Flower

My other half and I were visiting a friend the other day.

Our friend has a PlayStation/3 video game console and he's always got interesting new games that he finds to show us.  This time he had something called Flower.

This is a very unique and unusual video game.

For background I am not a gamer by any stretch of the imagination.  I missed the game boom for the most part of a couple of reasons - I lived in a rural area where there were none, I was born too early and did not live in a family that was apt to connect something like a Pong to their TV. 

My other half loves games - particularly puzzle games of various sorts including those with intricate interactions.  Hardly a day goes by when her computer is not emitting some sort of squeak or pop, or a small voice is not calling out for some reason, because of a game.

My kids also loved video games and played all sorts of them starting in the days of Sega.

My friend is also a gamer with interests much like my wife in terms of the types of games - though he is also a big fan of sports games.

None of us are into shooting games like Halo and its ilk.

At any rate, Flower is very, very simple and elegant.

You, the "player", are a single flower petal.  You are blown by a breeze around beautiful fields and landscapes.  Your "goal" is to pass nearby flowers that have not yet bloomed in order to cause them to bloom.  When they bloom, one of their petals joins you on your flight.  You can "steer" your petal by waving the controller around (it uses accelerometers to detect how you are waving and pointing it).

The catch here is that the "landscape" and the "environment" (music, sounds, etc.) is very relaxing and peaceful - its a sunny day, beautiful clouds in the sky, green grass, gentle breeze.  The only tricky part of the game is finding the other flowers to pass by - if you miss some you have to go back (with the help of the game).

Everything moves very smoothly and slowly along at the pace of a gentle breeze. 

While it may not sound appealing from my inadequate description it really is.  Went spent a long time (probably over an hour) fooling with this.

Its sort of cross between some sort a bio-feedback relaxation machine and video game.

Nothing is "urgent" about how you steer or move about, there is no danger or death, no complex puzzles (at least in the demo we were playing).  You don't tense up doing it - you don't get frustrated.

All in all a very relaxing way to spent some time with a video game.