Photo used under a Creative Commons license with Yannick Croissant.

Here’s something nifty: the Smithsonian American Art Museum is planning on hosting an exhibit devoted to The Art of Video Games, and it needs gamers’ help to piece it together.

The exhibition, curated by chief gaming officer at Sun Microsystems and PastPixels.com founder Chris Melissinos, will supposedly be “the first to explore the 40-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium, with a focus on striking visual effects and the creative use of new technologies.” To involve the public, Melissinos and the museum is asking the public to vote on 80 games from a pool of 240 that they would like to see featured. The choices are divided by era, game type and platform and range from Atari to Playstation, Space Invaders to Call of Duty, and, if nothing else, it’s a fun way to fulfill your daily requirement of nostalgia.

You can vote here; results will be announced in May. (Wait — it’s not too late to lodge a write-in campaign for the The Great Gatsby, is it?) The exhibit is scheduled to open on March 16, 2012.