The exhibition "Game on" – 40 years of computer games
Travel Years Moonland, twenty years Dolby Surround or Ten Years CompactDisc. In the world of science and technology, especially the jubilee years of the occasion for publications, which question the appropriate event for the appropriate or critical. For exactly forty years, it is now back that Stephen Russel and his fellow students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (with) the first video game called "Space was!" programmed. Four years earlier, the scientist William Higinbotham from an oscilloscope and some circuits had the game "Tennis for Two" Constructed, however, without commercial ulterior motives and only as a short-term attraction for the open-time day of the Brookhaven National Laboratory, in which atomic basic research was operated.
In addition to numerous book publications, the extensive exhibition offers Game On in the London Barbican cultural center (up to 15.September) in the anniversary year an interesting over- and insight into 40 years of video games. Among the 250 exhibition prints is there for the first time the DEC PCP-1 computer ied, on the ground "Space was" his premiere celebrated. All exhibits can play the visitors themselves and try themselves, with more long waiting times being planned on weekends.
The exhibition is divided into 16 thematic fields, under which the topic "Violence in video games" It is also appealed like online yames or typical Japanese game ideas. The console area will be worked up from 1972 and copies such as Magnavox Odyssey will be overwhelmed in the permanent collection of the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. Collector the "Game On Antique Roadshow" Until 3.Interest destinies. Experts are available for the evaluation of their own raritats. Parallel to the exhibition, a film festival takes place in which the most important video game films and classics like "Tron" or "The Driver" to be shown. On the 7.September then wants a discussion panel on the topic "The End of Play" The future of video games explore. As the next European station, the exhibition goes to Helsinki, a German exhibition is still sought.
The catalog of exhibition has been published by Laurence King Publishing, but rather remedy in the imaging. However, exhibition curator Lucien King (30) could win for the single texts well-known authors such as Steven Pool (EDGE) or JC Heart (Joystick Nation). We talked to Lucien King in an interview on the concept and the future of the "Game on".
How designed the preparation of the Gameon exhibition? Lucien King: The planning began four years ago and we quickly realized that the historical overview of forty years of video game history was a fairly expensive undertaking. Only when we had the Barbican cultural center on our side, we have addressed directly companies and collectors. We found that many companies have good archives for the youngest past, but only very bad in software and hardware from the start time are sorted. A good source was the American Museum of Moving Image, which has a rough collection of gambling guards and also the computer games museum from Berlin was a rough help. In Japan we had some problems with companies, as they generally did not understand what we wanted to represent with the old games overhead. After which we could explain that, they were very helpful. All exhibits are playable or pre-introduced. Why was you so important to them? Lucien King: Of course, we could have shown the arcade and console games behind glass and the exhibition had nevertheless given his meaning. But we also wanted to bring the audience to the gameplay and therefore it was clear that all exhibits shown should be playable. It was aware of all loan actors that the exhibition is about the world for four years and certainly also will occur. A highlight of the exhibition is certainly the PDP-1. Where did you find the device? Lucien King: In the case of PDP-1, the move of the MIT MUSEUM to San Francisko came to the help. In the old Ames Research Lab, where early rakets were tested, rough aircraft hangar halls are in which hundreds of old computers and other machines are. Under which three PDP-1 computers, which were still all functional and of which we could borrow a copy. In the catalog too "Game on" Write in the foreword that the future of video games should be explained here with the past. Lucien King: We did not want to set the video games for the future of the video games as they could look like. We would rather show examples that have shown in the past as futuristic. The area of the virtual reality is all known in which the player is aligned by placing a mask and special gloves in another world. That’s why in "Game on" then "Nintendo Power Gloves" and make it quite clear how this topic was implemented at that time. How does a younger audience react to the games of the early days? Lucien King: That was very interesting so far as the holidays in England have already started and we had a very young audience. First we thought that only old visitors play like "Pac-man" or "Defender" could start something. But it is very balanced, and I believe that the younger PlayStation generation also has a faible for the classics, which you may also play on your phone right now. Video games Chamfed has ever been recognition as a separate entertainment form. Is now the leap into the cultural fabrication managed? Lucien King: For me, the art galleries are just placilities that should show what could fall to an audience. If there are works of art, it is just as entitled as if a game console achieves the same effect. I can not decide what "high-art" or "low art" is. In recent years, there is also a change, and even companies like Nintendo are pleasing to think about whether they see themselves as a toy company or as someone producing high-quality entertainment. On the other hand, the company Squaresoft is clearly in the role of a company that is something like that "Creative Commercialism" produce. The process of discussion about video games as a cultural asset is by an exhibition like "Game on" especially stimulated and there it can only be interesting which positions are related there. It also reminds of the comments when graffiti images were shown for the first time in galleries. Lucien King: That’s exactly right. It is as always a kind turning point for certain generations, the new influence not accepted first, but after a closer examination then ames. And so it is now also possible that a museum shows video games! The first chapter of the catalog is the same as "Violence in video games" dedicated. Have you consciously created so? Lucien King: The aspect of violence in video games has contributed to this, the manufacturer and publisher thought about what kind of play you uniform. Certain genres have come out afterwards, and even if it sounds like a simplification, the probably the most positive effect was. As with movies or music, because of the violence was succinctly talked about video games. It was imperative to classify games for old groups separately. In Germany, the discussion of course has become even immerminent at the moment, but all this is shown in which acceptance of video games stand and how they are evaluated. It will also notice that, as in films of the viewers, you have to get your own impression and the developers of games must keep freedom to use the element violence in the same mabe like love or horror. I also see that hard pornography or constant violence in video games are really desirable for nobody and can not handle some very few people. But how should one put these individual observations in the ratio of a majority? Are there parts of the exhibition that you would like to change or improve yourself? Lucien King: Anyone who was trying to present the last forty years of the movie in an exhibition will end up not taking some aspects to take into consideration. That was the same. Despite an exhibition area of 500 square meters and a good budget, look still. In the planning we wanted z.B. The tradition of BOSS opponents (at the end of a level) illuminate, but this had to give up this. Maybe work "Game on" like a software in version 1.0, in which through improvements and suggestions then a version 2.0 arises. In his stations in Edinburgh and Helsinki, these improvements will hopefully be possible. (Gregor WildermannTo)