The Blog where Videogames are seen as Art

Hi. I’m in love with videogames ever since they started to become a more “artistic” medium. I have little doubt that they are a new and exciting form of art, and will eventually replace cinema as the lead audiovisual medium. The videogame medium is still young and immature, but it is also bursting with creativity and new ideas, which makes it much more exciting than other mediums.

I’m a critic of the worst kind (the ones who think highly of their opinions), so I apologize for sometimes seeming arrogant. Since criticism is a part of me, I love to be criticized; so you can have your revenge in the comments page. I myself, see criticism as the only way to improve oneself, so go ahead… just keep it civil.

So, this is my game blog. Here, I will review games and write about games’ aesthetic trends, their history and future. In my reviews, I will take a different approach than most media outlets and magazines. I will take a closer look into games’ art design, narrative, level and overall design. The authors behind the games will also be a special point of interest. Graphics, length, and other technocratic aspects will be completely overlooked, since I find it ridiculous to evaluate art on a mere technological or economical standpoint. Movies and records are never criticized for having small budgets, being too short, unpolished or not “fun” enough. They are evaluated for the quality of their workmanship, art, ideas, emotions and semantics. So should games.

I score on a scale from 0 to 5 following the traditional European scoring system. Why, you might ask? Because it is a very objective, simple scale, that leaves little to interpretation (which, in my opinion, should be the purpose of a rating system). 0 means an insult to the medium, 1 a very bad video game, 2 an entertaining game with some mild merits but that says nothing to its audience, 3 a work that is interesting must ultimately flawed in some way, 4 an excellent videogame that is the best of its peers but lacks a timeless character and 5, an absolute masterpiece that deserves to be inscribed in the medium’s history records.  This system is also a way for me to compromise myself with an opinion on a game and its merit. A dubious “7 out of 10″ or a “77 out of 100″ might mean a lot of things and, in a way, allows the reviewer not to fully compromise himself with the grade. A “0″ is iconic enough to make its message across without any ambiguity.

Another thing to take into account is that these are subjective ratings that, logically, refer to my view of the game. I also take into account some of the directives of the so-called ‘author theory’.

Hope that makes sense to you as it does to me.

If you wish to contact me privately, don’t hesitate to email me at metavideogame@gmail.com . If you wish for more updates, you can follow my personal facebook account http://www.facebook.com/rui.craveirinha .