Hosted by Sony San Diego’s Chase Williams & NASA’s Max Kelleher, The Greatest Game is an OK Beast podcast mini-series dedicated to the discussion of philosophy, aesthetics, and art theory – through the lens of video games. Besides serving as an introduction and gateway to later conversations, the crew uses episode one to equip its […]
It’s hard to say something meaningful about videogames in only a few paragraphs. They are a complex form whose novelty has left large gaps in our understanding which will be filled when we stop wondering “why is this boss fight good”, and instead ask “what does it mean to play”. However, I can’t resist the […]
We’ve come to the end of the series, which means it’s time to summarize what we’ve learned and measure our findings against our expectations. I picked up Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art for one purpose: to gain a more concrete understanding of theories of art and how videogames fit into them. I intended […]
We’ve arrived at the end of John Sharp’s peek into games and the many ways artistic communities utilize them, and I’m crestfallen to tell you that it’s a bit anti-climactic. The final remarks of Works of Game don’t dive as deep into the form of videogames as I expected, but instead reinforce the foundational concepts elucidated in […]
So far in “Challenging Assumptions: On Art & Videogames” we’ve talked extensively from an Art-first perspective, analyzing how artists use formal game creation tools and exploring game developers with artistic aims. I promise, John Sharp explores the medium of videogames on their own terms in Works of Game, but we’re not quite there yet. Before we […]
Now we’re getting into the meat and potatoes of “Challenging Assumptions: On Art & Videogames”, and this next entry satisfies the appetite of those who think games can express ideas in ways unique to the form. John Sharp dedicates a chapter to artgames: which use “the innate properties of games–among them interactivity, game mechanics, and player […]
Inside the general, online-gaming community, one can observe that when games and art are discussed, videogames are predominantly used as the lens through which the conversation is anchored. Still, we can discern the connection between art and games with greater depth if we reverse our perspective. That is exactly what Chapter 3 of John Sharp’s Works […]
At this point in “Challenging Assumptions: On Art and Videogames”, you may be a bit confused. I know my head was spinning at this stage in Works of Game. Remember though that John Sharp is still laying out the roadmap for this conceptual journey, and that’ll we’ll be diving deeper into each nuance soon. Just hold on […]
Okay, this first entry into “Challenging Assumptions: On Art and Videogames” is going to rely heavily on John Sharp’s ideas, as he uses his introduction to lay out a thick serving of concepts on which the rest of the book relies. He describes his experience playing The Night Journey in the Museum of the Moving […]