ART OF THE VIDEO GAME

I read today that the Smithsonian is doing an exhibition to the art of video games. A 40-year evolution and best of all is you get to help judge on it! High freaking five and count me in.

There are total of 80 games you can chose to "win" and each is chosen out of a set of three games per system. But you don't have to choose them all. I made sure and didn't vote for ones I hadn't played and if there was only one I did play out of the three contenders, I gave the others a fighting chance. I really thought about how cool looking the game I had experienced was and even did quick art research on the others. What can I say, I like to be thorough. That and I'm kinda nerdy sometimes.

It's shocking some of the game choices they have on there. Some really greatly underrated titles made the lists that I thought no one would ever remember or ever give it's due credit. Like uber neat-o Jet Grind Radio, the gorgeous and heart wrenching Shadow of the Colossus, the super artsy and dark Limbo and one of my all time favorites from the Nintendo days, Shadowgate!

I'm glad they were mentioned but some of the really beautiful but lesser known games are set against big titles making it pretty unfair. Take Shadowgate. It had rad medieval art and creepy-esque themes, it was like a choose your own adventure book brought to life! But it's matched against two of Nintendo's powerhouses, The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy. If you remember, those two were pretty flat and really not that visually stunning. They were on the other hand uber fun and absorbed countless hours to conquer and have some of the biggest fan followings of all time, including me. Most likely one of those will win just from name recognition alone and I would almost bet money it will be Zelda. On the other hand, sometimes the Smithsonian's choices are a total titan fight. The three choices for Xbox 360 for example is from Gears of War 2, Halo 3 and Bioshock. Those are all some big names in the modern industry but that one is no contest to me. Bioshock all the way baby. Amazing soundtrack, beautiful and innovative designs, stellar story and damn near perfect. Though great to look at, the other two are just alien splatter fests in crumbling urban settings rather than a genetic freak show maniac hunt nestled in a 1960's underwater art deco meets steampunk stylized underwater dystopian city.

Anyways, go pick your prettiest favorites but think hard and long before you make your choice. You can't change your answers! Don't judge on your love for the game alone and how many hours you sat trying to beat some of these ridiculously hard classics. Try to really remember how visually spectacular and artistically innovative it was. Art and video games... hooray!