Into the Pixel is a juried art exhibition that selects sixteen works of video game art to be displayed both digitally and in actual exhibits, like the one currently at E3. The exhibit is an opportunity for video and computer game artists to showcase their work and receive critical feedback from both digital and fine art experts; it also showcases the actual visual art of games in creative and unique ways. The pieces range from playful to serious, and utilize a variety of visual styles to convey their subjects. Now in its fifth year, the selected entries are usually quite impressive, and this year was no exception.

The exhibition hall was quiet compared to the chaos both above and below it — a few people wandered through, but it was otherwise silent. The exhibition included some of the winners from the 2007 competition (including my personal favorite, "Defeated Dragon" by Daniel Dociu (Guild Wars)), and it was nice to see the art in large format. Four of the sixteen entries were takes on Guild Wars (I was particularly fond of the one entitled "Four Knights" by Richard Anderson); also covered were games like flOw, Fallout 3, and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, and untitled DS game (seen at the top; "Puzzle World Twilight" by Jay Epperson).

The exhibition will be headed to E for All in October, but you can all see the winning entries over at the Into the Pixel website, which also includes archives of art and commentary from previous years. A few selections from the silent gallery hall are below.

Spore Flows In The Cell Phase

Jenova Chen on flOw, Game Design, and Sony

flOw is one of those interesting little games that keeps on kicking (it's certainly made the rounds at this point) — it's spawned a lot of interest and discussion since its first appearance. Brandon Sheffield sat down with Jenova Chen (flOw designer and co-founder of thatgamecompany) at this year's GDC to talk about Sony's strengths, game design, and why making traditional games is 'too easy':

I think it's just too easy for us. And, also, if I just want to make violent games or fun games... It's not to say that fun games are bad, but I could just go to work for Blizzard, or go to work for Maxis. And they make fun games, they make creative games. I could get a lot higher pay, and a much more stable job. Why not?

Why would I start a company just to make the same kind of game which I can get a much better life in another company? You know, the reason we started this company is because nobody is making this kind of game, and to expand that emotional spectrum of video games — having more people be able to enjoy video games. The only way to do it is to just do it yourself.

The interview touches on a lot of issues — from Sony to Passage to Spore — and worth a read through.

Finding A New Way: Jenova Chen And Thatgamecompany [Gamasutra]

The Dr. Wily Flowchart

If you are reading Kotaku on a Friday afternoon, chances are that your productivity is lacking. Hey, we have no problem with that. No problem at all. But in case you wanted to do a little business multitasking with your gaming news, here's a pretty fantastic Mega Man flow chart, mapping Dr. Wily's various success/failure scenarios. Enjoy it, you bunch of lazy, pathetic employees/awesome, loyal readers. If we were your boss we'd gladly fire you/give you a major promotion.

20 Insane Supervillain Schemes In Flowchart Form [Cracked]

One title that will join the North American version of the PlayStation Store tomorrow... err, again is flOw, the Flash game turned downloadable PlayStation 3 title from thatgamecompany. This time, it's for the PSP, a port handled by the folks at SuperVillain. We got a chance to play the portable version of flOw at GDC for a few minutes and it seemed to honor its bigger brother faithfully. The differentiator, ad hoc wireless multiplayer, was unfortunately unavailable at the time. Price? Not sure. But we're hoping for "cheap."

Obsession In Game Design

What obsessions plague our top independent game designers today? What theories keep them up at night? What possibilities blow their minds, challenge their presumptions and make them sound like a bunch of philosophical hippies after two bottles of ice wine and carton of black bean hummus?

Kellee Santiago (fl0w), Jon Mak (Everyday Shooter) and Pekko Koskinen (LudoCraft) told us of their obsessions during our first session of GDC's Independent Games Summit. And these simple ideas that make their minds spin forced us rethink games a bit as well.

Sony Get Around To Confirming flOw For The PSP

Yes, flOw's coming to the PSP. No, it's not coming in January. In case you hadn't put that one together yourself. Instead, Sony have announced today that the game's due on March 6, and will be available for download through the PC/PSP PlayStation Store. Developers SuperVillian say they've been able to "reconstruct and faithfully preserve the unique experience of flOw on Sony's premier handheld device", but whether that means this is a direct port of the PS3 version or something new, I don't know, since they both look the same to me.

Coming to PSP: Go with the flOw [PlayStation Blog]

A listing for a PSP version of the PlayStation 3 game flOw from thatgamecompany has appeared on the UK-centric version of PlayStation.com, indicating that it will appear in January via the PC version of the PlayStation Store. The listing was unearthed by a member of the developer's official forums and elicited a response from team member John Edwards that read "thatgamecompany does not comment on rumor and speculation" followed by one of those little smiley faces that makes the previous sentence ironically informative.

flOw for PSP already has ratings of E from the ESRB and 3+ from PEGI, but the title hasn't been officially announced yet. We've contacted SCEA for more information and will update when we have more.

flOw [PlayStation.com via thatgamecompany forums and NeoGAF]

Next-Gen Picks Top Ten Game Design Innovations Of 2007

The Kotaku calendar indicates that we should be up to our eyeballs in "Best of 2007" lists by the start of next week. Fortunately, instead of focusing on the top ten games of the year based on some vague merit—that's typically just a list of the year's most hyped, biggest name titles—Next-Gen opted to focus on innovation. Don't worry, some of the bigger software is included, such as Mass Effect and Call of Duty 4, but a few titles that wouldn't normally make the cut are included.

While some of the inclusions will be contested—Warhawk gets props for dumping single player?—and some are certainly recycled—Ultima Online "innovated" with its graphical overhaul years ago—the argument could be made that at least these efforts were successful. Others, like Portal just being Portal, will probably find few detractors.

They might not have been my choices, but I suppose I'll have to back that up with my own list.

TOP 10 GAME DESIGN INNOVATIONS 2007 [Next-Gen.biz]

thatgamecompany's Kelle Santiago spoke at the Montreal International Games Summit, revealing some helpful details about how the developer's follow up to flOw will actually play. flOwer, which made its debut at the Tokyo Game Show in trailer form, will be at least in part a flower raising simulation. If that sounds like your cup of organic chamomile, flOwer is said to "give the player a visceral perspective, surreal and dreamlike" and "to experience a field in a way you couldn't in real life", according to Gamasutra's account of Santiago's talk.

The whole thing promises to grounded in emotion, giving players "possible interactions for playing as the wind." Don't worry, I'm sure she'll be talking about the game's weapon set at a future date and how online deathmatch works not long after that.

MIGS: First Details On flOwer [Gamasutra]

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flOw Now For Those With Less Cash Flow

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