2025 Inductees to the World Video Game Hall of Fame: Quake, GoldenEye Among Others

Sure thing, let’s dive into this. So, I was just going through some random news — and bam! — stumbled onto this whole video game hall of fame thing. Yeah, it’s a thing. Who knew? Apparently, the Strong Museum or something inducted four more games into their, um, club? Or whatever it is. So we’ve got… drumroll… Defender, GoldenEye 007 (nostalgia alert!), Quake, and Tamagotchi.

I can almost hear little pixelated screams of joy (or maybe just my old PlayStation making those weird sounds again, who knows?). Anyway, these picks came from a hefty list of contenders, with cool cats like Age of Empires and Angry Birds in the mix. Did they have a brawl or something? Totally picturing Angry Birds pelting Call of Duty 4 players with those annoying red balls.

The museum folks say these chosen games made waves in culture and the gaming world. Feels right, I guess. I mean, think about Quake. Doom’s sibling, right? Or not really, but both from id Software, and Doom kick-flipped into this hall in 2015. Yeah, it’s like a family reunion, but cooler.

So then, why these four? I don’t have the behind-the-scenes scoop, but judges say they’re iconic, they lasted like forever, and got around globally. Tamagotchi, though — those little creatures that demanded constant attention? I barely kept mine alive past a week. But hey, there’s a reason they’re memorable, I suppose.

Since this kicked off in 2015, the museum’s welcomed 49 games. Last year was all about Asteroids and Myst (talk about mind-bending), along with Resident Evil, Ultima, and good ol’ SimCity. Honestly, this list feels like a trip through time with pixels as my guide. How did they even decide who gets the gold star? I’d probably just stare at the list and flip a coin. Not a great method, but hey, gotta choose somehow. Maybe next year we’ll see Angry Birds finally up there, flying high.