Steve Meretzky, Christopher Grant, Warren Spector, Henry
Lowood and Matteo Bittanti. Some of those names you may recall,
some you may not. What you do need to know is that they're all
part of a committee that is pushing for the historical
preservation of videogames and their study. And it looks like
their efforts may be paying off, as the Library of Congress is
considering this. The first step taken by the group was to submit
a list of the 10 most important videogames – games that shaped
the indsutry into what it is today.
“Creating this list is an assertion that digital games have
a cultural significance and a historical significance,” Mr.
Lowood said in an interview. And if that is acknowledged, he
said, “maybe we should do something about preserving them.”
“We have to be really careful here because the technology is
just going to make this harder for us,” Mr. Spector said.
“The game canon is a way of saying, this is the stuff we
have to protect first.”
The full list is as follows:
Spacewar! (1962)
Star Raiders (1979)
Zork (1980)
Tetris (1985)
SimCity (1989)
Super Mario Bros. 3 (1990)
Civilization I/II (1991)
Doom (1993)
Warcraft series (beginning 1994)
Sensible World of Soccer (1994)