Are Videogames Art?

[Reasonable]

soulsamurai said:
Video Games are art, anyone who says anything otherwise is just moronic and has no sense of creativity with a one track mind. What do you think the character models are? What about the enviornment? They just didn't pop up. someone created those pictures and brought then to life and poured there life and soul into it.(unless you count something like Petz) I think the most modern example of today is Bioshock and Valkyria Chroniciles. Everything it art in it with the colors, atmosphere, and you even have Cohen in there.

 

Actually, while creative, the elements that go into a game are by themselves no more Art than set built for a movie or the design of a slick new car for a movie.

That's why we have the distinction between Art and Art Direction.  Gears of War (1 & 2) look great, have amazing assets, are finely honed entertainment experiences... but both are shallow and the videogame eqivelant of aMichael Bay movie... i.e. they're not Art no matter how artistically they've been designed.