God of War creator David Jaffe has criticised developers, press and fans who hail non-traditional video games as art.
Writing in a two billion-word post (or near to it) on his blog, the Twisted Metal man argued that a trend for pouring attention on 'arty' games damages the reputation and funding of good, traditional titles.
He wrote: "'GAMES ARE ART!' accolades given out (by developers, press, and fans) to 'ART/MEANINGFUL GAMES' does damage to pure games. 'How?', you ask? Well I'll tell you:
"Shining the powerful media light on these sorts of games- that tell you they are important but are not really all that engaging/interesting play wise and are nowhere near as emotional or meaningful as most B-rate, night time dramas on network television-means that the media light and publisher cash gets taken away from traditional games.
"And because of this," he added, "traditional games are disrespected, devalued, and shown a lack of appreciation, understanding, and love for the very things the medium does so well, so effortlessly, and so successfully."
Jaffe argued that press putting a lot of attention on a title "just because it shouts loudly that it is art/important" when on closer inspection it's "simply a game", is a real problem.
"To be going on and on about how games need to be/can be/should be/already are 'more' than 'just games' to me disrespects the joy and happiness traditional games bring to the world," he said.
"I don't know about you, but my life would be at least a little less fantastic (and probably a hell of a lot worse) without Baseball, Basketball, Chess, Chutes & Ladders, Old Maid, Ms. Pac Man, Zork, Super Mario Bros., Gears of War, Killzone 3, Guitar Hero, and Call of Duty:Black Ops Multiplayer."
Jaffe added that he believes many games currently praised as artistic are simply "smoke and mirrors [LIFTED]."
"Just because there's wind blowing and a minimal soundtrack and vast open spaces to explore and a slow pace doesn't mean that the game you are playing is art," he said. "And just because a game's story and presentation contains elements you've see in the 'big boy movies' doesn't make a game adult or mean the medium is maturing.
"These are all surface elements that-while challenging as anything else in games to produce well- do not speak to the maturation of the medium one iota. I'm tired of seeing gamers- and game journalists especially- falling for this."
Jaffe's outburst comes in the same month that Heavy Rain auteur David Cage criticised the majority of games developers for aiming to make software for teenagers - and not considering the wishes of an adult audience.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/29 ... art-games/He's right to some extent IMO, but I don't really see it as a problem
