Four games were inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame in Rochester, N.Y., on Thursday, May 4, 2017. This undated photo provided by the Strong Museum in Rochester, N.Y., shows the 2018 inductees to the World Video Game Hall of Fame. They are from left, "Final Fantasy VII," "Spacewar!," The World Video Game Hall of Fame revealed the inductees Thursday. The inductees, dubbed the Class of 2018, were chosen from the 12 finalists revealed in March at The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, N.Y., where the hall of fame is housed.

The Strong museum has announced this year's inductees to the World Video Game Hall of Fame -- Spacewar!, John Madden Football, Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy VII. They were selected from 12 finalists that also included Asteroids, Call of Duty, Dance Dance Revolution, Half-Life, King's Quest, Metroid, Minecraft and Ms. Pac-Man. "The four inductees span multiple decades, countries of origin, and gaming platforms, but all have significantly affected the video game industry, popular culture, and society in general," said The Strong museum in a statement. Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy VII were finalists last year. The four inductees will be featured in a permanent display at the museum.

Twelve video games were announced as finalists to be inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. The 2017 inductees into World Video Game Hall of Fame are from top left, "Pokemon Red and Green," "Street Fighter II," "Donkey Kong" and "Halo: Combat Evolved." The inductees were announced Thursday, May 4, 2017, at The Strong museum in Rochester, N.Y. The inductees were announced Thursday at The Strong museum. They were selected from 12 finalists that were announced in March.

Video games are a unique, nascent art form and it makes sense to preserve them. While efforts by the Internet Archive have been underway for a while, it hasn't been a priority for the gaming industry to archive their own products. Most archival projects happen thanks to the unpaid efforts of super fans bent on saving their beloved gaming experiences. Today, though, The Strong Museum, also known as the National Museum of Play, announced that Scott Adams, the developer behind 1978's text adventure game Adventureland, has donated a ton of materials from his long career in the industry. Adams' donation includes some of the code for the earliest commercially available computer games, along with printed source code, promotional materials, photographs, magazines, comic books and other documentation from Adventure International, the company Adam's co-funded.

In this March 16, 2017 photo provided by The Strong museum, the 12 finalists for induction this year into The Strong museum's World Video Game Hall of Fame are pictured at the museum in Rochester, New York. The finalists, from left, are: top row, "Microsoft Windows Solitaire," "Myst," "Mortal Kombat," "Donkey Kong,'' center, "Final Fantasy VII,'' "Street Fighter II," bottom row, ''Halo: Combat Evolved,'' "Resident Evil," "Portal," "Pokemon Red and Green," "Wii Sports" and "Tomb Raider." The 2017 class will be announced May 4. (Bethany Mosher/The Strong via AP In this March 16, 2017 photo provided by The Strong museum, the 12 finalists for induction this year into The Strong museum's World Video Game Hall of Fame are pictured at the museum in Rochester, New York. The finalists, from left, are: top row, "Microsoft Windows Solitaire," "Myst," "Mortal Kombat," "Donkey Kong,'' center, "Final Fantasy VII,'' "Street Fighter II," bottom row, ''Halo: Combat Evolved,'' "Resident Evil," "Portal," "Pokemon Red and Green," "Wii Sports" and "Tomb Raider." The 2017 class will be announced May 4. (Bethany Mosher/The Strong via AP The hall of fame at The Strong museum in Rochester said Tuesday that 12 video games are under consideration for induction in May.

In this March 16, 2017 photo provided by The Strong museum, the 12 finalists for induction this year into The Strong museum's World Video Game Hall of Fame are pictured at the museum in Rochester, New York. The finalists, from left, are: top row, "Microsoft Windows Solitaire," "Myst," "Mortal Kombat," "Donkey Kong,'' center, "Final Fantasy VII,'' "Street Fighter II," bottom row, ''Halo: Combat Evolved,'' "Resident Evil," "Portal," "Pokemon Red and Green," "Wii Sports" and "Tomb Raider." The 2017 class will be announced May 4. (Bethany Mosher/The Strong via AP The Associated Press

A video game that allowed players to zap marching aliens with dot lasers and another that gave them flamethrowers and put them in the driver's seat in a violent 3-D world are among six games inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. 'Space Invaders' and'Grand Theft Auto III,' along with'The Oregon Trail,' ''Sonic the Hedgehog,' ''The Legend of Zelda' and'The Sims,' were honoured Thursday for their influence on gaming and pop culture at the hall inside The Strong museum in Rochester. 'Space Invaders' wasn't the first shooter game when it was introduced in Japan in 1978, but it spurred many imitators and a craze for arcade games, said Jeremy Saucier, assistant director of The Strong's International Center for the History of Electronic Games. In this April 21, 2016 photo provided by The Strong museum in Rochester, N.Y., the 2016 inductees to the World Video Game Hall of Fame are displayed. From top left, clockwise, are'Grand Theft Auto III,' 'Space Invaders,' 'Sonic the Hedgehog,' 'The Sims,' 'The Legend of Zelda,' and'The Oregon Trail.'