© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

The World Video Game Hall of Fame announces 5 new inductees

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The World Video Game Hall of Fame just announced five new inductees, spanning decades and universes.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO GAME, "ASTEROIDS")

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Pew pew pew pew. Boom. Asteroids debuted in the late 1970s, when people played games in arcades one quarter at a time. Before long, it was on a television in my home. Jeremy Saucier works at the Strong National Museum of Play, which is an awesome museum in Rochester, N.Y.

JEREMY SAUCIER: It offered players really this mixture of challenging gameplay, glowing vector graphics, intense, kind of heartbeat sound effects.

FADEL: Also added to the Hall of Fame - Ultima: The First Age Of Darkness. Released in 1981 - the year I was born - the game was pivotal in defining the computer role-playing genre.

SAUCIER: At times, you were crawling through dungeons in search of treasure and fighting off monsters. At other times, you were in outer space, firing at enemy ships.

INSKEEP: Also, SimCity made it in. Back in 1989, that one had players creating cities and building infrastructure and dealing with the problems that can come with that.

FADEL: And two games from the 1990s - Resident Evil, which helped make the survival horror genre popular.

INSKEEP: And finally...

(SOUNDBITE OF ROBYN MILLER'S "MYST THEME")

INSKEEP: ...Myst, where players are transported to a mysterious island. Became one of the bestselling computer games of the '90s.

FADEL: Saucier says these titles show how gaming has expanded to include people of all ages.

SAUCIER: We've often associated play and games with children. And to have survival horror games, to have games where you can manage a city, I mean, it's opening up these worlds to adults and preparing, I think, video games for where we are today.

INSKEEP: These games joined Pong, Pac-Man and dozens of others at the World Video Game Hall of Fame in Rochester.

(SOUNDBITE OF ROBYN MILLER'S "MYST THEME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.