The Art of Video Games
http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2012-03-13/art-video-games
Over the last forty years, the images in video games have progressed from primitive, pixelated worlds to immersive, three dimensional environments. A new exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum explores the overlap and interplay of art, technology and pop culture in video games. Tech Tuesday meets the curator, and examines the evolution of video game art from Pong to Super Mario Brothers to BioShock.
Guests
Chris Melissinos
Guest Curator, "The Art of Video Games" Exhibit (Smithsonian American Art Museum, March 16- September 30, 2012); Founder, Past Pixels
Mike Mika
Head of Development, Other Ocean Interactive
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A sampling of the Smithsonian Museum of Art's picks for "The Art of Video Games" exhibit:
- "Pac Man," that classic of classics, was a best-selling video game upon its release, and Atari's first big hit:
- Shigeru Miyamoto is responsible for many of the bestselling early arcade games, including the one below. Originally designed for poor performance players, "Donkey Kong" came to be one the bestselling arcade machine games ever and sent users clambering for a high score record:
- An Earthworm's quest to rescue the Princess is set in "Junk City," a place populated by garbage, ravens and rabid dogs:
- With an unprecedented amount of media attention, the archeologist Lara Croft became the first mainstream female character in video games. Her image appeared in magazines, comics and and later in the movies portrayed by Angelina Jolie:
- Humankind has to fight robotic alien invaders and forge alliances with other scary-looking aliens in order to stop them in "Mass Effect 2:"
- For the youngest "cyber-fighters," "King of the Hill: Pong" gives an idea of how everything started. With just two lines and a moving dot in the middle, its appeal lies in its simplicity.
Comments
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Could you imagine moviegoers not wanting to see black-and-white or silent films? I've noticed that many modern-day gamers are unable to play old video games because they "look ugly". By "old", I mean "10 years old". I fear that today's gamers have become so accustomed to sophisticated visuals that they are unwilling to appreciate the interactive experiences that older games have to offer. Sure, they'll replay games that they loved when they were young, like Pac-Man and Mario. But they'll never play an unfamiliar game that was available at the same time.
Don't forget the "interactive" aspect of the gaming experience. Earthworm Jim qualifies as "pretty" but frustrating. It's fun to watch someone else play, but the user interface is quite difficult to handle. The obstacles are also somewhat confusing. Remember Out of this World? The Super NES version of Dragon's Lair? These games were very hard to control, yet well-illustrated.
To people who think that violent video games dominate sales and specifically to that caller who wanted to strawman the entire video game industry as something that isn't worthy of being called "art" for those reasons, I would like to introduce some reality into that topic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games
To be fair, most of those best-selling games are about violent interaction (football contact, obstacle elimination, etc.). Even games like Zelda, which feature puzzle-solving, involve eliminating obstacles with violence. Just saying. How much constructive behavior is involved in these games? What about obstacles that are not existential threats?
Ico and Shadow of the Collosus fall into that category, too. You're better off watching a Youtube video than struggling with the game's interface and camera issues.
How can there be a conversation about the art of video games without mentioning any of the Elder Scrolls games, especially the latter 3? Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim are legendary for the level of detail in their art and "open world" designs. While a large portion of the games' missions are rehashes of the errand-boy or assassin tasks, their contribution to the principles of game design cannot be minimized.