I can’t breathe

and this time it’s not because I’m sick!

Transistor looks so freaking cool I have been nerding out for like the past 15 minutes.

I seriously can not contain my excitement right now eeeeeeee ;w;

Video Games as Art

Okay so I stupidly decided to read the comments section of a youtube video and I saw a guy complaining that video games weren’t art and I felt the need to send him a message why I disagreed because otherwise I wouldn’t ever get it off my mind. So I wrote the entire thing in the comment box before I was about to send it to his inbox but then I found out he deleted his account. Not gonna let this text go to waste, so I’m going to post it here instead.

~

For me, art is simply something that is made to express feeling and emotion. It is something that is made to communicate an idea, a state of mind, or an emotion the creator wishes to express. I’d say it would be silly to NOT call games art. I mean, you have the in-game art assets, the writing, and the music. What really sets games apart though, is the aspect of interactivity and being in the shoes of the protagonist, and that is where many good games become really compelling.

You say you can’t win a painting and it is about the experiences and you’re right there- but thing is, that is exactly what games ARE. Games are an experience, and you’d be foolish to claim otherwise. Journey, for instance, conveys the ideas of going on a Journey, much like the works of Homer in The Odyssey with Odysseus in his 20 year epic. Thing is, while you can only view these events from a removed perspective in his writing (and also in traditional painting), games do something really special by making you the living entity that moves the narrative forward. If anything, games have the ability to portray the experience far better than any other artistic medium out there, if handled correctly.

Oh, and if you wanna make the argument “But Call of Duty isn’t art!”, yes. Yes it is. It is art just in the same way that a toddler’s macaroni drawing can be considered art. Art doesn’t just include the good art, it includes all art. Only the most meaningful of experiences rise to the top of their medium however, like for instance Van Gogh’s Stary Night and Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, or Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” and JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings franchise. The same goes for games, with experiences such as Shadow of the Colossus, Journey, Bastion, and Half Life rising to the top of the interactive storytelling sphere as true works of art.

If art truly is in the experience, then how can a medium where experiencing something is the exact goal for the player in the first place? Coupled with the emotion that can come by doing things with your own hands in a story, rather than simply “Witnessing it”, and you have a very potentially compelling medium for creative expression.

Before I stop ranting, it is worth noting that video games have made it into the New York Museum of Modern Art and are now one step further to being considered to be an official, recognized artistic medium. They will go on display sometime in March of 2013. Read more about the games chosen and the exhibit here.

superkianagalaxy:

HOLY SHIT

HOW DID WE NOT SEE THIS BEAUTIFUL CREATION BEFORE??

source: X X

(via puddletumbles)

synco:

KID N A SQUIRT MATCHING BANDANA THINGS!!!!!!!

(via trasknari)

Top 5 NPCs That Make Me Cry

trasknari:

SPOILERS BELOW

5. Kenny - The Walking Dead

4. Agro - Shadow of the Colossus

3. Zulf - Bastion

2. Tali’Zorah vas Normandy - Mass Effect

1. Clementine - The Walking Dead

(via trasknari)

askthecaelkid:

Gods, yeah okay just…can you not talk so loud? Thanks. Uggh…damn it, sorry. Okay. Uhh…I think I remember…I apologize to Zulf first, because I think I might have called him a loser and maybe said some other things…

And I’m sorry for taking your books Zia…they’re somewhere around here but I forgot.

Sorry for kicking your cane, Rucks. I don’t know why I did it but I probably deserved it when you hit me over the head with it. I can’t tell if it’s left a sore spot or not because my entire head is throbbing.

That’s all I can remember now.

I’m just going to find a dark, quiet place to lay down…

prokuon:

Follow up to Ura Style~

I was browsing tumblr while listening to the Bastion OST and then this happened.