Vote for Shenmue, Shenmue II for the Smithsonian

[Nathan]

http://www.artofvideogames.org/

[ROJM]

I'd perfer the first game, since that was the real acheivement being the first. I wonder why the second is getting the selection for this vote?

[Barry the Nomad]

I voted for every SEGA game, ignored the rest. Wasn't sure if votes for non SEGA games in the same category would mess things up, so I didn't risk it.

Odd that Shenmue II is in the XBOX category, considering there are far more non ports on the XBOX that could have taken its place. Still, I won't complain.

Really hoping a JSR and Shenmue makes it in. If any SEGA games win, I'll go to the Smithsonian and write up a report.

[Nathan]

Holy crap, I got to the Dreamcast section and was faced first with Jet Grind Radio, Crazy Taxi and Sonic Adventure (I think), and right after, Shenmue I, Skies Of Arcadia and some other game. Crazy.

[Barry the Nomad]

Skies versus Shenmue was really tough. I voted Shenmue 2 on the XBOX and Skies on the Dreamcast. I love Shenmue 1, but Skies deserves more show. Plus, I'm sure my Skies vote did nothing, meanwhile everybody else voted Shenmue 1.

[Centrale]

There were some interesting choices in there.  Also, questionable genre classifications.  But overall I agreed with many of the options.  It can't be easy to narrow things down that much.  It was funny that so many of the Colecovision's arcade translations were Sega games.

[Nathan]

I have Carnival for Colecovision.

[MadeManG74]

I'm curious as to why they are letting the public vote on something like this, surely this should be an industry award? If we let the public vote, the smithsonian would have COD: Black Ops representing video games instead of Virtua Fighter and Dragon's Lair.

Also, as much as I love Shenmue II, the xbox port (Even the Dreamcast port to an extent) hardly deserves to be represented in the Smithsonian. I mean, what did it do to change the industry or represent a huge leap in gaming?. Maybe the first one...

[Centrale]

I think the final couple of hours of Shenmue II were pretty different, as far as content and overall mood, from anything that had come before.

[Nathan]

It expanded on everything the first game offered and was one of the biggest games in terms of characters, events, places, voice actors, and other things for a very long time. Though if I had to choose between the two, Shenmue I would be my choice.

[Centrale]

I agree with that.  Having to choose between the two, the first one was definitely the one that sent waves throughout the industry.

Here's something interesting... this is the list of advisors that proposed the games for the public to choose from:

The 240 games on the ballot were selected by the exhibition’s curator, Chris Melissinos, who worked with the museum and an advisory group consisting of game developers, designers, industry pioneers, and journalists.

Ray Barnholt Freelance writer
Louis Castle CEO, InstantAction
Chris Charla Xbox Live Arcade Portfolio Director, Microsoft Game Studios
Frank Cifaldi News Editor, 1UP.com
Ed Fries Founder, FigurePrints
Scott Hawkins Founder, G1M2
Jerry Holkins Co-Founder and writer, Penny Arcade
Chris Kohler Editor, GameLife, Wired.com
Mike Krahulik Co-Founder and artist, Penny Arcade
Jennifer MacLean CEO, 38 Studios
Steve Meretzky Vice President of Game Design, Playdom
Mike Mika Head of Development, Other Ocean Interactive
Ray Muzyka Senior Vice President and Group General Manager,
Electronic Arts; and CEO, BioWare
Kim Pallister Director of Content Strategy, Intel
David Perry CEO and Co-Founder, Gaikai
Jane Pinckard Associate Director, Center for Games and Playable Media,
University of California, Santa Cruz
Kellee Santiago President and Co-Founder, thatgamecompany
Tim Schafer CEO, Double Fine Productions
Jesse Schell Assistant Professor of Entertainment Technology, Entertainment
Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University
Seth Sternberger Founder, 8 Bit Weapon
Greg Zeschuk Group Creative Officer, Electronic Arts


...this just lists their current positions, but perhaps more relevant in many cases are their past positions.  For example, Dave Perry was the designer of Earthworm Jim and MDK while with Shiny; Ed Fries was with Microsoft Game Studios and was responsible for acquiring Bungie; Steve Meretzky was a game author with the legendary text adventure company Infocom.  Anyhow, a lot of respect for Sega from some industry greats considering no one from Sega was involved in the selections.