i was roused by how bayonetta channeled its nostalgic appreciation for old videogames
i was both mentally and visually stimulated by the lead character's post feminist design
--
this is why cage and co. are so, so far behind. art does not equal sad. art does not equal minimalism. art equals expression, stimulation, culture, attachment.
cage and other designers of his ilk will fumble in their paddle pool because there is no progress to be made in their line of thinking. it's ill-conceived, naive and just plain dumb - and i'm really tired of hearing about it
I'm not so sure about entirely dismissing everything designers like that have done, but the bolded part is most important IMO.
Western-bred and influenced creators seem lost in the cultural memetic that Art Is Srs Bizness. And that serious business is solemn, sad. That introspection only comes from sitting alone in an uncomfortable chair in an empty room, gazing out the window into a battering rainstorm.
This is a knowing stereotype, but an image conjured up by western "interpretive dance" would be a pale, gaunt man in a leotard tip-toeing around a stage in silence, while Phillip Glass plays. Interpretive dance in many other cultures would in comparison be a cacophony of sound and color, often exuberant, even carnival-like. Intense, a display of emotion, energy, involvement, even danger.
So many designers express near contempt for video games for being too "fun". For being "shallow" and "saying nothing". Video games have a hell of a lot to say. A lot of people haven't been listening, because of a bias that everyone should be speaking one language.
It has been said before, but what many miss about the 'art' of games is that they are closer to performance art than anything else. The art only properly exists when the game is being played; the involvement of the player is what creates it. Evo Moment 37 is art. Watching someone perform an incredible speed run that stretches, and breaks, the limits of how a game is designed, is art. Witnessing Bayonetta being played to maximum potential is art. Even better, due to the accessibility of the medium, you don't have to be just an observer. It's easy for anyone to pick up a controller and take part and become a part of the art.
That said, there is a place for experiences like The Walking Dead. There's little to be gained by putting other forms of games down in order to elevate something like that experience.
It could be true that we're in need of an interactive fiction genre label. To draw upon the Star Trek holodeck analogy, in that fictional setting interactive programs were not called "games" but "holonovels" with the understanding that they were not passive. They were interactive and depended on "player" participation.
We don't have a holodeck yet, but perhaps a different kind of label is needed.