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**Omgwtfbbqkitten** · 05-06-2011, 12:34 PM

Re: Smithsonian 'Art of Video Games' winners

Heavy Rain

One of these things is not like the other.
One of these things isn't a game, just a bad movie.

Also FFVII and FFT, but not FFVI anywhere to be seen?

Crime against humanity, I tell ya.

Rest of the list is fine.

**cidbahamut** · 05-06-2011, 12:35 PM

Re: Smithsonian 'Art of Video Games' winners

I'm sure there's some items on that list I should be getting angry about but I think I'll just wait until I go see the exhibit to do that.

**Gobo** · 05-06-2011, 01:08 PM

Re: Smithsonian 'Art of Video Games' winners

That's because a lot of things that people are complaining that did not win were not available to vote for. 6 wasn't chosen as one of possible selections for SNES adventure (LttP, Chrono Trigger and Earthbound were the three that could be voted on)

Okami won for PS2, that's all I really cared about. As much of a KH and FF fan boy as I am, if Okami hadn't won, it would have been a bad bad day.

**Icemage** · 05-06-2011, 04:54 PM

Re: Smithsonian 'Art of Video Games' winners

I don't have an issue with Heavy Rain's inclusion; it's a unique title, and whether you "get it" or not, it does have some truly innovative features, such as crucial protagonists (you can literally finish the game and have everyone important be dead), and some really nifty graphic tricks. It also has some of the best motion controls you'll ever see in a video game.

Most of the list is at least plausible, though some of the specific choices make me scratch my head a bit, and there are some curious omissions, too.

Games I'm surprised didn't make the cut for one reason or another:

Myst
Thief: The Dark Project (esp. Thief 3)
Tetris
Alan Wake
Half Life 2
Farmville
Counterstrike
Civlization IV
Street Fighter II
Ultima Online and/or EverQuest and/or World of Warcraft
Gauntlet and/or Gauntlet: Legends
Time Crisis II or some other lightgun-style game
Guitar Hero or Rock Band or Dance Dance Revolution

Games that I am surprised made the list as representatives of their genre/series:
Halo 2 (why H2 and not H3?)
Metroid Prime 2 (arguably inferior to MP1)
Attack of the Mutant Camels (why this instead of R-Type?)

Icemage

**Omgwtfbbqkitten** · 05-06-2011, 07:14 PM

Re: Smithsonian 'Art of Video Games' winners

I don't have an issue with Heavy Rain's inclusion; it's a unique title, and whether you "get it" or not, it does have some truly innovative features, such as crucial protagonists (you can literally finish the game and have everyone important be dead), and some really nifty graphic tricks. It also has some of the best motion controls you'll ever see in a video game.

And there's practically nothing there that hadn't been done by Shenmue and the countless other point-and-click adventures that preceded that or even RPGs that already done many of the things it had. The only difference is that the director passionately believes games need to be more like movies and has often said so while disrespecting all this game's predecessors by considering Heavy Rain completely original.

I mean, Solid Snake is a cutscene whore, but when the Colonel tells him to press the square button to climb the latter instead of just climbing the ladder, Snake doesn't flinch and neither does the gamer. For the onlooking non-gamer, the forth wall is shattered and for the character and the player its not. Why worry about including the onlooker?

And for all the neat-o features of character death and minor plot changes that result, you're still steered toward the most obvious of conclusions.

A twist so obvious M. Night Shaymalan could have done it after Signs

Additionally, for that high praise you're giving the rather banal use of motion control, that came at the expense of promised content the team never really delivered on. The Taxidermist - which was practically done anyway and just withheld - was the only additional content the game ever saw.

You mention the omission of Myst, which is another I kind of find strange as its a genre grandaddy in some respects (well in the sense of the 90s, anyway) and paved the way for Shenmue, Phoenix Wright, Trace Memory and many others.

Heavy Rain was all hype and recent memory - its the only reason it got there or even stayed in the hearts of the SDF for this long. Given another year, post LA Noire in particular, no one would have even thought of it. Hell, even Alan Wake comes off more relevant and interesting, rather than pretentious.

**Icemage** · 05-06-2011, 08:09 PM

Re: Smithsonian 'Art of Video Games' winners

We're going to have to agree to disagree, then, BBQ. I've been gaming for quite a few years, and Heavy Rain is the first game I can ever remember encountering where you can deliberately and meaningfully get every single main character killed and still get an ending that isn't a premature "Game Over" (as an aside, I didn't quibble too much about Mass Effect 2's inclusion because it's the only OTHER game I can think of where you can do this - and you really have to work hard to make that happen in ME2).

Complaining about good motion control being implemented at the expense of additional content doesn't take anything away from the fact that it's still good motion control - at least as good if not better than Zak & Wiki, which I assume is on the list for the exact same reason.

I don't think Heavy Rain is anywhere near the most deserving game on the list, but as I mentioned, I think the weakest link is Attack of the Mutant Camels. Every game on the list has its flaws, and I just think you're selling Heavy Rain too short.

Icemage

**Gobo** · 05-06-2011, 08:15 PM

Re: Smithsonian 'Art of Video Games' winners

Btw there are 5 honorable mentions that were just picked, the public could not vote on them

Pac-Man
Super Mario Brothers
Secret of Monkey Island
Myst
WoW

For the whole Heavy Rain thing, it was versus Dragon Age: Origins and FF13 for its category.

**Armando** · 05-06-2011, 09:42 PM

Re: Smithsonian 'Art of Video Games' winners

WoW? I don't want to sound like a hater, but its character designs are good but not fantastic, and its equipment design is gaudy as fuck. Is it getting an honorable mention for being the most successful MMO in the US?

**Omgwtfbbqkitten** · 05-06-2011, 10:37 PM

Re: Smithsonian 'Art of Video Games' winners

These were all picks based on popularity rather than real artistic merit, so any real rhyme and reason behind the "art" went out the window at that moment. I couldn't be bothered to jump through the hoops to sign up on the site just to vote, so most people went with their inner-fanboy and not every pick that made it was a rational one.

I mean, its kinda crass Super Mario Brothers gets the honorable mention, don't you think? Wasn't it Nintendo and that game that revived this industry in the 80s after over saturation from Atari, Colecovision, Intellivison and crap-of-the-week games like E.T.? Super Mario Bros. was a huge part of that. Granted, it was a pack-in, but it had exposure in the arcade first.

I was around for that stuff, most of the consoles prior to it released sewage that made me not want a home system, at least til Nintendo and Sega came along. About the only thing that ever amused me on Atari 2600 was Pitfall and The Three Little Pigs. Apparently in that version of the Three Little Pigs, the big bad wolf could blow on brick and erode it. I think it was more or less just button mashing. Player 1 was the pigs and player 2 went about blowing thier houses down as the wolf.

A primordial tower defense game, more or less. It would make a nifty iOS game today.

But Pac-Man on that system? Ghastly.

And does anyone remember what Donkey Kong looked like on that thing?

Yeah. Not really close to the arcade or the NES version. Nintendo just pretends it never happened. Can you blame them?

I think in this version, when Jumpman got to the top, he beat Pauline and DK with the hammer to put them out of their misery.

**cidbahamut** · 05-07-2011, 06:46 AM

Re: Smithsonian 'Art of Video Games' winners

Originally posted by Omgwtfbbqkitten View Post

These were all picks based on popularity rather than real artistic merit

The crux of the problem.

Originally posted by Omgwtfbbqkitten View Post

I couldn't be bothered to jump through the hoops to sign up on the site just to vote

The reason you're not allowed to complain.

**Firewind** · 05-07-2011, 08:22 AM

Re: Smithsonian 'Art of Video Games' winners

No Valkyria Chronicles or Tales of games included makes me sad if this is video games as art.

Portal, Heavy Rain, Okami and Bioshock being in there makes me smile though if we are looking at it purely from a "Video Games as Art" standpoint.

**Malacite** · 05-07-2011, 03:05 PM

Re: Smithsonian 'Art of Video Games' winners

Originally posted by Firewind View Post

No Valkyria Chronicles or Tales of games included makes me sad if this is video games as art.

Agreed. Valkyria is still the single most beautiful work of art in a videogame I've ever seen.

As for why Halo 2 and not Halo 3, probably because 2 was just over-all better and more influential - it's the reason people got into Xbox Live.

**Gobo** · 05-07-2011, 04:27 PM

Re: Smithsonian 'Art of Video Games' winners

Originally posted by Firewind View Post

No Valkyria Chronicles or Tales of games included makes me sad if this is video games as art.

Portal, Heavy Rain, Okami and Bioshock being in there makes me smile though if we are looking at it purely from a "Video Games as Art" standpoint.

Symphonia was the only one nominated and it was up against Wind Waker. Its work was definitely cut out for it.

**Omgwtfbbqkitten** · 05-07-2011, 08:27 PM

Re: Smithsonian 'Art of Video Games' winners

Symphonia was the only one nominated and it was up against Wind Waker. Its work was definitely cut out for it

Yeah, the moment Symphonia steps out of an animated cutscene, Wind Waker would tear it to pieces, particularly given that Wind Waker wanted to look

The reason you're not allowed to complain.

I wasn't aware it was an election. I'll complain because this was a popularity contest, so there's only two ways to win:

(1) The game is fresh and hyped in the memory of gamers (Mass Effect 2, Heavy Rain)
(2) The game is old and prestigious

After that, you just have to rally your garden variety fanboy and who cares about this the most wins. The older you are, the less likely you are to care about what some crusty baby boomers think about video games as a medium. You've accepted they'll just have to be dead and buried before the medium is fully accepted by the mainstream.

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Smithsonian 'Art of Video Games' winners

Smithsonian 'Art of Video Games' winners

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