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From March 16, 2012 until September 9, 2012, the US's popular Smithsonian museum will be showcasing something patrons aren't used to seeing in such an environment: video games. Sure, we've seen video game art exhibitions before, but the Smithsonian exhibit will attempt to be "the first to examine comprehensively the evolution of video games themselves as an artistic medium."

The exhibit, The Art of Video Games, will feature game footage, video interviews with artists and game developers, a history of game consoles and even a few consoles for visitors to play. The museum will also welcome suggestions from attendees and tap Chris Melissinos as guest curator for the exhibit. Our first suggestion for the Smithsonian: hit up Krix for some of his amazing props.

[Thanks, MowDownJoe]

New Hampshire may be synonymous with annual biker rallies and kick starting Presidential primaries, but in our industry it's known as the mecca for classic video games. FunSpot, home of the American Classic Arcade Museum, sits comfortably near Laconia, New Hampshire, a small town that welcomes families looking for a wholesome adventure away from home -- and droves of gaming enthusiasts, of course.

The American Classic Arcade Museum is a non-profit organization committed to the promotion and preservation of coin-operated games and their associated history. The museum acts as the first floor to the three-storey mecca called FunSpot, established in 1952 by Bob Lawton and named "Largest Arcade in the World" by Guinness World Records in 2008. We recently had an opportunity to tour the giant complex, which sports a bingo hall, mini-golf, 20 lanes of 10-pin bowling, and over 300 arcade machines ranging from the first coin-op to modern day Daytona racers.

Check out the highlights of our visit after the break, and make it a point to stop by the place if you're ever in Laconia. It's the only safe way to travel back in time.

We'd wager that the first time the gaming community collectively booted up Running With Scissors' Gary Coleman-rich urination sim, Postal 2, we all shared the same thought: that this game absolutely needs to be showcased in some sort of museum commemorating mankind's greatest accomplishments. If memory serves, many of the title's reviews included similar sentiments.

Finally, that observation is being realized. Sweden's Nobel Museum, whose galleries are littered with installations denoting the achievements of Nobel laureates (as well as the life of the prize's progenitor, Alfred Nobel), will be including Postal 2 in a new exhibit titled "Freedom of Speech: How Free is Free?" The game will be included in a section that focuses on censorship in the video game industry. We're really happy such an exhibit exists; we just wish they'd picked a ... well, a good controversial game.

The Dana Centre, part of the Science Museum in London, will host an event on the 26th called "Play Away the Calories" which is centered around a certain exercise-based game. That's right: Super Team Games Wii Fit. Exercise expert Tim Cable will speak and will also measure calories burned during Wii Play sessions versus other exercises, and versus normal video games. Other speakers will discuss the obesity problem and the history of health-conscious gaming. Attendees will also get a chance to step onto the Balance Board and try out Wii Fit.

We think we can already predict favorable results for the experiment, thanks to Nintendo's sponsorship of the event. It still sounds like an interesting exhibit, and it's at least an opportunity to play Wii Fit if you happen to be in town.

Going to the science museum? Boring. Going to the science museum to play video games? Excellent! At least that's what we took away from an Orlando Sentinel article on The Orlando Science Center's third annual Otronicon gaming event.

The conference, which just closed to the public, brought in a record 3,000 game players on Saturday as part of an expected 18,000 attendees total. The throng did more than just play over 100 displayed games, though -- they attended exhibits focused on the therapeutic benefits of gaming, workshops on game development and even performances by the Orlando Magic dancers (the last of which we can only assume was somehow game-related).

Though the event is now closed to the public, some lucky youngsters will get to attend school field trips to the event over the next few days, which makes us extremely jealous. The best field trip we took in grade school was to the box factory. Or was that The Simpsons? We can't remember, honestly.

CONFIRMED: Namco Museum Remix continues to be insane. Not that we expected them to, but Namco did not go back and change Galaga back to regular Galaga. We are still living in a world where a description of Galaga can include the phrase "Pac-Man rolls on a tube in outer space."

This is the "new" Galaga in which, instead of shooting from a ship at the bottom of the screen, you shoot the alien ships by pointing and shooting at them with the Wiimote, shooting-gallery style, and you can also use the analog stick to make Pac-Man jump.

Rally-X was still Rally-X, but with speed boosting, which seems like an okay addition. These were still the only two playable games, so we'll have to wait to see how Namco is ruining updating the rest of their classics.

We've seen countless releases of the Namco Museum collections over the years. We remember feeling quite special about the Playstation versions-- they were the real versions of real arcade games! At home! But now the Namco Museum series is, itself, old. How old?

Valkyrie no Densetsu (1989) was eight years old when it was released on Namco Museum Vol. 5. The original Namco Museum Playstation game is eleven years old. In other words, Namco Museum is now older, in relative terms, than a game that was old enough for Namco Museum.

Speaking of the Playstation editions, the new Namco Museum DS has something not seen since those days: an actual museum mode, in the form of a trophy collection and music player, as well as scanned instructions and flyers.

Relatively newer features include bottom-screen maps and hints for Galaga (?), Xevious, and The Tower of Druaga. Of course, the most exciting relatively-new thing is Pac-Man Vs., which, now that it won't require so much of a financial outlay, we may actually try with another person.

Kohler also played Rally-X, which was basically a 3D remake of the original arcade game (which itself is basically Pac-Man). While Galaga is rife with Wiimote integration, Rally-X is more staid and relies on the analog stick and shoulder buttons.

The major complaint about Namco's Museum series of retro compilations is that they're just too faithful to their arcade counterparts. People don't want exact arcade translations anymore, they want games remade unrecognizably in 3D! They want Pac-Man randomly inserted into every game!

At least, that seems to be Namco Bandai's thinking. Either that or they weren't sure how else to rerelease games they're already selling on the Virtual Console. The result is Namco Museum Remix, a set of Namco classics, now with more waggle, depth, and Pac! The remixed games include Galaga, Pac-Motos, Rally-X, Gator Panic, and Pac 'n Roll, which is apparently a classic now despite not even being two years old. For that matter, Gator Panic seems to be based on a cell phone game which is itself based on the Whack-a-Mole like redemption game, and we have no idea what Pac-Motos was originally. Interesting what passes for "classics" these days!

In addition to the remixes, the collection includes Cutie Q, Dig Dug, Galaxian, Gaplus, Mappy, Pac & Pal, Pac-Mania, Super Pac-Man, and Xevious. We poke fun at Namco for selling the same games over and over again, but this is an okay selection of somewhat less common stuff! Sorry to everyone who bought NES Xevious on the Virtual Console.

Check out our gallery of screens from the remixed games. Some are faithful, like Rally-X, and others are completely incomprehensible, like the image at the top of this post, which is supposed to be Galaga.

Gallery: Namco Museum Remix

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During those short six days that one could just walk up to and check out the Nintendo Museum, given that this one individual lived in Osaka, Japan, one such lucky attendee took some video of his undoubtedly fun time spent within the museum. He even brushes shoulders (perhaps quite literally) with one of Nintendo's head honchos. We won't ruin who it is, because you really need to see this video for yourself.

Check it out past the post break.

Anyone who has gone near the Hankyu Department Store in Osaka, Japan recently might have noticed something strange. See, the store held a six-day "Nintendo Museum" as part of its celebration of being in business for 100 years. Of course, people showed up by the boatload to the museum event, both young and old, causing us to be filled with great anger towards our HQ right now (why can't it be in Japan?!). Then again, it's probably best that we didn't attend, because we're not sure how much jail time one would serve for trying to run out of the store with arms full of Game & Watch handhelds, but we're sure it's definitely enough time in the slammer.

See also:

• Game and Watch DS mod
• Game & Watch collection previewed

Think you're a hardcore Nintendo fan? Prove it. Book a plane ticket to Osaka, Japan, then beat cheeks to the Hankyu Department Store to see its "Nintendo Museum" exhibit. Also, create a time machine, because it's over.

Don't have the cash for the plane ticket? On the outs with Doc Brown? Thankfully, 1UP was on hand to allow you to vicariously nerd out.

Checking out the piece may also help you build a little geek cred, too. The next time your buddy tries to impress the moderately cute girl in the Zelda T-shirt at Hot Topic by telling her that Nintendo started as a playing card company, imagine referencing "Chiritori, the remote-controlled mini-vacuum cleaner." Oooh ... sick burn.

We've talked a little about incorporating the bevy of features available in current games, and we've discussed the idea of the DS as the next-generation book, but we haven't spent much time talking about something that is quite often mentioned in tandem with the DS: all of the non-gaming-related possibilities. We've seen some of this, but the phenomenon has been largely exclusive to Japan. The DS has been used in museums, and a number of language-training edutainment titles have been designed for the system. So our question today is: what other creative, non-gaming uses (besides the browser) could you see for the DS, and is it something you'd really go for? Certainly homebrew fills some of those possibilities, but we know a lot of you aren't into that (for various reasons). So if you had to spend money on it, would you use the DS in other capacities?

Not for the first time, the DS is helping out at museums in Japan by offering patrons a chance to hold fine art in their hands. This time, visitors to the M.C. Escher show at Shibuya's Bunkamura entertainment complex were handed customized DS Lites that offered interactive content only a touch away. The DS content included floor maps, audio tours, and actual reproductions of the artworks themselves, so that patrons could zoom in for the fine details. Escher's unusual works probably don't need any help when it comes to being interesting, but the inclusion of a DS would certainly make any art exhibit more fun -- and more personalized, which is something trips to the museum often lack.

Are games art? Sony wants you to think so. They've commissioned a new project that highlight PSP players as pieces of art. Seriously. "Six students from Design Products, Industrial Design Engineering and Interaction Design at the Royal College of Art have designed a landscape of concept furniture derived from the statue-like forms of people sitting, standing or leaning against walls engaged in playing the PlayStation Portable (PSP)."

How do you play? Do you look like you belong in a museum?

[Via PSP Vault]