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Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Henry Jenkins gives a lengthy interview at the absolutely must-read gaming blog GameSetWatch. Jenkins talks about the emergence of auteurs in game development, why Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) are fascinating to him and what the role of game critics should be. Some snippets (click over for the entire interview) are below.On how the industry has progressed: “Nothing ever progresses in the way one first imagines because the most innovative possibilities are often the most counter-intuitive. I foresaw games as becoming more and more central to the entertainment sector, more integrated into the worlds of film and television…I imagined games becoming a richer and more sophisticated storytelling medium — as we can see through the steady progression of the Final Fantasy series. I imagined more and more sophisticated interfaces — as might be seen from Guitar Hero or the new Wii. I imagined the emergence of game designers as auteurs — as is certainly borne out by the visionary work still being done in games by Shigeru Miyamoto or Will Wright.”

On game critics and their role: “Think about how people become aware of new and innovative work in other media-film, say, or music. It has historically been because there were powerful, imaginative, and intelligent critics who took on the responsibility to educate the public about the emergence of something creative, fresh, and original. So, in cinema, someone like The New Yorker’sPauline Kael, taught us to look at various international cinemas intelligently and developed a following of people who would take a look at anything she recommended. There are not yet game critics who reliably serve that function. Indeed, most game critics are a conservative force on innovation, raking designers over the coals if they break too far from expected features of certain well-designer genres.”

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