As in: Games

So Roger Ebert is learning that gamers read. He wrote:

I believe books and films are better mediums, and better uses of my time. But how can I say that when I admit I am unfamiliar with video games? Because I have recently seen classic films by Fassbinder, Ozu, Herzog, Scorsese and Kurosawa, and have recently read novels by Dickens, Cormac McCarthy, Bellow, Nabokov and Hugo, and if there were video games in the same league, someone somewhere who was familiar with the best work in all three mediums would have made a convincing argument in their defense.

While some agree with Ebert, most find his comments either ignorant or offensive. Personally, I'm surprised at Ebert—what kind of arrogance does it take to say "I am unfamiliar with video games" but "someone somewhere who was familiar with the best work in all three mediums would have made a convincing argument in their defense"?

I see four useful rebuttals to Ebert's comments (which I'm sure have been made in many places--I didn't have time to follow all the links to folks writing about this issue).
Read the rest on Game Culture Watch

Posted by briley at December 8, 2005 6:59 AM