Roger Ebert Backs Down On Video Games As Art 265
Jhyrryl writes "Roger Ebert has again posted about video games. It's an apology of sorts, for having publicly said that games are not art. He wrote, 'I should not have written that entry without being more familiar with the actual experience of video games. ... My error in the first place was to think I could make a convincing argument on purely theoretical grounds. What I was saying is that video games could not in principle be Art. That was a foolish position to take, particularly as it seemed to apply to the entire unseen future of games. This was pointed out to me maybe hundreds of times.'"
hurrh (Score:5, Informative)
Ebert explains never played video games, refuses to play them, and bashed them based only based on his own theories. He then slightly apologizes for being an ass and confesses he does not know what art is.
Re:He Did No Such Thing (Score:4, Informative)
Roger Ebert is a brilliant man.
Going to have to disagree with that one. Given his loony statements about children in the US wearing US flag t-shirts on cinco de mayo, I'd have to say that brilliant left the building a long time ago. Though I do wonder how he would feel about mexican children in mexico wearing mexican flag t-shirts on the anniversary of the battle of yorktown.
Re:He Did No Such Thing (Score:4, Informative)
Did anyone else notice that he changed the pictures on his blog post? When I read it last night, it was all Doom and other bloody horror FPS screenshots. Today it's all Shadows of the Colossus. Perhaps someone caught too much flak (again) and was pressured to backpedal (again)?
I thought it seemed like a strawman to say 'does this decapitated demon look like art to you?' It would be like using a clip from Porky's to explain why movies aren't art...
Re:Still a jerk (Score:3, Informative)
What he should have realized is developing an opinion without proper experience was the mistake.
Remember where you are.
Re:Reminds me of my family (Score:3, Informative)
Compared to Big Iron, they are toys.
That doesn't mean they aren't useful.