The Sims

"The Starry Night," "The Scream," The Sims. No misreading here. The New York Museum of Modern Art just announced what so many of us already knew: video games are art! This week, MoMA revealed that it acquired 14 video games for its permanent collection, with the intention of adding a total of 40 works in the future.

In a blog post by the museum's senior curator in the Department of Architecture and Design, Paola Antonelli explains how the games are, of course, art, but they're also bastions of intelligent design. "Our criteria, therefore, emphasize not only the visual quality and aesthetic experience of each game, but also the many other aspects — from the elegance of the code to the design of the player's behavior — that pertain to interaction design."

So what games were deemed worthy of the museum's first round of acquisitions? The list starts with classics and continues to more recent hits: Pac-Man, Tetris, Another World, Myst, Sim City 2000, Vib-Ribbon, The Sims, Katamari Damacy, EVE Online, Dwarf Fortress, Portal, flOw, Passage, and Canabalt.

MoMA hopes to add more fan favorites like Pong and Super Mario Bros. over the next several years. While the museum has its criteria for selection, what would yours be? Which games do you think are worthy of a place among the white museum walls?

I've got some good news for you Sims fans out there: this Summer, prepare to kick Farmville to the side and make room for The Sims Social on Facebook. This online version allows you to do all your favorite Sims tricks you know and love from the PC version, but kicks things up a notch in the social department. Start by creating your own Sim, complete with a quirky personality and stylish threads, and then build and decorate your dream house or bachelor pad.

Here's where the "social" shift occurs: your Sims can engage with those that your friends have made. You can now develop and experiment with an array of relationships with your FB friends' Sims, whether they are friendly, romantic, playful, or dramatic. Best part is, it's all free.

Read more about The Sims Social and watch the trailer after the break.

And it's a sweep — The Sims 3 not only took the title for your favorite new video game of 2009, but you favor the original Sims over every other game on the Best of the Decade list!

I'm actually quite surprised that World of Warcraft didn't completely mangle the rest of the options, but I'd have to say that my favorite game of all was Mass Effect for its groundbreaking game play and epic storyline. I'm stoked to see what's next in the Mass Effect series, as well as what Sims game master Will Wright (who also brought us Spore) has up his sleeve for the next decade in simulation games!

Wow, you guys, this was such a close race! In the end, you decided that The Sims 3 was the best new video game of 2009, beating out Super Mario Bros. Wii by the tiniest of margins. The original Sims is also packing some heat on the Best Video Game of the Decade poll (you still have time to vote if you haven't already!), which leads me to believe you guys are into simulation games in a serious way!

Although I enjoyed Uncharted 2 and was surprised that it didn't make more headway in the 2009 poll, you really can't argue with the impact that The Sims has had on our culture — this year included.