A Day at the MuseumHow the Smithsonian is embracing games

Chris Melissinos, Past Pixels, LLCGeorgina Bath Goodlander, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Background

• Former Chief Evangelist and Chief Gaming Officer, host of JavaOne - Sun Microsystems

• Led client and server game technology development 10+ years

• Founder of Past Pixels, LLC

• Husband & father (raising gamers)

and I’m a geekCustom arcade

Pong arcadeAtari 2600Intellivision

ColecovisionAtari 5200Atari LynxGame GearGameBoy

GameBoy Advance

NeoGeoTurboGrafx-16Sega Genesis

Sega 32XSega Saturn

Sega DreamcastPlaystation

Playstation 2Playstation 3

XBox

GameBoy SPNESSNES

Nintendo 64GameCube

WiiNintendo DS

Nintendo DS LiteNintendo DSi

Vectrex

XBox360Sony PSP

3DOAtari JaguarJaguar CD

TurboGrafx CDWonderswan Color

NeoGeo Pocket ColorPole Position Cabinet

VirtualBoy

My First Computer• 5K (3583 bytes)

• MOS 6502 @ 1MHz

• 22 x 23 text,176 x 184 @ 16 colors

• Learned assembly at 10, first full game by 12

• “Wasting my time”

Firefox Icon - 64KB(~18x larger)

Defender - 8K cart(8x smaller)

So, how did this all start?

Seeking the Museum

• GDC 2005 - Mike Mika

• Almost passed out

• Insurance?

• This needs to be in a museum...

• Spent several years pinging the walls

Smithsonian 2.0• January 2009 - 20 technologists at the museum

• Everyone talked about blogging, podcasts and Twitter...except one

• If you want to reach new generations of patrons, you need to meet them where they live - connect, excite, ignite, spark imagination

• EVERYONE is playing games - how do we recognize this, examine this, hold the medium up for observation?

• Georgina asked about game stuff - “I know someone”

• Meetings...meetings...concepts...meetings...

IDEA! - The Art of Video Games

• Create an exhibition that examines the evolution of video games as an artistic medium over time

• Demonstrate how social dialog, cultural shift and technology impact the medium

• Establish the medium as worthy of examination, critique and study as an art form

• Bring further validation and preservation to an industry we all care about and has given us so much!

Answer some questions

Why Video Games?• Games are part of every culture

throughout recorded history - video games are an extension of this

• Have become a mainstream medium for entertainment, expression and education

• Followed the same trajectory as other forms of media

• Large expanse of artistic range, messaging and focus

• Extraordinary opportunity to capture the medium - most of the pioneers are still with us

“Can a Computer Make You Cry?”

Does it have a Message?

Missile Command

Do artists suffer for their art?

Does it Reflect Society?

Computer Space(space race)

Space Invaders(shortened 100-Yen coin supply)

Donkey Kong(complete narrative)

Contra(“Action” film era)

Our exaggerated mirror

Is it Expressive?Exploration through different artistic lenses

Authority of the Author?

• One of the biggest arguments against games as art is that the player has CHOICE which effects the OUTCOME

• Games with a wholly formed narrative always have the same outcome, regardless of lateral movement by the player

• In comparison to ANY OTHER form of media, video games are the MOST expressive; inviting exploration and discovery while still providing a messaging arc

• What other form of art allows this? Aside from “Choose Your Own Adventure” books?!?!

What is the BIGGEST difference in the acceptance of books, paintings, music, and movies

as works of importancevs.

video games?

TIME

Enough of the how and why

Exhibition goals

• Present the evolution of the art form across generations of technology

• Reveal “echos” of design that persist generation to generation

• Elevate the opportunity that video games represent as an artistic medium

• Observe the intertwined relationship between games, technology and society over the past 40 years

• Demonstrate the influence of popular culture, technology, social issues on the designers and artists

The Big Idea“Core” Exhibition

“Core” Exhibition

target combat adventure maze

“Core” Exhibition

show their evolution over time

. . . . . .

Example

• Green bar?• Black background?• UFO?

• On the moon• Informs the void• Bird like = familiar

“Core” Breadth

• Atari VCS • TurboGrafx-16 • Saturn • GameCube

• Intellivision • Genesis • Playstation • XBox

• Colecovision • SNES • N64 • Wii

• NES • Atari Jaguar • Dreamcast • XBox 360

• Master System • 3DO • PS2 • PS3

not inclusive of all systems, but keeps the narrative

Supplement

• First video game machine - can’t have the dialog without the “Brown Box”

• Personal computers

• Specific genre examinations: FPS, RTS, Text Adventures, RPG, etc.

• Coin-op: Pong, Space Invaders, Robotron 2084, Ms. Pac-Man, etc.

• Computer music: Wave generators, chiptune, CD, orchestral, etc.

• Games as art, serious games, etc.

Reflection of Society

• NOT Chris’s Picks over 40 years

• Advisory board being assembled to review and offer insight

• All materials will be posted to a public site for voting by the public

• This is about offering participation and vested interest

• Final reveal at launch :)

Possible Additions• Developer and artist panels during the launch week

• Photo sessions and developer challenges

• Video Games Live!

• Movie night! - Screen movies over the course of the week that speak to the culture, about the industry, etc.

Information

• The Art of Video Games Exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

• MARCH 2012 - SEPTEMBER 2012

• www.pastpixels.com - developer blog, details, shoutback, etc.

• http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/archive/2012/games/

• chrism@pastpixels.com

• GoodlanderG@si.edu

Our Opportunity!

• To elevate the stage that video games occupy

• Demonstrate the diverse and rich history of the video games industry

• Explain how the medium is the most expressive in terms of the possibility space that video games operate in

• We have grown; We are permanent

• We are worthy of the critical eye, of social dialog, of telling our stories, of invoking emotion, of being the storytelling medium of future generations

MUCH MORE TO COME!

Thank You!