Aesthetically and emotionally, games have garnered the ability to wow us in their perfection, or make us cringe in their failure.

Throughout the course of my weekly rants, I may have come across as a man who has no love for the art of cinema. For any of you who think this, let me assure you: I absolutely love any and all things having to do with film.

I’m the kind of guy who will gladly spend a Saturday watching all three “Godfathers,” all six “Star Wars,” or the epic “Ernest” decology. Likewise, as passionate as I am about the art of film, I hold video games in just as high of a regard.

In the brief amount of time that gaming has existed, it has evolved at a far swifter pace than film did. If one compares “Pong” to “Bioshock,” it’s hard to fathom that this much progress has been made in a scant few decades.

Despite the praise I rain upon gaming, I’m not blind to the fact that as with any art form, there are some truly awful experiences to be had. Case in point: a vast majority of cookie-cutter film-to-video-game adaptations.

While the “Beowulf” film was a fairly enjoyable way to spend two hours, the video game adaptation provided nothing but 10 banal hours of mediocrity. I guess that’s what happens when you rush a game in order to make it coincide with a film.

Similarly to film, a majority of the games that are made for money (see any of the countless games with a number higher than three after the title) end up leaving the player unfulfilled. However, there are diamonds among the rough that make wading through the crap completely worth it.

Aesthetically and emotionally, games have garnered the ability to wow us in their perfection, or make us cringe in their failure. Although still looked down upon by some as an inferior art-form designed to merely capture the short attention span of the world’s youth, those of us without blinders on can see the artistic success and the massive potential that the medium holds.

Also, video games contain a community aspect that no other medium can really emulate. I’m not knocking the power that a packed concert or theater holds, but they don’t allow quite the level of interaction video games do.

Will videogames ever be held in high enough regard to warrant an awards show on par with the Oscars? Most people would say no, but then again, when the first theater-goers witnessed the simplistic films of the late 19th century, it’s doubtful many of them could have imagined the grandiose scale the medium would one day become.

In the end, maybe Roger Ebert doesn’t love his video games all that much. But that’s all right, because I love them enough for the both of us.

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