Game Developers Conference 2012 organizers have announced a special exhibition open to all GDC 2012 attendees, showcasing the history of 3D graphics in games, from the Vectrex through N64 to PC and beyond.
The exhibition, organized by the Bay Area-based Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment, will take in GDC's newly-added third exhibition space: the South Hall's Esplanade Ballroom. It will take place alongside the GDC Play Pavilion, which will allow select emerging market or smaller developers to display their games to distributors, publishers, press, and GDC attendees as a whole.
The 'History Of 3D Games' exhibit includes original games and hardware spanning titles from Web Warp for the Vectrex vector graphics-based console and Star Raiders for the Atari 5200, spanning history that includes Virtua Racing for the Saturn, Alone In The Dark for the 3DO, and even Red Alarm for Nintendo's Virtual Boy.
A particular highlight is a collection of early PC and Mac titles running on suitable hardware, including Catacombs 3D, Ultima Underworld, and Alpha Waves for the PC, and games including The Colony, Wolfenstein 3D, Pathways Into Darkness, Doom, Descent and Quake for the Mac.
Informative cards displayed with each game, put together by the Oakland-based game preservation non-profit, put each game into context by explaining their history and significance.
The MADE is dedicated to the collection and preservation of video game history which provides free programming classes for kids, holds social events, and display a modest but varying collection of antique and relevant artifacts. The MADE is seeking donations and other help from GDC attendees.
The GDC Play hall will be open to all GDC attendees as part of the San Francisco-based Moscone Center show from Tuesday, March 6th to Thursday, March 8th. More information about the event - for which early registration is only open until February 2nd -- is available at its official website.
