I recently had the opportunity to dust off my PlayStation 3 for a bit of gaming action. It had been a long time since I’d used it and I wasn’t sure what I should play. In the end I loaded a game called Flow by Jenova Chen co-founder of Thatgamecomapny, it’s a beautifully simple game where you play as an aquatic microorganism using the motion sensitive controller to move and eat other microorganisms which help you grow larger and develop.

It may sound an unusual idea for a game but it’s a very soft, fluid experience allowing for some simple escapism and with no guns in site (not all games have them!). Flow was nominated for awards by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).

Another of their games is called Flower where you control a petal that floats on the wind. Like Flow you use the motion controller to move, but this time you soar over over lush pastures collecting other petals which follow you as you fly. Flower is to designed to create positive emotions in the player, it’s not meant to be challenging in the traditional sense of computer games. You could say that both Flower and Flow are games as art, they are both interactive visual and audio experiences. Chen is also exploring how gaming as a medium can become more mature and emotional.

Their next game, Journey, featured in the video about is a continuation of of these ideas. Not much is yet know but again the ideas are interesting and unlike traditional gaming. You play as a lonely figure trekking across a great desert towards a distant mountain. Why? You don’t know. The graphical style stunning and although it is three dimensions it appears to be painted. On your journey you may come across other players but there is no way to talk to them, they have no name, no identity. The only way to understand them is through your actions in the game, do you help them, walk with them, or do you ignore them? Again, it’s a simple, pure experience almost like digital meditation. I’m looking forward to playing it, or should that be experiencing it, when it’s released later this year.

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1. Record your Dreams with Sleep Waking
2. The Rather Difficult Font Game
3. The Curry Cup
4. Interactive, animated board games
5. Real Angry Birds