PixlBit

We can argue all we want about whether games are art or not. The real questions is, why does it matter?

The debate of whether or not games are art has been a long and tedious one.  I do not think that Roger Ebert had any idea what kind of bee hive he was kicking when he famously declared that not only are games not art, but they likely never would be.  He would later go on to amend his comments to say that he believed that games could eventually become art, but that he hadn’t seen any real evidence to say that time was soon coming.  It was a kind of back handed apology to furious gamers for taking such an absolute stance on a subject he admittedly knew little about.  Gamers more or less ignored this amendment and demonized Mr. Ebert; holding steadfast to the idea that not only could games become art, but that they indeed already were.

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A teaser trailer has all but confirmed the port.

Another Dreamcast title is making a comeback to the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade. Get ready for the return of Jet Grind Radio! Sega uploaded a teaser trailer shown below that pretty much confirms the cult classic's release on the two digital markets.

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A unique and beautiful swan song for the PSP.

I’ve never been so deceived by a game before, as I was with Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom. It’s my own fault really, since I requested the title for review without knowing anything about it. Which is why, two hours in, I was confused as to why I was stuck reading a gratuitous amount of text. Impatient, I scoured the menus for anything that would clue me into the “gameplay” I was awaiting. Rather than control options I found nothing but text speed, romance animation, and other odd selections. Bewildered, I pressed on hoping for something to happen; finally it did. Suddenly, reading didn’t bother me as much, I didn’t care about controlling a character, and my impatient anticipation for gameplay dissipated. All that mattered was the winding storyline, the fascinating characters, and making choices to define my own in-game destiny.

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A collaboration title and release date also announced.

This morning, Nintendo had its Nintendo Direct video presentation and several announcements were made. Top among them was the announcement that The Last Story, one of the titles targeted by the Operation Rainfall movement, will be coming to North America this year courtesy of XSEED Games.  The Last Story is the latest, and perhaps last, RPG developed by Mistwalker head and creator of the Final Fantasy series, Hironobu Sakaguchi. 

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A reality show is also in the works.

The PlayStation Vita version of Street Fighter X Tekken is getting 12 extra characters not yet announced for the console versions. In addition to the previously announced Sony exclusive characters, Pac-Man, Cole, Toro, Kuro, and Box-Art Mega Man, Capcom is also including Street Fighter's Elena, Guy, Cody, Sakura, Dudley and Blanka, and Tekken's Alisa, Christie, Jack, Brian, Lars and Lei.

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