7Prime's Journal: Okami and Art...

With the recent dissolution of Clover Studios, and having been playing Okami myself lately, I have begun to question when and how future games may take on an artistic vision. I have no intention of debating the endless question of "Are Videogames Art?", in fact, this is irrelivant, as I'm approaching this from the standpoing that games are a medium in which various arts can exist (music, painting, architecture, acting, litterature, etc).

I fall onto the question of whether Okami is really art, or simply a copycat, exploiting the creativity of previously concieved styles, which are accepted as "high art"? Banning the possibility that the entirety of the visuals are ripped directly from existing japanese water color (which is rediculus since there's also much cartoon/comic influence as well), I think it's safe to say that a lot of creativity went into its design.

So, how do we proceed? What can we expect and hope for? Will indy studios spring up in a similar fashion to modern cinema, in which there will be attempts to push the envelope of creativity and style? Or should we not get our hopes up, at least any time soon?

What I hope to see, someday, is a progression from our current trend of absolute realism (which requires very little subjectively artistic vision) to copycat works, exploring pre-existing artistic styles, and then finally to games that extend beyond the boundaries of those styles, forming new movements in the community of interactive/visual arts. Can we expect this, someday? This is how photography began, it's also where cinema began. Or will it eventually sink, as Rock & Roll did, into the common conception that it enherently lacks any sort of sophistication (even progressive rock is considered, by many, to lack the same level of sophistication as other styles... maybe someday)?

What can the history of the creation of creative mediums tell us? Proportionally, games have large obsticals to overcome. They began as works for children and young adults—an even younger audience then rock music did. Cinema and Photography started as copycat mediums, but there was always a general push toward creativity and sophistication, even from the beginning. Yet, there's the anomoly of Jazz, which began as Rock music did, but which now houses idols like Charles Mingus and Miles Davis, whose portraits can virtually sit on the mantle next to those of Mozart or Stravinsky.

50 years from now, will Okami be regarded as a Charles Mingus, at the forefront of a fresh creative field, or as a Keith Emerson, pushing, desperately into a field which will never gain the status of "high art"? This will make a huge difference in the perception of games, and the direction they will take.