At South by Southwest this past March, six videogame journalists met to come up with a definitive list of games that represent gaming now — the “Criterion Collection” of gaming.  They ask: “What videogames are canon? Are games old enough to have an essential group of titles worthy of the Library of Congress?”  Despite Asteroids’s historic popularity, we weren’t sure if it would make that list; so we stopped by to find out what would.

The panelists were Chuck Osborn (Group Editor in Chief, Future US), Eric Bratcher (Editor in Chief, Future US), Evan Lahti (Senior Editor, Future US), Ryan McCaffrey (Senior Editor, Official XBox Magazine), Brett Elston (Executive Editor, GamesRadar.com), and Scott Butterworth (Assistant Editor, PlayStation the Official Magazine).

Each panelist made a 30-second pitch for their “best game,” followed by some discussion, audience input, and then a vote.  One big guideline for selection was: Rule out nostalgia.  “If you’re introducing someone to gaming, you might love Street Fighter 2, but would you suggest playing that one over Street Fighter 4?”  On the other hand, to what degree should a game’s influence and historical significance be considered, even if elements seem dated?  This became a key point immediately.

Scott Butterworth started out by nominating the original God of War, for its influence of the interaction wtih 2-button combos, plus the blockbuster value.  Others asked, why pick that over God of War 3, which is the culmination of the ideas in the series, with better production value etc.  Which would you tell someone to play right now?  It was voted down.

Next, Brett Elston picked Super Mario Brothers 3, as the baseline for video games. Mechanics are tighter than 1, and the idea of different worlds comes from this. Plus, this list would be incomplete without a Mario game.  Accpted.

The discussion went on, with yeas and nays (Splinter Cell, Chaos 3: no; StarCraft II: yes; World of Warcraft: yes), and things were looking grim for Asteroids.  Then, Eric Bratcher, who had really been pressing for relevance today in the selections, nominated Tetris (1984).  You can understand it in 30 seconds, but can’t master it in 30 years.  It has been on more platforms and played by more people than any other game.  Tetris recevied a unanimous yea.  Asteroids it is not, but it’s in the same family of simple geometry, simple gameplay, and a race to survive.  We’ll take it.

Here’s the final list, in the order they were nominated:

– Super Mario Bros 3
– StarCraft II
– World of Warcraft
– Orange Box (Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal, Team Fortress 2)
– Red Dead Redemption
– Street Fighter IV (“what a sequel ought to be”)
– Minecraft
– Tetris
– BioShock
– Link to the Past