As I’ve written before, Sony’s big draw for me (and many others) during the original Playstation era was the level of respect they had for the audience. Ridge Racer, Tekken, Wipeout, and the Resident Evil series all made their home debut on the system, and all elevated their respective genre to new heights. Sony marketed to a slightly older audience (remember ‘UR Not E‘?) and introduced an exciting brand of popcorn entertainment.
Fast forward to this Valentine’s Day, and Sony offered up ThatGameCompany’s latest ambitious think-piece, Flower. For the record, I LOVE this game. The design is breathtaking, with no HUD and a minimalist control scheme. The music is subtle and, at times, even a bit somber. In my short time with the game, it made me think about how our planet functions, mankind’s impact on it, why the movie The Iron Giant is underappreciated, and how various faith’s interpretation of God are different. Like any good pice of art in any medium, Flower makes you THINK.
It scratches itches that I didn’t even know I had, and makes me want to DEMAND a full apology from Roger Ebert on behalf of theentire industry. But the million dollar question is, “how many people will really dig this game?” Perhaps more importantly, “how many people need to buy (and like) Flower for it to be a success?” Between this game, and PSN exclusives like Echocrome and FlOw, and weird avatar chat/meeting space Home, I can’t help but wonder if Sony may be getting too arty for it’s own good. It came up in this month’s EDGE Magazine review of Prototype, and I think it’s a valid point. After all, art that pushes the envelope to an extreme will almost always have a high point of entry that limits commercial success.
Microsoft has exclusive GTA4 content, Gears of War and the HALO franchise to satisfy precisely the type of gamer that Sony connected with over the last two console generations. Third parties like EA and Ubisoft certainly keep that audience entertained on Sony’s big black box, but I can’t really see Little Big Planet connecting with them. And with a big gulf in hardware prices in this economy, can Sony afford to let such a big audience go?
This game looks terrible.. Like another crappy Wii title.
I actually thought it was really good, ArKile. Perhaps a bit short, but certainly a unique piece of indy development. I’m interested to hear you compare it to a Wii title though. The “all motion control” scheme certainly lend Flower a… Wii-ness, but I thought those gorgeous graphics and the music felt very, very much at home on the PS3.