RolStoppable said:
The Ghost of RubangB said:
Nintendo's one of a very small handful of developers that actually treat video games like art, so I'm really surprised you see them as the bad guys here. It's usually us Nintendo fans whining about rising dev costs and bigger studios eating all the small indie studios, as those are the main problems facing game art. Shovelware isn't the threat. The threat is too much money and too many people being involved in the development process. Only a few companies can afford to take chances, and even fewer of them actually do.
I don't think the Wii is forcing developers to make more shovelware. Shovelware is always there, and is always attracted to 2 things: the cheapest development costs and the largest install base. Because the Wii has both of these, it attracts the most shovelware, but the shovelware was always there on the PS2, PS1, SNES, NES, Atari 2600, and everything else, really, and to this day when I walk into an arcade I might only want to play one or two of the games. Even in magical Japanese arcades.
I completely agree that video games are a very high art form due to their interactivity and the way they can make you live through an experience unlike any other art form, and that most games fail to see this potential.
But I disagree with Slimebeast that it's about atmosphere and sophistication. I do think those are important parts of the art of video games, but not the main draw in most games. Video games have graphic art, music art, sound art, narrative art, cinematic art, level design (one of my favorite art forms), and yes, even gameplay art. To me Tetris is a beautiful work of art and Pajitnov is a genius.
Games can approach art in many different ways though, and none are really superior or inferior to each other. Some people like paintings, some people like sculptures. Some people like games that play like epic novels (Final Fantasy 4), some people like games that play like epic cinema (Final Fantasy 6), some people like music games, some people like games that look like beautiful paintings (Okami, Muramasa), some people like games that are physics-based sculpting games (level editors, Tetris, Boom Blox, whatever), some people like games that feel like acid trips, and for some reason some people like to play Doom clones for 15 years straight. |
You wouldn't know art if it crawled up your ass, died and blamed Wii Fit.
|
