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I know it's an ongoing dispute if video games are an art form or not, but I truly believe they are. If movies, music, and television can be considered art, why not video games? Here is where you can post games that you believe have transcended the status of most video games and become art through a combination of great story, art style and environments, gameplay, music, etc.

My List (Not in any order, but Metroid is definitely at the top):

- Super Mario Galaxy
- Super Metroid
- Metroid Prime
- Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
- MGS2
- MGS3
- MGS4
- Zelda: Skyward Sword (controversial, please don't hate!)
- Zelda: Twilight Princess
- Portal 2
- Half Life 2 (all parts)

I personally believe the default is to assume that anything made by people for any reason beyond pure functionality (i.e. a cheap shovel) can be classified as art, and the burden of proof is on those claiming it isn't. As to how you could argue that video games aren't art, I'd say it's impossible without using a bunch of logical fallacies.

I consider most games art, but here's a list of games I strongly consider art as well as why I think of them as art.
- Okami: I really don't have to say anything on this one.
- Jet Set Radio series: This series just oozes style that is unmatched anywhere else with its focus on art and music.
- Psychonauts: It has fantastic art direction as well as top-notch writing with a great story and a fun soundtrack.
-BioShock: Much has been said of it, but the way it plays with its narrative and the twists and turns the stories take could only be done in a video game in my opinion.
-Skullgirls: The animation in this game is so good it puts many animated series and some movies to shame and has one awesome art style.

Ahem…

I thought the video game as art thing was solved already many years ago.

most video games (including all the games mentioned so far itt) are made for profit so it's hard for a lot of people who are really interested in art to consider them anything but commercial products.

@Blubber

I think you are right. But still, if people think that, that's rather old fashioned thinking, isn't it? Especially when a lot of art is made to be sold anyway. Video game or not

I bet people said Movies weren't art when they first came around because it wasn't made with a paintbrush. Then Salvador Dali had a crack at it and everyone changed their minds

If Salvador Dali made video games, we'd get Psychonauts:

So why couldn't this be art? Expression of creative idea? Check. Hard work and meticulous detail? Check. Stimulation of auditory and visual senses? Check.

I don't think it's fair when people ignore the amount of artistic talent that can go into games and their designs just because it's a newer medium and it's yet to be taken to it's full potential as an art platform.

Many games even start off with professionally made art and sketches which the games tries to replicate in an interactive environment. There's so much hard work in that process. As much if not more than the effort put into creating an oil painting.

This game sold me on the idea of video games being art:

As it did for many people.

It fits practically every definition of the word "art", as BSoD has pointed out for Psychonauts above:

• Beautiful, grotesque, or otherwise aesthetically interesting

• Evokes emotion

• Requires effort, skill, talent, imagination, creativity and time to create

Furthermore, it is itself composed of art – visually, but also musically. The soundtrack of the game is quite breathtaking.

I can think of many other games which I'd consider to be art: Bioshock Infinite, for instance. It is essentially a grand cinematic experience – the fact that it is interactive shouldn't deduct from the artistic worth of itself or its components.

For me, Hotline Miami, They Breathe, and the first three Spyro games are all fantastic examples of games as art, whether it's the graphics, soundtracks, and/or odd plots.

vidya is a art