Video games as a genre of creative expression

Hi all,
 
I found an interesting read on theage.com.au which I thought some of you may be interested in.
 
Its a fairly long read, but I found it worthy of my time. It talks alot about Video games being an art and how they stack up against film/television/music. It also touches on the R18+ debarcle that is currently going on here in Australia and many other points which are extremely relevant to the culture and development of games.
 
Link is as follows:
 http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/games/video-games-as-a-genre-of-creative-expression-20100401-rh8z.html
 
Psy.

"This whole misleading trope was put to good effect by Charlie Brooker, BBC 4's famously acerbic television critic, writing in his column for The Guardian, when he proclaimed the recently released Modern Warfare 2 to be 'the Citizen Kane of repeatedly shooting people in the face'."
What an amazing quote.
 
I only skimmed through it, as I have to go any second, but it seems to be an interesting read that I'll have to check out later. 
 
But when was films first becoming popular culture? 1920s? And 20 years later Citizen Kane came out. Not as a book, but film. As it was regarded by the writer as the right platform. I don't think video games are regarded as "serious" enough to encourage brilliant minds to write anything for it yet. Video games is young, and has just become popular culture. Maybe we'll get our Citizen Kane someday... in 20 years?

Yeah well I think the author was hinting that Heavy Rain was attempting to be the game industry's Citizen Kane... But I think we have a fair way to go before we get to that mark. We are getting closer though.

" So long as there isn't the phrase "It really allows users to express themselves".   Does anyone else want to donkey punch someone, when that's said? "

Nicely said Meteora, It seems as though the industry needs to shift its direction, because what you say about 90% being crap is correct, mostly contributed by bored 12 year olds.

This again. Enjoy your shit, stop forcing people who don't care about it to validate it.

I think you mean to say "medium of expression."
 
But yeah, of course games are. Anything that combines ideas and creation most surely is.

I have to say that I'm confused by the notion of gaming's 'Citizen Kane". Firstly Citizen Kane wasn't that great (apologies to the GB member of the same name), I know my opinion on this is heavily shaped by the fact that I watched the movie more than half-a-century after it was released, but I think it was far more revolutionary than sheer quality. It did redefine the way movies were created; but when you think about it, there has been a far greater amount of 'revolutions' in video games. Maybe Super Mario Bros, Half-Life and Tetris are all already video games' Citizen Kanes.
 
Well if those games count, then why are we still looking? What does it really mean to have a "Citizen Kane of gaming" (CKoG) anyway? Perhaps the sentiment of the term CKoG is not just something that is revolutionary, but something which is perhaps 'artistic', 'deep', 'thought provoking' etc... Those words have been applied to many games; Shadow of the Colossus, Bioshock, Braid and a long list of others. But are those games revolutionary? (Maybe they're just pretentious). And the thing is, no matter what the definition of CKoG is, whenever a possible CKoG comes out, no one will ever come to a consensus as to whether that game 'deserves' that title. It seems too significant of a label to 'officially' use. So I guess in that sense we'll never get a definitive CKoG. 
 
But in all honesty, I think the Citizen Kane comparison is far too nebulous anyway. As they mentioned in the article, it seems impossible to directly compare games to movies, they just simply aren't the same thing; it's like comparing apples and Orange Boxes.   

Maybe what is really needed in order to have a CKoG is to have a video game adaption of Citizen Kane. I can just imagine it now, 'Press X to "Rosebud"'.

" I don't think video games are regarded as "serious" enough to encourage brilliant minds to write anything for it yet. "

" I think you mean to say "medium of expression."  But yeah, of course games are. Anything that combines ideas and creation most surely is. "

" @foggel said:

" I don't think video games are regarded as "serious" enough to encourage brilliant minds to write anything for it yet. "

You seem to be forgetting that video games, at their core, are about interaction aka gameplay. Sure, story, graphics, sound etc. together make a video game but if you take out the interactive part, it's no longer a video game. With that being said, brilliant minds having been writing video games since the 60s. "

I once saw a report on the news of a guy who put a series of small sachets of paint - like the size of a ketchup packet - between his ass cheeks, point his rear at a wall, gave his ass a good squeeze and basically fart some paint onto a canvas.
 
He called it art and the government gave him upwards of $10,000 in artist grant money.
 
If you can call that art, and the government PAYS you actual fucking money for it, fuck yes videogames can be art.

" @mikeeegeee said:

" I think you mean to say "medium of expression."  But yeah, of course games are. Anything that combines ideas and creation most surely is. "

Porn? I like porn. Because porn is made and I like it, should I run a campaign for porn to be counted among the arts? Will it make porn better? I don't see the endgame for this. "