Tag: Shacknews

It’s December, and that means the editors at Shacknews are back with yet another batch of inductees for the Shacknews Hall of Fame.

The Shacknews Hall of Fame operates on a 25-year eligibility window, so any game released before or during 1998 is eligible to be enshrined in the outlet’s pantheon of play. The Class of 2023 is the third group of games selected by the site’s editors, and with most of the obvious titles from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s already accounted for, the majority of this year’s inductees were originally released between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 1998 (though one selection, Mario Party, didn’t make it to the US until February 1999).

Among the 38 new additions to the Shacknews Hall of Fame are Half-Life and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the twin titans of 1998 that are perennially at the top of Best Games lists from across the decades. A lot of people have gone to bat for 2023 as one of the best years ever for games, but that sentiment was also in the air during 1998, and those two games are far from alone in the Class of 2023.

Heavy hitters such as Metal Gear Solid, Pokemon Red and Blue, Resident Evil 2, and StarCraft are well represented, as are fan favorites like Banjo-Kazooie, Final Fantasy Tactics, The House of the Dead, and Thief: The Dark Project.

Aside from all this flash and substance, the editors also found some well-deserved space for Nokia’s Snake in the Shacknews Hall of Fame.

All of the titles included in the Shacknews Hall of Fame’s Class of 2023 will be added to the Video Game Canon as part of next year’s update.

The Council of the Old, better known as the editorial team at Shacknews, has announced the latest inductees into the Shacknews Hall of Fame.

The Shacknews Hall of Fame was created in 2021 to honor “the creators, the platforms, the technology, the publications, and the games that have influenced the direction of our industry and shaped our favorite hobby.” Like any good Best Games list, last year’s wide-ranging inaugural class (comprised of more than 100 titles in total) featured many beloved favorites alongside a few more obscure surprises. The Class of 2022 has blown the doors open even wider, with 57 additional titles, all released before May 31, 1998.

As you might expect, multiple games from the heyday of the Sony PlayStation and Nintendo 64 can be found amongst the more than four dozen selections. The PlayStation faithful will be pleased to see that Bushido Blade, Final Fantasy VII, Gran Turismo, Grand Theft Auto, and PaRappa the Rapper all made the cut. The Nintendo 64 was famous for its multiplayer games, and they’re now well-represented in the Shacknews Hall of Fame by GoldenEye 007, Mario Kart 64, Star Fox 64, and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter.

You also don’t have to look very far to find a few PC titles in the Class of 2022, including Command & Conquer: Red Alert, Fallout, and Quake II.

An eclectic group of people were also inducted into the Shacknews Hall of Fame this year. There’s a quintet of Mario actors (“Captain” Lou Albano, Danny Wells, Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, and Charles Martinet), a few athletes (John Madden and Ivan “Ironman” Stewart, a trio of Midway men (Ed Boon, John Tobias, and Dan Forden), and the unmatched Raul Julia.

All of the games included in the Shacknews Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022 will be added to the Video Game Canon in a future update.

GameSpot and IGN changed the video game media landscape after they debuted in 1996, but did you know there’s another site celebrating a quarter-century on the journalistic front lines this year?

Shacknews began life as a Quake fansite before growing into a full-service news portal and file directory in the early 2000s. The site was briefly owned by GameFly a decade ago and is best-known today as the destination for David L. Craddock’s fantastic Long Reads series. I’m guessing this newfound focus on game history served the editorial team well when they launched the Shacknews Hall of Fame last week.

Honoring not just games, the Shacknews Hall of Fame also exists to shine a spotlight on the creators, platforms, technology, and publications that built the game industry into what it is today:

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