Anyone says all VG's are art, look at Madden..

(I tried to keep my ideas consistant in this, but it's a bit of a mess)

Games are a form of art.

Games start off as designs, drawings, paintings and then are developed into 3D/2D representations of that art. The creativity, and work, that went into the original art and design is still there but in it's new, interactive form.

We have music artists. Music is a form of art. Someone has to compose the music for video games. So we have a form of art within the video game.

Films are a form of art. They're moving pictures. Pictures, whether they be painted, or maybe they're drawn, often tell stories. Films tell stories, and they tell them in particular ways. Video Games, now days, often tell stories, or have a message, just like film, art, or music.

Video Games contain several forms of art, as well of being an artform themselves. There are many different ways people can create a video game, with different goals in mind. Some artists might use paints on a canvas, others may use materials to build a sculpture. One team of Developers may use the Unreal 3 Engine and the other CryEngine 2. One game has one art style, a different game has another. Games have the same Genres as film eg. horror, action, fantasy, and they also have their own play styles as well eg. RPG, FPS, RTS, Platformer etc.

So in conclusion, I say Video Games are a form of art, that has other forms of art within it. There's so much effort that goes into video games, and so many directions they can take, that yes, I would say video games are art.

Actually, while creative, the elements that go into a game are by themselves no more Art than set built for a movie or the design of a slick new car for a movie.

That's why we have the distinction between Art and Art Direction.  Gears of War (1 & 2) look great, have amazing assets, are finely honed entertainment experiences... but both are shallow and the videogame eqivelant of aMichael Bay movie... i.e. they're not Art no matter how artistically they've been designed.

Short answer: Yes

Long answer - it's a kind of grey area.

Whilst some music is clearly art, as are some movies, it seems that some of each of these are mere entertainment for the masses. But then again, in his day, Shakespeare was lowest common denominator entertainment for the masses, and now it's considered high art.

So that in my mind answers the art/entertainment issue with a resounding victory for 'games are art'

But then we also have to consider the art or science debate. But it sems that if we describe video games as a science simply because they follow laws of logic and the like. But once again it's a grey area, as once you get to a high enough level, physics and maths start becoming art really. But if we said that video games weren't art, we would also have to say that electronica and photography are not art

From the "Poochie Chapter" of The Simpsons when the Itchy and Scratchy ratings felt down:

Krusty: ...This is not art, is business!

it really depends.
some games, yes, and some, no.
some people make them because its an art
some people make them for cash.

Yes games are art, so are toys and you pounding your fist into a ball of clay.

The problem is games are trying to be OTHER forms of art.

Yes, video games are art.

The real question is whether they are considered "High Art":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_culture

Which at this point in time is probably a "no".

EDIT:  Looks like Scottie beat me too the High Art point :)

Animation is generally considered as an art form, and video games are based around all different styles of animation so yes imo they are definitely an art form.

The answer doens't matter. The important thing is that who produce games DON'T think videogames are art ...