Aussie gaming exhibition to feature Kojima, Schafer, and more

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) in Melbourne has announced a new list of international game developers that will form part of its Game Masters exhibition later this year.

Announced last October, the interactive exhibition will showcase the work of celebrated game designers from Australia and overseas through a combination of concept art, interviews, and more than 125 playable games from the arcade era through to new releases.

Peter Molyneux will open Game Masters in Melbourne in June.

The exhibition will profile more than 30 game designers who have made "a significant and ongoing impact in the field," including pioneering designers from the arcade era, like Masanobu Endō (Xevious, 1982), Toru Iwatani (Pac-Man, 1980), Ed Logg (Asteroids, 1979), and Tomohiro Nishikado (Space Invaders, 1978).

Some of the recently announced contemporary developers who will also make up part of the exhibition include: Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid, 1998), Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Child of Eden, 2011), Peter Molyneux (Populous, 1989, Fable series), Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy (Rock Band, 2007), Tim Schafer (Psychonauts, 2005), Warren Spector (Disney's Epic Mickey, 2010), Yu Suzuki (Hang On, 1983), Fumito Ueda (Ico, 2001, Shadow of the Colossus, 2005), and Will Wright (SimCity, 1989).

Game Masters will also pay tribute to independent game designers and studios, such as Jonathan Blow (Braid, 2008), Eric Chahi (Another World, 1991), Jakub Dvorsky (Machinarium, 2009), Firemint (Flight Control, 2009), Halfbrick (Fruit Ninja, 2010), Introversion (Darwinia, 2005), Masaya Matsuura (PaRappa the Rapper, 1996), Marcus Persson (Minecraft, 2011), and Thatgamecompany (Flower, 2009, Journey, 2012).

The exhibition will run for four months from the end of June and will be supplemented by a series of public programs, including film and education components.

The ACMI has announced that Lionhead founder Peter Molyneux will be the first international guest who will attend the world premiere of the exhibition and will be participating in a series of public programs and industry events that have yet to be announced. Molyneux recently quit Lionhead to form his own independent outfit, 22 Cans.

ACMI also revealed that it will soon announce a digital program concurrent to the exhibition, incorporating online resources and a newly commissioned mobile game.

Game Masters will open at ACMI on June 28 and run through to October 28, 2012.