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As nothing may ever be posted on the topic of art and artistic expression, I would just like to share what the U.S. News and World Report has to say about art.

"The arts do far more than soothe the savage breast."

We all know why paintings are beautiful, at least at the most fundamental reasons. Colors and textures evoke feelings and thoughts which we take enjoyment in.
Music at its most basic level influences the heart beat, which by definition forces us to feel what ever the artist wants us to.
Literature forces us to think about what we are reading by default as well.
Each of these are subject to preferences which I will not even try to make look like I understand, but are very obviously there.
Film combines each of these into a more immersive experience than each individually.
I would like to start the artistic discussion with one of the least expected topics.
Video games.
Gaming takes art to a different level by involving the player in a much more literal way than being immersed into a song or book. Since you physically have to control what is happening in the game, you are further subject to the visual, auditory and intellectual aspects of the art form.

I could go on ranting about what I think, but that would leave us with me ranting. Not good.
So what I am trying to say is, what are every ones thoughts on this? Do you agree with me? Do you disagree with one of my statements on the three largest aspects of art or think I left something out? Do you see something I left out?

I am just trying to provoke discussion around what I see to be the next up and coming under developed cultural and artistic movement.

Personally, I think the graphics are the only part people see when they look at the artistic value of a game.

What about the sound correlating with the music and the setting? Those can make or break a game, as seen in God of War.

Then their are things such as Half-Life 2 or Black and White which are beautiful for the amount of detail and realism put into it. The physics engines in those games are a work of art in and of themselves.

To me, when I think of art in movies, I see a comparison with electronic gaming. Clockwork Orange is a great example of how combining music with color and otherwise obscene material makes art. One of the points of the movie that came across to me was that it was intended to make you question to depravity of the movie itself, even edging on disturbing the viewer. (Edit: Now that I think about it, Shadow of the Colossus is a better corrilation for that aspect of Clockwork Orange.)
I see the exact same in God of War. Grand musical scores used to highlight to enormity of a scene or action. The main differences that I see are how the game 1) forces you to do the horrible acts (namely burning a captive, innocent man alive to further your own selfish goals) yourself and 2) focus on the brutality and horror (also exaggerated for the sake of making a point, as in Clockwork Orange) of war and violence.
The effects of both the movie and the game were very similar for me. Both gave me a dark, empowered and slightly disturbed feeling that I am not sure why I enjoy feeling. So in essence, for me, both are works of art that would otherwise be abominations if not crafted in the way they were. (Meaning the way that Kubrick and the programmers combined imagery with epic musical scores to emphasize both the feelings the game/movie conveyed and the plot of them.)

Sorry if that is confusing. I could have worded that better, but as with art, I do not think it might have carried the same effect if it was arranged differently.