When the Smithsonian American Art Museum opened voting for their upcoming Art of Video Games exhibit earlier this year, the resultant frenzy from gamers wanting to make sure their own personal Best Game EVAR was among the chosen crashed the institute's servers. The winning list of games got revealed back in April and now the Smithsonian's hoping to harness all of that fan-thusiasm to help insert some credit into the TAOVG exhibit.
As detailed in a recent e-mail, an initiative from the museum will be giving folks the opportunity to have their name in the exhibit if you donate to the museum. A donation of ten American dollars gets you on the list and the more you donate, the bigger your name appears.
The museum's also offered up a sneak peek at some of the art that will be on display when The Art of Video Games opens next March. Flowery, explode-y concept art from Metal Gear Solid 4 and what looks like a hand-drawn illustration from the development of Sonic and Knuckles (above) will be among the 80 works on view.
Before you scoff at TAOVG's high score list as an attempt for the Smithsonian to get your monies, remember this, kids: It's a big deal to be admitted into the Smithsonian, which houses cultural artifacts ranging from Archie Bunker's chair from All in the Family to Benjamin Franklin's walking stick (which, little-known fact, had a +5 electrical stun area attack). So, unless your place in the history books is assured with a capital A, opening up your wallet might be the best way to get your given name into those hallowed halls.
The Art of Video Games Credits [Smithsonian American Art Museum]
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