The hard work finally pays off. We are very excited to hear all the responses post E3. It means a lot for us to be on GamePro's list next to Gears of War 2. We are also very proud for Playstation Network and everybody worked for it. In addition, we are quite surprised to find out the distant love from PlanetXbox360.com . Thank you so much for supporting us, and you know this would only make us work harder :).

Though there's the HD version, it takes 15 seconds to pass through the commercial. In addition, you have to navigate through their bookmarks to find the Flower segment. (7 min or so) Fortunately, some like-minded user uploaded his own cut.

Into the Pixel is organized by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, and each year selects 16 visual works to be displayed as part of their collection, which tours the world over the course of the year.

We are honored to announce that a flOw screenshot has been selected!! We are also honored that we have the distinction of having the only in-game screenshot in this year's collection (the other works are concept art pieces - amazing, amazing, concept art pieces).

You can view the image here:
http://www.intothepixel.com/artwork-details/winner_details.asp?idArtwork=657

You will also be able to see the print at E3, Leipzig, and a number of other conferences this year, until the D.I.C.E. summit, at which they auction off the works! So start saving your pennies!

Now through the power of the internet, on Amazon, iTunes, Rhapsody, and many other online retailers, you can enjoy the youthful stylings of flOw composer Austin Wintory!

"Spirit of the Cosmos" is a collection of Hollywood-style scores Austin composed between the ages of 15-17. Conducted by Austin and performed by the Utah Symphony, these tracks are all in the style of some of his favorite childhood film scores.

Today we turned two.

This photo is missing John Edwards, who is at home sick with food poisoning =(

I had a great conversation with my friend Anna Knos today on IM. She's not in the video game industry but somehow is doing researches about games. And by sharing my thoughts on video games and art with her I learned a lot myself.

In short, video game can be Art if you make it.

And here are my lazy IM notes...

Read more »

The Hollywood trades paper, Variety, is running a piece today on ten innovators in entertainment, and we are humbled to have been named one of them! Alongside luminaries the range from LucasFilms to La Blogotheque, we're totally stoked to have gotten a nod.

Articles and video interviews can be found here.

Yahoo! News Featured this little ditty on their front page yesterday:

Great Games for Small Budgets

from the article:
"Gas prices got you down? Mortgage rates keeping you up at night? As the country teeters on the brink of a recession, are you feeling the pinch? Never fear: although your entertainment budget might be strained, you don't need to go without fun altogether. Check out this collection of cut-price classics -- including a few Best of 2007 game nominees -- all widely available for under $30."

I think it looks a feels and lot better. You can navigate sans mouse, games and add-ons are easier to find, and overall it loads much faster (although there seems to be problems with individual icons appearing). Also, you can see if you have already downloaded a game, as opposed to the old system where they would just disappeared from the store all together.

Featured Items:
Original flOw game w/ fancy Game Developers Choice Awards Recipient logo on it!
flOw Bundle (original game + expansion for $8.99)

Hooray!

What are your thoughts on the new store? How do you think it could be improved?

The development team Tale of Tales is somewhat of a sister studio to ours. They develop games that explore richer emotional themes and content not traditionally found in the current video game market landscape. Most recently, they were finalists in the Independent Games Festival with their game "The Path," a dark and haunting game that toys with the player's sense of direct goals and achievements while the story of the game plays with the themes of "Little Red Riding Hood."


They've been gathering quite an interesting interview series, the last of which, we are honored to say, is an interview with our Creative Director, Jenova Chen.
The same TGC concepts you are probably familiar with are explored, but Jenova goes into much more depth about his background and beginnings as a game developer, and I think the dialogue becomes more interesting in lieu of the nature of ToT's games.

Click here for the interview.