Roger Ebert says video games can never be art

[archbrix]

Just depends on how you use the word "art". I certainly wouldn't call every game art, just as I wouldn't call every movie that either.

To me, games are just their own art form. Back in 1980 when I first saw Pac Man in the arcades, I knew a new form of interactve entertainment was inevitable. Then when Super Mario Bros hit, and later, Zelda, it was official in my mind. The very design of these games could be considered art.

There are inarguably artistic endeavors within video games, however. And his argument that people making choices in games as opposed to everyone being exposed to the same general presentation is flawed in my opinion; not everyone interprets a painting the very same way, even if they're all looking at the very same thing. He says you can win a game but you experience a film, story,etc. You also experience a game. A video game is every bit as much of a presented form of entertainment as a movie. Just because a movie is not interactive doesn't mean it's somehow more artistic than a game.