“Games can’t be art”, say Spielberg and Lucas

George Lucas and Steven Spielberg recently hosted a panel at a independent cinema festival, and they used some time to discuss other mediums; including video games.

When an audience member asked about their view on video games as an art form Lucas said:

“The problem with games is the controller. The second you get the controller something turns off in the heart, and it becomes a sport. Scientific studies on the human heart confirm this.”

Spielberg added:

“Boom Blox was intended to be a moving story about a man who suffers from the untimely death of his wife, and who has to reconcile himself with the idea of love. However, once the game controller was involved, Boom Blox turned into a game about blowing up blocks that look like farm animals. This is why games can’t be art.”

Spielberg was lead designer on the game.

Lucas finished by bigging up Kinect as an art piece:

“When I first tried the Kinect I played in poorly lit conditions, so the device didn’t recognise all of my gestures. I got frustrated, then I started to feel upset, then angry. That camera made me feel. Now, that’s art.”

Now, let’s think for a minute. What he’s saying is that art needs to provoke emotion, games do that. This simply shows a lack of insight in gaming, when we see games like Journey and The Graveyard, they’re definitely art.

Thanks, Pixeled Courier.