Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro Loves Games, Feels They Are Art, Will Announce Game in a Couple Weeks

When asked what he wanted to accomplish in the field of videogames and if he had any favorites, del Toro immediately perked up, enthusiastically replying, "that's a kick-ass question." He went on to explain his excitement for the question, saying, "Videogames are the comic books of our time. It's a medium that gains no respect among the intellegensia. They say "oh, videogames." And most people that complain about videogames have never f---ing played them."

How will that energy potentially translate to a game? Toward the end of the answer--which runs about nine minutes--del Toro notes that like anything in life he goes into this project wanting it to be the best ever. He describes the project as "a really big, revolutionary, very difficult game that I've been trying to do for the last three or four years now." And he certainly takes it as seriously as any other project he's worked on. About games he said, "They are an art form and anyone saying differently is a little out of touch because they are a narrative art form."

Not much to go on, but he did offer some insight into a handful of his favorite games. Ico and Shadow of the Colossus came up first, both of which he described as masterpieces. He also pointed to Marathon and professed to be "an absolutely devoted fan" of Halo. But that love apparently only extends to the campaign. Del Toro says he never goes online because the one time he did the other players there were so insulting. Instead, he chews through singleplayer games with a voracious appetite. " A Call of Duty game I play the same day. I go beginning to end in 10 hours. I kill everyone; I end up and I go, "I'm done,'" he said.

Del Toro said that he hopes to announce the partnership for the new games in about two weeks. In the meantime, for more from his book reading, The Portland Mercury blogtown covered some of the highlights and YouTube user brittyn also uploaded videos of his answers.