Is NSMB Wii worthy of the title Game Of The Year?

[Avinash_Tyagi]

pearljammer said:

Avinash_Tyagi said:

  Gaming is active, movies and music are passive, you don't control Bach and tell him how to play, nor do you tell Arnold how to kill the bad guy, gaming is a different medium, you can't just compare them.

Because people skip over cutscenes, that's how you know people are not engaged by them, they want to get back to the gaming not watch a mini-movie

Cinema isn't just visual, it is also auditory, you don;t distract from the movie to listen to the dailogue, but movies are not games, cutscenes do not enhance the experience, as they take you away from the control that is inherent in gaming .

Monkey island is great, but you don't lose control, you are in control for pretty much the entire game, you don't just watch the characters, you control where they go and what they do.

Actually those games do have gameplay, you continue to control the characters, the dialogue doesn't take you away from control, you get to choose the dailgues, you control what guybrush says

Gaming is about control, moives and music are not

I think that's a rather unfair litmus test for determining whether or not something qualifies as art. Certainly gaming is different from other forms of artIts definition and what it encompasses in continually changing. Sure, it's different. But so was cinema when it was in its early years. We changed our criteria to accomodate it.

Yes, some (perhaps) many people skip over cutscenes. In many cases it depends on the game and whether or not it's their first playthrough.

Cinema was just visual. But as we're aware, that has changed. You have to appreciated, that not everyone is a purist. For many, cutscenes may enhance the experience. I don't think there is an absolute answer here.

I agree, Monkey Island is great. Brilliant even.

Yes, you do control what Guybrush says. However, it is scripted and only particular paths allow to continue to progress through the game making most, if not all, dialogue choices irrelevent (but hilarious!). I don't know how many times he simply told me "that won't work" throughout the game. So while you do indeed have control, the game is still very much progressing the way the artist had intended.

Anyhow, I think I'm done here. I can't imagine either of us are going to convince the other.

  Art is about the artist's vision, sans your control, this is why gaming is not art, because gaming is about control, even in games where your control is limited to certain paths, you still have control, sure you can't make guybrush leap off a cliff, but you can have him meander around for a while talking and even annoying people.

the fact that you need control in gaming is the reason it will never be an art form, that doesn;t make it bad, just different.

 

Yeah you're probably right that we'll never agree, but is cool, nearly everything else in this thread is opinion as well