The Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, New York, has named the first six games to its new World Video Game Hall of Fame.

Pong, Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros., Tetris, Doom, and World of Warcraft were chosen for inclusion by an advisory committee of about two dozen journalists, scholars, and game historians. The goal was to choose games "that have enjoyed popularity over a sustained period and have exerted influence on the video game industry or on popular culture and society in general," according to a statement from the museum, which also houses the International Center for the History of Electronic Games.

The first six inductees were chosen from among 15 finalists chosen in April by curators, educators, and historians at the museum from thousands of public nominations. Each advisory committee member chose five of the 15 finalists for induction, and votes were tabulated by a weighted count.

Strong spokesperson Shane Rhinewald wasn't able to share the individual vote counts for the finalists, but he noted that some of the finalists that didn't make the cut are likely to be included in next year's nominees. "There were some very deserving games that did not make it this year," he said. "There was a high level of competition with the first class, as one can imagine." That's good news for backers of finalists like The Legend of Zelda, Space Invaders, Sonic the Hedgehog, and The Sims, which didn't make it in this year.

The inductees were announced at a ceremony at the museum this morning. All will be included in playable form in the museum's eGameRevolution exhibit, alongside "supporting artifacts and documents such as marketing materials and items from the museum’s archival collections."