Comments on: Editorial: Halo 3 Isn’t Art, and Other Useless Facts

By: erathoniel

erathoniel — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 23:56:36 +0000

Halo 3 is not art. It’s just the same as any FPS, with a story, crappy multiplayer (See Starsiege: Tribes and Tribes 2 [even Tribes: Vengeance, which took a fair dive in multiplayer). Tribes 2 and Starsiege: Tribes had more game-modes than Halo, before Halo. You could even put in mods. Halo’s gun system is very unrealistic. “Oh, I’ll just go to the battlefield with (INSERTGUN1NAMEHERE)and maybe a (INSERTGUN2NAMEHERE), and then I’ll pick up ammo and whatnot in the field!” In Tribes, the gameplay was more realistic. “I’d better suit up in one of three suit models, choose one of five packs, take a gun, and blow some loser’s brains out.” It’s not that Halo is terrible, it’s just below average, rips off everything, has no unique weapons (seriously, everything is fairly sci-fi cliche), and calls it quits. A game years older than it had 4 square kilometer and up fairly realistic maps, with frantic fast paced gameplay, and Halo’s lucky to get a 500 square meter map with a realistic feel, and then the gameplay feels slow. The vehicles are nothing special. Tribes 2 had 6 passenger seat bombers with additional pilot and weapons-operator seats. Halo? Three seater jeeps.

By: dtbr

dtbr — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 14:45:38 +0000

game as art has already become real enough to have different schools of thought emerging. Googlesearch for fun times:

Scratchware Manifesto = burn down the game industry

Realtime Art Manifesto = does ‘good game’ imply ‘will it make me want to hurt myself?’

Game Rules As Art = Humble proves video games can be as inaccessible, wanky and nonsense as any other contemporary art form

By: weclock

weclock — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 13:58:37 +0000

Not many of us here have been arguing over Halo 3… more like discussing the guys opinion on how video games aren’t art.

But I agree with Dr. Inzane, art has to evoke emotion, just because it doesn’t invoke your emotions doesn’t mean it isn’t art.

By: Spade

Spade — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 09:03:10 +0000

Planescape: Torment not even mentioned?

Load of bullshit.

By: bad guy

bad guy — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 08:00:54 +0000

ææææææææææææææææææææææææææ,hhhh.heeeeeeeeeeelpppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp!!!!!!!!!!!!!just kidding

By: John

John — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 05:06:54 +0000

Max Payne had norse mythology, film noir, and one of the best stories ever written in a video game. It’s part of a handful of games to come close to art, and one of the best games ever made.

Anyone who fails to understand this, particularly because it lacks generic Sci-Fi FPS cliches like aliens from (insert random text) that need to be killed by a hulky manly man in an armor suit (ripped off from Metroid) is a mainstream fool.

P.S. No, for the love of god, the Matrix films did NOT inspire Max Payne in any way. You just need to learn about John Woo.

By: da soc

da soc — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 02:52:53 +0000

I think that Big Rigs racing is the most artistic game ever created, but that’s just me. D:

By: shane

shane — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 02:14:59 +0000

Art is an expressed opinion of the beholder. ANYTHING can be considered art to the right person. Video games are art to certain people, and paintings are also. It’s a circumstantial idea that shouldn’t be dertermined by anyone.

By: ryan

ryan — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 01:06:05 +0000

who cares what NY TIMES thinks…

By: Dr.Inzane

Dr.Inzane — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 00:15:57 +0000

Great sucsess & entertainment is not art.
Art is usually ugly & provokes people.
Real artists become famous 300 years after they are dead.
Almost anything can be “art” in any direction, but CANNOT be defined.Th

By: Mechman

Mechman — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 23:04:05 +0000

As far as saying games aren’t art: Deus ex, Baldurs gate, bioshock, no one lives forever.
No one is allowed to define art unless they are in the target audience for the art in question. You wouldn’t ask a crackhead if mozart was art.

By: BlackBetty

BlackBetty — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 22:05:24 +0000

If you call Halo a kind of art, what are you suppose to call MGS?

By: somewhat

somewhat — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 14:47:23 +0000

Thank you Lupo, I was waiting for someone to mention that. I just couldn’t remember the danged name.

By: Lupo

Lupo — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 14:24:38 +0000

I can’t believe no one’s mentioned Okami… That game literally is art. =P

By: Pg

Pg — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 10:16:11 +0000

Halo 3 is to FPS what the color red is to dogshit.

By: Galduke

Galduke — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 06:11:13 +0000

Halo 3 is not in any way a masterpiece. The game’s graphics are subpar compared to other 360 titles (like Gears of War), the story is derivative to the EXTREME (read any no-name sci fi book, then review Halo’s story), and it’s saving grace, the multiplayer, is out done by countless other PC (and some console) games, and with far less annoying 10 year olds getting a kick out of cussing out people who can’t physically touch them.
However, to say that there aren’t any games that could be considered “art” is ludicrous, especially considering the fact that the guy saying it likely has a cat who he feeds food coloring, just so the cat can cough up dyed hairballs, which he will then proceed to glue to his living room wall and call it “art”. To be absolutely honest, compared to the crap that we call “modern art”, Bungie as a whole ranks up there with Michael Angelo. In the end it just all depends on the person’s perspective, and my own theory of “art” would be to excel in one or more categories, or revolutionize the genre the work is in. The original Halo somewhat revolutionized things for console FSPs, but not for the PC, therefore in my opinion it does not qualify as “art”.
But what do I know, I think that Monty Python and the Holy Grail was infinitely greater than the trash that was Napoleon Dynamite.

By: weclock

weclock — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 05:53:10 +0000

Lol, Deus Ex, Psychonauts, or the like
games that make you think or feel, those are artistic games.

games that are fun to play…. not so much artistic, but not bad either.

By: Heru-Ur

Heru-Ur — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 05:23:25 +0000

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art

“Art refers to a diverse range of human activities and artifacts, and may be used to cover all or any of the arts, including music, literature and other forms.”

Key phrase in that being “and other forms”.

By: Zoness

Zoness — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 04:18:31 +0000

I wouldn’t worry too much about this article, it was about gaming and it was in the New York Times. Nuff said.

By: Backlands

Backlands — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 04:02:43 +0000

Monkey Island Indeed! Those games were some of the greats. And as well, saying Max Payne is a masterpiece or anything to that context just discredits you, But, still there is a lot of evidence towards Halo 3 being a masterpiece. When people look at a game towards being a masterpiece they often only look into the graphics. But a gaming masterpiece involves much, much more than simply graphics. It takes dialog, gameplay, freedom, graphics, uniqueness, ease of play, interactivity, immersion, and even now online gameplay. There may be more things that come into the equation and it is an ever changing equation. But The Halo series in a total has brought all of these qualities together in a gaming achievement. It has that quality of in depthness that a game needs, the gamplay factor, its unique, some people will disagree with that saying its just a first-person shooter but it is unique, its easy to get into but not to easy that anyone can be good at it, obviously interactivity, it immerses you at such a level you may just feel important in the conflict, it has the dialog needed for such a massive game, and the graphics are obviously peek. It also has that high standard of online gameplay that people can remain immersed and play the game for so long.

If your looking for a gaming masterpiece you’ve found it. Halo 1,2, and 3 have brought that level of gaming that the creators can feel like accomplishers.