del Toro disses games-as-art deniers
Complainers "never f***ing played them".
Fairy-tale film maker Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, Hell Boy) is staunch in his belief that videogames are a form of art. People who refuse to accept that, he said, are "out of touch" and have "never f***ing played them".
"Videogames are the comic books of our time," del Toro blurted at a book reading in the US, recorded on YouTube. "It's a medium that gains no respect among the intelligentsia. They say, 'Oh, videogames...' And most people that complain about videogames have never f***ing played them."
"Videogames have proven to be incredibly immersive experiences, and not every game is a shooter game.
"... You will see that they are an art form and anyone saying differently is a little out of touch, because they are an art form.
"Like the way they say, 'Horror movies, they make the kids delinquent! Horror comics, they make the kids criminal!' Now it's videogames," he added. "It's all bulls**t."
del Toro talked of his love for shooter games, despite his "entirely anti-war" politics. Among the games he lauded were "masterpieces" ICO and Shadow of the Colossus, Gadget: Invention, Marathon, BioShock - "one of the most fully-realised worlds in any medium" and Half-Life.
We know del Toro is working with publisher THQ on a "Lovecraftian" horror game, although a full announcement is still forthcoming.
del Toro teased his book reading audience with a promise of a "really big, revolutionary, very different game". He said this is "a long-term commitment" for him, and an idea he's been trying to green-light for the last "three or four" years.
"I expect and hope to create what I would like to see in a videogame," del Toro shared. "The one thing I can say [about my movies] is that I'm doing them because no-one else is doing them. And the videogame is the same thing: I want to do that videogame in a way that no one else is doing."
We heard last week that this project won't be released until - "best case scenario" - 2013.
But which studio will develop it? Saints Row creator Volition? THQ core boss Danny Bilson hinted at as much earlier this month. And he said he'd support such an endeavour in "a big way".