Play, The Videogames World
Encyclopedia
Play, The Videogame World was the first European exhibition on videogames. It was held at Palazzo delle Esposizioni
, one of the main contemporary art museums in Rome - Italy, from the 24th of April to the 10th of July 2002. The exhibition was visited by over 50.000 people.
to the latest hits for PC
, PlayStation 2
, Xbox
and GameCube.
There were also more than 40 different consoles, including the Magnavox Odyssey
, the Vectrex
, the TurboGrafx-16
, and over 50 handheld consoles from the 70s to nowadays.
Play tried to show the evolution of video games not only from a technical point of view, but also the interactions between them and society.
This was illustrated through interviews with important game designers such as Shigeru Miyamoto
, Hideo Kojima
, Tetsuya Mizuguchi
and the biographies of many other leading personalities in the games industry, through the advertisement campaigns, and though highlighting the relationships between games and sports, politics, Hollywood and the military industries.
The exhibition was mainly organised in a chronological order and divided in five main areas.
The first area went from the beginnings of video games till the raise of Nintendo
, whose playing cards dated 1900 and few electrical toys from the 50s where shown. The second area was characterized by the 16-bit consoles. The third one was dedicated to PlayStation
, Sega Mega Drive
, N64 and other minor consoles such as Atari Jaguar
, whilst the fourth one was on PC games, from the first Id Software
productions to the recent Mmorpg
(Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games). The last area was focused on PlayStation 2, Xbox and Gamecube.
, and Maria Grazia Tolomeo, with the collaboration of Andrea Cuneo, Francesco Fondi, Diego Malara, Sergio Pennacchini.
The exhibition design was done by Studio Ma0.
Play couldn’t have been done without Luisa Ammaniti, marketing manager at Palazzo delle Esposizioni.
Palazzo delle Esposizioni
The Palazzo delle Esposizioni is a neoclassical exhibition hall, cultural center and museum on Via Nazionale in Rome.Designed by Pio Piacentini, it opened in 1883. It has housed several exhibitions The Palazzo delle Esposizioni is a neoclassical exhibition hall, cultural center and museum on Via...
, one of the main contemporary art museums in Rome - Italy, from the 24th of April to the 10th of July 2002. The exhibition was visited by over 50.000 people.
The exhibition
Displayed on 1300 square meters, it showed over 300 videogames starting from the 1961 Space WarSpace War
Space War is an Atari-brand video game cartridge for the Atari 2600, released in 1978. It is an Atari 2600 port of Spacewar!, the famous 1962 computer game by Steve Russell. It was released by Sears as Space Combat, for the Atari 2600-compatible Sears Video Arcade...
to the latest hits for PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
, PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
, Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
and GameCube.
There were also more than 40 different consoles, including the Magnavox Odyssey
Magnavox Odyssey
The Magnavox Odyssey is the world's first home video game console. It was first demonstrated on May 24, 1972 and released in August of that year, predating the Atari Pong home consoles by three years....
, the Vectrex
Vectrex
The Vectrex is a vector display-based video game console that was developed by Western Technologies/Smith Engineering. It was licensed and distributed first by General Consumer Electric , and then by Milton Bradley Company after their purchase of GCE...
, the TurboGrafx-16
TurboGrafx-16
TurboGrafx-16, fully titled as TurboGrafx-16 Entertainment SuperSystem and known in Japan as the , is a video game console developed by Hudson Soft and NEC, released in Japan on October 30, 1987, and in North America on August 29, 1989....
, and over 50 handheld consoles from the 70s to nowadays.
Play tried to show the evolution of video games not only from a technical point of view, but also the interactions between them and society.
This was illustrated through interviews with important game designers such as Shigeru Miyamoto
Shigeru Miyamoto
is a Japanese video game designer and producer. Miyamoto was born and raised in Kyoto Prefecture; the natural surroundings of Kyoto inspired much of Miyamoto's later work....
, Hideo Kojima
Hideo Kojima
is a Japanese game director originally employed at Konami. He is currently the director of Kojima Productions and was promoted to Vice President of Konami Digital Entertainment in early 2011...
, Tetsuya Mizuguchi
Tetsuya Mizuguchi
is a video game designer and founder of the video game development firm Q Entertainment. He formerly worked for Sega were he eventually became the head of their United Game Artists division...
and the biographies of many other leading personalities in the games industry, through the advertisement campaigns, and though highlighting the relationships between games and sports, politics, Hollywood and the military industries.
The exhibition was mainly organised in a chronological order and divided in five main areas.
The first area went from the beginnings of video games till the raise of Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
, whose playing cards dated 1900 and few electrical toys from the 50s where shown. The second area was characterized by the 16-bit consoles. The third one was dedicated to PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
, Sega Mega Drive
Sega Mega Drive
The Sega Genesis is a fourth-generation video game console developed and produced by Sega. It was originally released in Japan in 1988 as , then in North America in 1989 as Sega Genesis, and in Europe, Australia and other PAL regions in 1990 as Mega Drive. The reason for the two names is that...
, N64 and other minor consoles such as Atari Jaguar
Atari Jaguar
The Atari Jaguar is a video game console that was released by Atari Corporation in 1993. It was the last to be marketed under the Atari brand until the release of the Atari Flashback in 2004. It was designed to surpass the Mega Drive/Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and the Panasonic...
, whilst the fourth one was on PC games, from the first Id Software
Id Software
Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
productions to the recent Mmorpg
MMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
(Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games). The last area was focused on PlayStation 2, Xbox and Gamecube.
Curators
The curators of Play were Jaime D’Alessandro, journalist of La RepubblicaLa Repubblica
la Repubblica is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper. Founded in 1976 in Rome by the journalist Eugenio Scalfari, as of 2008 is the second largest circulation newspaper, behind the Corriere della Sera.-Foundation:...
, and Maria Grazia Tolomeo, with the collaboration of Andrea Cuneo, Francesco Fondi, Diego Malara, Sergio Pennacchini.
The exhibition design was done by Studio Ma0.
Play couldn’t have been done without Luisa Ammaniti, marketing manager at Palazzo delle Esposizioni.