About 45 years after its debut, Atari's Asteroids video game was one of five games to receive top honors in The World Video Game Hall of Fame in Rochester, New York.
The annual awards offer an glimpse into the business of gaming and its affect on culture.
Asteroids came out in 1979 as a coin-operated arcade game. At that time, 70,000 arcade units featured the space-themed rock-blasting game. By 1981, Atari released Asteroids for the Atari 2600 home video game console and it became one of the most influential video games of all time.
Also making its mark was Ultima: The First Age of Darkness, not quite as well known as Asteroids, but after its release in 1981, it is credited with inspiring role playing games like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. The original Ultima was followed by eight sequels.
Sim City, released in 1989, was inducted this year. The city building video game had several sequels and spin-offs. Players build and manage a city within a budget constructing infrastructure and buildings. The original game designer began in 1985 after he became enamored of creating maps and learning about urban design. Game companies rejected the game since it could neither be won nor lost, but eventually it enjoyed enduring success, inspiring a generation of urban planners.
Myst, the best selling game of the 1990s, was inducted for its imaginative adventures of the mysterious island of the same name. Players solve puzzles and travel to other worlds.
Finally, Resident Evil made the 2024 cut. The suspense game popularized the survival horror genre, inspiring an action horror film series that has grossed more than $1.2 billion.