Of course video games are art. Writing is an art, music is an art, design is an art, and all those pretty pictures in the game are art. If you mix a dozen types of art, the result isn’t something non-art. Poodles and train engines don’t fall out from the TV screen. The Escapist has the story.
The cool thing about this exhibition from the perspective of an arty person like myself is the focus on the artwork over the game’s popularity or even its gameplay. For example, Brutal Legend is in but Psychonauts is out, which might inspire some to face-eating rage but makes perfect sense in the cool light of the morning after.
Psychonauts, while maybe the better game, is an ugly, strange place, filled with twisted and deformed abominations that speak with human voices as if to mock the natural form and all that is beautiful. Brutal Legend is inspired by an artistic vision; a world crafted from the images on heavy metal album covers, and is stunning in its realization. Oh, and I really liked the stage battles. Play some Sacrifice, you whiners.
Also, this exhibition fills my black heart with a pinprick of glee for another reason. No Modern Warfare, Call of Duty, or any other spawn-and-die shooty game will ever make the list. I call that a win.