Being a fan-focused event, PAX was the perfect place for our second official meetup. After enjoying lunch with these delightful folks, and chatting about all things TGC, fellow indie Kevin and I headed to the conference center, to see about handing out a few Journey t-shirts.

My first stop was to check out Warp and FEZ, who had a slick stand-up booth on the 2nd floor, just outside the main halls. Great to see kids and parents enjoying these fun puzzle games, together. Venturing further into the main hall, a quick peek inside confirmed that The Bohemoth’s booth (and everything nearby) was jammed with fans, so after a quick t-shirt drop, I jetted up to the 6th floor indie area.

Upstairs was definitely hopping! In addition to visiting with Alexander Bruce (developer of Anti-Chamber) and other teams of the Pax 10, I had the chance to stop and stop in at the booths for Retro/Grade, Monaco, Minecraft and Skulls of the Shogun. Hooray, t-shirt swaps! Even bumped in to Amir Rao of SuperGiant Games, and congratulated him on shipping their very first title, Bastion – featured in last year’s PAX 10.

With so many great people and games to see, the day really flew by. But it was great to get out and remember just how vibrant and exciting the game community is these days. It’s probably our last trip for a while… but we’ll keep you posted on future meetups and Journey events, including my upcoming trip to Game City in Nottingham this fall.  Till then!  - r

Robin Hunicke and Kellee Santiago went to Germany to speak at GDC Europe and Gamescom and to present Journey to the European press and fans.  At Gamescom, Kellee spoke about the next ten years of gaming on a panel with Sony executives and other famous developers and Robin spoke about the history of Journey.

One of the highlights of the trip was the TGC Community Meetup held during Gamescom.  With just a few days’ notice of the event, about a dozen people came to the event.  You can see most of the attendees in the picture above.

Click the “More” button to check out some links from the week:

Gamasutra | Gamescom: Sony Panel Charts The Next 10 Years In Games
“Following its press conference at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany this week, Sony hosted a panel discussion between its execs and developers such as Kellee Santiago and Mark Cerny to peer into their visions of the next 10 years of gaming. “ [Overview of the Panel]

Develop | PlayStation: The next ten years
“Distinguished Sony panel discusses wild technologies, once unimaginable possibilities, and oncoming obstacles” [Full Transcript of the Panel]

IGN | Gamescom: Journey — From Flash to Finale
“On February 12, 2009 the team at thatgamecompany released the critically acclaimed PS3 downloadable game Flower. After sitting back and watching the positive reviews pour in, it was time think about their next game.” [Robin's Panel on Journey]

Desconsolados | “The journey of Journey” – sobre el desarrollo y emociones de Journey
“El desierto. El viento sopla con fuerza levantando arena en las dunas. Tras una estructura que vivió tiempos mejores, una figura envuelta en tela se refugia ante el azote de los elementos. “

Videogame.it | Il viaggio verso Journey Una presentazione un po’ speciale per un gioco molto speciale.
“L’appuntamento legato a Journey alla Gamescom 2011 si è rivelato un evento molto particolare, in cui si respirava aria da Game Developers Conference. Il team thatgamecompany, nel corso dell’ultimo anno e mezzo, ha mostrato più e più volte il gioco, facendolo anche provare all’E3 2011 e a questa stessa Gamescom, e ha comprensibilmente deciso che non c’era altro da mostrare senza rischiare di svelare troppo.”

We’ll have another Community Meetup in Seattle this Saturday during PAX, so stay tuned to our Facebook, Twitter, and Forums for more information on that in the coming days.

The Golden State Pops Orchestra played an arrangement of Journey’s music called “Woven Variations.” Journey composer Austin Wintory wrote the piece specifically for the concert.  Tina Guo, the cellist for the game, is also featured in the orchestra rocking the cello.  This was the first ever live performance of music from Journey, and it couldn’t have been any better!  Four different camera angles of the orchestra make up this video, and it has amazing audio, so we hope you’ll like it!

Sound Byte, the music blog over at GameSpot.com, has the video exclusively, together with a brand new interview of Austin Wintory about composing for Journey and the specific arrangement made for the Golden State Pops Orchestra performance.

Click on the image to read the interview and watch the video, or click this link:

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6326086/sound-byte-journey

The Golden State Pops Orchestra’s website

Tina Guo’s website

Keep checking on our blog, Facebook page, Forums, and Twitter account for more info on Journey in the future!

Well folks, it’s hard to believe a month has passed since E3!

We had a lot of fun at the show speaking with fans,  game developers and journalists about Journey.  It was a busy week, packed with many great interviews. We really enjoyed getting the game into people’s hands, and were truly amazed by the overall response.

In addition to many nominations, here are the awards Journey won at E3 2011:

• GameTrailers: Best Downloadable Game  (Video)
• G4TV/X-Play: Best Downloadable Game (Article)
• Machinima: Best Downlodable Game (Article)
• Examiner: Living Art (Article)
• VGChartz: Best Downloadable Game (Article)
• GameSpy: Downloadable Game of Show (Article)
• IncGamers: Best New IP; Best Game (of E3); Best Downloadable Game: (Article)
• 1UP: Best Downloadable Game (Article)
• Blistered Thumbs: Best Adventure Game (Article)
• PlayStation: The Official Magazine: Most Valuable Game
• Boy’s Life: Best Downloadable Game

Thanks to everyone who came out to support us at E3!

In case you missed the onslaught of news articles about Journey over the past two-and-a-half weeks, here’s a roundup of Journey previews from E3 2011:

IGN: Journey: The Basics
“It’s hard to know what Journey is just by looking at screenshots or watching the trailer, so let’s take a closer look at one of the most beautiful games we’ve seen in years.”

G4TV: Journey Hands-On Preview
“Since Journey doesn’t feature dialogue or text-based info of any kind, you’ll have to piece together what catastrophic event has befallen the game world and left in its post-apocalyptic ruin.”

GameSpot: E3 2011: Journey Hands-On Preview
“Whether you decide to meet up is up to you. Like when you bump into someone during your trek up a mountain, you can decide to make the journey together or continue at your own pace, and there’s always the possibility of bumping into the person at another point.”

GamesRadar: Journey Hands-On Preview
“One of the first things you’ll notice when exploring Journey’s vast desert is the pleasure of movement. Everything from sliding down steep dunes to gliding is smooth, joyous, and playful, making the long trip towards the ever-dominant mountain in the distance really quite fun.”

GameInformer: Uncover The Vast Mysteries Of A Desert In Journey
“Even though I was given no explicit directions, Journey’s environmental design did an excellent job of leading me toward my next goal without any handholding which was refreshing and appreciated.”

Check out more interviews in English as well as nihongo, Italiano, and Português by clicking the “more” button below.

GameRant: E3 2011: ‘Journey’ Preview
“The environment is as much a character as the one controlled by the player. The rolling hills of sand and unfamiliar architecture begs for exploration.”

Multiplayer.it: Journey – Un ultimo viaggio su PSN
“Dopo gli ottimi flOw e Flower, Jenova Chen e i ragazzi di Thatgamecompany si preparano a salutare il PSN con un’ultima e promettente esclusiva. Noi l’abbiamo provata all’E3 di Los Angeles.”

A Horda: Journey: Lindo Game de PS3 Dos Criadores de flOw e Flower
“Parte vital do tema do jogo é, segundo os autores, essa “beleza de encontrar outro ser humano” que se perde com o aceleramento da vida cotidiana contemporânea. Os personagens do jogo são tudo menos humanos, mas provavelmente isso é de propósito: controlar um ser sem voz e sem rosto…”

And because WordPress isn’t set up for Japanese characters, here are just a couple links to Japanese websites:

Game Watch - http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20110612_452739.html

4Gamer.net - http://www.4gamer.net/games/134/G013491/20110609036/

We’ll have one final E3 blog about Journey before we (finally) put up the interview of Aaron Jessie.  (We are waiting until all of the winners have been decided for the last news organizations, so we don’t have to update the list a bunch of times.)

Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you soon!

Anyways, a “News Roundup” thing wouldn’t really work that well for E3, because there were dozens of articles all over teh interwebs from big sites, and even more from little indie sites.  So, I’ve decided to put up something that is more awesome than words!  Videos!  Here are five video interviews from GameTrailers TV, G4TV, IGN, and GameSpot.

Click on each image to open the video in a new tab/window:

GameTrailers TV

G4TV

IGN

GameSpot

We’ll have more stuff up here soon!  It’s just been very, very hectic the past month.  Preparing for E3, this Community Manager moved half-way across the country to live in Los Angeles for over a month, and just too many things going on.  Look for the interview of Aaron Jessie to be up soon!  (Seriously!  It’s just sitting there until we get this E3 stuff taken care of!)

Until next time.

I tried having a longer title for this post because there are just so many things covered in this two part interview, but there’s a limit to what one should do.  (And each part is a lot bigger than most other recent interviews.)  Even though this article was published back in December, it still has a lot of great information about TGC and our members’ views on gaming.

What topics are talked about?

Artistry, prototyping, the industry as a whole (and compared to other industries), TGC’s culture, and that’s just on the first page!

If you’d really like to educate yourself on progressing the game industry or just like to hear what thatgamecompany has to say, here is one great two part article:

http://www.4colorrebellion.com/archives/2010/12/20/4cr-interviews-that-game-company/

http://www.4colorrebellion.com/archives/2010/12/23/4cr-interviews-that-game-company-part-2/

If you are as big a fan of finding out how the creative process works in all kinds of media as I am, make sure you read part 2!

It was another big week for Journey in the news, so here’s a quick list of the great news on our game:

“Speaking with… Kellee Santiago, Co-Founder and President of thatgamecompany”

This doesn’t have too much to do with Journey, but if you want to know what gaming experiences game developers have had growing up and their experiences in the video game industry, then you should read this!

http://newbreview.com/2011/02/11/speaking-with-kellee-santiago-co-founder-president-of-thatgamecompany/

“Journey Interview”

AtomicGamer tries to get to the heart of Journey in their interview of Kellee Santiago.  Unlike the last article, this one is all about Journey!

http://www.atomicgamer.com/articles/1193/journey-interview

“thatgamecompany presenta Journey, un juego que innova completamente”

For all of you people speaking Spanish, here’s a runthrough of Journey, en Español.

http://districtgamers.com/juegos-ps/thatgamecompany-presenta-journey-un-juego-que-innova-completamente-1972/

“thatgamecompany’s Journey is a ‘unique, beautiful thing”

Here is a great preview of Journey, complete with quotes from Jenova!  There might be a couple spoilers for you if you want to experience everything brand new when you’re playing the game.  Here’s a safe quote:

“You’re in the middle of the desert and there’s nothing around you. We want to use design to drive you through the game with intuition and curiosity – and let you go at your own pace. There’d nobody shouting at you to get to Checkpoint B”

http://www.vg247.com/2011/02/08/journey-thatgamecompanys-latest-game-is-a-%E2%80%9Cunique-and-beautiful-thing%E2%80%9D/

“Journey Hands-on Preview”

This preview by VideoGamer focuses on the gameplay of Journey, and even talks about the prototype of Journey called “Dragon.”  There are some gameplay spoilers in here, but you can search for “Dragon” and read about the prototype without spoiling too much about the gameplay.

http://www.videogamer.com/ps3/journey/preview-2895.html

As many of you probably know, last week was a big week for Journey.  Here’s a roundup of the news released last week:

“Journey Co-Op Impressions”

GameSpot previews what co-op is like in Journey.  Journey takes quite a different take on co-op, so this is a great read if you are interested in the online gameplay.

http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/adventure/journey/news.html?sid=6297312&mode=previews

“Journey Takes Three Hours to Finish”

Game blog thesixthaxis talks of how Journey’s single player mode supposedly lasts as long as Gilligan’s tour was supposed to, but just like Journey, the trip can last a lot longer (though Journey will probably have fewer radio coconuts and islands).

http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2011/02/01/journey-3-hours-to-finish/

“Journey Preview”

thesixthaxis has another article about Journey, and this one is longer, but a lot more in-depth!

http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2011/02/01/preview-journey/

“Chatting About Journey With thatgamecompany”

Sony Europe is at it this time with a video interview of Jenova Chen and Robin Hunicke in London.  So now you can say that you (literally) heard it on the internet.  With Journey, we are looking for a “simple yet delicate form of communication.”

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2011/02/04/chatting-about-journey-with-thatgamecompany/

So, comment below and let us know what you think so far!

You can now hear the full-length interview by clicking here!