The British Academy of Film and Television Arts announced today that computer games are to be the "third arm" of the organisation, elevating interactive entertainment to the same status as the traditional entertainment media. This should sock it to critics who claim that games are a lesser art form.
From the release:
The growing importance of video games to entertainment culture has been recognised by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), which has elevated the sector to become an equal to those for Film and Television. Champions of the moving image, BAFTA seeks to reward artistic and creative innovation within video games, as one of the principle contemporary art forms.
This newly defined status means The British Academy Video Games Awards are set to confirm their position as the most independent and valued awards in this arena. The British Academy Video Games Awards move to October to be positioned as the climax to London Games Week, a new set of major industry and consumer events set to be a highlight of the European gaming calendar.
While this is move represents the critical step towards industry acceptance of computer games as an entertainment medium of value, there are still plenty of hurdles to leap. Indeed, I have said in the past that games developers need to at least address the emotional potential of the content. To be fair, games really are still in the Ed Wood era of their development: the technology is there, but the content still lacks the subtlety and the variety that could make them truly great.
