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Friday, February 6, 2009

Why not create a video game hall of fame?

A real one, not a virtual one. There’s a Hall of Fame for everything, from RVs to quilters, but nothing specifically to feature video games? I don’t mean the virtual kind either, but a physical location. (Closest I’ve seen to something like this was Epcot’s Innoventions and its Sega area.) The Toy Hall of Fame only has a few Atari consoles. The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences holds award shows after voting online, but that’s about it.

Besides, video games have dwarfed most other categories of toys anyway, they should have their own place. So why not have a bigass location sponsored collectively by all the gaming platforms. Build it, they will come. TRUST ME. (Put it next to the RV HOF even.)

This isn’t hard to figure out. Games are an interactive and/or online experience yes, but why not enhance the experience offline and reward the masses who make the industry, well, massive? The additional revenue stream for the industry wouldn’t be a bad thing either.

It would draw in the boomers with dollars who remember the first-gen Pong and who also love the rest of the old vector games. Where there’s boomers, there’s also their children and grandchildren raised on the new platforms. Put in a major sports town as well and get ESPN and G4 to cover it.

Before you say dumb idea, two words: NFL Draft and Westminster Dog Show. The LA$T things you’d expect to turn into major cable TV events, yet each year now, cha-ching. Hold tournaments online and from the location. Try out new releases. Overcharge for soda. Surround it with Motel 6 chains and a slew of fast food casual restaurants.

You know, things that make America great.

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3 comments:

Bob Knorpp, @thebeancast said...

I can have 100 comments on this post by the end of the weekend. ;-)

Seriously, great idea.

Now to work.

mo said...

When I think of a hall of fame I think about brand licensing (baseball cards, tee shirts, etc.) that people love to collect and flaunt. I would expect video games to need this kind of consumer display of fandom and loyalty before there can be a hall of fame worth anyone's interest.

Learning there are HoFs for things like RVs changes my mind to where I think, "Why is there no Video Game HoF?" $1 says someone is working on it right now and is ready to capitalize.

98 posts to go?

-pwkwsfi

Anonymous said...

@Bob – Send away.

@mo - Maybe they are, doubtful. This is one of those posts I start but never finish, either waiting for verification on stuff in it or whatever, so I put it away and forget it.

Original date for this was last February. Hate to say it, but I doubt anyone’s done jack with this concept.