Journey is one of the most compelling and wonderful experiences you can have on the PlayStation 3. It was the culmination of all the ideas thatgamecompany has tinkered with on prior projects like flOw and Flower. It set all kinds of records when it hit the PSN back in March, but now it’s time to make one last journey to the land of retail.
Sony and thatgamecompany announced that Journey Collector’s Edition will be hitting retail on August 28 for the low price of $29.99. The collection will package the excellent Journey with the developers previous games – flOw and Flower – alongside a plethora of extras.
Check out the absolutely beautiful boxart below. I know it says “Art not final,” but I can’t imagine a better looking boxart for such a great collection.
The extras included with the these three stellar games make the asking price of $29.99 seem a little too low. I would gladly pay $50 for the games alongside these extras:
Of course, I’m a sucker for soundtracks and developer commentaries. Sony knows their audience and they know it well. The folks at thatgamecompany have cultivated one of the most diehard group of fans the industry has ever known. I would say that they are the Western-equivalent of Team ICO, the team behind Sony’s other artistic greats – ICO and Shadow of the Colossus.
The post also contains details on the three mini-games that are included in the collection. The folks at thatgamecompany took part in a 24 hour game jam where they had a day to create a working prototype of a game. The three mini-games included are the games that they made. They make a point to note that the three games – Gravediggers, Duke War!!, and Nostril Shot – will be making their first playable debut in this collection.
If you have not played Journey, Flower or flOw, I implore you to pick up this set. If you have played them, you should probably pick up this set anyway. Sony and thatgamecompany did some really special things with these three games that helped the cause of talking about games as art. They will always hold a special place in my heart, and I really hope this new retail release will open the wonder and beauty of these games to an entirely new audience.