Beauty Through Video Games

rexbobcat · Jun 20, 2012

So I play quite a few video games quite a bit, and I bought Journey, created by thatgamecompany for my Playstation 3 from their online store. I'd heard very good things about it. I'm one of those people who values graphics, originality, and story in video games as opposed to fun factor or replayability. I'll play a game with really ****ty gameplay if the story/concept is well thought out.

And this game...I don't know what it was about it...but as a whole combined project it's one of the most beautiful pieces of art I've experienced in a long time. Everything about the game - the aesthetics, symbolism, metaphor, "cinematography", music - are just breathtaking. The story has no dialogue, and yet the combination of all of these elements communicates a story that can be interpreted several ways depending on the player's emotional experience.

I'll put this video game up against any photograph, painting, movie, whatever, in terms of artistic merit. Kudos to the indie developer thatgamecompany for giving me hope in the video game industry's ability to create games with substance and not just shallow fanfare (Call of Duty *coughcough*).

Maybe I'm just too easily impressed/influenced. I don't know. I think this is one of the most beautiful pieces of art to come out of the electronic age in the last 10 years.

Here's one of the songs from the soundtrack composed by Austin Wintery.

Overread · Jun 20, 2012

If you like that you'll probably like ICO (ps2)

JAC526 · Jun 20, 2012

You should check out Limbo too.

rexbobcat · Jun 20, 2012

I love Limbo as well

I've heard of ICO, isn't it the same team who make Shadow of the Colossus and are currently making The Last Guardian?

I really enjoyed Okami as well.

Overread · Jun 20, 2012

Rex- yes same team who made Shadow and who are making Last Guardian.

Also I always meant to play Okami - never got round to buying it though - but I will oneday (when I get a working ps2 again)

Majeed Badizadegan · Jun 20, 2012

This same company makes a game for ps3 called "Flower" which would land itself in this genre. Anyone from age 2-100 could play it, because it's all based on intuitive controls of the ps3 remotes accelerometers.. I beat it in about 50 minutes, but there's no need to beat it it all. One could wander around as petal on the wind as long as they pleased. It was very interesting and a big hit with family young and old.

Here's a trailer. 720P available:

Haven't checked out the game you've posted yet.

o hey tyler · Jun 20, 2012

Rotanimod said:
This same company makes a game for ps3 called "Flower" which would land itself in this genre. Anyone from age 2-100 could play it, because it's all based on intuitive controls of the ps3 remotes accelerometers.. I beat it in about 50 minutes, but there's no need to beat it it all. One could wander around as petal on the wind as long as they pleased. It was very interesting and a big hit with family young and old.

Here's a trailer. 720P available:

YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJam5Auwj1E

Flower is awesome!

rexbobcat · Jun 20, 2012

Overread said:
Rex- yes same team who made Shadow and who are making Last Guardian.

Also I always meant to play Okami - never got round to buying it though - but I will oneday (when I get a working ps2 again)

They have it for Wii. Clover Studios was thinking about making a sequel but the dumbass consumers didn't buy enough games for the publisher to consider it profitable. So Clover was bought up and dissolved I believe. Its the dumbest thing.

I was also looking forward to Mirrors Edge 2 but that was decided against....

Overread · Jun 20, 2012

Sadly big publishers want titles that make mass sales.
Quirky, innovative and often great, but overlooked titles that are not mass sellers sometimes get overlooked. I've been excited though by the recent trend in using Kickstarter so that fans can pre-invest in a title to help bolster and push them to release (and the funds that can be generated from this can be very substantial). At the very least they help connect some more niche interest groups connect with their fans to bring products to the market - whereas regular investors might consider the investment not one to bring back a significant amount of return.

Of course its always a risk - some offer too much for too little cost and thus damage their sales early on with the kickstarter - plus most of the funded projects (game wise) have yet to fully come to fruition (next year will be the big trying point).

rexbobcat · Jun 20, 2012

Overread said:
Sadly big publishers want titles that make mass sales.
Quirky, innovative and often great, but overlooked titles that are not mass sellers sometimes get overlooked. I've been excited though by the recent trend in using Kickstarter so that fans can pre-invest in a title to help bolster and push them to release (and the funds that can be generated from this can be very substantial). At the very least they help connect some more niche interest groups connect with their fans to bring products to the market - whereas regular investors might consider the investment not one to bring back a significant amount of return.

Of course its always a risk - some offer too much for too little cost and thus damage their sales early on with the kickstarter - plus most of the funded projects (game wise) have yet to fully come to fruition (next year will be the big trying point).

Let's hope that the kick starter games don't fall limbo.

"Release date: sometime in the next decade? Maybe? We'll let you know."

Heh...

Overread · Jun 20, 2012

rexbobcat said:
Let's hope that the kick starter games don't fall limbo.

"Release date: sometime in the next decade? Maybe? We'll let you know."

Heh...

It's always a risk - especially with many having very small development teams. That said they can often save face by opening up a beta/alpha test and putting out regular patches. The worst they can do is close their doors and work at the game without showing this to the public (people get disillusioned fast if they can't at least see that the product is advancing).
The other risk is the company under budgeting and running out of funds; appealing for more money is always hard, but harder still if you have 1000s of investors to pitch to (who also happen to be your target market as well).