@NoelVeiga: I absolutely agree with you and there are many others who feel the same way we do.
Things can be art whether or not Jeff or Roger Ebert or anyone else takes them seriously or wants them to be so. And you can have it one or both ways. Saints Row III is the pure fun approach. Comparing it to Transformers would be a disservice because Transformers is complete garbage, but it's the equivalent of that. Where is my Heart is the equivalent of the art house film (not to say that it isn't enjoyable). Neither approach is going anywhere and neither one needs to.
Red Dead Redemption, for me, is the perfect example of a mainstream game as art. Playing as John Marston as he makes his way through this world where forces bigger than him are changing everything around him, and where everything is cruel and unfair and there is nothing he can do about it, was a transcendent experience. RDR reminds me of the naturalism of a Thomas Hardy or Fyodor Dostoyevsky but the experience of playing that game is something that could only have been realized in a video game.
I wish every developer, every game designer cared about pushing the medium forward as an art form, but as long as a few do, that's enough (the same with music, movies, lit). I don't think you'll see artistry (or fun) disappear from games anytime soon, and thank god for that.
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