General News - The Art of Video Games @ Washington Post

Bedwyr sends in this article at The Washington Post that looks at "The Art of Video Games", an exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum:

But is it in fact the case, as game designer Jenova Chen says, that "everything is an art"? Or are there important lines that demarcate entertainment and art? Exhibition curator Chris Melissinos hedges in the wall text that introduces the show: "Using the cultural lens of an art museum, viewers can determine whether the games on display are indeed worthy of the title 'art.' "
Very likely, some of these games, and even more in the future, rise to that level. But the exhibition doesn't address what distinguishes merely entertaining games from great ones, and what models designers should pursue if they want to achieve greater artistic substance.

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While I'm all for presenting the hidden virtues of computer games to a broader audience, the author certainly is right in pointing out the awful shallowness of this exhibition. He asks some worthwhile questions, too, if you get through those first paragraphs that might give the false impression he was bashing games as a medium…

Video games, like role playing, may well be a compensatory response to broad feelings of impotence, hence their often obsessive focus on the illusion of agency and control over the world.

Awesome. I always look forward to enjoying the replies on statements such as this one.
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That was definitely a more relevant view on the subject than any one I've seen in gaming press. Regardless of whether one agrees with it or not though, I observe that people are finally starting to take this issue seriously while trying to avoid the hysterics that we've been seeing all too often, and that's certainly very positive.