2025 World Video Game Hall of Fame Inductees: Quake and GoldenEye

You ever hear about something and just feel a rush of nostalgia? Like, you’re just sitting there, minding your business, and then boom, you’re sent back to those days when gaming was life? Well, guess what. Just caught wind of this thing where four classic games got inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. And oh man, it’s quite the throwback.

Okay, so here’s the scoop: Williams Electronics’ Defender, Rare’s GoldenEye 007, id Software’s Quake, and Bandai’s little digital pet, Tamagotchi (remember those?), are the new legends. They got the nod from the Strong National Museum of Play, which I like to imagine as a giant room full of childhood memories. Or maybe it’s just a regular museum. Who knows.

Apparently, these games were picked from a list of nominees for 2025. Had stuff like Age of Empires, Angry Birds, which I’m sure we’ve all wasted one too many hours on, and other big names like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Frogger and a few more. Honestly, kind of a tough crowd right there.

So here’s the thing. According to The Strong (which sounds like a tagline of some superhero group), the chosen four influenced popular culture and the gaming scene in a big way. There’s a whole judging process, probably with some serious criteria like icon status and geographical reach. Seems intense. And Quake? Yeah, that’s a name that pops up again. It’s like the sibling of Doom, which got inducted in 2015. Must run in the family.

Anyway, judges or curators or whoever calls the shots, explained why this bunch made it. Like, why Defender and Quake are basically gaming royalty, or why GoldenEye 007 still probably gives some of us multiplayer flashbacks. Oh, and Tamagotchi! That’s a whole other trip. Honestly, I can’t believe they made pixels so… alive?

Also, since 2015 they’ve let 49 games into this hall of fame party. Just last year, they added big shots like Asteroids and Myst, along with Resident Evil, which probably still gives me nightmares, and a few more.

So yeah, that’s the rundown. Just feels like a walk down memory lane every time, doesn’t it?