Here’s one of ParticiPACTION’s recent ads dealing with inactive, video-game-playing, kids.
My feeling is this: yeah…ok. So video games are making people fat. But people were fat before video games existed. So…maybe video games are the lesser of two (read: bad diets, lazy people, genetics) evils.
Yeah, I impress even myself with my logic sometimes.
Sure, PixelJunk Eden is a strange game. In fact, I feel the same pang of self-doubt in referring to it as a game as I did upon playing ‘Flow’ or ‘Everyday Shooter’. It is a game, in the classic sense, as there are goals to achieve in order to progress through it. Even ‘Flow’ had those. But the look, the style, the aesthetic if you will, still makes me stop and stare. Eventually the guy behind me taps me on the shoulder and I’m forced to pick my jaw up off the floor.
At the end of the day, a good game that doesn’t need MGS IV level graphics is a good thing. It means there is still innovation in the games industry even as every company is gobbling up every other company. It means PixelJunk Eden may not be the exception…it may prove to be the rule. You’ve got my attention PixelJunk, now just make sure you deliver on the goods (and please, pretty please give us a release date).
