Today's most flowery video: 'fl0wer' trailer

50 Comments by Scott Jon Siegel Sep 21st 2007 12:01AM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, TGS, Video

If the title looks like a blatant ripoff of indie fave fl0w, that's because it's actually the same developer. Thatgamecompany, that game company which brought abstract underwater battle to PSN, is working on a new game, announced via a short, artsy trailer at the Tokyo Game Show.

We don't know much (okay, anything) about fl0wer -- only that it's being developed for PS3, and that it's not yet playable. Based on the name, we expect that it will at least be a spiritual successor to fl0w, which started as game designer Jenova Chen's graduate thesis. View the serene teaser after the break, and let the speculation begin.

Tags: fl0w, fl0wer, flow, flower, hottestvideo, tgs07, thatgamecompany, votd

Source

(Page 1) Reader Comments

blooh (CDF - Ass Ring): Sep 21st 2007; 12:06AM

oh please don't fucking call it flower with a capital O, it's all lowercase on the title screen

Scott Jon Siegel: Sep 21st 2007; 1:26AM

I'm going off of the way it's written by GameTrailers, whose video we're embedding. Also, the lowercase 'o' in that cursive logo is actually a small zero, in the same typeface as seen in the "fl0w" title screen. I don't like it any more than you do, but it's there regardless.

sheppy2.0: Sep 21st 2007; 12:07AM

It's totally an H-game. They just haven't shown off the shy bookish girl who gets freaknasty with the tire iron in the trailer.

Bidoof Protection Military: Sep 21st 2007; 2:59AM

PS3 needs more eroge.

Hell, I'm sure that if either PS3 or 360 had even ONE eroge published on the system, it would rocket past Wii in total sales.

Nam: Sep 21st 2007; 12:10AM

Looks like "Flouer." Bad cursive right there

ThornedVenom: Sep 21st 2007; 1:32AM

Actually, it'd be awesome if the title were "flour". xD

Dark-Pen: Sep 21st 2007; 7:40AM

XD haha

Einhanderkiller: Sep 21st 2007; 12:16AM

Reminds me of the PlayStation 3 tech demo of a field of flowers.

ThornedVenom: Sep 21st 2007; 1:33AM

Wasn't it the Blu-Ray ad showing a bunch of flowers for HD DVD and a field of them for Blu-Ray, implying storage space?

Einhanderkiller: Sep 21st 2007; 2:24AM

Hmm... actually, it was a field of leaves, and it's not really anything like the fl0wer trailer. Guess I just remembered incorrectly.
http://media.ps3.ign.com/articles/615/615000/vids_1.html

Garold: Sep 21st 2007; 12:18AM

Am I the only one who thought flow was pretty dull?

Hashbrown_Hunter: Sep 21st 2007; 12:27AM

Look up some reviews.

NorCal05: Sep 21st 2007; 12:38AM

Agreed! I played for a few minutes and got bored. After all the hubub, I gave it the benefit of the doubt and assumed I didn't play it long enough. Very good for a thesis, but for a full console title?

Maurice M: Sep 21st 2007; 1:20AM

Well it wasn't really a full console title. It was just a cheap downloadable game which is just casual fun time wasters. I think it was worth the $8 I spent on it recently. Worth way more than this new LocoRoco game anyway.

ruben magana: Sep 21st 2007; 12:22AM

nope it was basiclly a kickass screensaver but a boring game.

Hashbrown_Hunter: Sep 21st 2007; 12:29AM

Looks interesting. I bet its a game/music screensaver. The scenery changes based on what type of music you play and the rate of the wind increases or decreases depending on how fast the song is.

Or it could be a really kickass Miracle-Gro flower growing sim.

ThornedVenom: Sep 21st 2007; 1:34AM

Bigger flowers? MOAR MANURE!

phattie: Sep 21st 2007; 12:30AM

flOw wasnt intended for the ADHD generation...

Bidoof Protection Military: Sep 21st 2007; 2:53AM

Given your childish insults in nearly every post you make, I'd assume you are also part of this ADHD generation you speak of, yes?

shivr: Sep 21st 2007; 12:32AM

i gotta give fl0w credit for be vaguely fun at work... only as a last resort though.

Also... is this game a screensaver? It is even a game? There was like, nothing happening in that trailer.

Might make a cool gardening sim?

NorCal05: Sep 21st 2007; 12:39AM

Your first idea is genius...

BPM (FDF - Hypno-Toad): Sep 28th 2007; 4:38PM

As an official member of the FDF, here's your official FDF avatar. Wear it with pride!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v348/BPMdotEXE/Avatars/PaperMorbo.png

(This message was replied to so that you'd get an email about it, hopefully)

NorCal05: Sep 21st 2007; 12:41AM

hashbrown. < had to add that due to the reply system.

Alistair loveless: Sep 21st 2007; 12:42AM

I swear this was originally an ad for "feminine products" and they just removed all the voice acting.

Their tag line was something like "Don't just Flow... Flower"

GrossGreg: Sep 21st 2007; 2:35AM

You beat me to it; I was thinking the exact same thing!

Cue slo-mo middle-aged woman in white flowing garments skipping through the field and/or riding horses. "It expands to fit my lifestyle! Use Fl0w to keep you Fl0wer fresh!"

Holy $hit, I just realized I've seen waayyy too many feminine product commercials during my short time here on Earth.

Sean: Sep 21st 2007; 12:45AM

My head is a giant egg!

Sean: Sep 21st 2007; 11:31AM

THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE! *stabs you*

Sean: Sep 21st 2007; 1:03PM

Me: Member Since Dec 21st, 2005
You: Member Since May 23rd, 2007

I win.

Negativecool: Sep 21st 2007; 12:51AM

I don't get it...Will we get to shoot hippies in this game? I just don't follow.

Negativecool: Sep 21st 2007; 12:54AM

OH! I get it. There will be realtime blooming with stamens and pistols hitting eachother for MASSIVE damage.

Ikthog: Sep 21st 2007; 1:21AM

Really? Still?

ThornedVenom: Sep 21st 2007; 1:36AM

You just HAD to make that unforgettable reference. xD

It's historically accurate with epic giant flower battles!

Xeno Mezphy: Sep 21st 2007; 1:34AM

Mmmm... I'm going to germinate the HELL out of those flowers...

Steve: Sep 21st 2007; 2:24AM

Boy, the hits just keep a comin'.

Ryan de michigan: Sep 21st 2007; 2:29AM

My guess, from the preview and artwork, is that you control some combination of the wind and the camera, and pass pollen along an infinite landscape.

and that that makes one hell of a screensaver.

Bidoof Protection Military: Sep 21st 2007; 2:57AM

Hmm... Interesting. Would like to know me.

I played the free Flash version of flOw. It was fun. I heard the PS3 version was expanded upon. I guess I'll look forward to flOw and flOwer if/when I eventually get a PS3.

GoonieGooGoo: Sep 21st 2007; 5:11AM

On one hand....its a game ...an actual game I think...for PS3.

On the other hand....it could be a friggin' flower sim. Will it have Full Stamen and Pistil exposure??

Because that would be SWEET!!!

You know what would be hilarious..... if someone took this trailer....and at the end had MASTER CHIEF stomp on the FLOWER. Then cut to the typical 360 commercial ending Logo.

Burnt Meatloaf: Sep 21st 2007; 5:43AM

Here's a flower in a field. Are you ready to buy, yet?!

Words cannot describe how much I hate this kind of promotion.

root: Sep 21st 2007; 6:14AM

wtf?

Cosinus: Sep 21st 2007; 9:13AM

Hmmm, am I the only one here getting a Pollen Sonata vibe?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psB0wu9-n38
Seems like those craaazy kids out of Universities just can't get enough of the flowers and the bees

upz: Sep 21st 2007; 10:26AM

I guess I'll be the first to say that it looks good and they have my money. It's gorgeous in its simplicity, just like flOw.

Bidoof Protection Military: Sep 21st 2007; 2:40PM

Not to say anything bad about flOwer... But we haven't seen any gameplay yet. So, how do you if it looks good or not?

WiNG: Sep 21st 2007; 10:29AM

Cell processor ftw!

James: Sep 21st 2007; 11:08AM

My guess is that it makes a game out of pollination.

Sean: Sep 21st 2007; 11:32AM

fl0wer: fl0w 2: more fl0w.

Sean: Sep 21st 2007; 11:50AM

"more fl0w" could also be substituted for "heavier fl0w" or "the fl0wening."

Aldyn: Sep 21st 2007; 1:03PM

i can't help it if i have a heavy fl0w and a wide-set vagina!

Sean: Sep 21st 2007; 2:30PM

Lindsay Lohan was so hot in that movie.

NYM: Sep 21st 2007; 3:14PM

It seems to me that this game is following right in the vein of fl0w. fl0w was a sandbox game, with such an amount of freedom, the player gets to choose how hard or easy the game play is. fl0w was based on the flow theory of games based on the research of psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Basically, it says that for the player to feel the most satisfaction in a game, the abilities of the player and the challenge of the game need to correspond. I think these games are so innovative because they allow the player to determine the challenge of the game as their abilities grow or not.

Personally, I’m very excited to see where they go with this. Jenova Chen and his team are incredibly innovative in my mind and their games are so beautiful. It might not be very action oriented, but I’m content to play a game and sit in wonder of the beautiful visuals and simplistic gameplay they make. I thought that the first game was quite a success in what it was trying to do, but I can definitely see how it might have gotten boring if the players didn’t challenge themselves enough or their skills exceeded the maximum challenge the game had. Either way I’m sure this game will be a fuller and more developed game with the same core and feeling as the first. As I said before, I’m very excited to see how this turns out.