Games as art?

I remember a few years back when movie critique, Roger Ebert, said that games will never be as artistically worthy as movies and literature. Now, here comes Peter Molyneaux, legendary game developer, stating in his latest interview with gamesindustry.biz that games are art.

Rogert Ebert stated that:

"I am prepared to believe that video games can be elegant, subtle, sophisticated, challenging and visually wonderful. But I believe the nature of the medium prevents it from moving beyond craftsmanship to the stature of art[...] That a game can aspire to artistic importance as a visual experience, I accept. But for most gamers, video games represent a loss of those precious hours we have available to make ourselves more cultured, civilized and empathetic."

While Peter Molyneaux said:

"...If art is described as something which promotes a reaction in you and lets you glimpse something that's more than reality - then yes, of course they're an art form[...] I'm absolutely sure that computer games are part of our culture now, so they are art. I don't think there's much of a debate there really."

What do I have to say about this. Well, yes, I consider games to be art. Not because they can be "visually wonderful". But because of some games, the ones with great stories, such as Planescape: Torment and The Longest Journey, I started reading books and appreciated literature even more. I don't know about Roger Ebert, and his definition of what art is, but I learned that reading his movie reviews made me lose all those precious hours I had to make myself more cultured, civilized and empathetic.