Over a year ago, Roger Ebert made the infamous statement, “Video games can never be art.” In the following months, a heated debate ensued amongst everyone within the gaming community, largely defying the statement with numerous examples from over the years. While he ultimately somewhat apologized for his non-researched judgment, you can imagine my surprise when I saw what Ebert himself wrote on Twitter last week.
Wait... what?
Yes, that’s Ebert seemingly excited that Donkey Kong made it into the Smithsonian American Art Museum. His link was Kotaku’s coverage of the exhibit, The Art of Video Games. The exhibit covers “a visual history of the evolution of gaming from its humble beginnings through the present,” and was publicly voted on between February and April (with some iconic games already locked in for the exhibit). The full list is as follows:
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1943: The Battle of Midway
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons
After Burner
Attack of the Mutant Camels
Bioshock
Boom Blox
Brütal Legend
ChuChu Rocket!
Combat®
Desert Commander
Diablo II
Donkey Kong™
DOOM II
Dune II: Battle for Arrakis
Earthworm Jim
Einhänder
Fable
Fallout
Fallout 3
Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy VII
flOw
Flower
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2
Goldeneye 007
Gradius V
Gunstar Heroes
Halo 2
Heavy Rain
Jumpman
Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II
Marble Madness
Mass Effect 2
Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Minecraft
Okami
Pac-Man
Panzer Dragoon II: Zwei
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Panzer Dragoon Orta
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Phantasy Star
Phantasy Star IV
Pikmin 2
Pitfall II: Lost Caverns
Pitfall!
Portal
Rez
Shadow of the Colossus
Shenmue
Sid Meier’s Pirates!
SimCity
SimCity 2000
Sonic Adventure
Space Invaders
Spy vs Spy
Star Fox™
Star Fox™: Assault
Star Strike
Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator
StarCraft
Super Mario 64
Super Mario Bros. 3
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Super Mario World
The Bard’s Tale III: Thief of Fate
The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell
Tomb Raider
TRON: Maze-Atron
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Utopia
Worms Armageddon
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure
Zaxxon
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Reading through some of the comments on various blogs, the list is ripe for further debate (common argument: NO EARTHBOUND?!), but it seems that it’s generally accepted as a great group to showcase. Personally, it’s crazy to see all the console-related debut Zelda games there; it certainly says something about the continuing legacy of that series and the impact it has made over the years. The exhibit will showcase all games with still images and video footage, and five games (Pac-Man, Super Mario Brothers, The Secret of Monkey Island, Myst, and World of Warcraft) playable to the general public to “gain some feel for the interactivity.” I’m a bit surprised those games were chosen, as the aforementioned Zelda and the Panzer Dragoon series have the most entries on the list; their respective genres aren’t encapsulated in the other games.
Nevertheless, the exhibit helps give a stronger foundation for showcasing the art of video games to a wider audience, and heavily reinforces the existing argument for games as an art form. So does Ebert think games are credible now that the Smithsonian says so? Who knows. Hey, maybe it’ll prompt him to make a trip over there, brush up on some gaming history and titles, come home, and then spend a week straight playing Minecraft.
