Video Game Hall of Fame: ‘Mario,’ ‘Sonic,’ ‘FIFA,’ ‘Tetris,’ ‘Angry Birds’ Earn Noms

UPDATE: Pong, Doom, Super Mario Bros., Pac-Man, Tetris and World of Warcraft have all been selected as the first inductees into the World Video Game Hall of Fame, reports The Associated Press. 

The new World Video Game Hall of Fame has named the 15 finalists for its inaugural class, a competitive list that includes pioneering classics like Pong, Tetris and Super Mario Bros and contemporary hits like FIFA Soccer, Angry Birds and Minecraft, Yahoo reports.

The rest of the nominees list includes The Legend of Zelda, Oregon Trail, Pac-Man, Pokémon, Sonic the Hedgehog, The Sims, Doom, Space Invaders and World of Warcraft.

Though the nomination process was open to the public, the inductees will be selected by an international committee comprising of journalists, scholars and other video game experts. Winners will be decided both on each game’s individual status and merits and impact on video games and popular culture as a whole.

The World Video Game Hall of Fame will be housed at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York (which also houses the National Toy Hall of Fame). An induction ceremony in which the winners will be announced will take place at the Strong on June 4th.

“The 15 finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame span decades, gaming platforms and geographies,” said Jon-Paul Dyson, director of the Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games. “Whether it’s the groundbreaking game Pong or a more recent viral sensation like Minecraft, all of these games have helped shape the way that people across the globe play and relate to one another.”

The Strong’s electronic games center already boasts a whopping 55,000-piece collection that includes video games and other related artifacts such as personal papers and corporate records that chronicle the history of video games.