Gamasutra’s Leigh Alexander wrote on Monday for Kotaku on the issue of “games as art”. Okay, okay, granted this topic has been run into the ground and stomped on, but Alexander utilizes a recent story to reexamine and redefine the significance of art, games, and where the two may intersect.

Readers will remember VGMWatch’s recent post on the controversy and general hoopla over Edric Stanley’s Invaders! exhibit at the Leipzig Games Convention, and this is the basis for Alexander revisiting the “games as art” subject.

But what happens when a game doesn’t create the message from inside its fictional world, but uses a message that already exists?

What if “games as art” in the real world actually looks like something we really, really don’t like?

Let’s talk about Invaders!.

The above is quite the question to pose in an industry which is striving for a higher level of respect from the outside media and older generations - what happens when the produced art is despised on a wide-scale, at least in certain territories? Does that affect our long term view of games as art?

Alexander eventually contends however that the Invaders! exhibit does not constitute “games as art”, but rather art posing as a game, her belief being that since Invaders! has a design that results in loss as an inevitability, it flies in the face of the logic behind game design and thus does not act as a game at all. She also categorizes Stanley’s work as an “achievement”, despite its ambiguities.

Her argument doesn’t sit well with some Kotaku readers (check the comments there), who go on to list games in the past who have had seemingly impossible objectives with no chance of ultimate victory. Are those titles not games, too? Does that make them art, or something else altogether?

While Alexander’s piece may be far from indefensible in its own logic, it’s a coherent stab at a complex subject and worth a read.

Source: Kotaku

Following a heaping helping of outcry from mostly American-based publications the past week, artist Douglas Edric Stanley’s Invaders! artistic piece, an interactive exhibit/game based off the original Space Invaders, has been pulled with his permission from the Leipzig Games Conference, reports Edge Online.

Stanley, an American who grew up near Silicon Valley and has since relocated to France, took the 30th anniversary of Space Invaders as an opportunity to create a piece of art that acts as social commentary on the 9/11 tragedy and the current American war strategy. Gamers use motion-sensing controls to flail about on the ground and shoot at alien ships above to attempt to stop them from destroying the Twin Towers - a negative score above each tower indicates damage. The effort is ultimately futile and the gameplay point is to last as long as possible before the towers crumble.

(more…)

Let’s have some fun today courtesy of CNN and Anderson Cooper. Examining the mainstream media’s coverage and perception of video games is a favorite pastime here at the Watch, and today we get the treat of watching CNN and co-host Erica Hill give Cooper a Wii for his birthday, and the subsequent “coverage” of the phenomenon that is Wii Fit.

Hijinks ensue as Cooper awkwardly approaches the Balance Board in his dress shoes, calls the Wii the “Why-Eee?” (or possibly “YE”) and the “Why”, in turn, and then questions the purpose of the title. He ends the segment with the flat - and hilarious - statement of “I don’t know about that.”

Granted, this wasn’t an actual attempt at product coverage and Cooper wasn’t supposed to do any homework, but it’s interesting to see the disconnect with the mainstream that even Wii Fit sometimes endures. Oh, and did we mention it’s just plain funny? Cooper’s understanding of the Wii makes him seem as old as his trademark hair would suggest.

Source: Kotaku

If we had a category for “Shocker of the Week”…. or even “Month”…. this post would find its happy home there.

Apparently, Brian Crecente over at Kotaku has a bit of an email relationship with everyone’s favorite punching bag in the games media, Jack Thompson. His most recent exchanges with the puzzling politician are of definite interest, particularly given the recent Mass Effect imbroglio. We realize this isn’t a direct critique of journalism, but we find its reporting warranted given our last week’s coverage.

From Crecente’s post:

To: Jack
From: Brian
I’m surprised you haven’t been looking into Mass Effect.

To: Brian
From: Jack
Why would you be surprised. I don’t see any problem with it. The guy [Cooper Lawrence] who shot his mouth off about it had no idea what the Hell he [sic] was talking about.

To: Jack
From: Brian
You mean you’re OK with mass effect?

To: Brian
From: Jack
Of course. This contrived controversy is absolutely ridiculous. Report that, why don’t you?

You know, not that Thompson has ever been accused of intentionally stirring up controversy, right? All the same, color us shocked. Mass Effect, Electronic Arts, BioWare - meet your new buddy.

Source: Kotaku

Kotaku is reporting on a new easter egg that can be found within Half-Life Episode 2, based upon the ABC television series Lost. A “Kotakuite”, as they are lovingly called over there, sent in the tip that a logo on an in-game wall very closely mimics the symbol of Lost’s Dharma Initiative; in addition, a string of cryptic numbers found on a computer screen matches a set of numbers of import in the Lost universe. Clearly, the dev team are fans.

Another example of the usefulness of an active and attentive readership in the game media, and a demonstration of how blogs, specifically, encourage reader interaction thanks to their format.

It was awfully nice of Spike TV to spare us the effort of having to actually watch their Video Game Awards show by releasing a list of the winners weeks before the show’s Dec. 10 broadcast date.

Among the nominated sites attending the Friday taping and offering commentary over the weekend were:

Gamespot: “As much as Spike might have refined the show over its past pair of efforts, it was clear the network had not yet found a way to perfectly merge the subject matter, the celebrities, and the audience.”

1up: “Surprisingly, the show wasn’t half bad — in fact, it was by far the best VGA show yet.”

Kotaku Am I the only one who thinks [Game of the Year] should have been WoW? … Anyone else out there who thinks the VGA picked the wrong game?”

and Joystiq: “We’re usually not ones for award shows, (yawn) and this isn’t much different”

These sites even gave away some of the night’s best jokes and scripted banter, removing the last remaining reason for anyone to waste their Saturday night on this thing (My favorite reported line: Jack Black, accepting the award for best human performance by a male, thanking “all the people of the b******* academy over there … Who votes on this thing?” as reported by Gamespot).

Although the general consensus is that the show has taken a step forward in quality, it feels like it has taken two steps back by replacing the drama of last year’s live show with a taped farce.

Speaking of farces, the awards for best blog, gaming website and gaming magazine are still being decided by votes on Spike TV’s web site. Yes, you can still vote as many times as you want with a few clicks and yes, the awards are still squeezed in among detritus like “best boss character” and “best feel like a tough guy moment.” As of this writing, the current leaders are Electronic Gaming Monthly (64%), 1up (70%), and Slashdot Games (40%). Surprisingly, Official Xbox Magazine and GameSpot both have an embarrassingly low 4% of the current vote. Maybe they should emulate Ziff Davis and start begging for votes on the front page of their Web site and in the text of practically every EGM editor’s blog.

Yeah, I know the last one was only 5 months ago. This is the third year of the blog since August. So there.

Now that we’ve all had a week to fiugure out if Nintendo’s new Revolution controller will raise Nintendo back to market dominance or be the blow that drives Nintendo out of business (middle ground? P’shaw!), let’s take a look at how some outlets covered the unveiling.

Blanket Coverage Award: IGN

Holy heck! Besides the above linked hands-on impresisons, IGN had an article on possible uses for the controller, some initial developer comments and an editor’s roundtable discussion… all on Thursday night! Matt Casamassina is a madman!

Late For a Blog Award: Kotaku

The Revolution controller news didn’t break on Kotaku until late Friday morning, when practically every other big site already had something on it, including big blog competitor Joystiq. This is the same site that posted a huge Xbox 360 expose concurrent with the big MTV unveiling. In the world of blogs, the rule stands: get it first, but get it right (but, really, just get it first).

Runner up in this category goes to me, for posting these awards roughly a week late.

Self-Disclaimer Award: IGN

Specifically, this award goes to Levi Buchanan for saying in a roundtable, “I’ve been called a Nintendo fanboy for years. Hell, I’ll confess that I actually worked for them for a year writing for Nintendo Power.” This adds important context to comments like, “I am 100-percent behind Nintendo’s drive for innovation.” Is there any way to remove the implied stain of bias that comes from having Nintendo Power on your resume? I mean, besides hiding it?

Praising With Faint Damns Award: Talk Xbox

Despite calling the controller “mindblowing” and “interesting,” the post also says that “the design makes it a huge pain for 3rd party publishers to port games to the console. But, then again, the GameCube has been mostly 1st party games this generation, so this won’t be a large leap for Nintendo.” Ouch! Nintendo, are you just gonna sit there and take that?

Best Summary of Industry Response Award: Next Generation

Sure, this article wasn’t out until Monday, but Next Gen spent the weekend getting opinions from a whole lot of influential people in the industry. And Tommy Tallarico! Including the media response is important, because while the developers can bring the games, the media are the ones that can doom this thing or ensure its success before it even ships.

Future Stenographer Award: Wonderland

Alice managed to take down Iwata’s keynote speech practically verbatim as he gave it, and delivered the result to the world mere hours after the speech ended. Usually I can’t write and listen at the same time, which is why I rely on audio recordings and e-mails a lot. Alice obviously does not have this issue.

Describing Controllers to Old Folks Award: CNN/Money

Chris Morris wins for the parenthetical in the following:

While it will chiefly rely on those internal sensors to reflect movement on screen, the controller does have a D-pad, which can be easily reached with your thumb. (A D-pad, which is a standard feature on today’s controller, is a movement director that resembles a plus sign.)

Seeing as the D-pad was first introduced over 20 years ago, what is the statute of limitations on having to describe it to a general audience? Perhaps “a plus-sign-shpaed D-pad” would have sufficed?

Effective Efusive Praise Award: Kieron Gillen

“Whether they get it or not immediately divides the entire gaming universe into cowardly, tedious luddites who are perfectly happy to sit in their squat-like holes forever and Good People.”

Best Bitter Bellyaching Award: Curmudgeon Gamer

“As the saying goes: it’s not the size of the sword, but the skill of the swordsman. Remember that Nintendo is addicted to rereleasing its older games. For every new and original game they release, there will be 9 remakes of games they put out on the Super Nintendo or NES. Now all you fans can go out and buy A Link to the Past all over again! But with spatial controller gimmick! Yeah, you have fun with that.”

Cute Headline Award: EuroGamer

Remotely? What does he mean by… oh… it’s shaped like a remote! HA! I got it! HAH HAH HA! Haha! Hehehehehee. *Giggles*. Whooo! Good times.

Best Editorial Pictorial: Jeremy Parish

I had a U-Force. I spent $60 on that piece of crud. I should revoke Parish’s award just for reminding me of it. So bitter! GRRRRR!

Press Release Hyperbole Award: Nintendo (duh!)

“The response from all major publishers worldwide has been extremely positive. ” So I guess if you didn’t like it, you’re not a major publisher, eh?

That’s all I have time for now. Expect updates when I figure out what awards to give to some of these other articles I’ve got bookmarked.

I’m really enjoying Kotaku’s coverage of the Tokyo Game Show this week. While most sites have been content to cover the games and announcements from the show floor, Kotaku gives readers a good sense of what it feels like to be at the show as well. I especially enjoyed this tale of the author being carded to play a violent game and this piece of in-depth reporting on odd booth babe outfits. Oh, and the interviews with developers haven’t been half bad either.

Sorry blogging has been light this week. I’ve been playing catch up on some freelance assignments and actually playing some games instead of writing about writing about them. Look for incredibly outdated and inconsequential coverage of the Revolution controller coverage soon.