts could appear at a time on screen -- causing them to flicker on and off. Pac-Man fans were disappointed by what they considered a pale imitation of their arcade favorite. However, the game is recognized today for Frye's determination and creativity in squeezing the entire game into just 4 kilobytes of memory -- a mere fraction of the original. Target: Space Invaders Many early video games, like Space Invaders, first became popular in arcades. In designer Tomohiro Nishikado's Space Invaders, seen here, your mission is to defend Earth from space aliens. As the home market developed in the late 1970s, the game world opened up to a vast new audience. The limited capacity of the early home systems required simpler design and graphics, but this version of Space Invaders adapted by Rick Maurer, still captured the core components of the arcade game. The ominous soundscape and increasing speed as the aliens approached heightened the tension of the conflict and set the standard for many subsequent space shooter games. Adventure: Pitfall! In the early 1980s, Pitfall's creator David Crane achieved a design breakthrough – the fluid animation of a running human form on a video game console. Crane was inspired by the adventures of Indiana Jones in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark, released the previous year, and imagined a treasure-hunting jungle adventure for Pitfall Harry. You must avoid a range of enemies and guide Harry past obstacles -- water, logs, and, of course, pits -- in a two-level maze as a clock counts down the seconds. With Pitfall, Crane created the first popular human video game character for a console and established the standard mechanics that continue to be used in action adventure games today. Tactics: Combat The designers of Combat used minimal pixels and colors to great effect. They appropriated elements of Pong, a widely popular video game, to create a two-player battle. Small alterations in the computer code allowed objects -- known as sprites -- to send out one-pixel projectiles rather than merely bounce a ball between them. Combat also included flying levels, in which projectiles could travel along straight lines as well as curved paths, suggesting guided missiles. The rudimentary graphics available at the time required a great deal of imagination on the part of the player. To help fill out the narrative, the box art for the game depicted a realistic battlefield alight with military machines in combat -- a far cry from the rudimentary vehicles that players controlled on screen!
14. SIPGVG_120319_165.JPG: Start: 1970s -- Early 1980s Start represents the beginning of the home video game revolution. This was a period of exploration, as artists learned to transform a limited number of colors and pixels into castles, mazes, tunnels, star fields, and landscapes, and players began to understand a new visual language.
15. SIPGVG_120319_176.JPG: ColecoVision Action: Donkey Kong Game designer Shigeru Miyamoto created a global sensation with his revolutionary game, Donkey Kong. Whimsical and colorful, the game presents an intrepid carpenter, Jumpman, who must scale a building site to rescue a damsel in distress held captive by his malevolent pet ape, Donkey Kong. Limited colors and resolution forced design choices in the creation of Jumpman that established the iconic look of the character, who later became famous as Mario. The designer gave him a simple cap, because hair was difficult to render, and carpenter's overalls to create a contrast between his arms and body. One of the character's most distinctive features evolved from the need to define the space between his nose and mouth. Leaving out a few pixels from under his nose revealed the black background and gave Jumpman, or Mario, his thick black mustache. Target: Zaxxon Video game consoles were incapable of producing 3D graphics in the early 1980s. To achieve this illusion, designers skewed the perspective of objects to give an appearance of depth -- and made convincing claims to have added a "new dimension" to video games. In Zaxxon, you fly through a space station and deep space, avoiding obstacles and destroying enemy fighters in your path. The ship appears to be moving back and forth across the surface of the space station than rather just up and down the screen. Adventure: Pitfall II: Lost Caverns In Pitfall II, designer David Crane expanded the world of the original game and introduced new mechanics into the action adventure genre. The same character, Pitfall Harry, now faces flying, crawling, hopping, and swimming enemies on his quest for gold. Crane added several new elements to create a more dynamic experience for the player. Vertical scrolling allows the player to traverse a multi-level maze in four directions and explore new environments. Checkpoints allow players to save their progress through the underground labyrinth. The musical soundtrack responds to the action on the screen, encouraging the player by echoing their achievements… and bemoaning their setbacks. All these developments advanced the storytelling capacity of video games. Tactics: Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator To the triumphant Star Trek theme, you take the controls of the Starship Enterprise in this Strategic Operations Simulator. Designed by Sam Palahnuk, the objective of this game is to fend off attacks and protect your starbases. By the early 1980s, the television series Star Trek already had a huge following, and this game allowed players to enter the world they had seen on TV and in films. The multiple-view display mimics the deck of the Starship Enterprise. The bottom of the screen displays a first-person perspective of the action, while the main area shows a top-down strategic display. This unique approach allowed for rapid, continuous gameplay despite the console's limited processing power. Players determine their position while navigating this 3D environment by using an altitude meter and the shadow of the spaceship -- an added element of realism to this early flight simulator.
16. SIPGVG_120319_188.JPG: Mattel Intellivision Action: TRON: Maze-Atron The movie TRON introduced audiences to the language and mythology of the burgeoning world of computer programming in the early 1980s. This game draws from the plot of the film. The player is "pulled" inside the circuits of a computer and must navigate the moving playfield while collecting energy and "bits" that are used to clear the Random Access Memory, or RAM, of the Master Control Program. The game, like many in its era, suffered from poor controls and overly complicated gameplay. However, the links to popular culture together with graphics that appeared to turn the computer inside-out, ensured its popularity with players steeped in the growing world of video games. Target: Star Strike Star Strike was directly inspired by the dramatic "trench run" sequence at the end of the first Star Wars film, which was released in 1977. In the game, players fend off enemy spaceships while bombing ports on the surface of an alien war machine to prevent it from exploding Earth. The processing power of the Intellivision allowed the designers to achieve a 3D effect through forced perspective, while rapidly alternating bands of light and dark green conveyed a sense of speed. A recognizable depiction of earth slowly enters firing range, heightening the tension for the player. Star Strike was one of the many space-inspired games of the early 1980s. Along with popular television shows, games like this captured the excitement of space travel combined with continuing anxieties about the Cold War. Adventure: Advanced Dungeons and Dragons The tabletop game of Dungeons and Dragons, along with the Lord of the Rings novels by J.R.R. Tolkein, provided the bedrock for numerous fantasy adventure role-playing video games. In 1982, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons for the Intellivision employed many mechanics from the tabletop version that have since become standard in adventure games. Caves shrouded by darkness reveal themselves only when approached. Sounds warn of looming enemies. And a range of tactics are required to defeat each kind you may face. Hidden in the darkness, items help you progress towards your dangerous destination. Tactics: Utopia Utopia was the first real simulation game, or "god game," for a home video game console, placing the player in control of the entire game world. Players developed islands with buildings, boats, and farms while avoiding pirates and natural disasters. Designer Don Daglow developed the concept for the game during his days as a middle school teacher. To help his students understand geography, he used electrical tape to outline a massive map of the world on the school's cafeteria floor. Students played as different nations by standing on the relevant areas of the map. Utopia's unique gameplay and realistic scenarios established a basis for simulation games that can still be seen today.
17. SIPGVG_120319_194.JPG: 8-Bit: Early 1980s -- Early 1990s The game industry reinvented itself with vigor in the early 1980s after a collapse in the market. Game designers and programmers received recognition as artists, graphics improved, and games incorporated richer storylines.
18. SIPGVG_120319_206.JPG: Commodore 64 Action: Jumpman In the early 1980s, home consoles increased in popularity, and more people could enjoy the rapidly developing world of video games. Jumpman stood apart from other games at the time with its fluid and realistic animation. The designers achieved this by creating a very simple, stick-figure for the main character. By simplifying the character details, all of the processing power could be dedicated to the animation. Jumpman appeared simple on the surface, but each level presented new challenges with objects and enemies that behaved in different and often surprising ways. Each of the game's levels had a descriptive and intriguing name. Names such as "Look out below", "Mystery Maze", and, "Vampire", seen here, gave players a hint as to what they would discover and drew them further into the story. Target: Attack of the Mutant Camels Attack of the Mutant Camels was created by Jeff Minter, an eccentric British game designer, and was an underground hit for the Commodore 64. Jeff "Yak" Minter has an ongoing fascination for ruminants, such as llamas, sheep, and camels, and even the name of his company, Llamasoft, plays to this obsession. Minter took elements for this surreal game from a classic scene in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. In the film, the Empire uses large, four-legged machines to attack the rebel base. Minter transformed these into giant mutant camels that the player must destroy, adding a personal and humorous element to the familiar Star Wars story. Adventure: The Bard's Tale III: Thief of Fate The Bard's Tale III established many conventions that would become standard for subsequent adventure and role playing games. In the game, players traveled to different worlds, each signified by its own colorful artwork. The variety of detailed environments for players to explore set this game above other titles of the time. It was also one of the first games to include an automapping feature, in which a top-down abstract map was automatically updated as the player discovered more areas. Music played a significant role, and included elements from contemporary popular culture, such as a song from the Monty Python film, The Quest for the Holy Grail. Tactics: Pirates! Sid Meier's Pirates! was a swashbuckling adventure with an historical twist. Players could travel to six different time periods, from the mid-sixteenth century to the end of the seventeenth century, to seek their fortunes. Each time period offered different challenges that, combined with the open-ended world, presented players with a new experience each time they entered the game. During game play, dialogue and illustrations popped up as separate windows. This allowed players to see multiple layers of the story at once, giving weight to their actions as the consequences played out step-by-step. Pirates! was innovative in how much control it gave to the player, and also in the realistic and historically-accurate environment that it offered for exploration.
19. SIPGVG_120319_216.JPG: Nintendo Entertainment System Action: Super Mario Brothers 3 In Super Mario Brothers 3, designer Shigeru Miyamoto built upon and refined the already-successful game play and design of the original. Here, Mario traverses the seven regions of Mushroom World to end the dominance of the Koopalings at the behest of Princess Toadstool. The game features whimsical sprites, or two-dimensional animated objects, that integrate into colorful, sprawling environments. Mario can wear different suits through the game that give him different powers. This added variety to the strategy of the game as well as an element of surprise. The music was surprisingly complex for the technology and varied dramatically between levels, conjuring different moods to complement the visual environments. Miyamoto wanted the focus of the game to be about the wonder of discovery in places you least expect it. While the ultimate goal of the game is to defeat Bowser, it is the journey not the destination that is important. Target: 1943: The Battle of Midway 1943: The Battle of Midway is set in the Pacific theater of World War II. Players control a P-38 Lightning plane and battle the Japanese air and sea forces. However, beyond the setting and the choice of fighter planes, the game play bears no further resemblance to historical events. The increasing adoption of video games by the general public in the late 1980s pushed designers to deliver something new with every title. The creators of 1943 used several innovative tricks to compensate for the limited capabilities of the technology. Combining multiple sprites, or two-dimensional animated objects, allowed for large enemies and swarms of fighters. Parallax scrolling, in which background images appear to scroll slower than those in the foreground, created a realistic sense of depth and movement. Adventure: The Legend of Zelda The Legend of Zelda was one of the first large scale exploration adventure games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The player assumes the role of the hero Link, and must save Princess Zelda from the clutches of an evil wizard. Designer Shigeru Miyamoto strived to create a realistic world that has hidden elements of the fantastical. He was inspired by memories of exploring caves, forests, lakes, and villages near his childhood home in Japan to create the game's imaginary world. In addition to the rich exploration, the game offered a powerful coming-of-age story. The character of Link, childlike at first, grows in strength and courage with each challenge until ultimately overcoming evil. With The Legend of Zelda, Miyamoto introduced a vast fictional world, complete with history, people, and folklore, that has since become the basis for numerous adventures. Tactics: Desert Commander Desert Commander is a turn-based strategy game set in North Africa during World War II. Players managed resources and conducted battles to simulate the decisions that go into deploying a military force. The game combined a variety of visual perspectives that change according to the action taking place. Resource management occurs through a top-down view… Enemy encounters appear through dramatic side-by-side close ups… The technological limitations of the system meant that the graphics were rudimentary. Many contemporary strategy games still use abstract graphics to maintain focus on the strategic, rather than the visual, aspects of game play.
20. SIPGVG_120319_226.JPG: Nintendo Wii Action: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Super Mario Galaxy 2 takes the best elements of all of the previous Super Mario games and combines them to present a vibrant and challenging adventure. The design team incorporated the exaggerated spherical worlds seen in Super Mario Galaxy, then added innovative platform levels inspired by the genre-defining, 2-dimensional experiences of earlier systems. The game focuses on exploration of a luminous, candy-colored world. The designers created intriguing puzzles and a seemingly infinite variety of goals and challenges, playing with scale and gravity throughout. The seamless gameplay takes place against a backdrop of intense, detailed graphics and a musical score that combines remixed versions of classic Mario tunes with energetic new material. Super Mario Galaxy 2 stands at the pinnacle of its genre, proving that Mario is still going strong almost 30 years after his first appearance. Target: Boom Blox The designers at Electronic Arts worked with Steven Spielberg to create Boom Blox. Spielberg wanted to develop games that focused on strategy and creativity to play with his children. All of the environments, obstacles, and characters in this game are constructed from colorful building blocks. The designers were inspired by the traditional game Jenga, in which players take turns removing blocks from a stacked tower and placing them on top until it eventually falls. Boom Blox adds complexity by taking advantage of the Wii's motion sensitive controller to incorporate a wide variety of methods to extract the blocks. The physics-based animation provides the most compelling visual element, since the blocks tumble, collide, and fall with a high degree of realism. Boom Blox is perfect for families -- designed for multiple people to play together in the same room, inspiring connections and friendly competition. Adventure: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is the thirteenth installment of the popular series, which began back in 1987. In this game, the designers wanted to appeal to older players who had grown-up with Zelda and Link. The Zelda games have always boasted a strongly developed world and back-story, but in Twilight Princess, players experience more realistic characters and environments than ever before. The narrative is familiar, with the inclusion of a sinister dark world that mirrors the light, but the visual contrast between the two is striking. The shadow realm appears ethereal and indistinct, with soft, glowing colors… and dark environments conjuring the mystery of twilight. Tactics: Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure presents a fantastical adventure, filled with mind-bending puzzles and devious traps. The designers took advantage of the Wii's motion sensitive controller to create ingenious interactions with on-screen objects. Many games for the Wii incorporate motion-based controls, but Zack and Wiki was one of the first to successfully integrate this feature into a puzzle-based narrative. Players use the controller as if it were the real item; a saw requires a sawing motion and a key a turning motion to unlock a door. The vivid world is filled with treasure chests, tropical islands, and pirates. Added to this are elements inspired by Japanese anime – characters with exaggerated features and intense, fast-paced animation. The vibrant environments, challenging puzzles, and seamless physical interaction sets Zack and Wiki apart as a unique adventure game.
21. SIPGVG_120319_236.JPG: Modern Windows Action: Portal Portal successfully blends an action game with complex, physics-based puzzles and a hilarious script. The player awakens as the protagonist Chell, who is trapped in a sterile abandoned laboratory in the fictitious Aperture Science Enrichment Center, accompanied only by a sentient Artificial Intelligence named GLaDOS. GLaDOS leads Chell through a series of test chambers, each of which is pristine, antiseptic, and unnerving. GLaDOS starts out as helpful and pleasant, but gradually deteriorates to become menacing and sociopathic as the environment begins to break apart. Central to the gameplay is Chell's Portal Gun, a device that gives her the ability to create a tunnel through space. By shooting portals on different surfaces, Chell can step through one and emerge instantly into another. This results in endlessly challenging and elaborate puzzles for the player to solve, accompanied by GLaDOS' dark humor. Dialogue: "Due to mandatory scheduled maintenance, the appropriate chamber for this testing sequence is currently unavailable. It has been replaced with a live fire course designed for military androids. The Enrichment Center apologizes for the inconvenience and wishes you the best of luck." "Certain objects may be vital to your success. Do not destroy testing apparatus." Target: flOw Designer Jenova Chen created flOw as part of his Masters thesis at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. He wanted to create a game that would dynamically change in response to an individual player's abilities. flOw is unusual in that it is not possible to die. The player takes on the role of an abstract, aquatic life form, exploring a deep ocean world. Eating smaller creatures makes the life form evolve and grow, whereas attacks from larger enemies reduce it in size. The player has full control over when to descend to more difficult levels and when to ascend back to simpler ones. The title comes from the psychological concept of "flow," which describes the mental state of an individual who is actively focused and deeply engaged. This concept is true of many video games, but the beautiful creatures, fluid movement, and ethereal music of flOw create a particularly captivating and immersive experience. Adventure: Fallout 3 The designers took a risk in Fallout 3 by leaping from the isometric art style of its predecessors to a fully realized 3-dimensional environment. They successfully combined the post-apocalyptic storyline, dark humor, and social commentary of the earlier games with a striking and atmospheric visual experience. The action is set within the same narrative as the earlier titles, years after a nuclear war has devastated the United States and forced mankind to retreat into underground vaults. Emerging from the vaults, the player discovers a desolate, war-torn landscape based on Washington D.C., with familiar landmarks and monuments to explore. Fallout 3 does not have a single, defined path. Instead, the player has numerous ways to deal with any given situation and as a result, collects positive or negative karma. An individual's karma not only affects the player, but also has far-reaching consequences on the world around and, ultimately, on how the game ends. Dialogue: "Hello again, America. This is John Henry Eden, your president. There are some things we should talk about, if that's alright…" Tactics: Minecraft Minecraft sets the player in a virtual world, filled with pixelated blocks that can be combined, or crafted, to create new materials. The game has no obvious plot or missions. Instead, it offers an innovative platform that supports endless player-created environments. Developer Markus Persson, who launched the game in 2009, develops and refines it on a continuous basis. He doesn't have a specific design plan, but his overall philosophy is that if something is not fun, he will either remove it or redesign it. Millions of online players consistently contribute to this game, building vast and complex structures for others to discover. The power of the internet combined with the human need to create makes Minecraft an endlessly evolving celebration of ingenuity and expression.
22. SIPGVG_120319_247.JPG: Nintendo GameCube Action: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes The Metroid series is unusual in that the protagonist is a woman, though her appearance is usually concealed by an exaggerated and anonymous suit. By placing a strong female character in a stereotypically male role, the designers added a new perspective to the space adventure genre. In Echoes, the designers took a traditional adventure story filled with ancient worlds and challenging quests and placed it in an elaborate and believable science-fiction environment. The player must explore mirror worlds of light and dark to overcome a variety of obstacles and enemies. The gloomy, threatening landscapes, futuristic weapons, and elusive opponents conjure an atmosphere of anxiety and fear, heightened by the heroine's discovery of a mysterious, evil doppelg�nger. Target: Star: Fox Assault The original idea for the Star Fox hero, Fox McCloud, came from Japanese folklore, in which the fox is a prominent subject. The folklore hero -- in combination with traditional space-shooter mechanics and futuristic worlds -- led to an unusual and beloved series of games. In Star Fox Assault, the design team took advantage of the advanced capabilities of the technology to create a variety of game play modes. These gave the player more scenarios to explore, both in the air and on the ground, expanding the already familiar StarFox universe. The game builds upon the simplistic yet compelling action seen in previous StarFox games, but offers a more powerful audio visual experience. Space battles take place against dazzling scenes of planets, asteroid fields, and distant galaxies, accompanied by an energetic orchestral score. Adventure: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker Nintendo has created some of the most popular video games for young audiences, and the Legend of Zelda games are no exception. Known for their emotional plot lines, whimsical environments, and established characters. The Wind Waker was the tenth installment in the series and marked a significant shift in the design direction. Players were shocked when they first experienced the game, because the graphics were so different from what they had seen before. Creator Shigeru Miyamoto used "cel-shaded" animation, which makes 3-dimensional computer graphics look like 2-dimensional drawings or cartoons. This allowed the designers to create smoother movements and more emotive facial expressions. The Wind Waker stands apart as an example of how an established world can be re-imagined to create a new and surprising visual experience. Tactics: Pikmin 2 Designer Shigeru Miyamoto was inspired by ants in his garden in Kyoto, Japan to create the Pikmin universe. Observing the way the ants worked together, he realized the perfect fit with an idea he and his team had been working on that involved manipulating tiny creatures in a miniature world. In Pikmin 2, the player must grow and harvest the Pikmin and guide them to find human artifacts such as batteries, bottle caps, floppy disks, and rotten fruit. The graphics and game play emphasize the minute scale of the characters, with numerous pikmin needed to complete tasks, like lifting a single battery. At a time when many video games were exploiting advanced technologies to present vast intergalactic worlds, Pikmin 2 presented the intriguing idea that entire societies might exist beneath our feet.
23. SIPGVG_120319_255.JPG: Bitwars: Early 1990s -- Mid-1990s: Technology and artistry collided during the Bitwars era in a period of intense creativity. Game developers competed to deliver hardware that could process more "bits," since increased power meant more sophisticated visual and audio experiences.
24. SIPGVG_120319_260.JPG: SEGA Genesis Action: Earthworm Jim Creator Doug TenNapel and designer David Perry had a lot of fun designing Earthworm Jim. The story is based on a worm that transforms into an intergalactic hero after a robotic space suit fell from the sky. Visual treats include launching a cow into the air… riding on the back of a giant hamster… and careening down an interstellar halfpipe. Earthworm Jim represented the pinnacle of 2-dimensional animation at a time when game designers were just beginning to explore 3D. In this game, players enjoyed interactive graphics that boasted the quality of traditional cell animation. The exaggerated style, combined with a comical script and dynamic music, created an experience that blurred the line between cartoons and video games. Target: Gunstar Heroes Gunstar Heroes combined different game genres by blending target and side-scrolling elements into a single, action-filled experience. Players took on the role of either Gunstar Red or Gunstar Blue to protect the planet against various enemies intent on its destruction. Many games during the Bitwars Era emphasized the speed of game play in order to highlight the advanced technology. Gunstar Heroes made innovative use of detailed, fast-paced animation, while still incorporating the core mechanics of a target game. Projectiles telegraphed through space to guide aiming, and enemies appeared in predictable patterns. This didn't make it easy, however. The designers pushed the capabilities of the Genesis to its limits by simultaneously displaying as many sprites, or 2D animations, as possible, creating a visual cacophony of color and movement. Adventure: Phantasy Star IV Phantasy Star IV continued the narrative of its predecessors, but the increased power and storage capabilities of the Genesis allowed for richer graphics and more complex game play. Players encountered detailed landscapes, buildings, and environments that served as backgrounds for animated battle scenarios that took the role-playing experience to a new level. Through comic-book style storyboards, the designers incorporated an expansive narrative that played out over the course of the game. This was supported by music that responded to the player's actions, changing from fast-paced tempos during battle scenarios to more somber tones during dramatic moments. Tactics: Dune II: Battle for Arrakis Dune II: The Battle for Arrakis was the foundation for most modern real-time strategy games, and incorporated many design elements that have since become standard in this genre. These included a "fog of war" that obscured unexplored areas of the map, a tile-based system for alignment of building elements… and automated processes that would simulate the decay of player-created facilities over time. The game was inspired by Frank Herbert's novel Dune, published in 1965, as well as the 1984 film by David Lynch. The existence of an established back-story in popular culture meant that the game could focus on action rather than narrative. The designers used a top-down perspective, which allowed them to use simplified shapes to signify buildings, people, and objects. As a result, they could dedicate more processing power to designing complex game play elements, including one of the earliest examples of AI, or artificial intelligence, to be seen in a strategy game.
25. SIPGVG_120319_271.JPG: Microsoft XBox Action: Halo 2 Halo 2 presented more detailed environments, deeper artificial intelligence, and a more elaborate story than its predecessor. The designers were now familiar with the capabilities of the XBox and had developed new ways to push it to its limits. You assume the role of Master Chief in an epic space opera of political strife, global conflict, and betrayal. The game never reveals Master Chief's real name or appearance, allowing you to place yourself directly in the hero's role. Vivid cutscenes are accompanied by a spine-tingling orchestral score, while the gameplay itself takes center stage against a backdrop of immersive and sometimes spooky ambient sound. Dialogue: "Gentlemen, we're lucky to have you back." "They're going to try and take our MAC guns offline, give their capital ships a straight shot at Earth. Master Chief… defend this station." "Yes, Sir. I need a weapon." "Right this way." Target: Panzer Dragoon Orta Panzer Dragoon Orta was the fourth and final chapter in the Panzer Dragoon series. The designers took elements from all three of its predecessors to create one of the most visually striking games ever made on the XBox. The game's mechanics followed the structure in Panzer Dragoon Zwei, in which player movement is restricted to a defined path. While the earlier game did this because of technology limitations, in this game, the designers chose to limit movement in order to focus all of the power on the graphics. Stunning landscapes form the backdrop for dramatic mid-air maneuvers and explosions of color. Adventure: Fable Fable draws on traditional storytelling, placing the player in the role of a young boy seeking his fortune after his home and family are destroyed. The fictional world is imaginative and incredibly detailed, offering numerous opportunities for exploration outside of the core narrative. Designer Peter Molyneux wanted to create an experience that would be unique for every player. As the protagonist progresses through the game, the player is faced with difficult moral choices that influence how the character develops and the ultimate outcome of the game. Depending on the player's actions, the protagonist can become a celebrated hero or a feared tyrant. Dialogue: "…wait, there's something wrong." "Bandits!" "You're a good boy. Who knows? Perhaps one day you'll be a town guard, too." Tactics: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell places you in the role of Sam Fisher, an NSA Black Ops operative on a mission to prevent America from going to war. The gameplay focuses on stealth, encouraging players to achieve mission objectives by avoiding enemies and combat. Stealth games have been around since the early days of video games, but only became defined as a genre in the late 1990s when the technology could support complex player actions like using disguises, controlling sound, and hiding. In Splinter Cell, the artists used the power of the XBox to render real-time light and shadows. This gave the visual surroundings a sense of presence and depth that had not been seen before, and added to the stealth component -- shadows provided cover, while the light brought the risk of discovery.
26. SIPGVG_120319_281.JPG: PlayStation 2 Action: Shadow of the Colossus Shadow of the Colossus presents a modern-day fairy tale in which a young man named Wander seeks to bring his girlfriend, Mono, back to life. Distraught, he makes a deal with a dark entity and must strike down sixteen enormous, mythical creatures known as Colossi, which inhabit the barren, empty world of the "Forbidden Land." The vast, ancient landscape of plains, forests, deserts, and caverns imposes a sense of isolation as Wander searches for the Colossi accompanied only by his horse. Each giant creature has a unique and creative design and must be defeated in a different way. The true power of Shadow of the Colossus is in the tension between the player's selfish need to destroy these great, innocent creatures, and the dramatic sense of loss in witnessing them fall. The scale of the Colossi and the dazzling, haunting artwork combine to create epic yet devastating battle scenes. Target: Gradius V In Gradius V, players control a fictional spaceship through a vibrant, side-scrolling landscape of planets, asteroids, and space stations. The designers at Konami have created numerous games in the Gradius series, all inspired by classic, 2-dimensional arcade-style shooters from the 1980s. To develop Gradius V, they collaborated with the developers at Treasure, who had worked on some of the most complex games in this genre to date. The game's mechanics remain true to its arcade roots, but the designers combined the straightforward gameplay with a powerful audio visual experience… Highly detailed backgrounds, enemies, explosions, and an energetic soundtrack battle for attention. Adventure: Okami Okami is set in a mythical, past Japan, in which the player takes the form of a white wolf god, Amaterasu, and must defeat an evil demon in order to restore life to the land. Designer Hideki Kamiya combined wood-cut and watercolor imagery with Japanese monochrome ink painting, known as sumi-e, to create the game's imaginative world. This unusual approach creates an animated landscape that evokes an ancient watercolor parchment come to life. The art style also influenced the game's controls by introducing the concept of a "celestial brush." Players use this virtual brush to "paint" characters on the screen to trigger actions or summon mystical powers. Okami stands today as a visually stunning and imaginative game that pushed the boundaries of video game design. Tactics: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is considered by many to be the first example of a postmodern video game. The game's anti-war message and complex narrative deal with issues such as artificial intelligence, social engineering, nuclear arms, and political conspiracies. The story is critical to the game and is told through numerous spectacular cutscenes, placing the player at the heart of an interactive movie that can run up to 20 hours in length. As in all of the Metal Gear Solid games, Sons of Liberty emphasizes stealth and avoidance over open engagement and deadly force. This, combined with incredibly detailed environments and a spine-chilling orchestral score makes playing Metal Gear Solid 2 an unforgettable experience.
27. SIPGVG_120319_284.JPG: Next Generation: Early 2000s–Today Video games from the 2000s boast spectacular, photorealistic graphics, complex storylines, and innovative mechanics. Advanced technology and the internet allow for a rich variety of experiences, from massive online multiplayer worlds and mobile gaming, to the use of motion-sensitive technology and player-generated content.
28. SIPGVG_120319_297.JPG: SEGA Dreamcast Action: Sonic Adventure In Sonic Adventure, the beloved blue hedgehog made the leap to a world of 3-dimensional graphics. The Dreamcast console was powerful enough to render environments that were fully 3D, so the designers did not have to compromise by using any 2-dimensional elements. As a result, they could create complicated levels that boasted realistic physics, from sweeping ramps, loops, and jumps to wobbling bridges and hidden passageways. A dynamic soundtrack complemented the vibrant and energetic visuals, taking inspiration from music genres such as world, pop, jazz, rock, and electronica. As in all Sonic games, you must complete the level in the fastest time possible, rescuing animals and destroying robots along the way. The solidity of the graphics together with dramatic new challenges and lively music, created an engaging experience that brought Sonic the Hedgehog to a new generation. Target: Rez Rez took the concept of a traditional target game and placed it in a fast-faced abstract world inspired by computer technology and the internet. The player takes the role of a hacker, injected into a global computer network to destroy lethal viruses before they cause an information Armageddon. The designers took inspiration from the colorful artworks of Wassily Kandinsky to visually represent the inside of a complex computer network. Points of light, mathematical structures, and neon colors combine to create an unfamiliar, yet compelling, digital landscape. Rez also boasts an innovative soundscape. At first, a lack of sound evokes the empty void of cyberspace, but soon the musical score increases in complexity as each virus is eliminated. The striking visuals and responsive audio combine to make Rez an outstanding example of art inspired by the digital age. Adventure: Shenmue Shenmue was the first video game to present a believable virtual world with unlimited potential for exploration. Designer Yu Suzuki created an environment that closely mirrored the real world, in which the player could go anywhere and interact with any object. The detailed graphics conjured a dark and brooding atmosphere, with cyclical weather and time systems that influenced the environment and its inhabitants. These realistic details allowed players to connect emotionally with the game narrative, creating an immersive experience unlike any seen before. Tactics: ChuChu Rocket! ChuChu Rocket presented a whimsical, colorful world as the basis for an appealing puzzle game. The designers of this simple game focused on compelling tactical game play with lively graphics. Players take on the role of a mouse, who must reach a rocket ship while evading cats and racing up to three opponents. Despite its simplicity, ChuChu Rocket was one of the first games to boast an online mode, in which players could compete over the internet. While this is commonplace now, ChuChu Ro0cket represents an early foray by both designers and players into the world of online gaming.
29. SIPGVG_120319_308.JPG: Super Nintendo Entertainment System Action: Super Mario World Super Mario World, sequel to Super Mario Brothers 3, was Mario's first appearance on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The capabilities of the Super NES allowed for larger and more detailed sprites, or 2D animations, dynamic background landscapes, and responsive sound effects. Designer Shigeru Miyamoto included many of the same elements as in previous Mario games, but provided additional ways for players to interact with the environment… And he added a new character, the dinosaur Yoshi. Miyamoto wanted to include a pet dinosaur from the very beginning of the Super Mario series, but only now was the technology sophisticated enough to incorporate this additional feature. The musical score, composed by Koji Kondo, became an integral and interactive part of the game play. Most of the music is a variation on the same familiar melody, but the composer made slight changes to the tempo and instrumentation in order to conjure different environments and actions. Target: Star Fox Competition was fierce during the Bitwars Era, as companies fought to keep up with the rapidly advancing technology in order to bring the newest, fastest, most advanced game to the public. The release of Star Fox marked a significant change in video game design as developers began to experiment with 3-dimensional graphics. This epic target game, set in space, followed the adventures of Fox McCloud as he battled against an evil force trying to take over the universe. New technologies in the computer world introduced polygons, which could render characters and worlds in 3 dimensions. Designer Shigeru Miyamoto had high expectations for Star Fox and, as a result, the design team distributed a powerful processor along with the game in order to give the Super NES the ability to display 3D graphics at the speeds required for the game. The ability to revise and include new technology with the game cartridge itself gave artists a new sense of freedom as they explored the rapidly-changing landscape of digital graphics. Adventure: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past was the third installment in the Zelda series by Shigeru Miyamoto. The advanced technology of the Super NES allowed the designers to use expressive graphics, employ advanced mechanics, and introduce new concepts… Players gained more control over the main character, Link. Now he could walk diagonally, run, and swing his sword sideways as well as forward. Link's world was bigger and far more complex, with numerous multi-level dungeons and an alternate, or parallel world for him to explore. In A Link to the Past, Nintendo established an iconic style for the characters and environments that appeared in all subsequent Zelda games. Tactics: SimCity The idea for SimCity came to designer Will Wright after he had created a mapping tool for a target-based game, Raid on Bungeling Bay. The tool, which allowed him to quickly build environments from an aerial point of view, fascinated him more than the game had. So he decided to create a new game based around the concept of urban planning. SimCity was originally intended to be an open-ended simulation. However, the final version did include specific goals for players to work towards. Many of these scenarios took place in real world cities or were based on real world events… Others were a little more fanciful. SimCity laid the groundwork for all subsequent city-building and life simulation games.
30. SIPGVG_120319_320.JPG: SEGA Saturn Action: Tomb Raider Tomb Raider introduced Lara Croft, the first female protagonist to appear in a widely-successful video game. In a genre dominated by strong male characters, Lara Croft represented a tough, fearless woman capable of facing the perils of an Indiana Jones-inspired adventure. In the game, players traversed the globe with Lara, uncovering artifacts from locations in Peru, Greece, Atlantis, and Egypt. The additional storage space provided by the CD ROM format allowed designer Toby Gard and his team to add high quality cutscenes with full voice-over dialogue. These elements enhanced the storytelling, giving context and background to the fast-paced game play. Most of the action is seen at close range. This decreased the overall size of the environment that the system had to render, increasing the dramatic tension of these dynamic scenes. Target: Panzer Dragoon II: Zwei Panzer Dragoon Zwei is an excellent example of the balance between player freedom and constraint. The game is an "on-rails shooter," which means that you follow a pre-determined path through the world. The player can control some movement left to right and up and down, but the forward motion cannot be stopped. This mechanic provided the design team with greater scope in the creation of the game world. Since the player and the camera had limited movement along a specific path, graphics could be loaded progressively, or streamed, directly from the CD ROM. This allowed for increased detail in the player's surroundings, from huge caverns to sweeping vistas, and created a believable 3D world on a system designed for 2D. Adventure: Panzer Dragoon Saga Panzer Dragoon Saga was the third game in the Panzer Dragoon series, and took the story into the role-playing genre. Set in a postapocalyptic world, the soldier Edge, who explores the world on a dragon, is determined to thwart evil forces and discover the identity of a mysterious girl. The CD ROM technology of the Saturn allowed designers to incorporate full motion video in their games. This meant that they could add cutscenes to the game play to help tell the story. The cutscenes were pre-rendered, allowing for far greater quality than seen in the game play itself, which loaded progressively in response to player actions. Combat takes place in mid-air rather than on the ground, with sweeping camera angles and sophisticated animation heightening the tension. In role-playing games like this, players typically controlled three or four characters during battles. In this game, however, you control just one, increasing the sense of isolation as you explore this grand and desolate world. Tactics: SimCity 2000 SimCity 2000 built upon the wild popularity of its predecessor, adding transportation, power, and a more elaborate monetary system to the city-planning game. The designers took advantage of the increased power of the console by creating a diametric view of the city instead of the standard top-down perspective. The enhanced visuals allowed them to show building elevations as well as pipes and subways underground, creating a more complex environment for players to control. All of the games in the SimCity series challenge the player to deal with disasters, many of which were inspired by real world events. This game also included elements from popular culture, such as towns named after characters from the science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf, and a hidden essay by fantasy author Neil Gaiman. SimCity 2000 gave players the freedom to create and manage complex environments of their own design, in a world that supplied realistic consequences for every action. Dialogue: "How does that make your wallet rumble?" "I'm sorry I only play for sport..." "...and there's this little trinket. An age-old artifact of mystical powers buried in the unfound tomb of Qualopec."
31. SIPGVG_120319_323.JPG: Transition: Mid-1990s -- Early 2000s The Transition era brought an explosion of games as artists moved from two dimensions to three. This transformed the visual and physical experiences as designers experimented with characters and worlds that were far more "real" than ever before.
32. SIPGVG_120319_334.JPG: SEGA Master System Action: Marble Madness Programmer Mark Cerny was a teenager when he created Marble Madness in the early 1980s. It was originally an arcade game, and Cerny designed the game to take advantage of a new controller, the trackball. Players used the trackball to navigate a marble through an isometric world inspired by M.C. Escher. The physical experience of maneuvering the trackball directly related to the graphics on the screen. Although the home console version had different controls, the visual experience remained. To increase the player's connection with the game's marble hero, Cerny gave it human characteristics. For example, the marble becomes "dizzy" when falling from a high ledge. The complex terrain combined with the marble's realistic momentum and speed created a treacherous yet exciting experience. Target: After Burner The late 80s saw widespread adoption of home video game consoles like the SEGA Master System. Flight simulators were especially popular, with the rise of movies such as Top Gun. In After Burner, players controlled an F-14 Tomcat jet and battled enemy fighters over an abstract seascape. The designers used a variety of tricks to create the illusion of three-dimensional game play. The individual sprites, or 2D, animated objects, could be scaled quickly and displayed at a variety of angles. In addition, they could be layered over each other to suggest three-dimensional space. This, in addition to the dynamic horizon line in the background, gave players a dramatic sense of movement and action as they controlled the plane. Adventure: Phantasy Star Phantasy Star's sophisticated storyline and innovative use of technology set it apart from similar games of the time. Players took the role of Alis Landale, who seeks revenge on the king for the death of her brother. As the game progresses, however, Alis discovers widespread oppression under the king's rule and her goal turns from revenge to liberation. Phantasy Star's graphics were ground-breaking. When players entered a dungeon, for example, the traditional, top-down 2-dimensional view switched to a 3D, first-person perspective, adding a sense of solidity and realism. The game also made extensive use of background graphics. In most other role-playing games of the time, battles and events took place against generic backgrounds. In Phantasy Star, each background reflected the specific location, further connecting the player to the fictional world of the game. Tactics: Spy vs Spy Spy vs Spy was a tactical game that followed the antics of MAD Magazine's Black and White spies. Players were tasked to find hidden objects while also setting booby traps to ensnare and slow down their opponents. Cuban artist Antonio Prohias created the original characters in 1961, directly inspired by Fidel Castro's rise to power in Cuba. Today, Spy vs Spy remains a symbol of the Cold War and the ongoing struggle between "good" and evil. MAD magazine's artwork was irreverent and slapstick. The game added animation to this, breathing life into the familiar comic strip world.
33. SIPGVG_120319_344.JPG: PlayStation 3 Action: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves In Uncharted 2, the player takes the role of treasure hunter Nathan Drake in a globe-trotting adventure based on the fabled voyage of Marco Polo in 1292. Creative Director Amy Hennig created an entertaining and elaborate story for this game, drawing from real world events, as well as a long history of fictional swashbuckling adventures. The visual experience of Uncharted 2 places the player in the heart of an interactive movie, with photorealistic art, seamless animation, and convincing acting. The main character is carefully crafted and believable, inspired by fictional adventurers Indiana Jones and Lara Croft as well as real-world action hero Bruce Willis and daredevil Johnny Knoxville. Hennig is one of a number of influential women developers in what has traditionally been a male-dominated field. Her multiple career experiences -- as artist, animator, writer, and director -- contribute to the success of this award-winning game. Dialogue: "On three: one, two, three..." "... Current's too strong. We'll never make it." Target: Flower Flower stands apart from almost every contemporary game in its genre. Designer Jenova Chen described it as "an interactive poem" that explores the tension between nature and urban environments. The player becomes the wind, breathing life back into the world by flying through flowers strewn across the landscape. With every flower reached, more petals join the wind to create a vibrant dance of color. The original idea for Flower was inspired by Chen's move from Shanghai to California. Growing up in a sprawling urban center, he had never experienced the green, rolling hills that he saw on the west coast. He wanted to develop a game that would give players the same experience, allowing them to bring nature into their homes in an interactive way. Playing Flower inspires peace, wonder, joy, freedom, and even sadness in a way that no video game has ever done before. Adventure: Heavy Rain Heavy Rain is an emotional rollercoaster. Director David Cage wanted to create an experience in which the player would play the story, rather than passively watch it unfold through cutscenes. From the beginning, the player is thrust into a startling and traumatic narrative, switching between four main characters. The story centers around the "Origami Killer," a serial killer who leaves his young, male victims to drown in the rain with an origami figure in their hands. The story has several endings and numerous ways to get there, determined by the player's actions and decisions. The graphics are incredibly detailed... especially the characters, who convey emotion through subtle facial expressions and eye movements. Cage used motion capture with over 90 actors to create this effect, asking each actor to play every possible outcome of every scene. A dark, gripping, and mature adventure, Heavy Rain seeks to push players into difficult and uncomfortable situations where their moral choices ultimately affect the outcome and lives of the people in the game. Dialogue: "Lauren Winter?" "My name is Scott Shelby. I'm a private detective. The families of the victims of the "Origami Killer" asked me to investigate the murders. I came here just to ask you some questions..." "I understand, Lauren. I know what you're going through." Tactics: Br�tal Legend Br�tal Legend transports players to a fantasy world of heavy metal music. Created by designer Tim Schafer as an homage to heavy metal pop culture, the game includes appearances from real world rockstars such as Ozzy Osborne and boasts a soundtrack with over one hundred classic songs. The design team took inspiration for the artwork and characters from heavy metal album covers and posters, but added humorous, exaggerated elements to the often dark and twisted imagery. Actor Jack Black plays the role of main character Eddie Riggs, who must battle his way through a bizarre landscape to defeat the Emperor of the Tainted Coil. The game combines a variety of mechanics... from fighting to playing guitar. However, as in all of Schafer's games, the story is a critical component, told through clever and often laugh-out-loud dialogue. Dialogue: "Uh... What is that sound?" "It's a devil screaming!" "It's an angel singing!" "It's called... Heavy Metal." "...to build an army big enough to take on the real Lionwhyte, we're going to need some more dudes."
34. SIPGVG_120319_355.JPG: Microsoft XBox 360 Action: Bioshock Bioshock demonstrates the incredible power for narrative that video games have today. Creator Ken Levine took inspiration from the writings of Ayn Rand, and particularly her depictions of strong, principled heroes without flaws. In Bioshock, Levine wanted to imagine what would happen if the "hero" did have flaws, and was allowed to proceed uninhibited by conventional society. The story revolves around a dystopian, underwater city, founded by the idealistic businessman Andrew Ryan. Ryan wanted to create a world in which man and science would not be bound by law or ethics. Unrestricted genetic engineering ultimately resulted in a devastated world, filled with mutated humans and haunting memories. Beautiful, isolated, cold, and sad, Bioshock forces the player into uncomfortable situations, in which their decisions ultimately affect the outcome of the story. Dialogue "Man has a choice. I chose the impossible. I built a city where the artist would not fear the censor, where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality. I chose to build... Rapture." "... hold on, and everything will be fine." Target: Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 has no narrative and instead, focuses on bold, abstract graphics and intuitive controls. Set on a grid floating in space, the player destroys attacking geometric shapes in order to achieve the highest score possible. Each group of shapes presents a unique visual pattern of color and form, which the player must understand in order to eliminate each one and progress through the game. The designers took a traditional target game and turned it into a dazzling cosmic abstraction. Players interact directly with the artwork... their actions generating complex patterns and explosions of color that glow against the black background. Adventure: MassEffect 2 Mass Effect 2 represents an outstanding amalgam of technology and art. After forty years of game development, artists are now able to create visual experiences that boast realistic interactions, highly detailed environments, photorealistic characters, and atmospheric use of color and light. Director Casey Hudson and his team added several mechanics to strengthen the relationship between the player and the game's narrative. At the beginning, players customize the main character's gender, race, appearance, and skill set. Once in the game, key decisions directly influence how the story develops, from the hero's relationships with allies and enemies, to whether he -- or she -- ultimately survives. This, combined with the believable and extensive world, give players the sense that they are part of the story. Dialogue: "What are you doing here? I thought you were still a work in progress." "I just woke up. You probably know more than I do." Tactics: Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II thrusts the player into the deep, fantasy world created by author J.R.R. Tolkien. The game's artwork draws heavily on descriptions in the books as well as the recent film trilogy directed by Peter Jackson, but presents a unique narrative within the established plot. Battle for Middle Earth II gave players the opportunity to interact with familiar characters in a beloved fictional world. The powerful graphics system allowed for highly detailed environments and large numbers of characters on screen at one time. As a result, players could re-create and participate in the epic battles that are critical to the story, whether they are fighting for good... or for evil.
35. SIPGVG_120319_364.JPG: SEGA Dreamcast Action: Sonic Adventure In Sonic Adventure, the beloved blue hedgehog made the leap to a world of 3-dimensional graphics. The Dreamcast console was powerful enough to render environments that were fully 3D, so the designers did not have to compromise by using any 2-dimensional elements. As a result, they could create complicated levels that boasted realistic physics, from sweeping ramps, loops, and jumps to wobbling bridges and hidden passageways. A dynamic soundtrack complemented the vibrant and energetic visuals, taking inspiration from music genres such as world, pop, jazz, rock, and electronica. As in all Sonic games, you must complete the level in the fastest time possible, rescuing animals and destroying robots along the way. The solidity of the graphics together with dramatic new challenges and lively music, created an engaging experience that brought Sonic the Hedgehog to a new generation. Target: Rez Rez took the concept of a traditional target game and placed it in a fast-faced abstract world inspired by computer technology and the internet. The player takes the role of a hacker, injected into a global computer network to destroy lethal viruses before they cause an information Armageddon. The designers took inspiration from the colorful artworks of Wassily Kandinsky to visually represent the inside of a complex computer network. Points of light, mathematical structures, and neon colors combine to create an unfamiliar, yet compelling, digital landscape. Rez also boasts an innovative soundscape. At first, a lack of sound evokes the empty void of cyberspace, but soon the musical score increases in complexity as each virus is eliminated. The striking visuals and responsive audio combine to make Rez an outstanding example of art inspired by the digital age. Adventure: Shenmue Shenmue was the first video game to present a believable virtual world with unlimited potential for exploration. Designer Yu Suzuki created an environment that closely mirrored the real world, in which the player could go anywhere and interact with any object. The detailed graphics conjured a dark and brooding atmosphere, with cyclical weather and time systems that influenced the environment and its inhabitants. These realistic details allowed players to connect emotionally with the game narrative, creating an immersive experience unlike any seen before. Tactics: ChuChu Rocket! ChuChu Rocket presented a whimsical, colorful world as the basis for an appealing puzzle game. The designers of this simple game focused on compelling tactical game play with lively graphics. Players take on the role of a mouse, who must reach a rocket ship while evading cats and racing up to three opponents. Despite its simplicity, ChuChu Rocket was one of the first games to boast an online mode, in which players could compete over the internet. While this is commonplace now, ChuChu Ro0cket represents an early foray by both designers and players into the world of online gaming.
36. SIPGVG_120319_375.JPG: Nintendo 64 Action: Super Mario 64 Super Mario 64 had a lasting impression on game design for its 3-dimensional graphics, responsive soundtrack, and open-ended exploration. Designer Shigeru Miyamoto placed this familiar story in a world of such visual solidarity that players were awestruck. To support the vibrant graphics, the game combined interactive audio, environmental sound effects, and a musical score from Koji Kondo to create an immersive soundscape that carried players through the adventure. The Nintendo 64 controller also provided new options for movement through the game. Players had greater control over the camera view, and Mario was now able to swim, crawl, climb, grapple, tip-toe, and do a variety of jumps in order to get past obstacles and enemies. This freedom, combined with a world that was more vivid and "real" than people had seen before, captured the imagination of fans and made this the most beloved Super Mario game of all time. Target: Star Fox 64 Star Fox 64 was the sequel to the popular Star Fox game on the Super NES. In this version, the technology was finally powerful enough for designer Shigeru Miyamoto to realize his full vision for the game, which included daring space combat sequences and complex environments. All of the animals featured in the game come from Japanese folklore. The hero, Fox McCloud, was inspired by depictions of foxes on the gates of the Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine in Kyoto, Japan. The arches the player flies through in the game evoke the thousands of gates for which the shrine is famous. Star Fox 64 successfully combined ancient folklore with imaginative science fiction to create an exciting experience unlike any seen before on this system. Adventure: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was the first game in the Zelda series to boast 3-dimensional graphics. To help players navigate the complex world, designer Shigeru Miyamoto and his team introduced several new game mechanics, such as locking on to targets and context-sensitive buttons. The most radical innovation, however, was the ability for the protagonist, Link, to jump on his own. Maneuvering in a 3-dimensional world was a new challenge, and Miyamoto felt it better not to frustrate players by asking them to control jumping in a 3D space. Ocarina of Time stood apart from other Zelda games for more than just its graphics. In previous games, the visual emphasis was on the main character of Link. In this one, however, the designers wanted the focus to be on the game's world, creating an "interactive experience" that was cinematic in nature. They did this through an independently-controlled camera that provided grand, sweeping views of the surrounding environment without taking control away from the player. Tactics: Worms Armageddon Worms Armageddon was the fifth game in the innovative and comical Worms series developed by Team 17. The designers added an unusual twist to the concept of a traditional turn-based strategy game, by making worms the combatants and composing battlefields from the landmarks of Paris, kitchen sinks, and piles of toys, cars, or books. Each player commanded a team of worms with the goal of eliminating the opposing team before their contingent was wiped out. The whimsical and cartoon-like animation contrasted with the huge variety and extravagant nature of the weapons at the worms' disposal. To add further complexity, players had to consider gravity, trajectory, and wind as they deployed each weapon, whether it was a shotgun, hand grenade, or exploding sheep!
37. SIPGVG_120319_387.JPG: DOS/Windows Action: DOOM II DOOM II helped popularize the first-person perspective genre, in which the player sees directly through the eyes of the protagonist. The player takes the role of a nameless space marine, tasked with defeating numerous monsters in order to help humans escape from an invaded Earth. DOOM II was one of the first widely successful games to employ a game "engine." Principal developer John Carmack created a set of software tools that allowed his designers to craft a variety of levels with very little programming. Other developers could re-use these tools, adding their own graphics, characters, weapons, and levels to create new games. Advances in technology allowed DOOM II to operate over a Local Area Network, enabling up to four people to play against each other remotely. This was a significant shift in the way people interacted with video games and paved the way for the online multiplayer games that are now commonplace. Target: Diablo II Diablo II brought an exciting world of monsters, wilderness, and dungeons to the role-playing genre. Unlike its predecessor, Diablo II was designed with online gaming in mind and many elements of the gameplay were enhanced in multiplayer mode. The designers took advantage of visually powerful cutscenes, or in-game movies, to tell the story, in which you seek a warrior possessed by the evil spirit of Diablo, the Lord of Terror. They also introduced a new way of manipulating the action during gameplay. Instead of directly controlling the protagonist, as in most dungeon-based games, you guide the character to various destinations and conflicts by pointing the way with a gauntlet-shaped cursor. Diablo II's detailed graphics, real-time combat, and progressive character development created a highly engaging, cinematic experience that is still popular today. Adventure: Fallout Fallout stands apart from other role-playing games of the late 1990s with its visual style, dark humor, and complex storyline that touches on serious political and social issues. Set in 2161, the game takes place one hundred years after a global nuclear war has forced mankind to retreat into a few government-controlled underground vaults. The designers incorporated dramatic cutscenes, or in-game movies, to set the stage for their story, which takes place in a retro-futuristic world filled with computers that use vacuum tubes, deco-era space weapons, and period costumes. The muted colors and dark, desolate environments create an ominous, yet realistic, world for players to explore, in which their decisions and actions can directly influence the story. Tactics: StarCraft StarCraft is widely considered to be the best Real Time Strategy game ever made. It takes the concept of an armchair general, overseeing a strategic battlefield, and combines it with a vast, fully-realized world of humans and aliens. The game includes three distinct species, each of which have their own strengths, powers, and abilities. To further distinguish the species, the designers applied different visual styles to each. The insect-like Zerg, for example, have organic weapons and buildings, while the humans, or Terrans, are familiar in appearance and have more readily identifiable assets at their disposal. In StarCraft, players face real-world issues such as overpopulation, colonization, government suppression, and genocide, against a futuristic, science-fiction backdrop.
38. SIPGVG_120319_399.JPG: PlayStation Action: Metal Gear Solid Metal Gear Solid provided the template for all stealth games today. Designer Hideo Kojima employed dramatic cutscenes, a powerful orchestral score, and innovative game play to create a compelling narrative and a new perspective on the action genre. Kojima wanted to show that war and violence should not be used to solve problems. Each situation or challenge in the game presents multiple options, leaving it to the player to decide how much force or stealth to apply. Unlike other action games of its time, it is possible to complete Metal Gear Solid without killing a single enemy. Kojima wanted the world and its inhabitants to be as realistic as possible. To achieve this, his team worked first in traditional art materials – sculpting clay models of the characters and painting concepts for the environments. The resulting digital artwork, combined with the dramatic game play and challenging moral choices, made this game one of the few that propelled the PlayStation console to the forefront of the transition era. Dialogue: "As usual, this is a one-man infiltration mission." "Weapons and equipment OSP?" "Yes. This is a top secret black op. Don't expect any official support." Target: Einhander Einhander takes place in a fictional future, during a war between the Earth and the Moon. It was the first 3-dimensional shoot-emup game to appear on the PlayStation. Its vibrant graphics, fast-paced action, and energetic techno soundtrack combined to create an immersive array of color and sound. 3-dimensional graphics were still relatively new at this point, and the designers employed several tricks to maximize the capabilities of the system. They layered 3D characters and environments over simpler, 2D backdrops and restricted player movement to a single plane. This allowed them to focus all of their creative energy on the detailed action at the forefront of each scene. Adventure: Final Fantasy VII Final Fantasy VII demonstrates the narrative potential of video games. Designer Hinorobu Sakaguchi created an incredibly rich and detailed world in which to tell his story. The game takes place in a fictional universe, but presents realistic ecological challenges as you battle to prevent an evil megacorporation from draining the world's natural resources. The design team worked hard to narrow the visual gap between the pre-rendered cutscenes, or in-game movies, and the gameplay itself, which was typically of lower quality. This resulted in smoother transitions between cutscenes and action, creating an immersive experience that, together with the thought-provoking storyline, set this game apart visually and narratively from others of the late 1990s. Tactics: Final Fantasy Tactics Final Fantasy Tactics combined familiar worlds and characters from the Final Fantasy series with a tactical role-playing game. The game presented a new perspective on turn-based strategy games by placing the action in an isometric world that could be rotated as needed by the player. The designers intentionally kept the graphics simple, so that players could focus on the precise movements and interactions of the characters. A vast and complex narrative more than makes up for the rudimentary visuals, however. The action takes place in the magical world of Ivalice, a kingdom in strife after a fifty-year war. Ivalice is a decadent and reckless society of devious nobles and impoverished masses, providing political and social context for every skirmish that a player encounters. The deep and thought-provoking storyline, together with the isometric gameplay of Final Fantasy Tactics, pushed strategy games to a new level of complexity.
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- 2024_01_28B2_SIPG_Orchids: DC -- Smithsonian Gardens & USBG -- Orchids: The Future of Orchids: Conservation and Collaboration @ Donald Reynolds Center (30 photos from 01/28/2024)
- 2024_01_27E1_SIPG_Orchids: DC -- Smithsonian Gardens & USBG -- Orchids: The Future of Orchids: Conservation and Collaboration @ Donald Reynolds Center (185 photos from 01/27/2024)
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- 2019_DC_SIPG_Orchids: DC -- Smithsonian Gardens & USBG -- Orchid Show @ Donald Reynolds Center (55 photos from 2019)
- 2014_DC_Many_One: DC -- Mall -- Exhibit: Out Of Many, One (art installation by Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada) via National Portrait Gallery (31 photos from 2014)
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Same Subject: Click on this link to see coverage of items having the same subject: [(Smithsonian) Donald Reynolds Center (Everything)] [(Smithsonian) Donald Reynolds Center (Non-Events)] [Museums (Art)]
2012 photos: Trips this year: three Civil War Trust conferences (Shepherdstown, WV, Richmond, VA, and Williamsburg, VA), a week-long family reunion cruise of the Caribbean, another week-long family reunion in the Wisconsin Dells (with lots of in-transit time in Ohio and Indiana), and my 7th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including side trips to Zion, Bryce, the Grand Canyon, etc). Ego strokes: I had a picture of Miss DC, Ashley Boalch, published in the Washington Post. I had a photograph of the George Segal San Francisco Holocaust memorial used as the cover of Quebec Francais (issue 165). Not being able to read French, I'm not entirely sure what the article is about but, hey! And I guess what could be considered to be a positive thing, my site is now established enough that spammers have noticed it and I had to block 17,000 file description postings for Viagra and whatever else.. Equipment this year: My mainstays were the Fuji S100fs, Nikon D7000, and the new Fuji X-S1. I also used an underwater Fuji XP50 and a Nikon D600. The first three cameras all broke this year and had to be repaired. Number of photos taken this year: just below 410,000.
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Photo Contact: [Email Bruce Guthrie].