Flower is a PlayStation 3 video game. It was developed by thatgamecompany, designed by Jenova Chen (pictured), and announced at the 2007 Tokyo Game Show. Flower was released on February 12, 2009, via the PlayStation Network. The game was intended as a spiritual successor to flOw, a previous title by Chen and thatgamecompany. In it, the player controls the wind, blowing a flower petal through the air using the movement of the game controller. Flying close to flowers results in the player's petal being followed by other flower petals. Approaching flowers may also have side-effects on the game world, such as bringing vibrant color to previously dead fields or activating stationary windmills. The game features no text or dialogue, forming a narrative arc primarily through visual representation and emotional cues. Flower was primarily intended to provoke positive emotions in the player, rather than to be a challenging and "fun" game. The team viewed their efforts as creating a work of art, removing gameplay elements and mechanics that were not provoking the desired response in the players. Flower was a critical success, to the surprise of the developers. Reviewers praised the game's music, visuals, and gameplay, calling it a unique and compelling emotional experience. It was named the best independent game of 2009 at the Spike Video Game Awards and by Playboy, and won the "Casual Game of the Year" award by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_%28video_game%29

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1276:

Augsburg in the Holy Roman Empire became a Free Imperial City. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augsburg

1841:

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that captive Africans who seized control of La Amistad, the trans-Atlantic slave-trading ship carrying them, had been taken into slavery illegally. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amistad_%281841%29

1842:

Nabucco, an opera by Italian Romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi , premiered at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabucco

1862:

American Civil War: In the world's first major battle between two powered ironclad warships, the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia fought to a draw near the mouth of Hampton Roads in Virginia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hampton_Roads

1945:

World War II: A bomb raid on Tokyo by American B-29 heavy bombers started a firestorm, killing over 100,000 people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo_in_World_War_II

1956:

Soviet military troops suppressed mass demonstrations in Tbilisi, Georgia, who where protesting Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's de-Stalinization policy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1956_Georgian_demonstrations

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

filigree (n): 1. A delicate and intricate ornamentation made from gold or silver twisted wire. 2. A design resembling such intricate ornamentation http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/filigree

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

A philosopher is a lover of wisdom, not of knowledge, which for all its great uses ultimately suffers from the crippling effect of ephemerality. All knowledge is transient, linked to the world around it and subject to change as the world changes, whereas wisdom, true wisdom is eternal, immutable. --Shashi Tharoor http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Shashi_Tharoor