Being a baby boomer gives you one perspective in the world of video games: You can say you've seen the evolution of nearly all of them.
That's what makes The Strong museum's annual World Video Game Hall of Fame's list of finalists so interesting. You can say that you first played Donkey Kong in the 1980s. Or that you first killed time playing game after game of Microsoft Windows Solitaire in the electronics department of a big box store. You took on your kids and lost badly in Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter II.
The Rochester, N.Y.-based museum announced Tuesday that 12 games are under consideration for induction on May 4. Finalists were chosen from thousands of nominations from more than 100 countries with an international committee of video game scholars and journalists picking the 2017 class. Games are chosen based on their icon status, geographical reach and game-design or pop-culture influence.
This will be the third group to go into the hall of fame, joining Dallas-developed DOOM, Grand Theft Auto III, The Legend of Zelda, The Oregon Trail, Pac-Man, Pong, The Sims, Sonic the Hedgehog, Space Invaders, Tetris, World of Wardcraft and Super Mario Bros.
More good news: You don't have to drive 21 hours or fly four hours to Rochester to try out the games. Several of the 2017 finalists can be played or on display at the National Videogame Museum in Frisco, said Nelli Tokleh, museum spokesperson.
2017 finalists
Source: The Associated Press
-- Donkey Kong (1981): Helped to launch the career of game designer Shigeru Miyamoto and sold an estimated 132,000 arcade cabinets.
-- Final Fantasy VII (1997): The Sony Playstation's second-most popular game introduced 3-D computer graphics and full motion video, selling more than 10 million units.
-- Halo: Combat Evolved (2001): A launch game for Microsoft's Xbox system, the science-fiction game sold more than 6 million copies and inspired sequels, spin-offs, novels, comic books and action figures.
-- Microsoft Windows Solitaire (1991): Based on a centuries-old card game, it has been installed on more than 1 billion home computers and other machines since debuting on Windows 3.0.
-- Mortal Kombat (1992): The game's realistic violence was debated internationally and in Congress and was a factor in the 1994 creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board.
-- Myst (1993): The slow-paced, contemplative game harnessed early CD-ROM technology and became the best-selling computer game in the 1990s, selling 6 million copies.
-- Pokemon Red and Green (1996): Since appearing on the Nintendo Game Boy, the Pokemon phenomenon has produced more than 260 million copies of its games, 21.5 billion trading cards, more than 800 television episodes and 17 movies.
-- Portal (2007): The Game Developers Conference's 2008 Game of the Year was the breakout hit out of the four first-person shooter games it was packaged with, recognized for game mechanics that relied on portal physics.
-- Resident Evil (1996): Among spin-offs of the survival horror game are movies that have grossed more than $1.2 billion worldwide, as well as themed restaurants and novels.
-- Street Fighter II (1991): One of the top-selling arcade games ever helped spark an arcade renaissance in the 1990s and inspired numerous sequels.
-- Tomb Raider (1996): Its female protagonist, Lara Croft, is the face of a franchise that has sold more than 58 million units worldwide, helped in part by actress Angelina Jolie's movie portrayal.
-- Wii Sports (2006): Launched with the Nintendo Wii home video game system, its motion-control technology let gamers of any age serve a tennis ball or throw a left hook and helped push Wii console sales to more than 100 million.
