13th
Award-winning WorksEntertainment Division

It is, of course, a difficult task to evaluate games within a limited time (and budget), and probably there is no single procedure or criteria that everyone can agree on. What I did for the screening of the games was to try to capture them as games, and not as visual images, and for those that I found interesting, I actually played them myself as much as I could. The fact that the award-winning game title was excellent in terms of visual imagery, and that many winners were chosen from categories other than the game division itself is simply a result of this evaluation process. Currently, games are caught in a period of reformation, both as business and a culture. Depending on generations and the countries, it might be normal for people to think that games are played on mobile phones. It is also an undeniable possibility that the mainstream of the game market will no longer be the game software for the major consoles.

Japan Media Arts Festival may sound rather serious, but in fact, the entries are a veritable parade of unique and fun pieces. We encountered numerous works during the screening sessions, and as a result, were able to see the current trends of the art scene clearly. In that regard, we are fortunate as jury members to have been given such an opportunity. As with last year, few games were selected as award-winning works in the Entertainment Division. We see this as an indication that games as media arts have hit a wall, and will have to wait a while until they are able to break through again. On the other hand, the development of web and visual image works has been something of an eye-opener. As seen from the award-winning works, this year's Japan Media Arts Festival conveys the certain feeling that the digital world draws closer to the human element and has started gradually to take root in our lives.

I believe that, in the Entertainment Division, awards should be given to works that have combined the potential of each media and entertainment quality in order to stimulate people in some way, and offer them challenge and innovation. Although the game domain certainly displayed a kind of impressive maturity compared to the visual image and web works, which had taken a daring and challenging attitude towards the things unique to their media, we could not perceive an eagerness to cultivate possibilities in the game genre. I would like to mention here that PEPSI NEX SING OUT Campaign and INFINITY were also strong candidates and competed for the Excellence Prizes at the final screening. In a period where the development of the fine arts seems trapped and moves around in circles, art entertainment based on media is going to be a more and more important field. This is because it has a clear direction, and a quality as a global language that lends itself to experimentation.

I went to see the movie THIS IS IT between the first screening and the final screening sessions. In this posthumous Michael JACKSON film, there are scenes in which Michael was persistently modifying the music arrangement during a rehearsal in order to make it sound closer to what the audience was expecting to hear, rather than what the band wanted to play. I saw the pride of the King of Entertainment in those scenes. I understand that entertainment is not only about pushing the expression of the performer, but also about meeting the expectations of the audience first, and then subverting them pleasingly. I believe that is a big difference between art and entertainment; a quality production should always exist between the desires of the entertainer and the entertained. The expressions of visual images are one step less powerful than games in terms of their strength of fascination. Advertisements are even weaker, as the message of the sender has to be emphasized, which is unfortunate.

One of the features of this year's Entertainment Division entries was that many were entertaining and amusing. Although the experimental pieces that make use of the latest technologies are valuable, it is necessary to utilize general technology in bold ways to satisfy people through entertainment. From such a point of view, this year's award-winning works indicate that we live in an age in which YouTube has become easily accessible to everyone. Now that we can watch interesting movies casually through YouTube, it means we want more fun in an easier way. The Grand Prize winner, Hibi No Neiro (Tone of everyday), which was also very well received on YouTube, is excellent, as it is YouTube-like, but also a work of artistry and skill. There was some discussion over the decisions for the other prizes, but as a result, the winners were chosen from various areas. Except for scoreLight, which was valued for its high technology precision, the game, web, and visual image works selected for the Excellence Prize were evaluated for their excellence of perfection. The visual images are now HD, and the Internet network has become broadband; the diffusion of these new technologies seems to be fulfilled for now. It is predicted that entries with a high level of perfection may become the award winners for the next few years, but I still hope to see unprecedented works that are not prepossessed by form.