Diamante followed up with “TGC is in a really neat place: so familiar in terms of people and processes and emotions, but still very different from where the video game industry was the last time I teamed up with them. It should be a great ride.” 

The Art of Video Games exhibit opened up in March to great fanfare from people all over the United States, and thatgamecompany was there to see it open.  Kellee Santiago was part of a panel on Friday, and Robin Hunicke had her own talk on Saturday evening.  We also had our first East Coast Community Meetup on Saturday afternoon, as well.

flOw (PC) and Flower (PS3) were both in the exhibit, and Flower is one of the five playable games, sitting alongside Myst, Super Mario Bros., Pacman, and The Secret of Monkey Island.  It is an amazing honor to have Flower playable in the exhibit, let alone having flow and Flower just being there!  We are very thankful to the exhibit’s curator, Chris Melissinos, everyone at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and everyone else who volunteered and helped out with the exhibit.

If you want to see some pictures from the opening weekend events and links for the photos on Facebook, click the “Read More” button:

For more images, check out these albums on our Facebook page: GameFest & The Art of Video Games Exhibit Kellee, Robin, and the Fan Meetup at The Art of Video Games

The Art of Video Games Exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum Website

It’s been more than five years, but the flOw soundtrack is finally available for purchase on iTunes and the PlayStation Network!

To thank people for waiting so long for the soundtrack, Austin made some completely new tracks and improvements, such as having Tina Guo, who played the amazing cello music for our latest game Journey, in one of the tracks!  The soundtrack has ten songs on it and is available for around US$5 worldwide on iTunes, and on the PlayStation Network for the same price in North America and Europe.  Here’s the link for iTunes:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/flow-original-soundtrack-from/id518403684

Journey Soundtrack Update:
The soundtrack to Journey has become of one the best selling video game albums on iTunes ever!  It is the second-highest ranking game soundtrack on the Billboard Hot 200, and the highest ranking original audio game soundtrack on the same chart!  It has been  on the Top Ten Overall Albums list in multiple countries, even amounting to the top album sold in Japan for a couple days!  The soundtrack also ranked #1 on over a dozen Top 10 Soundtracks charts on iTunes, and was in the top ten for at least 20 countries!

On a random note, thesixthaxis ran a completely free ad for the Journey soundtrack just because they loved it so much!  Thanks so much to everyone over there!  We love you!

AmazonMP3, Bandcamp, etc.:  We don’t have any update on whether or not the soundtracks will be available on these, or if the Flower soundtrack will be available outside the PSN.  It seems highly unlikely that the soundtracks will be released outside the PSN or iTunes in the near future.

CD Release of Journey:  We don’t have any info on when the CD will be available or how many copies will be available.  Keep checking our Facebook and Twitter pages, this blog, and the Forums to see when we do announce the details of these.

News everyone!

The Journey Original Soundtrack, composed by Austin Wintory, is now available worldwide on iTunes, and is making its way to the various PlayStation Stores as we speak!  Or as I write this message and you read it.  And possibly it will be up everywhere by the… Anyways, it’s available for US$5, 750 Yen, 4.99 Pounds, and in other currencies throughout the world!  Journey was the 29th most downloaded album on iTunes yesterday!  That’s huge news for a soundtrack to an exclusive PlayStation 3 game!  Austin Wintory is truly a great composer!  Congrats, Austin!

To buy the soundtrack on the PlayStation Store, just turn on your PlayStation 3, find the “Search” button on the top-right corner of the screen, and search for “Journey soundtrack.”  It will pop up right away, and you can quickly get to listening to the soundtrack in 320 256 kbps MP3s!

Or, if you prefer to listen to it in 256 kbps MP3s, or AACs, (whatever iTunes has), then here’s the iTunes link:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/journey-original-soundtrack/id511359368

If you’ve downloaded the soundtrack on iTunes or the PS Store, what do you think?  Or are you going to wait until the CD release of the soundtrack?

EDIT:
Even though, if I remember correctly, other albums on the PS Store have been in 320 kbps MP3s, it appears as if the Journey soundtrack isn’t 320 kbps on the PS Store, but 256 kbps… 

Hello, PlayStation.Blog readers. It has been an exciting two weeks for us since we launched Journey on PlayStation Store. We see the personal connection between our work and the players, which is the most real and priceless reward for us. For that, we thank you so much for your support, for spending time and money to play our game and for spreading the word about Journey to your dear friends and family. Thanks to you, Journey has officially broken PlayStation Network and PlayStation Store sales records, surpassing all first and third-party games to become the fastest-selling game ever released in the SCEA region on the PlayStation Network.

After we released Flower in 2009, players sent hundreds of emails about their experience with the game. They varied from a nine-year-old girl to a 65-year-old man, from a marine serving duty overseas, to a soldier returning from Iraq. There were even stories about a mother’s memory of her two children in the wheat fields, a surreal butterfly fantasy from someone’s grandmother who passed away, and a young man who spoke about his brother who has Down syndrome. Those kinds of letters are what drive us at TGC to keep working.

And now, the reaction to Journey has been even more overwhelming. We have received more letters from fans in the two weeks since Journey’s launch than we did for Flower over the past three years!

We owe a lot to our fans. In fact, idea of forming the thatgamecompany team to create games with Sony Santa Monica originated from several dozen emails that players sent in after playing our first student game, Cloud, from our time at USC. It was the players who told us how moving the game was and how it is important that we keep making these types of games so that more people in the world will realize what video games can be, and can grow to love games through our work. To me, that was a life-changing moment. I knew making games was my life calling.

This art piece expresses our gratitude.

Lastly, a lot of you have seemed to really enjoy the music in the game, which was composed by Austin Wintory. And we’ve received a lot of requests to release the soundtrack of the game. Well, I’m happy to announce that the soundtrack will be hitting the PS Store and iTunes on April 10, and there will be a limited CD release in the near future as well.

Thanks, again, for all your support. We’ll see you online!

We have received so many gleaming reviews from journalists all over the world, and thousands of tweets, hundreds of Facebook comments, and hundreds of e-mails that it is impossible for me to do justice with a keyboard and a bunch of letters. So, let’s start off with the reviews:

Joystiq | Journey review: I want to go there
“I bring this up, because I don’t want to be misconstrued as generic or uninspired when I say that Journey is an awesome game. In the most classical, archaic sense of the word, Journey is a beautiful, evocative and unequivocally transcendental experience.”

thesixthaxis | Review: Journey
“Never before has a game illustrated such tragic fragility with such humanity and character – Journey might live up to its name on many levels, but on the deepest, most personal level possible thatgamecompany manage to transcend all expectations.”

A.V. Club | Journey Review
“Journey wants players to press onward, but isn’t so insistent that they can’t take time to experience the delightful animation of sliding on sand, or swimming in wonderous air. “

The Escapist | Journey Review
“Journey is best experienced with someone at your side, but you might want to play a few times by yourself simply to stand around and gawk at the stunning imagery.”

G4TV | Journey Review for PS3 – (Video by Adam Sessler)
““Dammit,” was the first word out of my mouth after beating  Journey. I was unhappy because I knew this review would be the hardest review I’ve ever written. If I had my way, I would simply write three words, email them to my editor and push back from my desk.  Those words?  ‘Go play it.’”

Here are some amazing fan responses to Journey:

YouTube | BROD3O: JOURNEY – An Emotional Review Of A PS3/PSN Exclusive Game
“There’s just so many amazing parts in the game.  Just please, do yourself a favor.  Play it, come back and tell me what you think.  But Journey is this generation’s Ico, if not better.  Well, in fact it is better.”

Twitter | @zackjewell
“I want to thank you guys/gals for making Journey. It is one the best and most moving games I have ever played.”

Twitter| @B_Sqred
“I just finished Journey. I can’t even describe how or WHY it moved me, but it’s changed my perception of what a game can be.”

Twitter| @EmilyClaireAfan
“Seriously. My jaw actually dropped a few times and there have been moments when I could almost literally feel my heart soaring.”

Facebook | Dennis Pena
“I just finished the game.  I got choked up at the ending.  The game seems like a parable to life.  I’m not sure if it was the big score or if it’s the heavenly kingdom that you eventually reach, but it was very spiritual.”

Facebook | Peder Bergenwall
“Never before has the gamepad felt less like a mechanical piece of equipment, and more like a direct extension of my mind to me in the “game,” than with Journey.  It was genuinely giggling to myself, feeling like a child, as I slid down the sandy dunes.”

Again, we’ve received thousands and thousands of messages from ecstatic fans, and wish to thank every single one of you!  Remember, we always love to hear your thoughts on our games!

How has Journey affected you?

Journey releases today in North America, tomorrow in Europe/PAL territories, and Asian territories on Thursday.

It’s been a little over three years since we launched our last game, Flower. It was a difficult game to describe, but a game that we took great pride in. Many of you took a chance with it and were as moved by it as we hoped people would be. Now we’re here, three years later, on March 13th, 2012. We can’t wait to let you experience our latest PlayStation-exclusive game, Journey.

It has been heartening to see the reactions from the press so far. We’ve had editors tell us how much the game moved them emotionally, or fundamentally changed the way they think about multiplayer in video games. Our goal was to change the impression players have towards each other over the network. We wanted to bring a thatgamecompany-style adventure to our players and create an emotional connection between them. And it’s been great to hear we might have achieved this goal.

Click the “Read More” button to see the rest of the post and the latest Developer Diary:
We get very nervous before the reviews hit. With the early access for PlayStation Plus subscribers last week, we started getting reactions from the players. We couldn’t be more moved by what reviewers and players are saying about Journey on the web. Thank you for sharing your Journey experiences with us, they are what keep us going and make all of our hard work truly worthwhile.

Don’t forget to head over to Facebook to pick up your exclusive Journey avatar for your PSN ID. If you’ve played Journey already, let us know in the comments what you think of it. And if you’re waiting to get it tonight, let us know what you’re most looking forward to. I hope you enjoy the game, and I hope to see you online!

It is an incredibly exciting time for PlayStation Network and PlayStation Plus. This week we not only saw a midnight launch of Mass Effect 3 on PlayStation Network, day and date with the retail release, but we offered access to one of the best games of the year and one of the best downloadable games ever—Journey—a whole week early to PlayStation Plus subscribers. Every month PlayStation Plus subscribers are getting more and more great content out of their subscriptions, and this week’s early access marked a new milestone.

PlayStation Plus now not only offers gamers early access to demos and betas but also to full downloadable games, in addition to the tons of free and discounted content and extra exclusive features like online storage for game saves and automatic updates. That’s why we are so excited to be able to deliver Journey, one of the most highly-anticipated games of the year, to our most die-hard fans, our PS Plus subscribers, a whole week early so they can experience it before everyone else.

Click the “Read More” button to see our latest Developer Diary.

Journey is blowing everyone away, journalists and the PlayStation Plus subscribers alike. With an average score of 92 and 12 perfect scores so far, Journey is the crowning achievement of thatgamecompany, one of our top-tier studios. Their games have grown in scale, quality, ambition and emotion, expanding from the relaxing, experimental flOw, to the accessible and award-winning ode to nature that was Flower, and now to Journey, a metaphorical representation of life, the people we meet and the connections we make during the courses of our lives.

Our fans know that PlayStation is about bringing authentic, innovative, and unique experiences to gamers that they can’t find anywhere else. Journey is exactly that, and represents what PSN is all about. With other exclusive games like Dead Nation, the PixelJunk series, Rochard and games like Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack and Escape Plan for PS Vita, PlayStation Network is the ultimate online game platform and premier content destination for gamers looking for the most unique gaming experiences available.

We are just getting warmed up! PS Plus subscribers – you’ve still got a few more days to download Journey before everyone else, and I know you’re going to love it and remember your experience with it for years to come. So check it out today with your PlayStation Plus exclusive early access, or starting next Tuesday when it is released to the entire PlayStation Nation. And don’t forget to watch for more early, exclusive, free and discounted content coming to PS Plus month in and month out.

One last Journey note: later this morning, thatgamecompany will be chatting live with fans on PlayStation.com. Come armed with your questions; we begin at 10am Pacific right here.

If you have been following Journey, then you’re probably as excited as I am about its release next week on March 13, as the first game in our Spring Fever event this year. The reviews so far have been fantastic, and I can’t wait to get online and experience the game online with other Journey fans.

Click the “Read More” button to see the rest of the post:
If you caught Friday’s update from Kellee, the last line of her post about big news coming Monday probably had you wondering what sort of news might be coming. Well, earlier this morning I’m sure you saw this month’s PS Plus blog post revealing that Journey will be available this week for all PS Plus members, one week ahead of the normal release date. What’s more, this early access purchase comes with a bonus, an exclusive PS3 dynamic theme featuring some concept art from the game.

And if you’re not a Plus member, we are also launching a special pre-order program as well. You’ll be able to put your money down for the game and get hold of the same concept art dynamic theme as Plus members for doing so. Then when the game hits on March 13 during the normal Tuesday publish, just head to the store and download the game for free.

Watch the Blog and PS Store, because we’ll have a few more videos for Journey, an additional dynamic theme (free for Plus members) that will showcase some of the beautiful vistas in the game, and more. We’re also launching a dedicated tab for Journey on the PlayStation Facebook page where you can get an exclusive Journey PSN Avatar starting today, so head on over to check it out.

And don’t forget to head over to the Journey live dev chat page to sign up for a reminder, and come back this coming Friday at 10 AM PST to chat live with Jenova Chen (Creative Director) and Robin Hunicke (Executive Producer) from the Journey dev team.

Hello again, everybody! Thank you so much for your enthusiasm after we announced the release date for Journey as March 13. It’s really the juice that has kept us going over these last three years. We’re anxiously awaiting the time when we’ll be able to see you all online and hear what you think of Journey. So we are bundles of nerves and energy right now! The first reviews of the game are starting to hit, and we’re extremely excited that reviewers seem to understand what we set out to achieve.

To help distract us from the pre-launch jitters, we recently had a small wrap party, in the same we did for flOw and Flower – by hosting a house party at the home of our former USC game design professor, and now friend, Tracy Fullerton. We like this kind of celebration because it’s just a friendly gathering for friends, family, and of course, Journey.

Click the “Read More” button to go to our Developer Diary Video:

We then took our own journey out to Big Bear mountain, near Los Angeles (our home base). By coincidence more than actual design, we ended up having a very similar path in our lives as the character in Journey: our first team retreat during the production of Journey was to the Pismo Beach ocean dunes in 2009, and then the whole team ended up on the snowy mountaintop at Big Bear three years later!

But what I’m really here for is to show you a new developer diary video, featuring new footage both of the game and a behind-the-scenes look at the game and our team here at thatgamecompany and Sony Santa Monica. I hope you enjoy it!

I’m really excited to announce that a week from now, at 10 AM PST on Friday March 9, we’ll be participating in a live developer chat on PS.com. You can visit this page to sign up for a reminder so you can join us and pick our brains about Journey.

Be sure to check back here on the blog on Monday for some more big Journey news. We can’t wait to see you all online!