ACMI Game On Exhibition Awesome!

• Author: johnnymestizo
• Filed under: Gadgets & Technology, Video Gaming
• Date: Mar 6,2008
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This is the best $15 you could ever spend on video gaming!

Every system from every era of every genre everywhere! A gamers nirvana.

[Get your 2 for 1 pass NOW!]

After walking past the 10 metre neon Mario on Flinders Street Melbourne I entered the ACMI Game On Exhibition. It is $15 Adult $10 Concession. For $5 extra you get a loaded iPod voice overview of the Game On gallery. Skip this as you can read this narrative in 10 seconds from the handout pamphlets. Keep in mind - this is not a video game expo but an exhibition funded by Australian Centre for the Moving Image.

Keep walking straight from the entry and you’ll be at the Memory Map - a collection of artist submitted short videos of the history of Victoria watched from all encompassing futuristic booths and is not a bad experience. Take a left up the escalators and you can watch student made films in the cinemas, have food and coffee at the cafe, or buy cool trinkets at the ACMI shop. Video gamers - you enter, pay, take a right down the stairs to the underground plethora of gaming goodness.

Let the games begin!

A sea of highly maintained old school arcade machines and console gamer exhibits await you. Flashing on all screens are ‘Press START to play’ or ‘99 Credits’. A gamers nirvana.

Lets take a room, say 70m long 20m wide, paint the walls black, add dim mood lighting and colour in a few corners of the carpet to add the ‘cool’ effect. In this room, on all accessible wall space jam every significant console, PC model, and vintage arcade game and we are in business.

Don’t worry about the 20 or so ACMI staff and extra security personnel. They were friendly and non-intimidating. They will let you play to your hearts content. Just watch out - the rule is 5 minutes per game and if there is someone in waiting let them have a turn. Adding to that use machine and controllers with care and do not eat or drink in the gallery.

Early Arcade Games Meticulously Maintained

I see why this is an exhibition - these machines have shaped gaming history and need to stay restored. Beautiful… Played Xevious, Missile Command, Asteroids, Galaga [55000], Ms. Pac [5060], Galaxian [2890] and Dig Dug [3480] on the genuine arcade machine! With Donkey Kong (1981) I made it to the 2nd level with a pathetic score of [6200]. Now I only scored [500] on Berserk however whilst playing believed I was at a Daft Punk festival. Good times!

When I was a kid I would look forward to running down the shops to order fish & chips. Whilst waiting I would spend the change on the glass mount table top 2 player Space Invaders machine. A tear ran down my cheek as I won this game one more time.

Console Gaming Extravaganza
Getting on at 25 years old I still managed found consoles I have never even set eyes on. All in mint condition, locked behind 1 centimetre of perspex with controller at the ready. Where else could a gamer hop from playing Freeway (1981) on a 1977 Atari VCS to playing Populous (1991) on the Super Nintendo! The console highlight for me is ‘Fighting Street’ (pre Street Fighter lol - 1988) on the 1987 NEC PC Engine. Yes, the NEC PC Engine was the first console ever to use a CD drive

Gaming Areas

The gaming does not stop as the you progress down the exhibition area with smaller niche areas opening up for further exploration. Roughly categorised into Arcade, Consoles, then sub-divided into genres, kids, multiplayer and finally cultural - Australian, USA, Euro and Japanese.

ACMI Game On game setup for consoles. Serial game playing for the serious gamer! See the full gallery over at Palgn

Gaming Systems I took note of:

• Atari 64 bit Jaguar (1994), the 1977 VCS, the tried and true 2600
• SNES, NES, Game Cube, Wii
• Xbox 360 (thanks for the 4 plyr Halo Mr Microsoft - I owned some little dudes haah)
• Sony MSX Hitbit HB-75P (1984), PS1, thanks to PS2 to get my REZ fix Area 1 complete
• Sega Dreamcast (Virtua Tennis 2001 [AUS] Rafter Vs Poihne [FRA] 3 - 1 Go Aussie!)
• Sinclair Spectrum (1982) with the tape inserted I played ‘The Hobbit’ typing game… ?
• Commodore 64 (1982) - The Way of the Exploding Fist (1985) - Does that background monk ever fight?

Not sure what to make of the STEEL BATTALION 2002 Xbox exhibit. I think it’s some lame take on Mech Warrior. You sit in some sort of cockpit with huge screen, two joy sticks and 87 buttons. Umm… Yeah I’ll have to learn this one another day :S

The Way of the Exploding Fist	The Hobbit on the Sinclair Spectrum

A Variety of Gaming Exhibits

I took a stroll past informative exhibits with profiles of Pac-Man, Sonic, and Mario that proved interesting. Even more so was the design process behind Grand Theft Auto 3, Pokemon, the Sims and Tomb Raider. 3D films made by gaming engines had its own viewing lounge curtained off with comfy lounges and a projector wall making a nice place to wind down after your multiple hour gaming bonanza.

Strangely simple yet satisfying was the sound exhibits. Plug on your headphones and listen to compilations of game music from the 80’s and 90’s. These background tracks trigger off engraved flashbacks from my lifelong history of game playing. It is an eerie feeling when you play music you’ve forgotten then suddenly hum like it’s yesterday.

Things I found poor were those narrative iPod hand outs near the front desk (a complete waste of time) and the future technology exhibit. Ooh, a Nintendo Powerglove from 1989 what the? Only found on a couple of vintage arcade machines was the heart stopping note, ‘This work is temporarily out of order. We apologise for the inconvenience. ACMI’.

Go Aussie Games!

Australian created games were scarce but its own section did prevail. Playable were Dark Reign (1997) on PC, Powerslide (1998) by good ol’ Ratbag and Destroy All Humans on PS2. I’m sure we’ve done a lot more than these works!? Oh well.

Australian gaming company Ratbag’s Powerslide

Did I forget to mention handheld gaming devices from 1977 to now! Good to see but hard to touch in a secure perspex dome. Playable to the side are handheld kids learning games also from a couple of decades back. Roughly 50 or so handheld games makes for an impressive display - well done to ACMI.

Wrap it up Johnny!

I recommend this to anyone who enjoys gaming, is older than 15 (for reminiscence value) and has a entire day to blow! This is a comprehensive collection of the history of video gaming systems and one that is well maintained and fixatingly played. Let the games begin!

Be sure to get in before the school holidays make waiting in line for Pong a worse experience than the service at Jetstar! For more info visit the Australian Centre for the Moving Image site and book your tickets online. Started on the 6th March 2008 - 13th July 2008 and open daily 10am to 6pm, Thursday til 9pm - Enjoy

This is of the Game On Exhibition at the Science Museum in London 21/10/06. Pretty much the same games are here in Melbourne but the room setup is much cooler! May 2002 review by Shiuming Laiof at the London Game On exhibition