If Nintendo set out to make art they would surely make some crap games. The art in games is in some ways just a by product of people working harmoniously towards a common vision.

Ironically if Iwata had claimed Nintendo games as art, we would now be in thread criticising Nintendo's conceit.

Yup, because Iwata is such a terrible manager. How does Nintendo dare to make bootloads of money off anyone but the hardcore games? >:{

Art is left up to interpretation. Art isn't art until it is shown to people. Mechanics used as a metaphor...like poetry? Mechanics or the mechanism of forming poetic stanzas or prose for dramatic effect? So people feel, opposed to straight forward grammar? The way videogames used to be in the 80's and 90's when Nintendo dominated games were just games. Today, games are works of art giving meaning as well as testing your mind and your strategic ability. Some games strive to move you...some more understated than others. The idea of art evolve with the times and this is what I was speaking about to my art teachers. As we evolve technology with the intent of touching people and leaving interpretation up to them it eventually becomes art, regardless of the mechanics. This is where videogames become an "experience". The sophistication of videogames where we've mastered proper gameplay mechanics to the point where we can play effortlessly and exist in a world created for us. Until the Playstation era games majorly were not experiences, they were just games with simple stories. 

SOTC is a game, but its experience told the story. This is why it is in the Smithsonian. Its lack of a stated story but the experience of the mission touched those who played it. 

I also beg to question....where you you train a designer? Art school. What does this make a designer? An artist. A person who creatives videogames is by profession is involved in game art by profession.

"It's not like we are making pieces of art, the point is to make a product that resonates with and is accepted by customers."

If EA or Activision said this, you guys would be on them like a pack of dogs. But it's Nintendo. Somehow that's different.

Both are games, but artsy games are becomes a sophisticated experience when games went 3D for the first time we truly experience true adventure where we could explore vast worlds in Mario 64 and GTA. Final Fantasy 7 took us to another place in terms of art design for JRPG's. If you can control yourself in a surrounding place with a story to propel you the game and experience are one in the same. If a game is just pure gameplay and nothing else, its just a game.

And if a game is tying too hard to be sophisticated it may end up severely lacking in the gameplay department and may have been better as a movie all along. It's about finding a balance between both sides of this spectrum, although the medium being called Video Games I'd say a lacking story is a bit more forgivable than lacking gameplay. Of course this completely depends on personal preferences.

EDIT: Removed unnecessary bolding of the word "Games"

It might lack in the game department, but the point is to enjoy the experience. Depends on the developers intent. Devolvers intent = artists intent. Videogames are sophiscated, Nintendo just sticks with their comfort zone, thats all. If they balance can be found between gameplay and story in an effect that lets you immerse yourself into a game then you are in an evolved experience. Today high level games are expected to have immersion factor and actually get critiqued for little quirks that break immersion. The 21st century is here.

"the point is to make a product that resonates with and is accepted by customers"

sounds like art to me

The Smithsonian also considered Hideo Kojima's works pieces of art. Hideo said games could never be art straight to their face. This is a movie director who strived to turn videogames into hybrid productions..and when people feel things from his games, he still cannot understand what makes it art. In his attempt to run from art...he ends up creating it out of habit by degree and profession. Hideo Kojima along with a handful of other directors and developers such as Blizzard are responsible for videogames breaking the cinematic barrier and turning it into a seamless experience. Each MGS game gets closer and closer to a immersive masterpiece. What a curse indeed, Hideo...I feel sorry for you and admire you at the same time.

Alright, whenever people say maybe Nintendo has changed they are different, that they are not the Nintendo I remember 10 years or so ago. I simply say "maybe it's not Nintendo that has changed, maybe it's just you" think about it. Nintendo hasn't changed and I for one cannot wait for Super Mario 3D World...Just sayin