video games

so do you think videogames will one day be seen as art?

if you compare the ways motion pictures developed over time to the current state of video games, edison's unveiling of the first commercial motion picture devices in the 1890s could probably be compared to the release of pong in bars in the 1970s.

it wasn't until around 1940 that movies like citizen kane and gone with the wind advanced film from mere fancy into literary status. so i don't see why, in 20 or so years, the video game medium couldn't mature enough to take that same step. or even sooner.

what do you think?

I think they already are. In the past few years its been known that video games are a driving force in technologies of interactivity, graphics and animation, and story telling.

With advances in memory and computing speeds, once limited images are flourishing, with cut scenes or pure CGI movies (and gameplay graphics catching up).

The Final Fantasy series starting at FFVII being prime examples.

Computer graphics design is definatly art. The animation and layout of a video game takes as much imagination to create just like you would a painting or a sketch or any other art form. Graphics are just another media to express art.

Final Fantasy, Zelda, Fatal Frame...

Art -
1. Human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature.

a. The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty, specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium.
b. The study of these activities.
c. The product of these activities; human works of beauty considered as a group.

games are art my friend.

while videogames may be seen as art, they still have a long way to go before reaching the level that movies have come to with things like "the godfather" and such. there are some damn good games out there, don't get me wrong, but nothing that's just completely taken the world by storm yet and really made everyone think twice about videogames as a medium.

the final fantasy games have good stories and they're fun to play, but i don't think their fantasy elements hold a candle to the original star wars trilogy, for example.

plus, you know, games are more than just graphics. i don't think games will have reached their full potential until utilizing gameplay, graphics, and whatever else they may come up with in the future--storyline and character development is a nice thing to have in some games, but i don't think it's necessary to make a great game. just look at tetris. one of the best games ever created in my opinion, without all the fancy technological advancements and such. so comparing games to movies may not be the best thing for me to do here, since they're both two completely different things.

i would agree that videogames are definitely art, but i think the medium is still virtually in its infancy as far as where it will truly be recognized as such.

Untill all media converges to an integrated virtual reality, they will all be in developmental stages.

Video games of higher sophistication aren't as universal of a medium as say movies. They require more time and effort

with the small introduction of new gen consoles like the Nintendo DS and PSP it is clear that games still have a very long way to go before they reach their full potential.

in the next few years with the release of the PS3, XBOX 360, and Nintendo's Revolution we will see much more of this convergence. Japan already views games with much higher admiration than the rest of the world and in the very near future the USA, Europe and possibly China will catch up.

while paintings, drawings ect. are 2-D, the purpose is always to evoke emotion and thought... this is the purpose of all art. 3-D pieces such as sculpting and pottery still cause us to feel a certain way, whether it pleases or annoys us, some sort of emotion is still obtained.

video games can more closely be compared to 4-D art which is in itself still in its infancey compared to the previously mentioned forms. the "fourth dimension" when referring to art, is of course time. the element of time allows for the viewer to connect on a much more personal level in my opinion. i believe at some point in the future when technology has blended more intensely and evenly within culture, video games - or something quite similar - will be some of the most powerful art pieces humanity has ever seen.

some people will still simply never "get" video games however. just as people never "get" Jackson Pollock or Vincent van Gogh. everyone has different tastes.