You could dismiss them that way, but you'd be wrong. The story in an art-house film isn't simply engaging. Engaging can be accomplished with big explosions and fancy CGI effects. The stories in films that are artistic have themes which resonate deeply with human experience, and they have multiple layers of metaphor that reward close scrutiny.
However, I would argue that some games have at least attempted something along these lines. Due to the cartoony graphics, games have had more success with artistic humor/irony than other themes. I certainly can't think of any games that have moved me with their tragedy.
Still, my argument from above still stands: being artistic in that direction is best done with other media. What games have that nothing else has is the ability to immerse people in process and decision-making. I would argue that SimCity (the original anyway; the sequels were all @#!*ized and increasingly normalized versions of Wright's vision) can be dissected as art, because it is a manifestation of a personal vision about how the world should work. I wouldn't exactly say that it is art, but it's close enough that the distinctions are vague.
However, I would argue that some games have at least attempted something along these lines. Due to the cartoony graphics, games have had more success with artistic humor/irony than other themes. I certainly can't think of any games that have moved me with their tragedy.
Still, my argument from above still stands: being artistic in that direction is best done with other media. What games have that nothing else has is the ability to immerse people in process and decision-making. I would argue that SimCity (the original anyway; the sequels were all @#!*ized and increasingly normalized versions of Wright's vision) can be dissected as art, because it is a manifestation of a personal vision about how the world should work. I wouldn't exactly say that it is art, but it's close enough that the distinctions are vague.