Monty: Geoff, I have a metaphor for you.

Geoff: A metaphor for me. Okay, what is it?

Monty: Do you remember when we were first playing Halo Reach and you were, like, "how can games not be art?" Right? Cause they had like those cool sculptures and stuff?

Geoff: I do remember that.

Monty: Right, and I remember that you guys were really surprised when you heard that, what's his name, Roger Ebert, would say games are not art. Cause he's a smart guy, right?

Geoff: Sure. I wouldn't say surprised, just disappointed.

Monty: Right, right. I'd say the metaphor for that would be: you can hang the Mona Lisa in a strip club, but that doesn't change the fact that you're standing in a strip club.

Geoff: It doesn't change the fact that it's still the Mona Lisa though.

Monty: Right, but the Mona Lisa is art, but what you do in a strip club isn't art.

Geoff: Uh, maybe not to you, but to some of us it is absolutely art.

Gus: Yeah, that's questionable at best.

Griffin: But I think that you have something there. I think that what you're saying is that context is how we interpret things. And its true. Like, there's a lot of art, like, in that place...Geoff, where did we go?

Geoff: Strip club.

Griffin: No in London.

Monty: I heard in Texas there's a lot of good strip clubs.

Geoff: British strip club, yeah.

Griffin: Okay, no, no, no. Please just answer my question. The museum we went to.

Geoff: Oh. The Tate Modern.

Griffin: Tate Modern. There was a lot of stuff in there that really does not seem that great, or that took a lot of skill to do, or I dunno, just isn't that awesome. But you put it in a giant awesome museum, and you frame it right, and it's great. And it's art and it's considered art because you're there, looking at art.

Geoff: Well art doesn't have to be difficult, right? There's beauty and simplicity and it's all about the expression and the statement.

Griffin: But also presentation.

Geoff: Presentation plays a lot into it.

Monty: Back to gaming, right, a game isn't defined by what's contained, its defined by what you do with it. So I think maybe the argument against gaming and art is that you could put as much art as you want into it but that doesn't make the game itself art.

Geoff: You could make the exact same argument about strippers, it's what you do with them.

(all laugh)

Gus: It's how you work what you got, is how we're getting down.

Monty: All right, that's enough from me.

Gus: I've never understood why people get so impassioned about what Roger Ebert said about gaming not being art. You know, what does it matter? It's not his medium.

Geoff: I think the problem is that he's such a liked and respected and insightful and smart dude that pretty much everybody, if you know who Roger Ebert is, you like him. And not just in the realm of movies, but he's poltically smart, and socially smart and if you follow him on Twitter and read his blogs the guy's a really interesting dude. So it's just disappointing to see somebody who you respect on that level be so dismissive of something that's so important to so many people. But you know, fuck it. Who cares?

Gus: Yeah people get so impassioned about it and always want to talk about it, and it's like yeah, we talked about it...I mean how long ago did he say that, four or five years ago?

Geoff: Uh, it's been awhile. And then he reiterated it...but yeah, who cares. Just play your fucking video games and have fun.

Gus: Play games...if you know it's art, it's art. It's all about what it is to you. That's what art is, right? It's all about how you interpret it. So...not a big deal....If you think it's art you can make it art! You have the magic in your hands...in your eyes!

Geoff: (laughs) The power-up is in you!

(all laugh)

Gus: All right. That's enough of that.