The Smithsonian American Art Museum invited the public to help select the video games that will be included in its upcoming exhibition "The Art of Video Games," which opens in Washington, D.C., March 16, 2012. The exhibition is one of the first to explore the 40-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium, with a focus on striking visual effects and the creative use of new technologies.

Voting took place between Feb. 14 and April 17 of this year. The website recorded more than 3.7 million votes from 119,000 people in 175 countries. A list of the winning 80 games across 20 gaming systems is available online, http://americanart.si.edu/winninggames, and is organized by era, game type and platform. The 80 games will be displayed in the exhibition as screen shots and short video clips.

In addition to these 80 games, the exhibition will feature five games for visitors to play for a few minutes, to gain some feel for the interactivity-Pac-Man, Super Mario Brothers, The Secret of Monkey Island, Myst, and World of Warcraft.

An archived webcast with the exhibition’s curator Chris Melissinos, founder of Past Pixels and collector of video games and gaming systems, and exhibition coordinator Georgina Goodlander is online, http://americanart.si.edu/calendar/lectures/archive/2011/taovg/.