Voting Begins for Smithsonian Videogame Exhibit

[StriderShinryu]

Glad to see Okami and Shadow of the Colossus are in.

But WHY are Halo, COD, Mass Effect 2 etc in? Especially when they seemingly omitted Red Dead Redemption.

I can't say that I know why CoD is in as it's pretty much just an interactive version of a pointless explosion filled action movie. Heck, I'm one of the people who actually enjoyed The Expendables but I would never classify it as art.

Halo, on the other hand, does at the least have some striking visual design even if the entire experience isn't exactly "artsy." ME2 is much in the same boat except it augments it's striking visual aspects with a story that may not be anything truly new but does use player interaction in the pondering of some rather deep moral dilemmas. I'd agree neither are overly "arty" games but I'd say they both have at least some grounds for inclusion.

 

[boholikeu]

It's kind of stupid that they divide your votes up by genre rather than simply by console. The development of the medium is such that a lot of innovations were concentrated in certain genres so you'll see a few really great games being left out just because they had stiff competition. Similarly, you'll see a lot of mediocre games being featured simply because they were the best of a genre during a lackluster time period.

I'd imagine Susan Arendt is giggling with glee over PN03 being one of the nominees.

Voted for half life. Let's hope Half life gets picked over another faceless COD game.

Meh, I doubt I'd vote for Half Life anyway, but at least in the modern era they have HL2 up against Portal. Even if I liked HL2, there's no way I'd put it above Portal either as a better game or a better example of games as art. I certainly agree with not voting for CoD though.

At least they put up the original fallout in the adventure genre. That gives hope, since it's competition is rather laughable.

I dunno, I think Grim Fandango > Fallout.

 

[Shirokurou]

I approve as long as it won't be one big make-out session with Nintendo and "the good old days".
Cause "Video Games as art" is a little more than that.

 

[PixelJunk]

This has the potential to go horribly wrong... Judging something by its artistic merits is a lot different than choosing your favorite title, best selling title, and popular title. The day we see COD representing video games as art is a dark day indeed. Why it's there I don't have a single clue... Someone didn't do their research at the Smithsonian..... There is good art...and then there is bad art.

Either we validate the medium as an art with well thought out choices, or we damn it by showing the world "this is what gamers consider art" A.K.A COD, Halo, and a number of other titles that really have no business being on that list.

I don't mean to sound elitist...but this is big. Do we really want to be known as a medium that gives artistic merits to mediocrity?

 

[Monshroud]

I really hope public input helps decide the games to be in the exhibit. If it just defaults to a panel of "Experts" I fear they will miss out on some things. I know they have this website up and stuff, just seems weird that they are asking for input. Like there aren't enough books and people out there who have a high-level of knowledge on the subject

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

When I saw majora's mask as a voting option, I shed a single tear and hit the vote button with all of my might.