Wonderful job. And what is there more to say about it than: Go and play Flower if you haven’t already! ^^

Otherwise I recommend you to stop talking about games entirely – because your view on them is going to be a different one after experiencing this piece of art.

That’s an odd recommendation, I must admit . I hope I’m not misinterpreting that as non-sarcastic.

It’s silly to say that experiencing a particular work suddenly disqualifies you from discourse about the entire medium. If someone sees Citizen Kane, and will in-turn evaluate future films based on it, does that mean he/she shouldn’t speak about films anymore? EVERYONE has a unique perspective based on past experiences with games. Isn’t a unique perspective on a particular topic why the internet is so great in the first place? I’m critically analyzing games, I’m not reviewing them. I’m not telling people “you should buy Flower, and not buy ‘Super WW3 Shooter RPG’ because it isn’t worth remembering”. The internet doesn’t need another person to “review” games.

Don’t misunderstand my statement at the beginning of the video, I only understand now that games CAN bring an emotional experience, alongside an entertaining one. Games that bring a unique experience are so rare, and that’s why I am seeking them out and letting as many people know about them as I can. I don’t automatically categorize a game without a strong emotional experience as a bad game. I’m with you, I’ve been gaming for as long as I can remember; I’m the most hardcore gamer I know!

Dear Stephen,

I am sorry if I created the illusion that my comment was directed at you. ^^ I was actually writing to anyone watching your video here. So I want to deeply apologize if I seemed to disrespect you and your opinion – especially since I do agree with you about Flower!

You are obviously right. Unique, “emotional” games are rare. So the chance for people to NOT notice them is great. So thanks for your work!^^ Those people who tend to think of games as “Super WW3 Shooter RPG”, as you mentioned, missed the trend, so to speak, if they haven’t played games like Flower and therefore have no idea how much games can be. So, my naïve conclusion for them is to “stop talking about games entirely” since they would reproduce a now wrong (since not up-to-date anymore) view on games and their potential. And we sure have enough people misjudging games and gamers, don’t we? ^^

I hope I could make that a bit clearer. Best wishes to you, Stephen! And please go on spreading the word.

Oh haha, I get it now . No harm done.

I think people who don’t catch onto these new trends brought by (mostly) indie developers are MISSING OUT, but I try not to criticize those who have no interest at all. In the end, people play games for all different reasons. De-stressing, intellectual stimulation (myself), a getaway world, socializing, passing the time. I think the face of gaming is broad enough to reach everyone, from grandparents to mothers to teens to kids. Isn’t that cool?

I agree that it is very cool how games are starting to reach out to all types of people – it won’t be long I don’t think before games stand on equally respected footing alongside movies.

My own mother enjoys the occasional simply video game, and one bored evening I sat her down with Flower and she was hooked – sat there for hours playing and replaying the levels in Flower! It was really amusing, but nice to see too.

Anyway, I enjoyed your take on the underlying narrative of Flower and will be checking out your other “games to remember” videos.

cool video