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flower On Playstation Network Is Dividing Critics And Gamers Worldwide.

Released on PSN today, flower is dividing the gaming world all over.

To quote the developer, thatgamecompany, flower is the “videogame version of a poem, exploiting the tension between urban bustle and natural serenity”. It’s easy to understand from this short quote and a screenshot why flower is causing such a stir in the industry. But should it?

Almost everything in this world is judged by first impressions and expectations. The way we present ourselves to meet the bank manager is suitably different to the way we present ourselves at the pub. While none of us are quite sure why we conform to these expectations, our daily life depends on it. So why then do we seem so intent on narrowing our outlook on forms of entertainment when we don’t neccessarily have to conform?

We enjoy games here at PushSquare and it saddens us to see flower get treated like an outsider because it doesn’t conform to the usual expectations of a video game. Don’t get us wrong, we love Resistance and Killzone, but how much of this colour-by-numbers game development can you realistically stomach? The medium needs to develop to progress. Mistakes will be made and games will fail. But for every failiure there is a success.

Nintendo are already changing the medium with their Wii. We read every day about the shovelware on the console and we agree. What we don’t agree with is the genuinely excellent software like Wii Fit being disregarded by the gamers – essentially the people who “love” the medium most – just because it’s different.

As gamers (and we’re assuming anyone who bothered to read this far genuinely loves games) it’s our responsibility to broaden our horizons. You may play flower and you may hate it. That’s fair enough. But giving it that chance to allow you to form an opinion is paramount. Only the ignorant immediately disregard what’s different.

What are your thoughts, valued reader?

Note: We’ll have a full review of flower in the coming days.