Mom's Minute

The Art of Video Games

Video games are headlining a tour that is currently scheduled to be at the Smithsonian Museum, in Washington D.C  until September 30, 2012.  In addition to life-sized video game displays that are actually playable, you will also be able to converse with renowed video game pioneers.  You can listen to panel discussions and  meet video game designers and artists.  You will also enjoy movie screenings, costume photo-ops and hands-on play.

Pac-Man

There will be wall-sized video games that you can actually play.  

Video games have come a long ways since such games as Pac-Man and others debuted.  However, Pac-Man should be given accolades for helping  steer video games in the direction they are going.

Pac Man and other earlier games can take some credit in being the impetus for designers and developers to take video games to another level.

Even though Mass Effect 3 will not be part of the exhibit, the previous Mass Effect video game will be available for play.

You may want to take a souvenir with you when you leave the museum, such as a book entitled:  The Art of Video Games:  From Pac-Man to Mass Effect.

This book (hardcover) currently sells for $40.00 and is available at the museum, online, and at bookstores nationwide.

Want to join in on all the video game as art fun?  If the Smithsonian Museum in Washington is not suitable right now for your schedule, remember the exhibit runs through September 30, 2012 -- so there's still time to decide.

Video games as art

If you miss the video game exhibit currently in Washington, D.C. the tour is scheduled for other U.S. cities as well.

Here's the current confirmed dates for the Art of Video Games:  From Pac-Man to Mass Effect  tour:

  Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.:  March 16, 2012 - September 30, 2012

  Boca Raton Museum of Art: October 24, 2012 - January 20, 2013

  EMP (Experience Music Project) in Seattle, Washington: February 16, 2013 - May 13, 2013

  Phoenix Art Museum:  June 16, 2013 - September 29, 2013

  Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, NY:  February 15, 2014 - May 18, 2014

  Toledo Museum of Art in Toledo, Ohio:  June 19, 2014 - September 28, 2014

  Flint Institute of Arts in Flint, Michigan:  October 25, 2014 - January 18, 2015

  Memphis Brooks Museum of Art in Memphis, Tennessee:  June 6, 2015 - September 13, 2015

With new video games being released almost daily, there's a lot to be said about the earlier  games which laid a solid foundation for the imaginative games currently out and in the making.  

Towards that end, it is fitting for video games to be given their just due, and be recognized not only as the art form that they are, but as being a part of culture worthy to be admired as well as enjoyed.