Guillermo del Toro Defends Games as an Art Form

Director Guillermo del Toro -- who will soon be teaming up with THQ to work on an undisclosed amount of videogame projects -- recently conducted a book reading in Portland, Oregon. And as if on cue, at the end of the reading someone asked him what he wants to accomplish in gaming, which opened the door to not only a few more vague details on del Toro's upcoming game, but also an impassioned defense of the medium as a whole.

"Videogames are the comic books of our time," del Toro began, reportedly perking up quite a bit after the question was posed (via Shacknews). "It's a medium that gains no respect among the intelligentsia. They say 'oh, videogames.' And most people that complain about videogames have never f***ing played them." He continued by saying that videogames "are an art form and anyone saying differently is a little out of touch because they are a narrative art form."

As for his own game he's making, del Toro said he's approaching his first project with the same seriousness he has when making a film, as the project is "a really big, revolutionary, very difficult game that I've been trying to do for the last three or four years now." He also listed a few of his favorite games, professing to be "an absolutely devoted fan" of Halo, while also citing the Halo-predecessor Marathon, and calling Ico and Shadow of the Colossus "masterpieces" (just saying, but if you feel that strongly, Guillermo del Toro, how about expressing an interest in directing the Shadow of the Colossus movie -- pretty please?).

Del Toro also said he expects to officially announce the THQ partnership in two weeks, so hopefully more details on the projects will be announced as well. The only previous details we've heard about his first game is that it's a horror title, but "not survival horror. It's truly a strange, geeky mix. It's a Lovecraftian thing."