Halo: Combat Evolved and Street Fighter II were also honoured with places in the permanent exhibition at The Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.

They join titles such as Sonic the Hedgehog, The Sims, Doom, Pong and World of Warcraft.

Tomb Raider, Resident Evil and Microsoft’s Solitaire were nominated but failed to make the final list.

The hall of fame was established in 2015, covering games played in an arcade, on a console, computer, handheld device or mobile phone.

‘No Mario’
The games are chosen for their popularity, longevity and their influence on gaming, popular culture and society.

Anyone can nominate a game, but the final selection is made on the advice of a panel of journalists, academics and gaming experts.
This year’s winners were chosen from a list of 12 finalists which also included Final Fantasy VII and Wii Sports.

Following its release in 1981, an estimated 132,000 Donkey Kong arcade game cabinets were sold around the world – introducing us to an Italian plumber called Mario.

“Without Donkey Kong there would be no Super Mario Bros,” said Jon-Paul Dyson, director of The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games (ICHEG).

The original Pokemon game, released for the Nintendo Game Boy in 1996, was nominated in 2016 but failed to make that year’s final selection.

Since then, however, the franchise has received a boost in popularity and gained a new generation of fans with the launch of Pokemon Go.

“Two decades after its inception and with the introduction of Pokemon Go, ‘Poke-mania’ shows little sign of fading,” explained The Strong’s associate curator, Shannon Symonds.

Capcom’s Street Fighter II allowed players to battle human opponents, “instantly attracting spectators and generating fierce tournament play”, said Jeremy Saucier, assistant director of ICHIEG.

He added that the “communal style of game play reinvigorated the arcade industry in the 1990s”.

When Microsoft launched the Xbox in 2001, more than half of the consoles sold came with Halo: Combat Evolved.

The first-person multi-player game sold more than six million copies and has been followed up with sequels and spin-offs including novels and comics.

Ms Symonds said the game was key in showing that consoles could be “just as effective, if not better, than a PC” for high-precision games, as well as “one of the strongest multiplayer experiences of its time”.

With the addition of this year’s four winners, the World Video Games Hall of Fame now has 16 permanent exhibits.

Its first entrants were Doom, Pong, Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros, Tetris and World of Warcraft.

In 2016, another six games – Space Invaders, Sonic the Hedgehog, The Legend of Zelda, The Oregon Trail, Grand Theft Auto III and The Sims – were honoured.

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Source: BBC

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The game is Nintendo’s first full venture into mobile gaming and marked a significant shift for the firm which had previously not made apps.

The game is only available via Apple’s app store and currently has an average rating of 2.5 stars.

Many players criticised the game and said it was expensive compared with other titles on the store.

The full game costs $10 (£8) but the first three levels of the game are free to play.

Negative reaction

Super Mario Run was released on 15 December and since then, Nintendo shares have fallen. Shares in gamemaker DeNA Co, which helped develop the game, have fallen by 14% over the same time period.

The game is the first fruit of a strategic change in direction Nintendo signalled in 2015 when it announced that it planned to start producing mobile games.

It features Nintendo’s mustachioed plumber scurrying across a scrolling landscape as he makes another attempt to rescue Princess Peach.

Image copyrightAP

Players have complained that the three free levels could be completed too quickly and that it was too costly to buy the whole game.

“A $10 upfront cost to unlock the game is a huge ask and one that flies in the face of current mobile games being free-to-play,” Daniel Ahmad, an analyst for researcher Niko Partners, told Bloomberg.

Nintendo needed to do more to let people know what they would get if they paid for it, he added.

Players have also criticised the game’s need for an always-on internet connection which limited when and where they could play it.

Despite the negative reaction, Super Mario Run has topped the charts for most profitable games in many nations. Analysis firm App Annie said its monitoring of the game suggest it was downloaded more than 37 million times in its first three days. On average, it said, people spent more than 13 minutes every day on the game.

The launch of Super Mario Run came as Nintendo and partner Niantic relaunched Pokemon Go. That game enjoyed huge success earlier in the year but interest in it rapidly dwindled as updates dried up.

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Source: BBC

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The augmented-reality game’s popularity has waned since its launch in July when it smashed download records and sparked a global craze.

But it soon fell from the top of app charts as downloads plunged and many players stopped buying in-game coins.

Analysts, though, point out it has an enormous player base and is still one of the highest grossing mobile games.

The main updates released on Monday by US firm Niantic, which developed the game under licence from Nintendo, include:

• the addition of new Pokemon characters, including Togepi and Pichu, that were originally featured in Pokemon’s second-generation Gold and Silver titles
• the release of limited edition festive Pikachu wearing Father Christmas hats, which can be captured until 29 December

Niantic said more Pokemon would be added over the next few months. It had already added the blob-like Ditto last month.

However, there was no mention of the ability to trade characters, which Niantic’s chief executive had previously hinted at. Nor was there the introduction of multi-player battles, which many gamers desire.

The update will compete for attention with Nintendo’s own Super Mario game, which will be released on iPhone on Thursday.

Off peak

Pokemon Go generated about $600m (£470m) in global revenue in its first three months and is still bringing in $120,000 a day in the UK, according to analysts at App Annie.

However, downloads have dropped sharply, falling from 79 million in July to less than 10 million in November, mobile trackers Apptopia told the BBC.

Estimates from Slice Intelligence suggest the number of paying players has also plunged from its peak, down 80% by September, although others dispute those figures.

At its launch, Pokemon Go tapped into demand for the hugely popular franchise and brought augmented reality gaming into the mainstream.

“It is always a challenge to bring users back to a mobile game,” said Jack Kent, a mobile analyst at IHS Markit.

But “done correctly” Niantic could satisfy many existing players and encourage lapsed users to return.

“Despite its initial success, some players have found the core game play lacking,” he added.

Special promotions around Halloween and tie-ups with retail giants including Starbucks in the US have already been used by Niantic to keep players engaged.

“Pokemon Go had the biggest launch the mobile games industry has ever seen,” said Craig Chapple, editor of mobile games trade publication PocketGamer.Biz.

“Millions of players have stopped playing, but millions are still playing it and paying for items in the game.”

Analysis: Dave Lee, North America technology reporter

The summer of Pokemon Go already feels a distant memory. When the craze began earlier this year I spent some time around popular spots in San Francisco including Ocean Beach. As far as the eye could see: kids out on their phones playing Pokemon Go. And a few adults.

When I asked them if it was just a passing fad, they all said: “Of course”. The game play was limited, and the fact you couldn’t battle against your friends hurt any potential for longevity.

These updates won’t change that. It will get the hardcore enthusiasts excited – Pikachu in a hat! – but will it be enough to tempt those who uninstalled the app to try again? I doubt it.

Pokemon Go’s update will have attention only for a day, maybe two at best. Then it’s time for the real star of the show: Super Mario is coming to iOS later this week.

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Source: BBC

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