Photoreview:"Game On"@ Chicago's Museum of S&I

[Goodwill Hunter]

(Click on photo thumbs to enlarge...tried to post the actual pix, but couldn't)

Yesterday I visited the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago…a day trip my family had planned months ago. By pure coincidence, it was also the opening day of the museum’s “Game On: The History, Culture and Future of Video Games”exhibit…a coincidence I took full advantage of. While the wife and daughters were checking out the Fairy Castle and chick hatchery, I had nearly 2 hours to play and photograph the exhibits.

As it was the first day of the show, they had press kits on the entrance table and were nice enough to give me one…this info is straight from the kit. “Game On” runs through September 5, 2005 and requires a $5.00 ticket on top of the standard museum fee. Featuring well over 100 playable arcade and console games, the exhibits are arranged in 16 “levels” with themes like “Early Games,” “Making Of,” “Multiplayer Mayhem,” and “Future Games.”

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The entrance features the 4 faces of a supposed gaming family (Mom, Dad, Sis, Bro) and these graphics are used throughout the show. The concept was that each family member would introduce you to the exhibits, but unless you had the press kit, they just came off as someone’s depictions of zoned-out gamers as a show theme.

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The first exhibit was an actual DEC PDP-1 Computer, which the first true video game, Spacewar!, was developed on.

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Space Wars was playable on a modified Vectrex next to the PDP-1, but unfortunately both Computer Space machines on display were not functioning.

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Next was the original Pong, which was also not playable, but there was a set-up allowing you to play pong on a projected screen.

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This was followed by a section with all of the most popular early arcade machines, including Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, Ms. Pacman, Galaxian, etc. There was also a MAME console with 20 popular arcade games to choose from, playing on a projected screen.

After starting with an arcade focus, the show swung heavily to console gaming. And it started off right…

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Following the granddaddy of home gaming it went on to playable displays of what “Game-On” considers may be the 10 most-influential video game consoles of all time…

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I imagine DPers might take issue with a few of these choices...where's that Channel F!

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From the familiar Odyssey, to the offbeat Spectravideo SVI-318 (never heard of this one…and why does it have a Saturn controller?), to the the desirable PC Engine, and even the common Game Boy (the Super Game Boy controller (see inset) was new to me…probably Japanese, as the switch in the middle is labeled “SGB/SFC), this section was very popular.

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Next up was a section that focused on game genres and featured dozens of playable home consoles from the 2600 to the PS2…I thought it did a good job showing how games had advanced over the years, but still fell into a few basic categories.

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Preproduction items were the star of the next section, dealing with game development. Featuring Dragon’s Lair, Tomb Raider and Golden Tee…there was not much to play, but lots of interesting, behind-the-scenes stuff to see! Chicago’s contributions to video games also had a section, paying tribute to Midway and other local gaming companies.

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If you’ve always wanted to try out a Steel Battalion rig without dropping $200, this is your chance. Dual DDR pads and an Eye Toy were also set up for play.

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There was a nice selection of handhelds and tabletops under glass…along with a number of game & watches, Game Boy SPs and tabletops welded to a table for play. Multiplayer games were also featured, including one of the best, a 6-player Saturn Bomberman on a large projected screen.

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A rather large section on sound in games was followed by a rather small section on the influence of movies on games. Not much there beyond the 3 arcade machines pictured above, but the playable Tron and Star Wars made it more than worthwhile.

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Another rarity most people haven’t seen was one of 3 surviving Poly Play machines from behind the Iron Curtain. It wasn't working at the show, and according to the placard, it sounds like it never worked that well to begin with!

The show ended with a few relatively unexciting displays on cultural influence, character design, game ratings, gaming magazines, and a section on new releases that didn’t quite live up to it’s potential…

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I guess if the biggest glitch is that latest games are just a bit late on opening day, then the exhibitors did a pretty good job over all.

I found “Game On” to be well worth the trip and the expense, with plenty to see and do. With so many playable games throughout the exhibit, Star Wars was the only game I had to wait to get on. In addition to being entertaining, it was also very informative…with many unique bits of gaming hardware and history to soak up at your own pace. As a console gamer, I also appreciated the roughly 80/20 split of the exhibits in favor of home consoles over arcades.

If you live near Chicago or will be visiting before September 5th, I think you’ll enjoy the Museum of Science and Industry’s “Game On”exhibit. There are things there for gamers of all ages, and plenty more I didn’t cover. The 2 hours I spent there flew by, and I’m already planning to ask the wife and kids if they want to go back sometime and see the, umm…Fairy Castle again!

Rich

[Mayhem]

They've changed a few things then since I went to the exhibit here, and that was 2 and a half years ago!

No Tempest arcade btw? I spent about an hour on that LOL

As for the choice of top 10 most influential, you have to remember this a worldwide selection, not a US-centric one ;)

Nice to see they put Manic Miner on the Spectrum though; I imagine a LOT of Americans won't have seen the machine or the game before, so best to have something both classic AND easily accessible to play.

Interesting they also chose another British game to put on the C64: Uridium!

I'm hoping to get my arse out to Chicago to see QoF either next month or May, so hopefully we can go along and take a look too...

[Queen Of The Felines]

Whattya mean "we," buddy? I'm going tomorrow! LOL

Shoot, I'll be spending three hours playing that Star Wars sit-down cabinet. I haven't seen one of those in ages.

Kristine

[Goodwill Hunter]

Was wondering if any of the Chicago people here saw news coverage of this event? I saw two camera crews while I was there...one was going around with this big camera and a boom microphone, sticking them into whatever arcade game was being played at the moment...

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I think they kind of spooked this girl...they didn't announce themselves or anything, just stuck the camera and mike right in. Don't know if they were just getting background footage, or what...but I'd be interested to hear if anyone saw any TV news coverage of the event.

Rich

[Graham Mitchell]

Geez, everybody at my med school is all freakin' out over the Body Worlds exhibit. I'd MUCH rather see this. Do you know how long it's lasting? I don't know when I'll get time to go, but I think it'd be worth it.

[rolenta]

Do you know how long it's lasting? I don't know when I'll get time to go, but I think it'd be worth it.

It will be in Chicago until sometime in August and then it's moving to San Jose, unfortunately, after CGE.

[Captain Wrong]

Let's bump this up, as the Wench and I had the pleasure of seeing this exibit earlier today. Here's my thoughts:

Good: Lots to see and do. Very hands on. It was really nice that they didn't go US-centric and there was a good selection of import games to check out. I loved seeing the Maneater and Poly-Play cabs, even if they were non-functional plus, I've seen "the brown box" up close and personal. Discs of Tron still is extremely fun.

Bad: Layout a bit confusing. No way to "quarter up" game hogs (not too bad a problem though.) Several of the controllers are starting to fail from all the wear and tear*. OK, I know I'm baised, but I really think the Neo-Geo is worthy for a spot in an exibit like this, if for no reason other than the sticker shock factor (see also Nitpicky section.) No Tempest and Star Wars not as much fun as I remember :(. Now I'm going to have to track down Beatmania and controllers for the Wench.

Nitpicky: Could have been a little bit heavier on the history. Console section could have been more representive (in addition to no Neo-Geo, I don't recall seeing a 3DO or CD-I either.) Exibit card for "Raiden Project" read "R-Types" (maybe they changed the game?) A section of the exibit connected the videogame industry to Chicago somehow failed to mention Mortal Kombat (NBA Jam was the representive for Midway.)

Overall, I'd say if you have a chance to check it out, you should. There's a lot to see and do in there. Really, other than a wonky controller or two, I don't have much bad to say about it.

*Sidenote: you'd think someone woulda invested in some hard pads for DDR. When we got there, they were just installing a new set and the Wench talked to the guy who I think said they are burning through a pair a week. Yowza!

[Queen Of The Felines]

WHAT?! I was at the Museum earlier today too! :eek 2:

No "Game On" since I've seen it before, but damn, wish I knew you were going to be there! :(

With regards to some of the nitpicky stuff, I got to talk with the creator for two hours last time Mat and I were there, and according to him, the Museum wouldn't allow him to include games that were 'M' rated. Thus, no Mortal Kombat or Grand Theft Auto.

Also keep in mind that the entire thing is pretty much from a British standpoint...which is why there was a lot of Spectrum stuff and no Intellivision, Colecovision, or Neo Geo.

Kristine

[Kroogah]

Now I'm going to have to track down Beatmania and controllers for the Wench.

Muhahahaha. New meat.

If you have no luck securing the game, I got an original Japanese one I'll sell ya, knowing it'll go to a good home. Avoid the Rave Discman "triangle" controllers.

[ubersaurus]

Wow, I was there Saturday afternoon myself.

Overall I liked it, but it seemed to me as though there wasn't as much about the actual history as you'd find somewhere else like CGE.

That said, I DID enjoy completely dominating Space Invaders, much to the amusement of my co-goers.

[lendelin]

Rich, thanks for the heads-up and the pics! Since I'm sometimes in Chicago, I will visit the exhibition for sure!

[tylerwillis]

Sweet post. Wish I lived somewhere closer than the middle of West Texas. Thanks for sharing though - I've often thought that a video game museum would do reasonably well - never had any idea there was already a traveling exhibit.

[Lady Jaye]

One thing I find weird (but maybe that's because we've been having that discussion over at the CCJVQ board), but out of the top-10 consoles, a few were computers...

I know that the delimitation between a computer and a console can be thin sometimes (for instance, the Commodore 64, although a computer, was primarily used to play games), but they could have separated the two (and thus not skip over the more popular US consoles that were omitted). After all, the Apple ][ was omitted too... (I know, it's mostly due to the eurocentric approach to the exhibition.)

[Mayhem]

Game On is pretty much designed for attracting as many people interested in video games as possible. Barry (the organiser) knows, despite being a hardcore gamer himself, that some of the choices made would upset a few hardcore people wanting more. But this is a public exhibit with a complete cross section of people visiting MSI. It isn't CGE where everyone there is there because of video games.

[Graham Mitchell]

WHAT?! I was at the Museum earlier today too! :eek 2:

No "Game On" since I've seen it before, but damn, wish I knew you were going to be there! :(

With regards to some of the nitpicky stuff, I got to talk with the creator for two hours last time Mat and I were there, and according to him, the Museum wouldn't allow him to include games that were 'M' rated. Thus, no Mortal Kombat or Grand Theft Auto.

Also keep in mind that the entire thing is pretty much from a British standpoint...which is why there was a lot of Spectrum stuff and no Intellivision, Colecovision, or Neo Geo.

Kristine

I was there on Sunday (yesterday) also. Looks like we were all there this weekend. I had a great time; I got to play the NES version of Elite, which I'd never seen before. The Jaguar playing Tempest 2000 had a broken controller :( . I got in a row with a 6-year-old who was hogging Discs of Tron. I noticed something a little strange, though. Kung Fu (NES) was running extremely slow. Something tells me there weren't actual consoles behind the walls for some of those.

By far, my favorite thing was the original art from Dragon's Lair. When I saw that painting of the slanted-angle of the castle from the opening scene, I almost cried. It was awesome stuff, and I can't believe they didn't have a Dragon's Lair cabinet (or any laserdisc game) there.

[Captain Wrong]

Game On is pretty much designed for attracting as many people interested in video games as possible. Barry (the organizer) knows, despite being a hardcore gamer himself, that some of the choices made would upset a few hardcore people wanting more. But this is a public exhibit with a complete cross section of people visiting MSI. It isn't CGE where everyone there is there because of video games.

Right. I completely understand that, which is why I totally admit I was being nit picky about things. :) Really, I think, aside from a few broken controllers, the whole thing is well done. My girlfriend, who is not nearly into retro gaming as I am, enjoyed it, and that's kind of the barometer I go by for these things. LOL

And QOF, I had a hunch that was the reason for the lack of Mortal Kombat. You're talking to someone who lives in one of the states where the mayor (in spite of all the other things that need to be done) has devoted a lot of time to trying to outlaw or hide behind a curtain like porn "violent" arcade games. Honestly, I would have been more suprised to see it, but I was kind of scratching my head that they didn't at least mention it in their games from Chicage blurb.

Man, I shoulda posted I'd be up there this weekend. It kind of came together last minute and all of that, but damn I would have loved to met some DPers finally. :(

[Graham Mitchell]

Man, I shoulda posted I'd be up there this weekend. It kind of came together last minute and all of that, but damn I would have loved to met some DPers finally.


Our decision to go was pretty spur-of-the-moment as well. Too bad, though!

I was glad there weren't really any FPS games. We're getting enough exposure to that kind of thing right now. One thing I thought was odd was how little Mario exposure there was. Just a little corner with Super Mario Allstars running, and some Miyamoto original drawings. That was it. I appreciated that because there's enough info on Mario stuff out there already, but I thought it was strange.

Did any of you guys think it was kind of cool that they had a Takimeki Memorial exhibit? I've never actually played it, but I think it was neat they acknowledged it.

Also, why weren't there very many PC Engine games? PC Engine was huge overseas. Probably more successful than Saturn was, but there were more Saturn games featured there. The one PC Engine game they picked, Fighting Street, would have been the last thing I would've put in there (Bonk), but that's just my taste.

Anyway, like the Captain, I'm just being nitpicky. I think it was way cooler than it could have been.

[Mayhem]

It is also dependent on what Barry had has available to use; they now own most of the stuff in the exhibit whereas when it started in the UK back in 2002, a lot of it was borrowed.

Yeah some of the stuff to play is emulation, but that's because it would be a lot of hassle having to set it up each time if something went wrong etc. Especially with the non-cartridge based systems for example. Words out of Barry's mouth here, he's been doing it since it started!

The reliability issue explains why some machines were not perhaps there. Dragon's Lair isn't exactly known for staying up a lot and the laser disk tech is quite delicate.

Also the whole "M" rating thing only applies to the MSI btw, they had a clause Game On couldn't include any content with that rating in the show. Once it moves to San Jose in September, some of it should be back.

[Queen Of The Felines]

Barry was also telling us that the exhibit also had a great piece about how minor things like clothing got developed. Unfortunately, because the game being discussed was Max Payne (or True Crime, can't remember which), they couldn't use it. :(

Kristine

[tylerwillis]

I'm a little interested in learning more about this exhibit... anyone have a website address or contact info?

[Julio III]

I went to this a few years ago when it was in London. It looks to be mostly unchanged. I thought it was a one off event then and didn't know it would go on to tour America! Anyway I had a great day there. A few things I remember were playing Pong on that giant wall screen against my friend. Playing the Tempest arcade machine for quite a while which was really fun and then going to play Tempest 2000 on the Jaguar which i couldn't play properly because I was used to the proper controller. I really want to play Tempest again, I tried it on MAME a while back but again, didn't feel as good without that controller. I remember at the time they had things which either weren't out in the UK then or were newly released - some Gamecube things. I also remember my and my two friends trying to work our way through Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. We didn't get very far but it was really fun, prompted us to download it but again didn't get much further! It was such a long time ago now and I played so many games that I can't remember what else I played. I don't think back then that anything was broken. Must be the constant use over many years. It was a really great exhibit though, offering a chance to see and play many gerat things from across the whole history of gaming (the PDP-1 looked great, if only it played, think I played Space War on the Vectrex instead)

[Queen Of The Felines]

I'm a little interested in learning more about this exhibit... anyone have a website address or contact info?

http://www.msichicago.org/gameon/index.html

Kristine

[Gapporin]

Wow, this whole exhibit looks really nice. Poly-Play cabinet? Definitely a plus. It would also enable to play some earlier 80's computers that I've been jonesing to try and get a chance to play (Spectrum, Commodore 64, etc.)

I don't have a reason to go to Chicago anytime between now and September, but if I did, I'd definitely be checking this out. Very cool stuff.

[Humanoid]

I actually went to this exhibit a few weeks back with my computer explorers group. A fun time was had by all! My particular favorites were Dune 2, Disks of Tron, and of course 4 player atari 2600 warlords! After wasting about 5 hours of our respective lives there, we hit the gift shop and shot each other with airzookas! Heres some (rather large) pictures:

http://www.xpost.org/photos/2005%20may%20field%20trip/P4300005.JPG
one of my friends, playing something!

http://www.xpost.org/photos/2005%20may%20field%20trip/P4300009.JPG
its a me! Mario!

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The whole group. (Im in the front, in the blue hoodie in case anyone was wondering)