Shocking Mainstream Media Video Game Comment
Indie writer begins to see the point...
In a stunning shock of shockingly stunning proportions, a mainstream English broadsheet newspaper has published a sensible comment regarding, well, comments in the mainstream media about video games.
Having already published its Top 50 currently available games *, The Independent has now given columnist Thomas Sutcliffe the space to write in a considered manner on the subject of gaming. Answering his own question as to why the mainstream doesn't take video games seriously, Sutcliffe opines, "There are two reasons why this should be so. The first would be that video gamers get this stuff elsewhere – from magazines such as Edge or Wired, and from online gaming sites, where no one needs to explain what "respawning" or "first person shooter" actually means. And, since they get it there, they aren't that fussed that it doesn't exist elsewhere.
"Unlike jazz enthusiasts – persistently besieging Radio 3 for a better deal for their favoured art form – gamers don't need to nag. The other explanation would be that the traditional media still doesn't get it. That, despite all the articles about the scale of the industry and its threat to older forms of diversion (and older forms of fiction) it isn't something that needs taking seriously. Or, possibly, that it isn't something that can be taken seriously, in the sense that a film or a pop record can."
Many gamers will heave sighs of relief not only that we have an ally in what was Fleet Street... but also that we are not comparable to jazz enthusiasts.
The full interview is available here.
* The Top 10 is...
Wii Sports
Braid
Halo 3
Fallout 3
Rock Band
Burnout Paradise
Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training / Sight Training
Gears of War
Guild Wars
Rez HD
The full list is available here.
Having already published its Top 50 currently available games *, The Independent has now given columnist Thomas Sutcliffe the space to write in a considered manner on the subject of gaming. Answering his own question as to why the mainstream doesn't take video games seriously, Sutcliffe opines, "There are two reasons why this should be so. The first would be that video gamers get this stuff elsewhere – from magazines such as Edge or Wired, and from online gaming sites, where no one needs to explain what "respawning" or "first person shooter" actually means. And, since they get it there, they aren't that fussed that it doesn't exist elsewhere.
"Unlike jazz enthusiasts – persistently besieging Radio 3 for a better deal for their favoured art form – gamers don't need to nag. The other explanation would be that the traditional media still doesn't get it. That, despite all the articles about the scale of the industry and its threat to older forms of diversion (and older forms of fiction) it isn't something that needs taking seriously. Or, possibly, that it isn't something that can be taken seriously, in the sense that a film or a pop record can."
Many gamers will heave sighs of relief not only that we have an ally in what was Fleet Street... but also that we are not comparable to jazz enthusiasts.
The full interview is available here.
* The Top 10 is...
Wii Sports
Braid
Halo 3
Fallout 3
Rock Band
Burnout Paradise
Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training / Sight Training
Gears of War
Guild Wars
Rez HD
The full list is available here.
Comments
BORN 24 Sep 2008 11:43
1/3
Is Fallout 3 currently available?
deleted 24 Sep 2008 12:25
2/3
I would like the Jazz Vs Game Debate to continue which is the real art form,
Chester B Colefield sing like it is "be bop scat dobba dab"!
Do you think Jools Holland plays a bit of COD4? or is he awaiting the release of Wii Music?
Chester B Colefield sing like it is "be bop scat dobba dab"!
Do you think Jools Holland plays a bit of COD4? or is he awaiting the release of Wii Music?
TimSpong 24 Sep 2008 13:28
3/3
haritori wrote:
I would like the Jazz Vs Game Debate to continue which is the real art form
Jazz is the art form (e.g. I enjoy jazz, right now Thelonius Monk's Monk's Moods) in a laid back, cool, black polar neck, absinthe and Gitanes way. Also, jazz musicians are good at dying of drugs, and very few of them make money. And Ken Burns made a documentary series all about Jazz...
Exceptions: Miles Davis po-faced, 'fusion' period. Anything that uses, "Jazz" and "Funk" in close proximity - including this posting, obv.
Video Games are a right proper good entertainment which I enjoy due to their lack of pretensions to be 'art' - they benefit more from Paddy's whiskey and Marlboro Red. Also video game makers are good at staying alive and having fun (or in the case of David Jaffe, whinging like a bitch).
Exceptions: Pontificating 'evolution' games / anything from Team Ninja that doesn't simply say, "KILL!! KILLL!
Doo-wip-bam-schoop brothers and sisters.
Tim