“Are Video Games (with particular reference to Fahrenheit) able to be narratives?”

In the traditional sense, narratives (and by narrative we mean 'A narrated account; a story') were either a spoken word or book bound phenomenon. However, with the advent of cinema the idea of what a narrative consisted of has changed. And as such, with the creation of video games, the idea of what a narrative consists of must again change. In the video game Fahrenheit, the gamer is presented with a mystery/murder/horror story that they must take a pivotal role in: will the story end in success for the gamer, or will it end in failure? It is almost too simple to say that this is indeed a narrative, just like a book, a game does not do anything or tell any kind of story till it is participated with. However it is only in relation to Fahrenheit (and other such story focused games, such as the Final Fantasy series) that this question is simple, if one was to consider a video game version of chess, where does the narrative lie? Does the gamer actually create a competitive narrative as they go along, or does no narrative exist in this game? If the gamer was to re-enact a famous chess game, such as the – Deep Blue vs Kasparov, 1996, Game 1, does the videogame instantly have a narrative? Is it simply because the gamer is re-enacting or simply watching the game unfold, a narrative now becomes applicable to the video game?

It is not a question of whether or not a video game is able to be a narrative, but it is in fact what parts of a video game make up a narrative, and are we now responsible for coming up with a new meaning for what we deem to be a narrative?