Something of a firestorm has started across videogame message boards everywhere over various statements made by Roger Ebert on the issue of videogames-as-art, including:

“I did indeed consider videogames inherently inferior to film and literature. There is a structural reason for that: Videogames by their nature require player choices, which is the opposite of the strategy of serious film and literature, which requires authorial control.”

It’s an interesting debate - my 2 cents is that they are an art form, but are in their infancy, and it’ll take time for some major works to be made. Still, unlike other forms of art, including music, literature, and film, videogames of the past — including games as recent as the PS1, N64 era — are rarely revisited or replayed by anyone.

Ebert has been so flooded with emails that his page on the Sun Times web site has begun printing them. Check ‘em out here:

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051206/COMMENTARY/51206002

Spread the word!