The Art Of The Video Game
If you're like me and your coffee table is littered with console controllers, strategy guides and a keyboard you will probably not have room for Martha Stewart's Home Designs. Finally here is something that may warrant a spot on your cluttered gaming counter.
The Art Of The Video Game by Josh Jenish (Quirk Books 2008) is a beautiful hardback that attempts to further the case that video games are indeed a form of art. The book is a survey of games from publishers that include Electronic Arts, Activision, Sega, Sony and Konami and includes full color photographs of concept and development art. Here games like Hellgate: London are shown from the creative art perspective starting from simple sketches to fully realized and painted drawings and finally their living in-game representations.
I was disappointed to see that most of the games here appeared to be of the shooter genre with The Sims and Beautiful Katamari being notable exceptions. I was confused to see the lack of games of like some of the more recent Final Fantasy entries and found the scope of coverage to be quite narrow, stifling the books commentary of the artistic relevance of the games industry.
It feels like Mr. Jenish either picked his favorite games to survey or selected them based on the largest demographics. It's games like Halo that get the royal treatment and Tomb Raider that barely get a page of screenshots. The side bar commentary also feels rushed and incomplete for these games with niche-only appeal.
As a composition, The Art Of The Video Game feels uneven and narrow in its attempt to tackle a subject as wide as game art and as a result falters a bit in accomplishing the tall order of presenting video games as art. However it is a step in the right direction as a medium by which games can be showcased as artistic expression. It may not have replaced the keyboard on my coffee table but it has found a solid place on my library shelf.
ROCsteady
Posted to Video Games on 7 May 2010
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