OK, I printed off this entire thread sometime last week, and have been reading it on my tube journeys, all-too-aware that I probably shouldn't get into the debate when I'm at work. Great thread guys, the level of debate here is superb.
I kind of lean towards Ginger's view of the situation: VGs are not yet classed as art, but probably will be one day, and then people will look back on some of these games we are mentioning and say that they were early examples of videogames as art. A couple I'd like to mention for consideration:
Rez - Dreamcast game, one of the most bizarre I've ever played, but it looked beautiful and provided a uniquely different approach to gaming.
Shenmue 1 & 2 - this one was certainly guilty of taking elements from movies, but it did it so well that things haven't been quite the same since - plenty of games owe this one a debt. Part of its appeal for me was that I instantly became invested in the characters. It's been nearly 5 years since I finished it, and I still want to know what happens next.
WarioWare - If Tetris is art, then this is postmodern art, since it plays on the fact that many of the people playing it have grown up with videogames - it's the most self-referential game ever. It also provided a totally new way of looking at our relationship with games. I love every iteration of Wario Ware - it is a great franchise.
I'd agree that Ico deserves some consideration.
Vib-Ribbon - PS1 game where the level design was based on music CDs which you played through the playstation itself. I only got to play this a couple of times, but all I can say is.....it
felt like art
Somebody mentioned that Flash games are not art. I suspect that person has never played
Line Rider.....
Magic wrote:Note, these are all Playstation games BTW... eh, titgirl.
LOL - I knew my ears were burning for a reason! Yup playstation is a good console, no doubt - that's why I own one. Never understood why anyone would pledge their allegiance to just one - what about you?
