From our favorite TGC LEGO artist:

The GameCola, a video games news and reviews site, has listed “Flower” as #45 on their Top 50 Video Games Ever Made list. It’s so awesome to see our humble little game among such incredible titles! Thanks so much to the folks over a The GameCola!

Cross posted from the PlayStation Blog:

When Jenova Chen and thatgamecompany came to us here in the Santa Monica Studio with the idea for Flower, it was fueled by his appreciation for nature’s beauty, his experiences of coming from China to California, and how the contrasting cities, landscapes, and coastline touched his emotions and creativity. Seeing his passion for the subject, we did everything we could to make sure he and the rest of TGC had what they needed to deliver the most compelling experience possible, and the end result is the award-winning game Flower. With our last contest, it was clear that Flower touched many of you in ways we could not have imagined.

Now, for this second contest, we want to see how Flower impacted you. Create a piece of art that was either inspired by Flower, or has to do with the emotions and/or nature that you think Flower depicts.

You can flex your skills in Photoshop, Illustrator, 3D software, or any other imaging software. You can even make something physical, like a painting, mixed media, or sculpture, and snap a photo of it as your submission. This is your opportunity to be a part of the Flower community. If you didn’t have a story to submit in the previous contest, then take this chance to participate. Express yourself in a way that reflects thatgamecompany’s expression through Flower.

The only requirements are that the submission be 1920 pixels wide by 1080 pixels tall, that it be your original creation, and that it be related to Flower as described above.

You have plenty of time to be creative and enter your submission because this contest will run from today, May 12th through May 26th, 2010. Thatgamecompany will judge the submissions and choose five winners, each of who will receive a $20 PSN card.

The official rules are here. We can’t wait to see what creations you all come up with. Good luck!

The following promotion is intended for viewing in the 50 United States and the District of Columbia only and will be construed and evaluated according to United States law. Do not enter this contest if you are not a legal resident of, and located in, the 50 United States or the District of Columbia at the time of entry.

That’s right, we’re four years old today.

And what a four years it’s been! We’ve gotten the opportunity to launch two PlayStation 3 titles, work with some amazing game makers, and meet all sorts of wonderful people who, it turns out, really want more thoughtful, meaningful game experiences, too.  We found out that we’re not alone.

Here’s a picture of us at our first birthday:

According to the National Network for Child Care, a defining aspect of a one-year old is that they are learning to be independent. “ That is why toddlers want to do things for themselves, have their own ideas about how things should happen, and use ‘no’ many times each day. ” We were getting our sea legs. We knew we wanted to do things our  way, but we didn’t know what that meant yet. We had to try and stand up, and fall, and try again. There were tears, there was laughter, and there were some awesome games.

Here we are today:

*Kellee is taking the photo here

According to the National Network for Child Care “‘Energetic’ and ‘imaginative’ best describe the 4-year-old.” I think that fits us pretty good. We’ve learned a lot, and are excited about applying our lessons learned on our future endeavors. We learned that game development isn’t what you think it is, but we’re ready to move forward with a renewed sense of purpose and more than just a dash of passion.

Thank you to everyone that has helped us grow in the last four years. Thanks to John Hight, Rusty Buchert, George Weising, Allan Becker, Phil Harrison, Shuhei Yosheida, Randall Lowe, Phil Kovatz,  Eric Koch, Tina Kowaleski, and everyone else at Sony who has ever lended us a hand, supported us in a meeting, or connected us with that person we just had to know or who had to know us.

Thank you to the faculty at the University of Southern California and the student body that still comes in to playtest for us.

Thank you to everyone in the industry who gave us their advice for free, just to help us out. I hope you know how much it means to us. You don’t have to do it, but you do it anyways, and it makes our games great.

And thank you to the players and the fans for advocating for us online and in your communities. For showing your friends our games, for mentioning us in conversations of “have you checked out…?” and for emailing us with your support. You have allowed us to opportunity to keep making our games, because you know that you vote with your dollars, and you voted for us when we really needed it.

Thanks for 4 years… here’s to many more!