This trend of spitting on casual gamers...

[Bodhesatva]

ckmlb said:

Bodhesatva said:

ckmlb said:
Games are about more than just fun, the good ones at least. Do I really need to explain this to gamers? Also, I like how people totally ignore the games that do push artistic boundaries when dealing with traditional console games and go straight to what is easy to put down as violent and 'for teens'.

Such as Civilization, the Sims, Tetris, and Brain Age? Sure, I agree, those are more than just fun.

What games are you talking about? Just curious, because I can only think of one or two that remotely fit the bill.

Ico is more than just fun. Shadow of the Colossus, Lumines, Okami, Killer 7...

What is there to Brain Age other than fun? Please tell me. I assume you are going to go with the whole idea that brain age is art which is even more ridiculous than me claiming Gears of War is art. I congratulate you for making my argument easier since I never ever claimed Gears was art, I did say it is artistic to some extent and Brain Age is not artistic in any way shape or form.

If it makes you feel good that you are engaging in artistic endeavor by playing Brain Age that's good and all but that doesn't make these games the equivilant of art house flicks....

Brain Age has SPECIFICALLY been found to increase neurological function. Directly and explicitly. In this case, the adult value is in it's intellectual activity, not in it's purely aesthetic quality.

"Research has shown that reading out loud and performing calculations quickly are effective for training your brain."

Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, and Okami are very good, and you know I liked Shadow of the Colossus a great deal. But their "art" is largely just visual, unlike "The Sims" or "Civilization," whose maturity is in the gameplay directly. And please note that these are three games in a library of 1,500 Playstation 2 games. It's dismally low. 

And again, my main concern is for something to be intellectually stimulating, the way Picasso's Guernica, or Robespierre's The Spirit of the Laws are. I do agree that aesthetics matter -- it's just not my main goal here.