Gamertell

The last day of year (December 31, 2008), NPR’s Talk of the Nation (TOTN) show aired a segment titled titled “The Best Arts Releases Of 2008” hosted by Neal Conan.

Granted, they likely meant liberal arts, which does not necessarily mean fine art but, even so, TOTN used a video game to plug the segment. Unfortunately, not one video game was discussed during the meat of the segment.

The segment lasts about 30 minutes and highlights works that Conan refers to as “cultural contributions” which was meant to include video games. In promoting the segment, Grand Theft Auto IV was often the only work mentioned by name and one teaser even included a few words from XPlay‘s Adam Sessler.

The show’s guests included NY Times film critic A.O. Scott and NPR’s Arts Desk Reporter Felix Contreras. On the show they talk more about movies (especially Wall-E),  books and music than anything else. Aside from the show’s intro and promos, there wasn’t one mention of a game in the segment.

The lack of discussion probably shouldn’t irritate me as much as it does but I certainly expected at least a few minutes about video games from the show’s host, the guests and the callers. At least the Green Lantern comic “Sinestro Crops War” story line was mentioned by one caller who also brought up the Iron Man movie.

So, m’ fellow gamers, the next time mainstream media teases video games and opens the phone lines, you do your gamer-ly duty and call in. You know you have an opinion and NPR is an excellent forum to convey the intellectual importance of video games.

Of course, you can always leave your comments below. We like smarties, too.

Some of the works mentioned on the show and in the promos:

• Coldplay’s Viva La Vida as the top selling CD
• “Hottest game” was Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto IV
• Top rated TV show was American Idol
• Highest grossing movie was, of course, The Dark Knight.
• Junot Díaz wins a Pulitzer for the book The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Listen [Talk of the Nation] Read [Gamertell]