In games there are three voices. There is the voice of the
creator. There is the voice of the game. And there is the
voice of the player. And that is what separates video games
apart from any other expressive form of media that we have today.
We are invited by the artist to inject our own morality,
our own world view, our own experiences into the game as we
play it. And what comes out is wholly different for
everybody that experiences it.
And that’s why it’s important: because there is no other
medium that affords the world this incredible opportunity.
I want everybody that comes to this exhibition and
experiences the materials and the work that’s gone into
this to understand that video games are more than what they
thought they were when they came in.
So, the exhibition is actually broken up into three
distinct areas. The first area is, of course, listening to
the artists, the designers, the programmers, the musicians
talk about their craft, talk about the meaning...
Tim Schafer and Warren Spector and Nolan Bushnell: people
that were pioneers in storytelling.
So you get some background into what you’re about to
experience...
So moving from there, we’ve chosen five playable games, one
game that represents each of the five major eras. These are
games that allow people to experience games that propelled
those eras forward, that created mechanics and storytelling
opportunities that then other games built upon.
And, finally, you arrive at a place where you're actually able
to see spread out before you the 40-year history of these
games and these systems that acted as touch points within
each of those generations.
As you’re experiencing the materials, you’re actually able
to see the evolution of the art, the evolution of the
storytelling, the evolution of meaning of these games, but
hear the echoes of the mechanics of these games all the way
back to the beginning.
Given the era in which certain games were made, the
technology isn’t present for the entire story, the entire
narrative to emerge, but there just wasn’t space or power
in which to do so.
You may see Pitfall! on the Atari VCS at the beginning of
that part of the exhibition and see Uncharted 2 at the end
of that exhibition and understand that their origin of
mechanics are the same. That’s what people are going to be
able to experience the creative process,
the mechanics that allowed things to move
forward, and the evolution of the form over time.
So, you know, as people leave this exhibition after
experiencing all these things, my greatest hope is that
they go home, re-experience these games in a completely
different light.
And they use them to find connection that may have been
missing within their own lives.
Games are so much more than just code that runs inside of a
computer. You are looking at the output of passion, of
love, of art from the people who create these games.