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[Gaming] blog post
By Mike Hartnett at 2009-02-16 21:00:37, updated 2009-02-16 21:07:57
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Over the past few months, gamers (PS3 owners in particular) have witnessed some of the most spectacular looking downloadable titles available that define a new kind of game, if you can really call it a game. It seems as though a new genre of said "game" is emerging entitled Interactive Digital Art.
It seems to have started with Aquatopia, an interactive digital fish tank of sorts where "players" can choose what fish they want to be featured in the tank, manipulate them, even feed them. There is also the option to just let the game sit while viewers take in the beauty of this underwater HD masterpiece.
The next major piece of interactive digital art to have graced us was Linger In Shadows. The game takes you on a journey where you witness the terrifying acts of a mysteriously evil creature that moves about underground. You progress through the game as time passes and you tilt your controller to manipulate the environment. This was the first Interactive Digital Art title to incorporate some sort of a game aspect to the whole genre.
Finally we have the gorgeous title that was released on the PSN just last week, ThatGameCompany's masterpiece, Flower. The goal of Flower is quite simple, bring color and life back to an urban wasteland type of city by collecting enough petals/flowers in order to fertilize an end/goal point and progress to your next level which is chosen in the form of a new flower sitting on your windowsill. Flower boasts some of the most gorgeous graphics to date along with some of the most calming, melodic gameplay. The controls are simple, tilt your controller to change the direction of the flowers and press any button to create wind. This is one of those games that does a tremendously good job at progressing the genre forward, and with ThatGameCompany planning yet another new title, things can only get better.
We hope you enjoyed our look into this new genre of gaming. It looks like it's here to stay and we don't mind one bit! Bring on the art!
NOTE: We understand that games like flOw were released before the above games, we just feel that these three do a better job at illustrating the genre.
4 comments:
|  Mike Hartnett
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@Apotheosis: Perhaps what I should say is, this is really the first instance that this was considered a genre. Most people didn't consider it one, until now. It's almost mainstream (once the library gets bigger) which I think is pretty exciting.
 | Apotheosis
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@Mike Hartnett: With the awakening of this as a genre come the fear of its overuse. Look at the FPS genre.
| Mike Hartnett
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@Apotheosis: Oh boy, agreed.
The "majestic, minimalistic, artistic game" archetype has been around forever. Before these games there were the likes of ICO and Shadow of the Colossus (sic?), and before that games like Myst entertained gamers exploring the proverbial road less traveled. This isn't as much the birth of a genre as much as it is a rebirth of a genre.
Of course, with this new age of digital distribution and more personal development, the quality and popularity of titles like this is on the rise, and in that respect I totally agree with your article. It was nice and made me think.