The Red Sox win the World Series.  The Patriots look to be on course to dominate the entire NFL and win another SuperBowl.  And now Boston gets this as well?! 

Boston Game Exhibition To Focus On Industry Roots

 The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s Economic Adventure Gallery is to host a new interactive exhibit on the history of video games this autumn, entitled “Video Games Evolve: A Brief History from Spacewar! to MMORPGs”. According to organisers the exhibition will examine the video game industry’s roots, which it claims are closely associated with New England.

Part of the exhibition focuses on Spacewar! , whose creation in 1962 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is considered to be one of the first non-commercial video games. The first video games console, the Magnavox Odyssey, was also created by New England resident Ralph Baer.

The exhibition will include a simulation of Spacewar! and an Odyssey console. Also featured will be several classic arcade machines, from Computer Space to Space Invaders and Donkey Kong. A time line for modern home console gaming will also be included as well as a focus on massively multiplayer online (MMO) games such as Star Wars Galaxies, Second Life and World of WarCraft.

The exhibit is part of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s Economic Adventure, an interactive educational designed to teach middle and high-school students how New England’s improved living standards are reliant upon innovation. The exhibit is open from Monday through Friday, entry is free and runs through January.

“This is a wonderful exhibit not only for video game lovers, but for anyone who wants to know how science, technology, and art come together to form an industry,” said Dr. Peter Raad, executive director of The Guildhall at SMU (Southern Methodist University), which helped provide content for the exhibition.

One of my buddies I play EQ2 with is from Massachusetts, so I’ll probably never hear the end of this.  But when it rains it pours I guess.  I just had to highlight this exhibit as I’m a big fan of video game/computer game history.  If anyone lives in Boston or close and can go, I’d love to read a report of what you thought of the actual exhibit.  I’m just wondering how detailed they’ll be in tracing things from Spacewars to MMOs.  I just think it’s great that places like this are highlighting gaming in this light, and helping to preserve that history.  Hopefully this kind of exhibit will educate people about gaming, and for those who already love it, be a nice walk down memory lane. 

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 at 6:08 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.