Remember the feeling of walking into an arcade and feeling giddy at the sight of neon lights, bleeps and bloops, and the thought of K.O.-ing your buddy in Street Fighter? Last week, I indulged in some nostalgia at Astoria’s Museum of the Moving Image, which just put up a playable exhibition of 25 independent games from 2002 until today, called Indie Essentials: 25 Must-Play Video Games.
On Indie Essentials' opening night last week, young, creative types gathered on the museum’s third floor (which, unlike the arcades of my youth, boasted clean consoles, HD screens, and popcorn-free floors). Independent games, unlike the latest versions of Halo or Grand Theft Auto, tend to place creativity above profitability, according to curator Jason Eppink. "Developers often release [independent] games for free. They’re using them as avenues for freedom of expression."
In 1989, the Museum of the Moving Image was the first major institution to call attention to video games as an art form with the exhibition Hot Circuits, featuring 47 arcade games (and tokens to use them that were included in the price of admission). Since, the museum has regularly exhibited games. In Indie Essentials, it teamed up with IndieCade, the annual indie game festival, to feature its 2013 award winners alongside games that have made big splashes in the past decade.
Passage, for instance, released in 2007, is a game that follows a character over an entire lifetime and through steps like marriage and death––in the span of only five minutes. Using hyper-simplified, pixilated graphics and classic sound effects, it induces a wide range of emotions, including sadness and despair, in addition to the customary rush of adrenalin. “Passage takes advantage of familiar [aspects of game play] in order to make you think about what you’re doing and what that means,” said Jason. For the aesthetically oriented, Indie Essentials also featured games like Flower where the user controls the wind to manipulate petals and bring to life a dark landscape, or Everyday Shooter, in which melodies are produced with every successful shot.
Photos by Alexander Attar
Through March 2, 2014 | Indie Essentials: 25-Must-Play Video Games
Museum of the Moving Image
36-01 35th Avenue
New York, NY 11106
MAP![]()
A player gives Killer Queen Arcade a go![]()
Guests at the opening night of Indie Essentials: 25 Must-Play Video Games at Astoria’s Museum of the Moving Image
![]()
Passage (2007, Jason Rohrer)![]()
Everyday Shooter (2007, Jonathan Mak, Queasy Games)
![]()
Group tackilng Spaceteam, where players are crew member of a space ship and shout instructions at each other to save the ship from falling apart.
![]()
On Indie Essentials' opening night last week, young, creative types gathered on the museum’s third floor (which, unlike the arcades of my youth, boasted clean consoles, HD screens, and popcorn-free floors). Independent games, unlike the latest versions of Halo or Grand Theft Auto, tend to place creativity above profitability, according to curator Jason Eppink. "Developers often release [independent] games for free. They’re using them as avenues for freedom of expression."
In 1989, the Museum of the Moving Image was the first major institution to call attention to video games as an art form with the exhibition Hot Circuits, featuring 47 arcade games (and tokens to use them that were included in the price of admission). Since, the museum has regularly exhibited games. In Indie Essentials, it teamed up with IndieCade, the annual indie game festival, to feature its 2013 award winners alongside games that have made big splashes in the past decade.
Passage, for instance, released in 2007, is a game that follows a character over an entire lifetime and through steps like marriage and death––in the span of only five minutes. Using hyper-simplified, pixilated graphics and classic sound effects, it induces a wide range of emotions, including sadness and despair, in addition to the customary rush of adrenalin. “Passage takes advantage of familiar [aspects of game play] in order to make you think about what you’re doing and what that means,” said Jason. For the aesthetically oriented, Indie Essentials also featured games like Flower where the user controls the wind to manipulate petals and bring to life a dark landscape, or Everyday Shooter, in which melodies are produced with every successful shot.
Photos by Alexander Attar
Through March 2, 2014 | Indie Essentials: 25-Must-Play Video Games
Museum of the Moving Image
36-01 35th Avenue
New York, NY 11106
MAP
A player gives Killer Queen Arcade a go
Guests at the opening night of Indie Essentials: 25 Must-Play Video Games at Astoria’s Museum of the Moving Image
Passage (2007, Jason Rohrer)
Everyday Shooter (2007, Jonathan Mak, Queasy Games)
Group tackilng Spaceteam, where players are crew member of a space ship and shout instructions at each other to save the ship from falling apart.