Oakland Video Game Museum Opens First Public Exhibit Saturday

Oakland's Museum of Art and Digial Entertainment — the MADE, if you're feeling flashy — is finally ready to go public.

The brainchild of long-time game journalist Alex Handy, the MADE was founded in 2008 as a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and curating video games as an artform. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, the museum finally secured a downtown Oakland location this past October.

This Saturday, they're finally ready to open up their first public exhibit, The History of 3D. Featuring a broad selection of games including Star Raider, Wolfenstein 3D, and Super Mario 64, the exhibit will present the industry's long, slow transition into three dimensions, with all the tricks and technological advances that helped fuel the shift.

And if the word "museum" makes you think of stuffy docents and uncomfortable silence, don't sweat it. One of the MADE's core principals is that games should be experienced in the way they were intended, rather than locked away in display cases. In other words, you won't just be watching gaming history unfold, you'll be playing your way through it.

The History of 3D will be open to the public on December 3 from 10 AM to 5 PM at the MADE's downtown Oakland location. The musuem also hosts fighting game tournaments every Tuesday night at 7, as well as game-making classes for kids every Saturday morning at 10.

For more details on the event and ways to lend your support, check out the MADE's official site.