Opinion: The exhibition "The Age of Games" is excellent for understanding digital game culture.

By Kao Tokio do Game Drops

The exhibition "The Age of Games" is on display at the Bienal building in São Paulo. Although it may seem like more of the same, the exhibition was organized to offer more than just a historical overview of electronic and digital games, but a true immersion in game culture, allowing visitors to understand why this expression is so important and urgent today.

The exhibition's curation, carried out by the British Patrick Moran, developed in diverse aspects that deviate from the linear narrative of the games' chronology, presenting the rich production of more than 50 years of games through various thematic areas.

Thus, the public will visit spaces that give special emphasis to character creation, game genres, the innovation of playing with friends in multiplayer mode through interconnectivity, or games inspired by cinematic productions, among others. These thematic sections should allow the public to identify how different languages ​​have been appropriated by this digital culture or have served as a point of reference for the projects of game designers.

The highlights of each section seek to synthesize these ideas, such as Super Mario Bros., which brings together a set of unique features that earned it a place among the Top Ten games of all time, as proposed by the curators, or Asteroids, chosen as a benchmark when it comes to classic arcade games.

The exhibition is based on the original Game On 2.0 project, successor to Game ON, which was shown in São Paulo and Brasília in 2012. Both are productions conceived by the Barbican Centre in London and have been successfully toured in various capitals around the world.

Throughout the 13 themed sections, game fans will find acclaimed titles such as Sonic Mega Collection from 2002, Star Wars from 1983, Pong from 1972, or Gran Turismo 6 from 2013.

The exhibition also makes room for lesser-known creations or curious ventures, such as the unusual musical game Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd, released by Sega in 2014, the children's game Hey You Pikachu, from 2000, or the VirtuSphere, equipment developed in 2009 to offer immersion and total movement to players of first-person shooter games.

The choice of themed environments is probably the most significant contribution of the exhibition in leading the public and scholars of interactive media to reflect on the meaning of digital games in everyday life and their social and educational implications for new generations, the digital natives.

For digital immigrants—that is, people from previous generations who were not born with this technology and had to learn how to operate such resources the hard way—the exhibition should represent a great opportunity to broaden their perceptions and open themselves up to the wonderful new world of games.

Service: The Age of Games
From August 15th to November 12th. Tuesday to Sunday, from 11 am to 20 pm.
São Paulo Biennial - Av. Pedro Álvares Cabral, s/n - Ibirapuera Park
Entrance fee: R$ 40 and R$ 20 for half-price tickets.