Roger Ebert, videogames, and art walk into a bar

Recently, possibly out of boredom or for trolling, Roger Ebert decided to bring back his thoughts on the whole “videogames as art” topic, further cementing that, to him, in principle, games can never be art. You can read his full article here, which is in fact a faulty critique of Kellee Santiago’s TEDxUSC talk given back in March 2009. She responds back, echoing a lot my thoughts on the matter.

One could easily dismiss Ebert for being old and “not getting it,” and his tone throughout is rather that of a cranky curmudgeon, which does not help things. “No one in or out of the field has ever been able to cite a game worthy of comparison with the great poets, filmmakers, novelists and poets,” he repeats. Ouch. Maybe it’s because…he is a movie critic with movie critic friends? Seriously, talk to anyone in the videogaming business, and I’m sure they could make mention a few titles that would be hard to describe as anything but artsy. Yet it is his comments at the end of this critique that prove him beyond faulty and out of place to deem such claims, namely the ones about Flower. It’s evident he has never played the game, let alone many videogames.

Wow, that’s like me saying yoga isn’t a sport and having the world listen.

The question at the heart of this debate, now and forever, is can videogames be art?

And the answer is: of course.

Name-dropping Shadow of the Colossus, Heavy Rain, Katamari Damacy, Suikoden II, BioShock, and Myst, the harder question that continues to stomp around my brain every time this topic comes up is…how could they not be art?

Magic: The Gathering and its hold on me still

I’m not just a videogame fanatic, but an extreme lover of all kinds of games. Board games, TCGs, CCGs, Solitaire, seeing how many pretzels one can fit in their mouth, and so on. In fact, I’d almost go the distance and say I love board games and card games more than console gaming except for one major hiccup: I rarely have anyone to play with. It’s usually just my fiancée and I playing a few rounds of Munchkin or the occasional grumble match known as Scrabble among family members. In the past I’ve dabbled in Killer Bunnies, Chez Geek, MagiNation (::shudders::), Settlers of Catan, Descent, and, most importantly, Magic: The Gathering.

Now, I’m not going into my full MtG history just yet. That’s a long and winding road, but I can say that the last time I played against a real life opponent was well over six or seven years ago. Yet my interest in the game has never waned. To fill this void, there’s Magic: The Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers, which is decent enough, but certainly lacks the fun and creative outlet of deck customization. Still, every day, I continue to check spoilers of new, upcoming sets and read detailed, in-depth articles about the functionality of specific cards and draft formats and so on. I can’t get away from it…despite being nowhere near any of it.

Anyways, it’s cards like Khalni Hydra, a newly revealed beastie from the upcoming Rise of the Eldrazi set, that really gets me yearning:

Yeah, that’s an 8/8 trampler…for free. Any easy peasy task for any green-loving planeswalker, no doubt. Something I’ve always been at heart. Plus, hydras rock. Already, deck ideas are bouncing around in my head on how to abuse this hydra to no end. Drop two or three into an elf deck or saproling and you’re good to go. I just wonder if the developers learned their lesson after Urza’s Saga and the affinity for artifacts keyword from Mirrodin when it comes to giving stuff away for free. Time will tell for this one.

Want more spoilers for Rise of the Eldrazi? Make with the clicky right here.

So, even though I’ve stayed away from social MtG gaming, I’d like to think I know a decent amount about the game and its evolution over the past few years. Alas, I know I don’t. Looking at spoiler lists and reading strategy guides do nothing for a game like MtG. It has to be played–experienced firsthand–to be understood. While I grok the rules of landfall, I have no idea how it plays.

Every time a prerelease event looms near, I always think, “Man, that’d be fun. Getting back into Magic.” But then it never happens. Time, money, severe anxiety–they all play a part. And so I just keep on reading, reading, and yearning, in that order.

Scott Pilgrim the Videogame looks (and sounds) just like it should

First came the news out of PAX East that chiptune rockstars Anamanaguchi are doing the soundtrack for Scott Pilgrim the Videogame. Then we got some delicious screenshots showing off the fantastic sprite work from Paul Robertson, the creator of the Pirate Baby’s Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006 animation. And the third thing that happened was…my heart. See, it exploded from too much joy!

Ka-blooie!

Seriously, just go check out all the screenshots over at Attract Mode.

But yeah, ever since seeing this, the back cover of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, volume two of the books (and the title of the upcoming movie), I’ve been jonesing for a 2D videogame adaption:

Now I’m not sure what I’m more excited about. The movie, the final book in July, or the game? Hmm. Either way, it looks like this one is getting the right kind of treatment. No systems announced yet, but man oh man would this be perfect for the Nintendo DS.

FIRST HOUR REVIEW: Odin Sphere

You-hoo, down here. Right. My take on Odin Sphere‘s first hour of gameplay is now live over at The First Hour. Do check it out. I wrote it mostly as an excuse to post amazingly awesome cosplay pics, as shown above. Seriously, this game was made for cosplayers. I won’t be playing much more of it after a repetitive hour, but there’s no stopping me from loving the game’s art style and profound effect on the cosplaying culture.

Odin Sphere is Beautifully Bloated

Last night, I unplugged my Xbox 360, dusted off my Playstation 2, and popped in Odin Sphere. Then my eyes had multiple orgasms.

See, Odin Sphere is just about one of the prettiest games ever made. Feel free to quote me in fanboy rants or whatever. But it is. The game’s visuals are, irrefutably, its strongest feature, it’s reason for existing. Gameplay eventually falls into recurrent levels and tasks (and complex alchemy), but soldiering on is fine as wine for the mere fact of wanting to see more and more. A new location or character arriving–it’s all a treat in terms of eye-loving. Is this the case for everyone? Probably not. I am an artist (I draw webcomics and do illustration work), and that makes me biased, but I find it hard to believe that seeing these whimsical characters all colorful and beautifully animated won’t get some jaws a-dropping.

Anyways, not gonna say much more about the videogame because I’m doing a first hour review of it for…hmm, The First Hour. There’s no way to really phrase that sentence without sounding repetitive. Which is what Odin Sphere is all about! Hey-o!

But yeah…stay tuned.

Mario’s closet is brimming with awesome

The kick-ass artwork above comes from Albino Raven. Love it. If only my closet was this cool. Sadly, I basically wear the same seven button-down shirts over and over…though buried deep in the back, I think, is a hand-me-down Raccoon Suit.

Fable II is Full of Fowl Players

Having put Fable II down at the end of June 2009, I decided on a whim last night to drop the disc back into my Xbox 360 and see if there were any mildly easy Achievements that I’d missed. And lo, there were. Within an hour, I’d manage to unlock three, specifically:

The Property Magnate (10G): A property was sold for twice its original value. Now that’s good business.

The Hoarder (25G): You, or a friend, found every single silver key in Albion. Some would call you obsessive. Not us.

The Fowl Player (10G): A Hero dressed as a chicken and proceeded to kick many of its own kind. We’re sickened.

That last one was pretty fun, I gotta admit. There’s a couple more to go for that just require time and patience, both of which I have every now and then, just not at the moment.

But if gaming updates about ol’ smelly Fable II doesn’t interest you, then check out some brand new concept art for Fable III. Looks…industrial. Kind of excited for this to come out, but I might have to go about and put together a list of things Lionhead needs to fix/change for their next iteration. I’ll say this much though: they can keep the chicken suit.

Halloween-themed art from Scribblenauts

Two days late with this, but check out this awesome Halloween-themed art from Scribblenauts artist Edison Yan:

Now, I just need to figure out how to summon a pirate kitty cat of death, as well as the candy corn man. Not that I like candy corn. But a Maxwell armed to the teeth with an uzi and laser pistol riding a pirate kitty cat of death could surely take care of that problem…