This should effectively put the “Are video-games considered to be art?” debate to rest.
An Irish-animator took to Twitter to celebrate the announcement that his video-game Everything has been short-listed for Best Animated Short for the 2018 Academy Awards.
This is the first time that a video-game has ever qualified for the Oscars, and animator David O’Reilly seemed as surprised as anyone about the announcement:
Cool: Everything just qualified for an Academy Award, making it the first time this has happened to a game/interactive project pic.twitter.com/5SQVD9s960
— David OReilly (@davidoreilly) June 7, 2017
obviously very unexpected and cool – i have a strong feeling it wont get very far. who knows. im grateful.
— David OReilly (@davidoreilly) June 8, 2017
The game made the achievement by winning a jury prize for animation at the Vienna Shorts Festival, where the judges said: “It serves a highly educational purpose, including an important political statement that encourages to let our egos dissolve and gain a new perspective on the world.”
As for the game itself, it takes the title quite literally, as it allows you to control everything from a microbe right up to entire planets, all while quotes from famous philosopher Alan Watts plays out over your actions.
Everything is currently available to play on PS4, PC and Mac.
Clip via PlayStation
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