It’s 2013. The first NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) was released in 1985. Playstation was released in 1994, and the first XBox was released in 2001. Not the first consoles by far, these three consoles represented a development into the new generation of video game consoles. These systems made video game consoles more common on a retail and consumer level, and more accessible to the public at large.
Many people would argue that video games are not art by any standards. Although inside the scope of this classroom, as we’ve seen with past articles, the general consensus is that anything can be art, and by extension video games. But in the outside world, many forms of non-traditional art can be seen as just that: non-art.
This article discusses the place of the consoles in this modern era of smartphones, and smart computers, and smart tablets, and smart watches, and smart gadgets. The writers start with a bold statement: “THE video game console is dead.” It’s almost as if they are announcing it to the world. Such a blunt and powerful statement for a geek at heart whose early forms of artistic and literary expression were through video games, on the medium of video game consoles. It hurts…
The writers argue that video games consoles can no longer exist as simply video game consoles. They are competing in an ever growing market of games. The next generation of video game consoles, Playstation 4 and the Xbox One, are competing to be entertainment systems. It’s ironic that the Playstation 2 once posed a threat to the computer entertainment system, but today, it’s the advent of personal computers and personal mini-computers in our pockets (smartphones) that threaten these new generations of consoles.
My question to you is: what does the demise of the video game console era propose for video games? Personally, I see a distinction between the games I’ve played on video game consoles and a game of Temple Run or Angry Birds. Some of my earliest literary and artistic pursuits (of course were books) but after that were in fact video games. Games like Metal Gear Solid, Kingdom Hearts, and Final Fantasy had complex and well written plots that required critical thinking and analysis skills to play and comprehend. In an essay I read for English class titled “Hidden Intellectualism” by Gerald Graff, he argues that mainstream academia has often dismissed and smothered practices and pursuits viewed as anti-intellectual. One of my favorite games, Metal Gear Solid provoked strong ideas about different social, political, and economic themes including but not limited to warfare, technology, genetic engineering, religion, peace, race, engineering, history, weapons, life and death. Below is a brief trailer to one of the games. Notice how it seems to be telling more of a story rather than mindless entertainment (which can also be considered art :] )
Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/15/arts/video-games/sizing-up-the-playstation-4-and-xbox-one.html?pagewanted=1&ref=arts&_r=0
Hidden Intellectualism if you are interested
