Will Good Games Still Be Remembered In Years To Come?

[Doctor VonSexMachine]

I don't think games will ever be considered 'art' like paintings and sculptures and the like are now. Reason being, games are mass produced and thus not unique. I do however ponder how our generation's games will be perceived in the future. And will they even be able to play any of them on our two-year-lifespan consoles of today?

He's got the right idea. These things will not stand the test of time, simply in the sense that they may not physically survive in the long term. The reason things like paintings survive is that we value them and treat them in a manner that is conducive to preservation. They do not have moving parts, power requirements, or parts to lose.


Unless someone starts maintaining a collection of the source code to our "masterpieces", we'll lose them in a few years.

 

[Jekken6]

Games may be remembered like Van Gogh's paintings if the lead developers cut their ears off.

 

[blarghblarghhhhh]

I think the world of videogames moves way to fast for something to become cool once everyones forgotten about it. Generally speaking games dont get remembered as much as a game series does. If nintendo never made a mario game after super mario brothers do you think people would still even be talking about mario outside of the fact that it help sell alot of nes'?

 

[Samurai Goomba]

Popular games get remembered. Niche games get forgotten by all but a few. Even games which became kinda popular later, like Okami, Psychonauts and Shadow of the Colossus will be forgotten a lot sooner than the original Halo, or CoD4, or Team Fortress 2, or Bioshock.

 

[TheSeventhLoneWolf]

It could be set in a games-are-art kind of way, but not everyone sees games like that.

Come to think about it. Games like Mario, Tetris, Civ1 and such are quite well remembered and can be said to be art to a certain extent. Art isn't just how it looks.

 

[Quiet Stranger]

Well, since everything is based on opinions, it's art now and now it's not art, so something will always be something and always not be something, know what I mean?

 

[Zing]

No.

Video games just aren't Art, at least not in the traditional sense, you may be able to find Art in games, but video games on a whole, or a certain video game will never be Art.

 

[Plurralbles]

I dont' think so. Maybe the day when hipsters dont' exist and pretentiousness bites the dust.

 

[Mr.Black]

Wow I swear at least half of the replies did not even read the OP's post.

I don't think these games will be regarded as highly as Van Gogh among artists. Everyone knows who Van Gogh is, especially if you're into art. But if you're a gamer, you'll find that a lot of people haven't heard of Psychonauts, or Shadow of the Colossus. We're a different breed (An uglier breed, perhaps) and most of us are too busy buying the latest titles without looking back at some older gems.

 

[toadking07]

No.

Video games just aren't Art, at least not in the traditional sense, you may be able to find Art in games, but video games on a whole, or a certain video game will never be Art.

You... you didn't even read my first sentence did you?

 

[Sixties Spidey]

I think the best way to make it well remembered would be to remake it in HD with improved game mechanics at a cheaper price tag. That alone would reinvigorate interest in that game.

 

[Dango]

Unfortunately, no. Since not everyone likes the same games, for example, some people will always remember Halo as a fantastic and thrilling experience, while others will remember it as that one game that everyone should just shut up about

 

[Plurralbles]

FIrst, psychonauts isn't that great. Second, not with that kind of cross cultural, cross demographic recognition Van Gogh receives. No one will hang Psychonauts on a wall and be a pretentious douche while talking about it.

And yes I gave two opinions on the matter.

 

[lockeslylcrit]

Doubtful. All that's required to appreciate a painting is to look at it. What's required to appreciate a game is knowledge, skill, patience, and other deciding factors. Thus, paintings by the old masters are taught at universities, whereas games are not. In the far future, it is still unlikely.

 

[Worgen]

Id like to think so but part of the problem with videogames is that once the tech moves on you cant really play it anymore, pc games dont really have this problem, I can still play dos games on my xp machine but without backwards compatibility then old games sort of die off. Anyone can look at a painting but as tech moves on fewer and fewer people will be able to experience the awesome of okami or psychonauts

 

[StriderShinryu]

I'm thinking games will end up more in line with movies and books than static art. There will be the nearly undisputed classics that everyone considers "must sees" or "must reads," and then there will be the niche classics. Take horror movies for example. There are relatively few horror movies that would be considered overall classic must see films but if you ask a horror movie lover they will likely be able to list off numerous films that you have to see if you're a horror fan. Using the OPs list, I can't really see any of those games being "overall" classics that are remembered down through the years. I do, however, see all of them likely being considered niche classics in their own genre(s).

Overall classics, in my estimation, would be things like most of the Mario games, some of the Delda games, Pitfall, Pac-Man, MW1/2, Halo, etc. Namely, big titles that had an impact on society and/or gaming as a whole whether it was by innovation or by monetary means. Note that this doesn't necessarily mean that the games are good ones but more that they had an impact of some sort (Pac-Man and Pitfall, for example, are really pretty poor games but they were huge innovators at the time and what they brought forward will impact games forever)

As far as accessibility goes, I hope we continue to see things like Virtual Consoles and official classic game download/emulation services. This would do much better than a museum or gallery as a way to keep the classic games alive and available.

 

[Delusibeta]

For PC gaming, there's GOG for all your Blood and Fallout needs. I agree with Strider that games will become more like books & film than paintings: already there are games that are hailed as must-plays (e.g. Deux Ex, Zelda: Ocarena of Time et al.)

 

[flamingjimmy]

No, no they will not.

 

[SomeBritishDude]

Games may be able to have a painterly feel (e,g, Okami) But they will never feel like the type of art you're talking about. Because Art is a static medium that can only imply motion at best...

Bullshit.


(One of my favourite examples of why your talking out of your arse)

That aside, Art is very much in the eye of the beholder. As an art student it's pretty clear to me that Art lies more in perception than actual definable parameters. I can very much see a time when you could walk into a room in the Tate and find a playable "game" that allows the audience to interact with the piece. Once you strip games down to their base core (away from the word "Game" even, which I feel like is holding the medium back to an extent) all they are is interactive art.

It's not a question of [b/]will[/b], but [b/]when[/b]. To which I say [b/]soon[/b]

 

[crazyjay321]

Probably not, the game is'nt well known