Journey (PS3/PS4)

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Harbinger O Great Justice
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Journey is the next game from ThatGameCompany (the people who made Flower). For anyone not familiar with their games, Joystiq does a pretty good summary of them in their initial preview.

flOw = an experimental version of Pac-Man
Flower = a refined, perfected version of flOw
Journey = an online-enabled HD combination of Wind Waker, Ico, and Shadow of the Colossus



I am anxiously awaiting this game. It's going to be released some time in 2011.


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Harbinger O Great Justice
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I would highly recommend reading this. Sid Shuman interviews Jenova Chen for the PlayStation Blog, in a piece called,
"Jenova Chen Explains Journey: Social Relevance and Artistic Inspirations."

It's always interesting to see into the minds of developers, especially those who don't make the "standard games" that we so often see. While you often see indie developers complaining about current popular games for the lack of innovation, the interesting thing is that Jenova really likes genre games like shooters/fighters/etc. That being said, during the course of the interview, he brings up lots of very insightful points as to what games really are, and how they could be improved. They're things that I'd never even considered.

Aside from that, and more related to the topic, he also explains a lot about the concept of what Journey is going to be, which excites me even more. It's interesting how little things like the jump controls were modified to make the atmospheric experience more like what they wanted it to be. I honestly can't overstate my anticipation for this game, because very few games are an experience quite like Flower was, and I can't wait to have that with Journey.


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Alex Strife

Alex Strife

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I have to say I've been following this game for quite a while. I do not know if it'll be worth it, or not, but it's definitely caught my eye and that's already a very good sign.

Will read that.
 
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Harbinger O Great Justice
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http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/03/journey-preview-a-million-little-fibers/

Joystiq has a preview of this. Having read it though, I think I'll avoid other previews until I play the game myself, because a lot of this game seems to be about discovery, and by reading about what you learn, it feels like it might spoil some of the magic and emotional value of the playthrough.

I hope there's a release date soon, because I'm dying to play this.


UPDATE: Video Interview with Jenova Chen

(GameTrailers has the raw gameplay footage used here)




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There's a (very) limited Beta that starts tomorrow for early adopters of Flower, who also have PS+. They are also giving out some other Beta invites, and if you're interested, click this link for details (submissions end at 7PM PST today).

To test Journey’s innovative and unusual multiplayer functionality, we are conducting a small, invite-only beta that will run tomorrow, June 28 and will run through July 12. If you were one of the very earliest adopters of Flower, and you are a PS Plus subscriber as well, watch your XMB inbox for your invitation and entry into the beta. Additionally, we’ve been able to free up a limited number of additional spots for the beta. Please check thatgamecompany’s Facebook page, here on the PlayStation Blog, or our media partners and their sites for code give-aways.

We will be inviting players to join our weekly play sessions in order to help test our network code and all of the technical stuff running in the background of the game. You will also be able to provide feedback to the team on your experience. These sessions will take place on Tuesdays from 6 PM to 10 PM PST.
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I really hope I manage to get one.


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Tennyo

Tennyo

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This game looks lovely. I'm very interested.

Although, I must admit this was the first thing I thought of:

(why yes, that IS Don't Stop Believing)
 
Seunia

Seunia

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Maybe it´s not as good as Flower, but it´s definitely worth a try. Looks epic. And that music...mmmm :awesome:
 
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Harbinger O Great Justice
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Here're gameplay uploaded by someone in the Beta. I've only watched a bit of the opening video, because I don't want to spoil too much for myself, but it looks fucking gorgeous.








Good god it's getting harder and harder to isolate myself from seeing things about this game, because I want to see it so badly, but at the same time, these are the types of games that I like going into with a blind experience. /ANGST/ I would appreciate an official release date that's not just Fall to help me stave off my yearnings to look at every single piece of media for this game.

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Shademp

Shademp

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In many games, it can feel tedious to go from point A to point B.

Here, in Journey, I get a feeling that you want to experience all the moments between A & B because it's all so beautiful.
 
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Harbinger O Great Justice
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So, I finally caved (really slow day today), and watched through my above posted videos.

It's interesting, because I feel differently about seeing it than I thought that I would. I didn't really feel spoiled at all, but I have an overwhelming desire to absolutely want to run in and look at things, and do them myself. The interaction between the two players in something that I think is going to be incredibly interesting for me. I have a feeling that I'll be spending an enormous amount of time just wandering in the environments.


Because Flower is such an emotionally/imagery driven narrative, I feared that I'd miss something by seeing Journey before trying it out. Seeing it as someone's playthrough, rather than a trailer doesn't make it feel like missing that experience and just remembering isolated events, because there's that eager learning as well. On top of that, there's a symbolically represented narrative and characters that serves only to deepend the mystery thus far, rather than explain anything too much. For an odd comparison, I'd say the difference between how I felt before and after is like seeing a picture of some new food you want to eat and smelling someone making it.



Here's another AMAZING interview with Jenova Chen, since the above one is no longer up on YouTube.




Lastly, if any of you hasn't ever played Flower, you should absolutely go download and play it.



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Octo

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Don't think this has already been posted, and its a couple of weeks old but I found it an interesting read: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-08-11-a-heros-journey-interview EDIT: What the fuck am I smoking? This is from yesterday! @_@

Particularly this:
Chen explains: "We intentionally keep the player anonymous because if you can read a player's PSN ID, it's like "ILoveKillzone" and then immediately you start to think, this must be a Killzone fan, rather than thinking this is another character who is also on his path moving towards the mountain."
An online ID, a Gamerscore, a customised Avatar, an accent: all these things are clear markers of identity and a player cannot help but judge another based on them. The beauty of Journey is that you are forced to interact based on actions alone, with all other forms of communication stripped away.
The result is a surprisingly intense, raw experience that makes you consider the other person as, well, a person. Are they passive or assertive? Collaborative or selfish? Serious or silly?
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and this:
"That's certainly our hope," acknowledges Chen. "If you do screenwriting, when you define a character, it's not about what they say, it's about what they do. In a game we have what they do. You should be able to tell what someone's like based on their actions. There's some beauty about that – not really relying on language, just action. You can actually communicate."
Against a background of the phenomenal popularity of social media, in which individuals share the most intimate details of their lives in words, images and painstakingly constructed profiles as a means of defining themselves to the world, is a truer sense of someone's nature actually revealed in actions alone?
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Gabriel_D

Gabriel_D

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Well it certainly seems something I'd play.

And while watching the trailer the game that came in mind was Another World (A.k.a. Out of this world)
 
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Harbinger O Great Justice
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Trailer from Gamescom. Starts the same as the other one, but contains a lot of new content a little further in. This game cannot come out too soon.





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Harbinger O Great Justice
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Bump, because my answer has slightly changed.


They made a Happy Holidays post on the PlayStation Blog on Dec 29th that included this quote:

"We just hit a major milestone on Journey, and are super excited to take a brief break – when we return it will be pedal to the medal to finish it up and get it out to you! Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive over the last THREE YEARS (our longest project yet!). Your support really does make all the difference, and I can’t say 'thank you' enough on behalf of everyone at thatgamecompany."
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While not a direct release date, it does give hopes for a soon-rather-than-later hope for Spring 2012.


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