Art+Video Games

In this post, I would like to talk about whether video games are an art form. Because this question is so deep, we'll start at the basics: a video game always starts as art. For example, here is one of the early drawings from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64:
Beginning of the Adventure

Here we can see that this is art, it is hard to deny that this beautiful watercolour painting is art. This is how most video games start, as art. The question now is whether they continue to be art along the way. Anyways, after all of the concept art is finished, the story is also written. Many people describe written works as art. Now, it is true that many video games don't have a story, the point is to blow the heads off of incoming aliens. But if we look closely, an increasing number of video games have the story as a central part of the game. For example, let's look an Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. This game revolves around the story, as Solid Snake gets old and his body starts to wear down. (The entire story is somewhat complicated, and would take an entire post to describe, so I suggest looking it up online.) In fact, to thoroughly tell the story, the game contained two full hours of video. In fact, the game could arguably be made into a movie using mainly videos on the blu-ray. This is another example of video games as art.






Back to concept art. This here is concept art for MGS4:
Old Snake
This is also art. So MGS4 started as art, and the story is art. But does the final output qualify as art? Here are a few screens of the final result:
A Metal Gear
A Salute to the Fallen
Battlezone Barricade


These shots are beautiful. The second picture looks like a real photograph. It's a shame that I cant show these in full 1080i HD, but they look amazing. This is art.

Although many do not believe that video games are art, some definitly are, such as MGS4. The fact that producers are beginning to make their video games art is comforting, knowing that video games are more than shooting everything that moves.

Hmm...

Well, hello again. The reason that I haven't been posting in a while is because (a) I have had lots of stuff to do, (b) I haven't done much stuff regarding art or music, and (c) I have more intrests than just art and music. So I created a blog elitevg.blogspot.com. Go check it out, I think that I might be doing more on it.

Today I woke up early and ran down the stairs and grabbed the old horn. I went downstairs and started playting a few notes. I hadn't played it in a while, and it didn't sound great. I then decided to start practicing more. After some video games I went to the piano and did some improvisation. The file can be found here. This piece was created using mostly Bb, C, D, and Eb. I also used some of the nots below Bb as chord backings. This gives an interesting effect, as seenhere . In this example, I change from a C chord to a Em chord to an A ₇. It starts out with a happy feel, but quickly deteriorates into a sad key.

Well, that's all for now, I am very busy.

Welcome

Welcome to this blog. This blog is where i post random art and music pieces that I or others have created. Usually, I will also go into detail about specific elements of the piece. Because this is my first post, I don't know if I will be able to put anything on today, but I may edit the post later. Sorry about this first post being so short, but expect longer posts soon.

EDIT: Here is the FOX NFL theme that I revamped and composed. Enjoy.
Click Here For MIDI Version
If you want, or if your computer does not support MIDI (Most computers do), then you can listen to the Mp3 Version. Please note that this version has lower quality instruments, and I feel that it does not sound as good as the MIDI version.

I did this song in Anvil Studio, the free version. It is a great MIDI composer, and I use it to write the final drafts of most of my songs. The rough drafts I do on the piano, of course. The main thing I don't use Anvil Studio for is improvisation. That I do on the trumpet or on the piano. You can click on a recording of an improvisation I did a few weeks back Here. Unfortunatly, I don't have the MIDI version, but the Mp3 version is very high quality.

I am now attempting to upload the file; it will be uploaded by the time you read this. The computer that I am using is slow today, it has taken almost 10 minutes to upload a 14 MB file. While you're here, you might as well go to my sister's blog, as she gave me the idea for a blog. Well, that wraps up the first post (didn't I say it would be short?!). Stick around, follow my blog. Adios.

Note: If you are having trouble playing the audio file, try refreshing the page. Please note that it can take up to about 10 seconds for the file to load.