Ebert Regrets Attack on Gaming

[JuryNelson]

Does this mean we win?

Win what exactly?

That's kind of my point.

 

[crudus]

So...it seems to me...he regrets saying it, but he still means it.

So, really, he hasn't admitted he was wrong at all.

O_O

We've been duped!

People are entitled to their opinions. What he is saying is that he doesn't have the knowledge or expertise to actually make a public comment about them.

 

[purplelion]

At least he admitted that he was not knowledgeable enough on the subject to properly argue his point. On the other hand though he does express my beef with multiple ends;

Ebert: "If you can go through 'every emotional journey available,' doesn't that devalue each and every one of them?"

 

[Enigmers]

Uhhh..... am I the only one realizing that he's not really apologizing for shit, except not keeping his opinion to himself? He seems to make it very clear he still feels the same way, except now maybe he's willing to admit that sometime in the distant future a game could be considered art? That's not an apology, in my eyes. That's basically him standing behind his previous statement, with a "Maybe I shouldn't have said it" attitude.

That's the only thing you really can be sorry for. How can someone say "sorry for having an opinion" without sounding incredibly sarcastic?

 

[EightGaugeHippo]

I didnt really care that he didnt think games are/can be art. Firstly. Its his opinion he can say what he likes. And secondly. What he says will not change the way "I" think of games.

 

[Twilight_guy]

It takes a big man to admit being wrong. I'm glad he realized that making a statement on something you haven't experienced is inappropriate. I hope we all learn to shut our traps on things we have not done but have opinions on. Of course my definition of art is anything (mostly human made) that conveys an emotion or an idea and most definitions I have seen are similar so I think games qualify as art, you can argue bad art that just qualifies, but still I don't see why they have any less ability to convey ideas then any other series of moving images.

 

[I Max95]

he has as much right to insult video games as i do for what is called "real art"
so i can respect that he at least admits it

 

[MR.Spartacus]

So...it seems to me...he regrets saying it, but he still means it.

So, really, he hasn't admitted he was wrong at all.

O_O

We've been duped!

I saw the same thing there. I was more of "I can't believe i outed my own rapidly failing relevance!" then an apology.
Anyone can admit to regretting something but he's still never going to apologize. Not that he needs to. I just see it as a good reason to ignore his views on games. Besides he's a movie critic who really cares what he thinks about games.

 

[oppp7]

He probably only said that because everyone and their dog were harassing him about it.

 

[johnman]

I never started to care, I dont think games are art either, for me they are escapism, somthing to be played for immersion and thrills, not somthing to ponder deeply.

 

[johnman]

Dam double post....

 

[Caligula_II]

I like Ebert, really. I respect his opinion on movies. I was really annoyed about how everyone jumped down his throat about his comments on video games. Leave him alone, he's entitled to his opinion, though I do disagree. He has nothing to apologize for.

 

[Doug]

The fact that he still holds to what he originally posted and is now pretty much saying "If I knew you would all get so uppity about it, I would've kept my mouth shut" doesn't make me feel TOO much better, but I guess that's the best we're going to get out of Ebert, so okay.

Indeedie. Victory over an old, cancer-addled man... yeah... not the gaming community's finest hour.

Though I did post against his comments elsewhere, I do have to agree that the thing as a whole was just way too much.

 

[fleischwolke]

He did say "Basically I have no clue about games and I don't have the inclination to change that. But I see that this is no basis for talking about games."

I can accept that.

 

[procyonlotor]

I like Ebert, really. I respect his opinion on movies. I was really annoyed about how everyone jumped down his throat about his comments on video games. Leave him alone, he's entitled to his opinion, though I do disagree. He has nothing to apologize for.

Hear, hear.

 

[Lightslei]

Nice dance.

Stay with your opinion and feel the hatred you brought upon yourself instead of trying to calm them down. Ebert is now on the same level as politicians and Internet Explorer in my book, pure evil.

 

[iBlooba]

Eh at least he apologised. I respect his opinion on videogames, even if I don't agree with it. At least he had the balls to come back and correct himself. I hardly ever see anyone do that nowadays.

 

[MinishArcticFox]

At least he sort of apologized. I personally just think he's old and doesn't want to admit that something new could be good.

 

[PrototypeC]

I can't say I care the slightest bit about it (then why am I posting?). It seems to me that he's made a career out of saying exactly what he thinks even if it offends people. Why should we ask him to take it back? Maybe we know something he doesn't. Maybe we've experienced something that he hasn't.

He's old enough now that he doesn't have time to keep everybody happy outside of doing his job, which is critiquing movies, not games (keeping in mind, lots of movie buffs have gotten mad at him for disincluding their favourites too). He admits he hardly knows anything about video games, and I have no problem accepting that and moving on. Whether his opinion on them changes or not in the future is beans to me.

Can we talk about something else now?

 

[Enigma6667]

He gets kudos from me. It actually takes quite the amount of balls to admit your wrong-doings, especially in public, and ESPECIALLY if you are a very well-known prevalent film critic.

I still believe that games are art, and I still like Ebert as a film critic, but gaming and Ebert are two things that should not be in the same room, because they simply don't click. Glad to see that he realizes this.

But on a side note, why were games like Flower and Braid mentioned as examples for Mr. Ebert? Braid simply just had little write-ups in between levels, and I've never played Flower, but I'm pretty sure that that game doesn't have much of a plot to begin with. Better examples for gaming as an art form would probably be Shadow of the Colossus, Heavy Rain, or hell even Kingdom Hearts since they're Disney related, and they've made great films in the past.

/opinion