Until January 9, the Grand Palace to host exhibition on video games. Long underestimated, this “tenth art ‘is now treated on a par with others in the cultural sector.
Paris, Champs-Elysées. In the middle of the famous avenue stands the Grand Palace, a place of prestige hosting the largest national and international exhibitions. But hikers are sure to notice a detail unusual in such an environment: a poster of ten meters high, turning the Grand Palace and its surroundings decor game invested by most of his heroes. This is the vision of the exhibition Game Story, which brings the history of video games through the front door.
Game Story panel before the Grand Palais. Photo Figaro.fr / Chloe Woitier
The event is significant for an industry that has long been considered an ugly duckling in the cultural sector, but also by public opinion. “We have seen barriers fall a few years ago,” said Jean-Claude Larue, managing director of SELL (union video game publishers), the main sponsor of the exhibition. “We are present in 90% of families. Journalists today have grown up with video games, as the new generation of politicians. It only remained to convince the world of culture, we looked a little condescending. ”
The realization of the exhibition was made possible “thanks to an extremely favorable alignment of planets,” says mischievously Jean-Claude Larue. “You could not ask for more: a culture minister who knows the game with his children, a chief of staff himself a player, a technical adviser who knows the subject, and a director of the National Museums that wants to open culture in other areas. With another team, one would have to wait another 10 years. ”
Museo Games, a first success
Discussions for an exhibition on the history of video games at the Great Hall dates back to December 2010. At that time, the Museum of Arts and Crafts hosted for six months the temporary exhibition Museo Games , headed by the association MO5, which works for the preservation of games and consoles. A real public success in France for the first four-month extension, and a total of 50,000 visitors. The recipe for success was in a word, the opportunity to play. Instead of presenting games behind glass, visitors could try directly, joystick in hand, to twenty games offered as well on an old Colecovision on a modern Xbox.
The MO5 association has naturally been asked to work on the Game Story exhibition, in association with the Museum of Asian Art Guimet. MO5 principles are simple: a video game should be played, but it would be nonsense to try it on a TV that does not match his time. Similarly, the history of the game must be related to cultural history.
Attract the general public
The precepts of the association have been met to the letter: Game Story shows the good old CRT TV’s and consoles time to replay the same conditions over 70 games of the 70s to today. Movies, comics and board games from the same period are also present to help relocate the popular culture of that time as the rise of science fiction or fantasy in the years 1980-1990. Visitors will also note that the terminal of the legendary game Pac Man (1980) comes with a board game incorporating the principles of video games, and 45 rounds of generic cartoon Pac Man, sung by William Leymergie, then known as Willy …
Figaro.fr Photo / Adrian Guilloteau
Game Story wishes above all to address the general public who do not necessarily know much about the game. In contrast to MuseoGames which took place in a dark, metallic, Game Story welcomes the visitor into a spacious bright and colorful. The wall, lexicons explain briefly the concepts of “platforms”, “gamer”, “fantasy”, “arcade”, “controller”, “8 bits” … The texts of the presentations of the games are clear enough for the beginner, while at the same time pointed to the avid gamer.
»Read our opinion on exposure Game Story
It may be that Game Story of an international know. NMR revealed that many international museums have already expressed their interest in the exhibition, “which is a world first in a prestigious location,” says Jean-Claude Larue. Only requirement, that success is the appointment.
Where you break into a game room and illustrates ephemeral, privileged meeting point between video games and a mythical intergenerational public.
We had left the association MO5.com on the great success of the exhibition MuseoGames the Museum of Arts and Crafts, is found in the prestigious Grand Palais with exposure Game Story, organized in partnership with the RMN national.
The principle is the same: to provide visitors with a maximum of interactivity, giving them access to machines or obscure mythical who have written in their own way the history of gaming.
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From the origins to today
Classic but effective, the chronological allows to highlight the remarkable progress not only technical but also playful and narrative, written by the video game industry in forty years of existence.
The first half of the exhibition dedicated to the origins of the video game offers surprising discoveries, like a showcase of French consoles in the early 1980s. The presence of a games console stamped SEB does not leave indifferent.
Carries some of the venerable aircraft, be advised, in particular testing the Vectrex, including vector graphics will appear to enjoy a futuristic today. Proponents of Geometry Wars will not be disoriented by this machine from another age.
This section is for older players the opportunity to reconnect with their childhood games and see how their skills and endurance decreased with age. A painful but salutary wake-up call: yes, the 1980s were full of games horribly difficult or unfair!
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Please insert corner
Many console manufacturers boasted able to offer “the arcade at home” with the growing power of their machines. This is technically true but it would be to forget the undeniable aura of these terminals and their iconic accessories that first highlighted the social and public dimension of gaming.
Game Story makes its way to honor these great forgotten video game through several terminals – not least – available (free of course) of visitors, the must- Dance Dance Revolution , the frenzied Crazy Taxi , the mythical Outrun and antediluvian Pong .
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MuseoGames 2.0
Game Story is a continuation of the process undertaken with MuseoGames. Bring the game in places where it had never been admitted to revive ancient machines into the hands of present, show the greatest number of games selected founders.
Larger, thicker, more varied and educator, this second exhibition corrects some flaws in the first and propels the game into a place full of history, close to the Champs Elysees and the Palais de la Découverte.
MO5.com and the RMN also not hesitate to build bridges between video game and other arts or media, comics to movies, games and literature. The result is a positive and rewarding video game, which no longer appears as the “ugly duckling” the scapegoat that was once – and is still at times.
Rockstar Games has raised a first glimpse into the next episode of his hit series, which returns to the West after a brief foray on the East Coast of the United States.
The many fans of the series and end up on the streets of Los Santos, the Los Angeles rockstarisée already present in GTA San Andreas, for what will probably one of the major games in the fall of 2012 (or 2013, go figure).
Proponents of the viewing frame will find no doubt in the trailer many clues about the new playground concocted by Rockstar North.
Several books on the history of video games or big sagas have appeared in recent months. Lefigaro.fr helps you make your selection, depending on whether you are a beginner or expert.
While the Grand Palais hosts a major exhibition on video games , the French publishing industry is looking recently on the history of the medium, no fewer than three books on the subject come out at the end of the year in large houses. The latter seem to follow the lead of small independent publishers like n’Love Pix, who with a team extremely small, has opted for an editorial dealing only video game.
France is catching up some in this area. In the U.S., the major books on the game, like Trigger Happy , have emerged from the early 2000s without having the right to a translation in our country. A security exception is Masters of Doom , a biography about the life of the creators of studio id Software and Doom and Quake games cults. Published in 2003 in the United States, this book of high quality was released in France under the title of Masters video game in 2010.
The books published in France in recent months on the video game are not all sent to specialists. Some are intentionally general public, with highlighting of the image on the text. Others, however, eyeing the direction of university research and analysis. Lefigaro.fr presents the main outputs that will find their place under the Christmas tree.
The general history of video games
• For the neophytes . The readers seeking a comprehensive look at the history of the game, the late 1950s to the present, will turn to Start! The great video game history (Editions de la Martiniere, 29.90 euros) journalist Erwan Cario, site manager Ecrans.fr. Easily classifiable in the “beautiful books” Start! gives pride to the image. The texts are concise but complete, and are a good entry into the world of video games for all those who have never, or hardly, touched a joystick in their lives.
• For the nostalgic . Pioneer Press video games, and presenter of the program on Forums With Marcus, Marc Lacombe alias Marcus, a sign of our games 70-90 years (Hors Collection, 24.90 euros). Targeting players who hit the game at that time without being become specialists, this richly illustrated book plays on the string of nostalgia and good memories.
• For specialists . The book The 1001 video game which must have played in his life (Flammarion, 29.90 euros), written by the editor of British magazine Edge, is as its name implies a “catalog” time of nearly 1000 pages. Each title, Pong to Call of Duty, is presented with an image and a few paragraphs.
If the catalog repels aspect, the player should turn to specialist books published over the past two years. French side, the Saga of Video Games by Daniel Ichbiah (Pix n’Love, 9.99 euros) back on the genesis of a dozen major titles in the industry with interviews of the creators. Out in print, this book is still available in eBook. Anglophones will turn them into Replay: The History of Video Games (Yellow Ant, 15 euros) journalist Tristan Donovan, real money on the history of this media in various countries.
The story of the great sagas and builders
• The independent French edition now offers books on major video game titles aimed at a specialist. The console editions come Syndrome and to publish Zelda: chronicle of a legendary saga (18 euros), which returns all the Zelda games have appeared in the Nes to the Wii and adds analysis on the evolution of hero Link, relations between the Princess Zelda and the evil Ganondorf, the different places met … Presented as a grimoire, the book does, however, no illustration.
• Mario fans will turn to the history of Mario (22 euros), published this summer in Pixn’Love. Written by journalist William Audureau, the book returns to the creation of the famous plumber, and explains through interviews and archival press how this character became commonplace after all an icon among both players than the general public.
• To learn more about Nintendo, the parent of Zelda and Mario, readers will see the first three volumes of the History of Nintendo of Florent Gorges (Pix n’Love, 20 euros each). Extremely rich with many exclusive interviews and documents unearthed by the author in Japan, historical research activities scans from Nintendo before the company does not launch the game (volume 1), the Game and Watch (volume 2), and the history of Nes (Volume 3), which includes a very interesting part of the arrival of the console on the French market and the birth of Nintendo France. A fourth volume on the history of the Game Boy is in preparation.
The new “Google phone” will be sold in preview SFR mid-December. It will be the first to include Ice Cream Sandwich, the newest version of Android. Le Figaro was able to take control.
The combat thickens for the iPhone. The Apple phone, which had much to do against the Galaxy S2, now finds itself at Christmas faced another smartphone from Samsung, the Galaxy Nexus. Presented jointly last month by Google and Samsung , the phone will be released in advance first in mid-December at SFR, the operator announced Wednesday. It will be sold from 9.90 euros a square Absolute package (99 euros per month) and from 49.90 euros with other cheaper packages. The iPhone 4S most affordable, with a 16GB storage, is 149 euros sold by SFR.
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus video:
This new mobile, as Le Figaro could try, is interesting in more ways than one. Like its two predecessors, Nexus and the Nexus S, it was designed in close collaboration with Google. It is the first to include Ice Cream Sandwich, version 4.0 of Android. The interface, one of the strengths of the iPhone so far, appears to be much more careful than before. The menus are legible, with a font Roboto recalling the many famous Helvetica. Navigation between applications is nice. It also appreciates the new display customizable widgets, inspired by Honeycomb (Android system for tablets), to highlight their favorite information on the Home screen.
Earnings quality
Faced with the iPhone 4S and his assistant Siri voice , the Galaxy Nexus between several fun features and well thought out. The phone can be unlocked by facial recognition, by presenting just his face. Several tests, including from slightly different angles (three quarters or against low-angle), were inconclusive. The Galaxy Nexus also has settings for advanced photo and video, to make fun or to distort views of faces in real time, which previously required to go through external applications. Both phones can also easily exchange data with the NFC contactless chip (whose interest is also limited). The ability to set a limit of data usage will avoid unpleasant surprises on the invoice.
The grip of the phone is reminiscent of the Galaxy S2. The surface texture of the back, known as honeycomb, has been further improved. The new slightly curved shape is particularly pleasant. The increase in quality between the three “Google phone” is clear and shows a lot of progress Android in three years. The screen of 4.65 inches is largely greater than that of the iPhone (3.5 inches) giving more space to display web pages. But the device is not excessive and is in a pocket. Google has in fact forced the removal of physical buttons (back, home and navigation), replaced by virtual icons, allowing Samsung to save space.
A selection of future
Some choices in the Galaxy Nexus, however unfortunate. Thus, the photo sensor on the back features a 5 megapixel sensor, as against 8 for the Galaxy S2. One model is offered in black, while the S2 also comes in white. As for the screen, even if the pixel density is higher than a Galaxy S2, it was clearly not the brightness of the Galaxy and the new Galaxy S2 Note. During our ownership, we also noticed some slowdowns in the navigation between applications, where a large number of processes were launched. Actual battery life of the battery is still unknown. “A good day without recharging,” says one Samsung.
The Galaxy Nexus Nevertheless choice for fans of the future of Android. Phones designed directly with Google are in fact also the first to benefit from major upgrades of mobile system. SFR is counting on this preview to attract addicts of the system. Customers of other operators will indeed probably wait a few weeks in January before claiming to buy a Galaxy Nexus. Those who are not customers at SFR and want a new Android smartphone this Christmas will not regret to fall back on an S2 Galaxy, very close, which should benefit from an upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich early 2012.
As for the game with the iPhone, it is more than ever matter of taste. At each update, the two systems borrow their best ideas and correct their faults (notifications added in iOS 5, for example). Apple aside, the personal assistant Siri is unparalleled. The media player applications remain superior data synchronization online icloud is more extensive. But while the iPhone remains camped on its extreme simplicity and its original format, Android, still malleable, breaking new ground without fear of appearing a little less refined. The Galaxy Nexus is what is in qu’l a worthy representative.