well well... this is an old controversy.

The concept of art incorporates a wide range of activities and expressions, some things are even up to the viewer to decide if they´re art or not.

I wouldn´t consider games as art, because games are, essencially, a form of entertainment that provides a challenge for the viewer. The interaction is different from other forms of art, like paiting, music, cinema, dance where we basically observe or appreciate with our senses. Games, unlike those, provide us with a challenge to be defeated.

But, games DO use art in many of its features in order to make the challenge interesting. the music, the graphics, the voice acting, the environment design, the plot, all of those things are art in themselves, but the final product of them doesn´t seem to reflect the appreciative nature of art, because games need you to interact with what it offers, rather than require plain observation/appreciation.

I think it´s up to each one to appreciate games as art or not. Some people only care about the challenge, other people may appreciate the fine touches that art bring to games. It´s up to each one do decide.

Music is art. Artwork is art. Refined mechanics are an art form.

I'd say Video games are probably the most "artistic" form of expression there is.

I feel like this begs a question: can playing a game be an art form?

The definition of Art is 100% arbitrary.

A very small elite decides what is art and what is not.
Picasso could have puked on canvas it would have been called are.
Beuys threw some fat into a corner and it became big art:the fatcorner-until a cleaning women did with this abomination what any sane person would do-cleaned it.
Jackson Pollock just fiddled on canvas(some kind of pencil-jerk)called it action painting and nowsome of "paintings" cost 50mio+
Chuck Connellys pictures were worth millions in the 80ies until he made a mistake to critcize the upper establishment(he criticized critics darling scorsseses movie new york stories)
the ruling class abandoned him.Since then he can barely make a live with painting and is selling his pictures for 1000dollars

considering this :games are arts(as long as some of the deciders decide that it is so)

imo:games that can entertain you in a great way for several hours without appealing to humans lower instincts are great art as only very few people in the world have the talent to create such things

I wouldn't consider people working on Maddens, Call of Dutys, 2Ks and the like to be passionate with their work. They are stuck in a corporate mold that EA or Activision has put them in for yearly updates. It's  almost like forced labor. They found a formula that works and people bite. It's more so the players that have the passion. Passion for completion and beat others online.

Movies and music are art. I see no reason why video games aren't a form of art.

You make it sound like these developers don't try very hard to hone their craft to begin with. And I'm also thinking that you don't know for sure whether on not the developers actually like sports games and are interested in creating them. That strikes me as an individual-by-individual sort of thing, and we're talking about a group effort.

Yes, even by definition.

I myself certainly wouldn't consider a game as bad as Contrast art. ^_^

Not all people consider Picasso an artist, either.