I do see what you're saying, but I do still 
consider them to be production cels. They are 
used to produce the video game. By that 
definition, hanken cels are also production cels 
since they were used to produce a product of some 
kind. (Whereas repro cels, to refer back to the 
point of the thread, produce nothing.)

But as to the video games not forwarding the
"life" of a character. . . Take my favorite 
example, Psychic Force. It started as a game. The 
game *WAS* the "life" of the characters and the 
formation of the plot involving those characters. 
Although the openings themselves aren't intended 
for much more than to showcase and/or sell the 
game, the rest of the game (often done in 
polygons or rendered, and thus cel-free) does 
forward the lives of the characters.

So games aren't pointless to the formation of 
characters. ^_^  I think the time your example 
really applies is when the game comes *after* the 
anime, instead of preceeding it. Of course, if 
you haven't played the game, you can't judge. ^_~

Many Sharp Smiles,
--Drac