The Rise of Gaming

The 21st century's oil painting?

VIDEO GAMING is a $30 billion business, and anyone who passed a Best Buy last week can see why. Throngs of gamers camped in front of electronics stores to be the first to shell out at least $500 for the much-anticipated Sony PlayStation 3, which came out -- and quickly sold out -- on Friday. Then yesterday, Nintendo, which introduced its iconic Gameboy in 1989, launched its new gaming console, the Wii (pronounced "wee"). Nintendo's new system has already generated enough buzz to warrant no fewer than two episodes of the popular Comedy Central television program "South Park" about the product.

With the games out in plenty of time to satisfy the Christmas buying season, it's easy to dismiss the games that these new platforms support as just more glorified versions of Pong or Asteroids -- simple, often mind-numbing toys that just happen to be this year's must-haves. But Nintendo and Sony's latest offerings are not just another Tickle Me Elmo, a passing fad to frustrate frazzled parents searching for the perfect gift before Dec. 25. The weekend's madness is more akin to the release of Windows 95, which generated enough of its own hype that consumers lined up to buy the computer operating system when it came out. That is, it signals the vitality of an increasingly large and culturally consequential industry -- one with an ever-enlarging market base and sales that outstrip movie ticket receipts around the world.

Social observers are beginning to deem video game design an emerging art form, especially as companies ratchet up production values. Games now come in a range of genres -- from World War II simulators to strategy games to brain exercises. Creating one is almost like producing a film -- with actors such as Patrick Stewart, Johnny Depp and Kiefer Sutherland, who have all lent their voices to recent video game titles, playing roles and cutting-edge graphic designers spending years mastering the aesthetics. Institutions such as the University of Southern California are starting up undergraduate and graduate degree tracks in video game design and criticism, programs that will begin to produce games that are cerebral, challenging or artful. Because it depends on the active participation of the user, the potential is great for this developing medium to engage senses and the cerebral cortex.

For now, the industry continues to depend on selling games that are far from edifying, and there is the danger -- too often borne out -- that users will sit alone at home playing a video game instead of interacting with real people or throwing a ball around outside. Still, gaming has a firm cultural niche among America's youth, a generation that will eventually demand more than just shoot'em-ups on its Wiis.