Choosing the most influential games in history is not easy. Something tells us that this year there will be controversy…
He World Video Game Hall of Famewhich organizes the National Game Museum in the United States, has chosen the 4 games that will be added to the Hall of Fame in 2023. They are The Last of Us, Wii Sports, Computer Space… and Barbie Fashion Designer.
Between the nominated candidates this year that have been left out, there are mythical games like Age of Empires, Angry Birds, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, FIFA International Soccer, Goldeneye 007, NBA 2K, Quake, and Wizardry.
The 2023 selection will bring controversy: Barbie Fashion Designer It has left authentic video game myths out of play. Although everything depends on the merits that are considered to enter the Video Game Hall of Fame.
World Video Game Hall of Fame select every year 4 video games that add to your exhibition of almost 9,000 square meters on video games, at the National Museum of Gaming, in New York.
Is Barbie Fashion Designer an influential game?
The Hall of Fame chooses games that have had a major influence on the history of video games. That is, it does not collect the best games, but the most influential.
Titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Civilization, Space Invaders, Tetris, and many others are already in the Hall of Fame.
Beyond tastes, few gamers discuss the presence in 2023 of The Last of Us It is one of the best narrative games, WiiSportsone of the most played games in history, which encouraged people to exercise with the console, or Computer Spacethe first arcade that, in 1970, took video games out of universities and put them on the street.
The most controversial choice is Barbie Fashion Designer. A 1996 PC game where you had to design clothes for barbie dollprint the patterns, and then turn them into actual clothing with fabrics that were sold separately.
Maybe it went unnoticed by the gaming community, but sold 600,000 copies in one yearand is considered the first video game focused on girls.
A whole generation of girls became fond of video games thanks to this title, starting the female gamer revolution, which today is stronger than ever. Now it is normal to see a girl playing video games. 30 years ago, it was a rarity.
These are the reasons that offers the National Video Game Museum:”The 1996 hit Barbie Fashion Designer came at a time when many games were marketed to male gamers. He demonstrated that a computer game aimed at girls could be successful. It helped to expand the video game market and, incidentally, opened important debates about gender and stereotypes in games.“.
The museum’s reasons seem quite compelling and reasonable.although something tells us that many people will not agree.
The Last of Us, Wii Sports, Computer Space and Barbie Fashion Designer have entered the World Video Game Hall of Fame, leaving out classics like FIFA, Call of Duty 4, or Quake. The debate is already underway on social networks.