So, I'll start this post off the usual way, with my current word count.

Nearly 15,000 words. The main character, Alis, is slowly recovering bits of her memory. But it's coming back in ways that she's not always enjoying causing her to black out to the world around her. We've also met a new character Laila Boots, known to most people as Miss Boots. She is something of an information broker that our rugged airship captain Garret Drake has known for many, many years. So, it's getting interesting. And I'm looking forward to the next week's worth of writing because I see an epic city-destroying action sequence in my future.

In other news:

The gaming press has been alight with an editorial of sorts that Roger Ebert wrote recently where he stated that video games can never be art. Blogs like Kotaku went all out with this story even going so far as to post a rebuttal from a game designer who Ebert decided to write his article in response to.

All told, it's been a pretty epic week regarding this debate. Most gamers agree, as do I, that games indeed can be and have been art. But, ultimately, I think it's a pointless argument to have. Ebert just doesn't get gaming at all. He's readily admitted to not really having played any. He admits that his opinions are based on videos of somebody else playing. His opinion on gaming would be the same as if I based an opinion on movies based on what somebody else told me. You have to experience these things for yourself before you can really judge whether it's art or not.

But, I think the best rebuttal to Ebert was provided today by Tycho at Penny Arcade. I am going to quote my favorite part of Tycho's post below, but you can read the full post by going here.

...do we win something if we defeat him? Does he drop a good helm? Because I can't for the life of me figure out why we give a shit what that creature says.  He doesn't operate under some divine shroud that lets him determine what is or is not valid culture. He cannot rob you, retroactively, of wholly valid experiences; he cannot transform them into worthless things.

That pretty much sums up how I feel about the debate. Ebert isn't worth arguing with. Some of the games I've experienced have been transcendent experiences. Ebert can't take that away by making some misguided and worthless decree. I am convinced that games can be and are forms of art. Perhaps they take a form that some people don't yet understand.

In film's early days, movies weren't considered an art form. But, eventually, they became accepted as art. When you go see a movie like Citizen Kane, or Brazil, or A Clockwork Orange, you're experiencing art. The same will one day be fully accepted when people speak of games like Flower, or Fable II, or Shadow of the Colossus.