Kotaku: That Game Company

Journey Release Date Announced

Kate Cox — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 10:45:00 EST

Journey, the drool-worthy next title from Flower's thatgamecompany, will be available for download for $14.99 on the PS3 beginning March 13. [PlayStation.Blog] More »

Journey is Finished, Hopefully Out Soon

Luke Plunkett — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:59:00 EST

PS3 exclusive Journey, from Jenova Chen's Thatgamecompany, is now done, with Sony "working on" a release date. Can't. Wait. [Kotaku AU] More »

Today's Best Use of Unauthorized Video Game Footage

Mike Fahey — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST

Chinese songstress Yang Yuying couldn't have chosen a better video game to accompany a live performance of her song "I'll Be Waiting For You In The Spring" than ThatGameCompany's PlayStation Network masterpiece Flower, though she probably should have asked permission first. More »

It's Time to Drool over Journey Again

Stephen Totilo — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:00:00 EST

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The last time I showed you Journey, I showed you the desert. Let's go... underwater? More »

6 1/2 Minutes of the Most Gorgeous Game You'll See This Week

Stephen Totilo — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 18:00:00 EDT

This is Journey, a downloadable game for the PlayStation 3 that is coming out this fall and looks like a dream. The game's creators at ThatGameCompany are running a beta for the Journey now, to test its quiet, anonymous multiplayer mode. More »

Later Today, People Will be Playing Journey. Those Bastards.

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 02:30:00 EDT

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Journey looks like one of 2011's most interesting—not to mention most beautiful—games, indie downloadable title or not. It was playable for a very privileged few at E3, but over the next week will be playable by a slightly less privileged few. More »

Is Journey the Most Beautiful Game of 2011?

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 04:00:00 EDT

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Might be! Developed by Thatgamecompany, Journey is set in a wind-swept desert. You are a traveler, making your way over sand dunes and through ruins. More »

Journey Creator Breathes His Game To Life

Mike Fahey — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 16:20:00 EST

From his mouth to the screen, as seen in the PlayStation blog interview with thatgamecompany's Jenova Chen about the artistic inspirations for his upcoming PlayStation Network game Journey. More »

The Year She Stopped Arguing Whether Video Games Are Art

Stephen Totilo — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 18:40:00 EST

What was 2010? Maybe it was the year we got past the "are-games-art" debate. Game developer Kellee Santiago hopes so. She was in the thick of it, as she discovered one very early morning back in the spring. More »

Journey Makes The Desert Look Beautiful

Luke Plunkett — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 01:30:00 EST

Sorry, Nathan Drake, but you and your fully-tucked shirt are not the best thing I saw this week for the PlayStation 3. That honour goes to this trailer for Journey. More »

How One Developer Cheated His Way To The Perfect Smurf Village and Why

Brian Crecente — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 13:30:00 EST

Jenova Chen is the designer of genre-bending, artfully crafted games Cloud, FlOw and Flower. He's the co-founder of ThatGameCompany and the recipient of a master's degree from the University of Southern California's Interactive Media Division. He's also a cheater. More »

Journey, From The Creators Of flOw and Flower, Explained

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 21:00:00 EDT

flOw and Flower developer thatgamecompany is making something new, Journey, a game that's about singing, sand, hiking, cloth, surfing, astronauts and feeling small. And, in a radical departure for the team, it uses two whole buttons. More »

Flower Developer's New Game Is A Multiplayer Adventure

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 02:30:00 EDT

thatgamecompany, the studio responsible for PSN titles Flower and Flow, have had their next game leaked a little early. Ah well. It still looks interesting! More »

My Response To Roger Ebert, Video Game Skeptic

Kellee Santiago — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 20:00:00 EDT

Kellee Santiago, the game developer whose recent talk about games and art was critiqued by Roger Ebert, is ready to move on. But first, she has an argument to defend and an offer to make. More »

Flower Creators: No New Games This Year, Intrigued By PlayStation Move

Stephen Totilo — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:00:21 EDT

That Game Company's Jenova Chen and Kellee Santiago, saw their team's game Flower nominated for several Game Developer's Choice Awards, winning for Best Downloadable. We talked about their future, Pokemon, and, since they made motion-games for the PS3, PlayStation Move. More »

Scandal Of The Day: Aquatica iPhone

AJ Glasser — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:40:00 EDT

Earlier today, flOw creator Jenova Chen accused Aquatica iPhone developer Ketera Software of either improperly sourcing his game as inspiration or flat-out ripping off flOw's source code. More »

Which Do You Want: Downloadable Game or Sammich?

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:00:00 EDT

Digital games might mean "short", but does it mean "small"? Not necessarily. More »

ThatGameCompany And The Beauty Of Taking Risks

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:00:11 EDT

"Everything is intense the first time you experience it," says Jenova Chen, the 27-year-old creative director at Santa Monica-based studio ThatGameCompany. More »

Boom Blox Producer Departs EA For Flower Studio

Stephen Totilo — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:20:28 EDT

On the week of the release of the new Boom Blox, one of the game's chief creators heads to ThatGameCompany. More »

Frankenreview: Flower

Mike Fahey — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:20:00 EST

Following up on their success with the PlayStation Network favorite Flow, thatgamecompany returns to the PlayStation 3 with Flower, a game that attempts to capture the poetry of a flower petal riding the wind. More »

Flower Micro-Review: All We Are Is Dust In The Wind

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:00:00 EST

Flower is an odd proposition. Just like thatgamecompany's last title, flOw, it's not really a game. It's a relaxant, suited more for a 3am slump on the couch than a 3-hour session after work. More »

Flower Blooms Official Release Date

Mike Fahey — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 11:20:00 EST

Flower, the poetic new PlayStation Network titles from the creators of PSN favorite flOw has sprouted a release date, popping out of the ground in early February. More »

Flower's A Breath Of Fresh Air

Jim Reilly — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 13:00:00 EST

Sony swung by this week to show off some of their early 2009 titles. Among the slew of Playstation Network games being demoed was Flower. Does it live up to the growing hype? More »

Flower - Petals On The Wind

Mike Fahey — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Can the dreams of a flower change the world? This is the question explored by flOw creator That Game Company's latest game, Flower. Far from the plant life simulator some imagined, Flower is an enchanting adventure game that explores environmental issues through the subconscious minds of the most unique game characters – potted plants. . More »

New Flower Info, Screens

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Though it was announced last year at TGS, it's only now that we're getting our first real info on what Flower - a PSN title by thatgamecompany (ie the flOw guys) - is really all about. And...it's about flowers! Specifically, it's about guiding flower petals through a level by acting not as the flowers, but as the wind itself, picking up more and more petals as you progress. Sounds terribly soothing. The fact sheet touts a "Dynamically Adjusting Experience" controlled with simple Sixaxis tilting. If you're all hustled and bustled out by E3, relax by breathing deeply and checking out the screens below. More »

ThatGameCompany's One Day Game

Brian Crecente — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:04:54 EDT

From Crackle: thatgamecompany Game Jam 0: Gravediggers

Ever wonder what a game created in 24 hours would look like? This is ThatGameCompany's Gravediggers, which they created for their 24 hour game jam on the Playstation 3. The premise sounds interesting for a game, collecting zombie heads, but it looks too small to be playable. More »

flOw Team Shows Off Its 24 Hour PS3 Game

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:40:57 EDT

thatgamecompany, the team behind flOw and the upcoming Flower, isn't on board with the folks who moan about dreadful PlayStation 3 development. They're knocking out PS3 games in a 24 hour period these days, an exercise they're calling Game Jam as conceived by lead engineer John Edwards. This is how the kids let off some steam, apparently, throwing together a zombie-filled multiplayer shoot-fest with the crudest of the crude graphics. The gameplay, as described by tcg's Kellee Santiago, sounds pretty boss, but it's the Altered Beast sound bites that really warm my heart. Cool concept, one we hope becomes a retail product, despite Santiago's hints otherwise. More »

flOw Swims To PSP Tomorrow

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:20:00 EST

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." More »

Sony Get Around To Confirming flOw For The PSP

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 21:00:00 EST

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. More »

flOw Coming To PSP Soon?

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:40:00 EST

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. More »

What Is flOwer Anyway?

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 20:20:00 EST

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. More »

flow Creator's Next Game In the Works

Brian Crecente — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 10:00:16 EDT

Rumor has it that if you keep a close eye on the trailers being shown off during the Sony Keynote tomorrow you'll get a glimpse of the next title coming from That Game Company to the Playstation Network. More »

flOw Now For Those With Less Cash Flow

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 14 May 2007 18:20:56 EDT

An item we missed when this past Thursday's PlayStation Store update went live was the just reduced (for a limited time) price of the downloadable semi-game flOw. More »