darkSpyro

so, I recently watched an editorial by nostalgia critic discussing if video games can be art, and I was wondering what you guys think about this subject.

My take:

I say video games can be art, but it's opinion based. I see artistic games to have great story, graphics, atmosphere, and/or emotion. but like works of art, there are different views at what is good and what's not. for example, I see a game like bioshock infinite or the walking dead as a very artistic game because they envelop you in its great story, graphics, etc, but I don't consider a game like Mario or sonic to be very artistic because the stories aren't as involved. not to say I hate these franchises, I love them, I just say they aren't to the standards of being artistic. heck, I can even say my favorite game, cave story, isn't nearly as artistic as the walking dead, because I wasn't enveloped in cave story as I was the walking dead.

let's put it this way: let's say okami is the Mona Lisa and shadow of the colossus is the Scream. a person could say they think okami(mona lisa) is artistic, but shadow of the colossus(the scream) is not as artistic, but someone else could think shadow of the colossus is more artistic than okami.

everyone has their opinions on what is artistic and what is not, just like how everyone has different views on what games are good and what games aren't. make sense?

I think they can be art, just not all of them are. Mother 3 and shadow of the colossus come to mind as top examples for me, while something like superman64 does not. I feel the same about movies and the like too

Sure they can be art. Although it seems artistic games are being extremely underrated, seeing as how most gamers just like to shoot stuff. FPS games can be artistic, the same way any other game can be, but the big FPS franchises like CoD seem to focus more on gameplay than the story, which is understandable in that type of game. I have heard that some CoD games have had great storylines, and I don't doubt that, but when you compare one of CoD's storylines to the walking dead, you immediately know which story gets the player more enveloped.

I have also seen this video and I agreed.
Ha, he danced in his underwear

yeah i think it can be a form of art. I know some games are known only for their certain art style. It can be further broken down into categories like visual, audio, story, etc. A game that comes to mind for it's visual art is Asura's Wrath. It got decent reviews and the demo was pretty cool so i picked it up and it was definitively a very unique visual art style. Worth picking up in my opinion. My only issue was that once u beat the game, the REAL ending is in the dlc -.- anyways a game that i have noticed has been artistic with its soundtrack has been the halo series.

In terms of story people say the series struggles and i agree it can be a bit difficult to follow but they have this epic unique music to go along with the story so even if u dont know exactly why you are doing something you still know that its important just cause of the soundtrack. I think that over the years halo has become very distinguishable with its music. I remember sitting at my friends house and just by hearing from her brothers bedroom i could tell which level of which halo game he was playing.

For story, I'd say borderlands 2 was good. They already have a distinct art style but in two they wove together an excellent story. No other game that i have played has actually me feel sad during important parts. The game is packed with so much humor but at the same time can go from hilarious to heartbreaking in seconds especially with how they tie in the previous game. I remember characters from the last game who die in the 2nd and i was like "awww but i spent hours playing as them in the first game" moments like that make great stories and i'll b honest at the end of the latest dlc i almost shed a tear. So i mean each game is artistic in their own ways, its just that some are more apparent than others and some are more artistically focused.

I don't see why not.
Through the games that I've played I see a sense of art.

All games are art.
Opinions are different on every person.
Also the quality of art varies.

Games are art, I don't know why non-gamers would think otherwise.

Games are art, but these games that say "we are all art, like us because we are art" are trying too hard. By definition, a video game can be "art" because of the time/effort/creativity gone into it.

Yep. Even the crappy ones like Superman 64 can be classified as art in a way.

I think at least Crysis series is also art.

Yes, specially if the videogame companies doesn't think about money ALL the time, Yeah I know money is important, but not too much (ACTIVISION...)

Quote: SamXala

Yes, specially if the videogame companies doesn't think about money ALL the time, Yeah I know money is important, but not too much (ACTIVISION...)

Money makes the world go round.

Quote: SamXala

Yes, specially if the videogame companies doesn't think about money ALL the time, Yeah I know money is important, but not too much (ACTIVISION...)

You are naive if you don't think that all video game developers, who are under any big publisher, do it for the money.

Quote: bionicle2809

Quote: SamXala

Yes, specially if the videogame companies doesn't think about money ALL the time, Yeah I know money is important, but not too much (ACTIVISION...)

You are naive if you don't think that all video game developers, who are under any big publisher, do it for the money.

I think he's probably saying that because the company seems to be forever churning out the same formula all the time, it was a surprising shock when they decided to kill off Guitar Hero, lol.

But I do see your point as well.

I wouldn't mind so much if the developer/publishers actually tried to do something different for the game every year, or gave it a rest for a few years to work on something new.

So my argument is different, it's not about them making the money, it's about them churning out the same thing.

Now admittedly, Skylanders is a brand new idea, maybe they dropped Guitar Hero to make room for this instead?
BUT, the way they went about it, I didn't like too much, but that is personal preference. Anyway, at least with every sequel they've done on that franchise, they've tried to change it in some way, so I can sort of appreciate it for that, at least.

Definitely.

I can list a few:
Super Mario Galaxy for how much quality.
I agree with Big Green for Mother 3 and SotC.
Okami has an artistic artstyle.

Yes, video games can definitely be art. Some I can list include Half Life 2, Borderlands, Mario, Sonic, Shadow of the Collosus, Portal, The Walking Dead, Limbo, Dust: An Elysian Tale, Bastion, Braid, and Quantum Conundrum. Also there are some games not out yet that I can think of that are art, Knack, Project Spark, and Sunset Overdrive.

Now here's another thing, can music be art? They do call them artists after all.

Art is all about expression and interpretation. It invokes feelings within the beholder, and makes them think about things, and can influence one's perception of the world around them. Video games do all of these things. While people will always debate over whether or not big names like Mario, Sonic, Call of Duty, Megaman, etc, are art, there are many games that are indefinitely thought provoking, or are made for such a purpose. Perfect examples of these are Journey, Catherine, Shadow of the Colossus, Thomas Was Alone, and Metal Gear Solid.