Imagine Nintendo rolling out its next big Mario or Zelda title at a Tokyo art gallery. Yeah, not likely. Yet that's how the company this year debuted Electroplankton, a rhythm game with no hero, no villain, no scorekeeping, and no end - just a world of bright colors and melodies that follow your Nintendo DS stylus. The introduction was fitting, because creator Toshio Iwai's work hangs as easily on gallery walls as it fits in gamers' hands. Why is a bona fide artist designing videogames? In the art world, "unlike sculpture or painting, technology art is vanishing," Iwai says. Software becomes incompatible and hardware breaks. But with a few million DS consoles out there, odds are collectors will be able to find one years from now. "If I had made Electroplankton for the museum, there'd be no way to leave it for the next generation," he says. "For the first time, my work might last."
- Douglas McGray
credit:
PLAY
>
Toshio Iwai's Legacy System
