Go Destructoid!

Great article over there on arty-farty indie games. Check it out. 

They say it 1000 times better than I ever could/have. I pretty much agree with about 99% of their article.

I just wish they would have not only laid into the pretentious bullshit that gets called 'art' or 'meaningful' or 'important' in the gaming medium but would also have laid in to the pretentious, full of shit 'journalists' that insist on lauding and hyping these types of games. Often times I think these writers go on and on about a lot of this arty farty stuff so it makes them feel like their own work is important (i.e. they are letting their readers in on something special and important versus simply writing about how many new weapons exist in modern shooter/alien invasion/football sim game #42).

Not to be a hateful bastard about it. I've always wanted deeper games and deeper game journalism. But I think the only way we will get both is to call bullshit when we see (i.e. games that parade around in arty clothing but are actually full of total shit)  so it forces us developers (and journalists) to actually,genuinely, honestly try to crack the 'games as a meaningful medium/games as art' nut.

So far most of what these wanna be arty games have been doing is draping themselves in the 'moody, heavy foggy atmospheric fx, sounds of wind and echoey laughing children in the distance' window dressing used by other mediums that HAVE made people feel and think (paintings, movies, novels). And once the games kind of look like these other mediums, the game makers shout really loud, "Look! We're art and important too cause we look/sound/feel just like all that other stuff". And lots of gamers and lots of journalist buy it hook, line, and sinker.

Are there some genuine games out there that ARE on the path to proving that games can make you feel and think? Yep! And some are small, indie games and some are big AAAAA $60.00 box products. But there are not many and there are only 1-2 /year at most. And there are sure as hell not near as many as a lot of the net and certain websites/magazines would have you believe.

David