Ian Bogost may have answered the question: “Are video games art?” You’ve all seen the argument broached somewhere. Perhaps, in the case of his interesting Atari 2600 gaming collection A Slow Year, the argument can finally come to a close.

The collection of four games, each one reflective of one of the seasons are small and artsy. They are described as slow and gentle games that are poetic in nature. Even the instructions in the manual are presented as short, simple Haiku. The instructions for the Winter game read:

Hibernal sunrise
Hot coffee slowly turns cold
Savor ‘til day break

Bogost, known for his cutting edge satire and risqué game development, has taken A Slow Year one step farther. He has released a leather bound special edition of the games. The collector’s set features red leather casing, foil stamping with gold lettering and a handcrafted box. The set sells for USD$500 and there are a very limited quantity available.

Read more about the poetry collection here and admire the full set of photos, which fortunately cost nothing.

Video gaming poetry, 5.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating

Tags: Atari 2600

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 16th, 2011 at 08:00 and is filed under Other Retrogames News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.