Video games as an artistic medium

So I'm reading the new issue of Game Informer when I come to the article asking "Why have gaming companies recently been using live-action commercials? Isn't the in-game action, which is often really fucking cool, good enough to attract new customers?" They raised the point that people who are going to be looking for the very specific gameplay elements that such a trailer would show aren't exactly looking for new games to play from TV ads; they're online looking at gameplay videos, playing demos, chatting with their friends about what they've heard or played. And I think that's fair. We're not the target audience for those TV spots. And as much as I've come to loathe Call of Duty in the last three years, I'll give them that the trailer with all those big-name actors is pretty goddamn appealing, so I see their point.

But then I came across this gem of a line and I had to stop and revive this blog that hasn't been touched in a year: "Video games sometimes take hours to slowly develop a bond between the player and the character. The nature of the medium allows for such an elongated process. Live-action film, on the other hand, allows viewers to invest in characters at a much faster pace. For this reason, filmmakers are better suited to create media where viewers can quickly connect to a character."

And I can't tell you how upset I am at reading those words. Those words, penned by an employee of a fucking gaming magazine, is telling the reader that video games are not as good as their contemporary counterparts. I'm being told that jumping on top of a goddamn Brute and punching his brains out is not as evocative as watching Kat get blown up by a Covenant grenade and lie on the ground with part of the visor on her helmet blown out. I'm being told that watching Elder Scrolls Guy walk through a town to have a giant CGI dragon land in front of him and roar at him is more gripping than killing that very same dragon with nothing but my sword and shield (this one is actually true, by the way, Bethesda games are boring as shit). For all of Capcom's faults, they at least did SOMETHING right with Resident Evil 6 when they used footage from the game for all their trailers.

Is it any wonder why video games are still a joke in adult society? We have industry fucking standards like Microsoft employee Frank O'Connor, who I am ashamed to hear has been with the Halo franchise since its inception, espousing such undermining values. I've long held the belief that video games are the ULTIMATE in art, combining every form you can imagine (traditional art, music, cinematography, storytelling, etc.) and then making it interactive. What are we as gamers supposed to do when our passion, our lifeblood, is playing second fiddle to a lesser form of itself? Do you want to know how to sell Bioshock Infinite? Not with a couple square miles of green screen and shitty CGI.