Video games are as alive in the 90s. But instead of being commercial, they are indies. There are so many good games released or coming out this year :
-VVVVVV
-Limbo
-Amnesia The Dark Descent
-Super Meat Boy (in 3 days!)
...

And from the years before :
-Machinarium
-Braid
-World Of Goo
-The Path
-And Yet It Moves
-Aquaria
-Cave Story
-Knytt Stories
...

Well, I say obvious things, but I'm just excited by all these good games coming out and these old games coming out another time (Planescape Torment !!!)

And when do we have video games as a subject of art in schools ?

I believe some art programs are starting to incorporate some video game stuff into their curriculum.

Also, I agree, a lot of those indie games rock.

I don't know if you count these guys, but I'm a big fan or The Maw.

You forgot Lugaru?! YOU sicken me!

And so many others... Shame on me

Eschalon?

Seriously looking forward to Overgrowth, it's looking very nice.

Amnesia The Dark Descent seriously rock. Almost more experience than game.

I got the same feeling of total awesomeness that I got when I went to a friends and saw Alone in the Dark for the first time many years ago.

All is forgiven.

You had me agreeing until you mentioned Braid. For some reason it just feels like Jonathan Blow sat down and said, "I want to make a pretentious art game to win over the critics" and went down a checklist of beloved indie game tropes and manufactured it just to be a critical darling.

I'm probably bitter about it since it was the first time I had ever gone by professional reviews for a game and dropped the $15 (at the time) on it. It was nothing like they said it would be but I learned a lesson, when a reviewer says it has deep meaning that is code for short, unfun game with a WTF story.

Definitely, the atmosphere was incredible ! I don't like to call anything pretentious, because pretension comes from the creator of the game and not from the game. And I judge a game for the game in itself. And well, the part I preferred from the game was definitely the gameplay. If there was no story and 8-bit graphics, I would like it the same. So I like the game not for the "deep meaning" or art aspect. But in the case of Machinarium, for example, it was definitely for the art that I liked this game so much.

And it's all a matter of tastes and subjective opinions :)

P.S. Sorry for my English...

P.P.S. Super Meat Boy in 9 hours !

Edit : Does it have a nice story like Planescape Torment ? Or more gameplay oriented ?