Ironic that this article makes no mention of Witcher which is explicitly for adults (nudity, adult themes, etc.) and is very much art--what books turned into an experience is like.
As with any sampler list, people will always feel some entry deserves a mention (or not).
Oh sure, it's art in the most technical way. Think of all the stuff that goes into making one... the writing, the cinematography, etc. Whether it's highbrow or lowbrow or some other label is up for grabs... or maybe just a wide range like everything else (books, movies, TV, etc.). Compare Pac-Man, Zork, Wizardry, Ecco the Dolphin, Fallout, Street Fighter, Dance Dance Revolution, Neverwinter Nights, Grim Grimoire, Medal of Honor, The Longest Journey, World of Warcraft, Dear Eshter, and so on. I do think it's certainly more accessible to a wider audience now, particularly in places that favor faster and more streamlined games such as the US (in contrast, to say, Russia). Zork and Wizardry were slower more cerebral games that were the result of hardware capabilities at the time. Pac-Man was a faster and simpler game and something that could be easily picked up, not too different from Call of Duty or League of Legends... which would explain their popularity (and expanding demographic). The evolution of fighting games (e.g. Street Fighter, King of Fighters, BlazBlue) and shoot-em-ups (Space Invaders, 19XX, Mars Matrix) becoming more complex is probably a testament to that as well. In between all that, we've got some really odd stuff like LSD Dream Simulator and SeaMan.
And what really drives my nerves is how everyone coddles fragile children. Oh no, the game has some virtual tits in it, we need to think of the children! Oh no, there is blood in this game, think of the children! Give me a break. I've played violent games since I was a small kid and I turned out just fine, without doing any school shootings or beating people. I've played games with babes that have tits since I was a kid and I'm not running around raping women because of it.
But these new games, they all need gazillion ratings, labels and warnings, we need to wrap kids in cushions to protect their fragile feefees. It's beyond ridiculous. If you teach kids to treat others with respect from their very early age and show them what's socially acceptable and what isn't and they'll be just fine regardless of what kind of hyper violent and sexualized games they play. Well duuuuuh, art is meant to be controversial, sexual or gross. It's what makes art ART.
Counter-Strike and Call of Duty have been great for teaching kids to engage each other in good-hearted healthy competition, no? No unsportsman like conduct there, no siree.
I think it's partly a cultural thing. I remember playing
Kujaku-Oh 2, which was censored in the US in the numerous usual ways and released as "Mystic Defender", and the nude babies that oozed out of places are still memorable. For bonus fun, unless you used a powerful attack, they would leave a pile of pulsating innards. I thought the creepiness was pretty atmospheric. Needless to say, that did not make the transition overseas. What passes for OK in one place might be considered insensitive elsewhere for cultural, political, historical or some other reason. The US is more tolerant of violence and gore than Europe and Japan. Games such as Call of Duty the ESRB gives a 'M' (17+) get a 18+ from PEGI and a 'Z' (18+) from CERO. Nudity seems to go in the opposite direction though (see Fahrenheit -> Indigo Prophecy). And yes, the rating system is arbitrary and subjective just like for movies.... but people seem to hold to them as a general guideline of sorts I guess.
All this reminds me of a web-comic from Scandanavia and the World:
