That's [crazy]. This is a medium that’s barely 2 decades old, and [Ebert] is saying "Oh, there’s no 'War And Peace' yet" – of course there isn’t! You have to come at it with an open heart... Roger Ebert obviously had a narrow vision of what the medium is, or can be. It seems so high-handed. A lot of very very smart people, here in this room, are working to make these experiences extraordinary.

We can debate what art is, we can debate it forever. But if the experience moves you, some way or another, even if it just moves your bowels, I think itÂ’s worthy of some serious study... Games mean something to a lot of people. ... Games arenÂ’t about reviewers, theyÂ’re about players.

It would make a ... terrible novel. It really would, it doesnÂ’t work! It screams out to be something other. Maybe if games hadnÂ’t existed, I wouldÂ’ve made it a movie. But I much prefer the idea of having twenty hours to play this world, to enter this labyrinth than the two hours or the way movies are going now. I donÂ’t know what it is with people, my bum gets sore! I like pirates and all, but jeez!

Via Gamasutra