Barker lays smackdown on Ebert about games not being art

by Alexander Sliwinski on Sep 26th 2007 8:58PM

Speaking with Scott Steinberg on the latest Digital Trends podcast, horror guru Clive Barker calls Roger "game's can't be high art" Ebert a "pompous, arrogant old man" and says "he's not going to stop us from making games or enjoying them or... making them art." Barker even says that he planned to write a nasty letter to Ebert, but then backed down after discovering Ebert had cancer. Well, at least Barker has a heart and isn't completely about ripping them out while they're still beating.

Barker goes on to say that he thinks one day games will be viewed as art just like old Disney animated films are now. There's a lot more in the podcast about the topic. We're not that concerned about the "games as art" debate because we're sure in time the critics will come around. Although we're not too sure if Barker's Jericho would be on that art list before Shadow of the Colossus or Katamari Damacy.

[Via GameDaily]

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Tags: art, barker, cliverbarker, ebert, gamesasart

Reader Comments (54)

Screw Barker for calling Ebert a pompous old man. He may be old, but he's been in the business longer than Barker's been walking, and he knows what he's talking about. Though, Ebert was just giving one opinion about videogames, you don't agree, move on and get over it. Keep making your lame videogames.
I'm a big Ebert fan and I totally disagree with him about games not being high art (totally disagree with him about a lot things, actually), but that's no need to start calling games. Keep that lameness in the schoolyard, lil Clivey, you hear?

"beauty is in the eye of the beholder"

If you think it's art, then it's art! However, don't piss in my face and tell otherwise.

Why the F do people even care about this. Have any of you seen an "Art Film"? They suck. Why do you want video games to be called art? I don't agree that they are art. They have artistic merit and there is art in the actual game but as a whole I don't think you can call it a piece of art. Art should be something that everyone can experience and preferably something they can get instant feedback from.

It doesn't how good a game is that doesn't make it art. Sure Bioshock was good but did you actually like the story? The story was pretty weak. The art style of the game was good and so was the sound and gameplay but those are just parts of the game.

I don't agree that something interactive in such a way can be art.

I think most people who grew up with games and have seen them grow and evolve definitely recognize that videogames are an art form. It's only the crotchety folks who never played them who think they don't have artistic merit.

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