video games as art

"Into the Pixel" is "An Exhibition of the Art of the Video Game", and features 16 pieces chosen by artists.
The goal of the Exhibition is to inform the public and the critics that games can display emotional elements, something that is said to be absent from interactive entertainment. The exhibition is now in its fifth year.
By actively interacting with the media, players can get a great sense of accomplishment by completing a goal. Viewers of a painting simply cannot experience this emotion easily by being a passive viewer. Evoking emotion is one of the major goals in art, and video games can do this very well. Wether it's pride, enjoyment or even unintentional frustration, actively engaging with the character and settings can guide the player to experience emotional responses, perhaps even at a greater level than traditional art.
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From Roger Ebert, Answer Man
Challenging video games as art.

"Yours is the most civil of countless messages I have received after writing that I did indeed consider video games inherently inferior to film and literature. There is a structural reason for that: Video games by their nature require player choices, which is the opposite of the strategy of serious film and literature, which requires authorial control.

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. To my knowledge, no one in or out of the field has ever been able to cite a game worthy of comparison with the great dramatists, poets, filmmakers, novelists and composers. 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."

I feel that "player choice" is an important direction art will follow. Interactive art is gaining popularity and increasing in number as the technology gets better.
Just because something is interactive doesn't mean the creator cannot create a emotional impact. For example, "Shadow of Colossus" has very little dialog, but you feel dwarfed by the landscape, and feel even smaller when you take on the giant creatures. You feel loss when you bring down the majestic creatures and (spoiler!) when you lose your horse in the final battle.

Art with interactive elements is one of my favorite things in the the world. However it takes extensive time and programming knowledge to create something with interactivity. I hope with the constantly improving technology these kinds of projects become easier to create so ever more interesting and visually appealing interactive art (like mimetic starfish) become more common in the art world. It's a crimethat interactive art isn't considered "art" by the majority of critics.

The potential of video games as an art form is there, but the developers need to take more risks in order to produce worthwhile artistic pieces. This is becoming more popular as smaller companies (who takes risks) use the ps3/xbox online stores to share their games. Some excellent examples include Flower and Braid.

When asked "Are video games art?", Denis Dyack, president of Silicon Knights responded: “Even asking such a question is an indication that our industry is maturing and games are becoming a dominant form of entertainment...The most popular forms of entertainment—TV, music, poetry, books—went through the same perception evolution.”
I hope this will become true for video games/interactive art. :)