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Video games have come a long way. baby, a long way, actually. And luckily for us gamers, the image of the suspender nerd who has to lower the controller every few seconds to be able to get the duct-taped glasses back up his nose has faded. Because now even the cool, bristly-necked kids are playing games, as well as the loyal crowd that has been playing them since Battlezone and Frogger hit the arcades, making it a multi-million dollar company.
But sadly, as with any relatively new form of entertainment, as games become more popular as a genre, naysayers arrive who want to push it down on their totem. And the most recent attacker (passively, of course) of this upward movement is Roger Ebert, whom gamers have been crying over since he said video games will never be art.
He claims that video games will never be as valuable as movies.
Hi UM! Wasn’t the same said about the movies when THEY first appeared on the scene compared to the books? I’m sure some prissy English guy with lamb chops that got out of control and fell to his ankles probably said something along the lines of, “That vulgar new cowboy movie all those degenerates are drooling over on Nickelodeon can’t compare to the wit and grace of Mr. Dickens.
The movies had to earn the respect of critics, just as the books probably earned the respect of some ancient Egyptians who were fine and elegant with their murals of eyeballs and oddly shaped snake deals expressing the utmost love for the Pharaoh.
And while the games, this player must admit, have been lacking in the story department, leading one to believe that they are not art but rather loud explosions and prostitute killings, there is hope.
The recent game Shadow of the Colussus is, if not art, a beautiful representation of what art can be. In it, you roam across vast pastoral plains on horseback and confront beasts of epic proportions, all in the name of rescuing your love from her sleepy slumber (she’s actually dead).
Your only indication of who your next enemy will be is a seemingly heavenly voice from heaven speaking in an awkward way that sounds like someone is playing a Yanni record backwards.
The scenery, music, story, and character development (the protagonist, Wander, loses another part of himself with each majestic monster that he meticulously manipulates) are as artistic as something you’d be familiar with seeing in a Norwegian epic, and that truly is an exciting experience that everyone should embrace.
And like many other fancy games like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy, and other great titles, Shadow of the Colossus IS true art, and if anyone can drag Mr. Ebert away from seeing Mean Streets for the umpteenth time, maybe he can figure it out for him. same.
Video games, like books, like movies, like, I don’t know, anime, will be accepted in time, just wait. As long as there are examples like Shadow of the Colossus to power it up, they will eventually arrive in time.
