Game on: Huge interactive computer game exhibition in London

From today you can explore the history and culture of computer games at the London Science Museum huge interactive computer game exhibition Game On. More then 120 classic and modern games - from the world’s first computer game of 1962 up to the latest of todays advanced computer games - will be shown and can be played at the exhibition in 13 rooms.

Visitors “playing” their way through time at the exhibition will also be able to try out “Spacewar!” the world’s first video games created in 1962 by Steve Russell. One of the highlights of the exhibition is the DEC PDP-1 computer on loan from Massachusetts Institute of Technology that ran “Spacewar!” –back in 1962.

The exhibition aims to “explore the history, technology, and culture of computer games. …Nowhere else will people be able to see the entire history of the games industry laid out, explained and ready to play…” says Science Museum’s programme developer Gaetan Lee.

Many Arcade games are on display as well. Among them is the 1971 game “Computer Space”, the world’s first coin-operated video game, and “Pong”, a basic version of table tennis which was launched in 1972.

Visitors can test their skills on older two-dimension games, often in black and white with simple computer music, such as “Space Invaders”, “Pac-Man” and “Donkey Kong” and later ones like “Mario Bros.”, “Zelda” or “Pokemon” up to the most recent highly sophisticated releases.

The exhibition will also showcase Wii, Nintendo’s new, seventh-generation video game console, to be launched on November 19 in the United States and December 8 in Europe

Another highlight of the exhibit is a special section on Japanese game culture, displaying mangas and anime, which have influenced video games, and playable Japanese games, including Densha De Go! and Dance Dance Revolution

As part of the London Science Museum’s Game On exhibition, several talks by key UK game industry members have been announced. These include Eidos Interactive’s Ian Livingstone and David Braben, who developed the classic game Elite in the 1980s

Game On is organized and toured by Barbican Art Gallery‚ London. It is sponsored by Nintendo and will run from 21-October-2006 to 25-February-2007.

More information:
Science Museum Game On web site
List of games on display
Classic gaming web site
Information on the highly popular Videotopia exhibition that focused on Arcade games and was touring the USA until 2005.

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