The World Video Game Hall of Fame announced its second class of inductees on Thursday, and once again, the gaming world's elite used the hit stick on sports video games, sending would-be pioneers to the pixilated turf, their dreams tackled.
John Madden Football — the iconic NFL video game that debuted in 1988 and made "Boom!" a common chord on your average living room soundtrack — fell short of induction, ceding the glory to The Legend of Zelda, The Oregon Trail, The Sims, Sonic the Hedgehog, Space Invaders and Grand Theft Auto III. Worthy candidates, all. But the snub stings for those who want sports video games to earn the same level of respect as its less athletic peers, a role reversal of the stereotypical teen drama high school hierarchy.
The snub comes just one year after the World Video Game Hall of Fame failed to induct FIFA International Soccer — an incredibly influential sports game that was not even a finalist for the 2016 class.
The case for Madden? You could argue the game's influence reaches far beyond the console-to-controller connection. Which, the Hall of Fame claims, is the very criteria that earned its six newest inductees admission. The announcement, via The Strong, said the titles "significantly affected the video game industry, popular culture, and society in general."
Consider Madden's reach. Not only did the innovative gameplay (ever-evolving, as we speak) become the barometer for American sports video games, but Madden impacted the real legacies of players the game rendered virtual. And this goes beyond the well-documented Madden cover curse, which may be video game voodoo or regression to the mean at work. Players who performed disproportionately well in the game became legends beyond it. Michael Vick — especially before his dog fighting fallout — might be the athlete most shaped by video game play after Madden made his mobile quarterback style nearly impossible to stop.