It has come to my attention that when I put up these forwarded posts, people come look at them! So here’s another one.

I’ve a compilation of opinions this time. A dominoed trail of disagreement leading through the mouths of Roger Ebert, Jim Preston and E. Daniel Arey. Each of course followed by my charming additions <3. And finally, I end our tour d’text with a look at Arey’s comparison between Ico and Citizen Kane.

Ebert

Critiquing the film adaptation of the popular video game Hitman, Ebert states:

. . . video games will never become an art form — never, at least, until they morph into something else or more.

Like what, I wonder. Maybe until they morph into movies or become something like a swiss army knife. Nothing smears your misteps like a good old contradiction, friend: never and until being the operative words. In a stroke of literary genius, Ebert contrasts the wanting state of games against his own mastery of propaganda; the delicate power to write a word while only conveying the vaguest semblance of an idea (and without a shred of evidence!).

Needless to say, the review caught some attention among the gamed (gām·ĭd) and it was time for Jim Preston to say his piece. Continue Reading…