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'What Remains of Edith Finch' will hit iOS on August 16th
Annapurna Interactive hasn't forgotten the very first game it published.
Last of Us art director abandons swans for tombs
The Last of Us Art Director Nate Wells has joined with Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics, according to a tweet from the artist. Wells departed from Giant Sparrow after spending roughly eight months with The Unfinished Swan developer. The art director previously worked at Irrational Games for 13 years before leaving the studio for Naughty Dog in August 2012, then Giant Sparrow this past April. Wells' departure from Giant Sparrow follows the release of The Unfinished Swan on PS4 and Vita in late October, and the developer's next project largely remains a mystery. It announced "Edith Finch" in March 2013 before changing its announcement to "Unannounced Giant Sparrow Project." The next project will not be a sequel to The Unfinished Swan, though the developer said it's "not a million miles away either." [Image: Giant Sparrow]
The Unfinished Swan painting PS4, Vita next week
Giant Sparrow's surreal exploration game The Unfinished Swan will arrive next week on PS4 and Vita, just over two years after it first launched on PS3. The game will launch on Tuesday, October 28 in North America and the following day in Europe for $14.99 (€12.99/£9.99). The Unfinished Swan will also be Cross-Buy enabled, so those that own any version of the game will be able to download it on the other two systems. Our review of the PS3 game noted that The Unfinished Swan's power "lies in its engagement with our imagination, in its ability to remind us of that capacity for whimsy and fantasy." It's the first game from the Santa Monica-based developer, which is currently working on an as-yet-unannounced game that is not a sequel to The Unfinished Swan, but is "not a million miles away either." [Image: Giant Sparrow]
Journey, The Unfinished Swan to launch as Cross-Buy games on PS4
We already knew that the PlayStation 4 would be getting updated versions of two of the PS3's most visually striking games when Sony confirmed Journey and The Unfinished Swan were headed for Sony's new console. However, according to comments left by Sony Santa Monica Community Strategist Aaron Kaufman on a PlayStation Blog post announcing the ports, not only are the games making the trip from previous to current-generation consoles, but they will be Cross-Buy compatible. "Once Journey is downloaded you will be able to download it for free on any other platform available through the PlayStation Network, much like how fl0w and Flower were launched for PS4," Kaufman wrote before adding, "And The Unfinished Swan as well!" In other words, if you already own either game on PS3, you'll be able to enjoy them on PS4 at no additional cost. Unfortunately, a PS4 release date was not given for either game. [Image: Thatgamecompany/Giant Sparrow]
Journey, The Unfinished Swan confirmed for PS4
Late last month, a Sony landing page for Gamescom 2014 indicated that games such as Journey and The Unfinished Swan were destined to arrive on PS4. Sony confirmed as much today, noting that both games will arrive later this year for the latest-generation system, and stressed that both will be in 1080p. Hustle Kings was also confirmed for PS4 this week after its appearance on the PlayStation landing page. The PS4 version of Giant Sparrow's The Unfinished Swan was leaked in mid-July by a Korean ratings board. As for Journey, it topped the list of Joystiq's favorite games of 2012 after its celebrated March 2012 launch that resulted in a handful of GDCA awards and a Grammy nomination for composer Austin Wintory. [Image: Thatgamecompany]
Korean rating board lists The Unfinished Swan for PS4, Vita
Korea's Game Rating Board has issued content ratings for unannounced PlayStation 4 and PS Vita versions of The Unfinished Swan according to a Gematsu report, suggesting that the 2012 first-person puzzler is due for a cross-platform release. Currently available exclusively for the PlayStation 3, The Unfinished Swan is a (mostly) monochromatic adventure game in which players splatter their solid-white surroundings with black paint in order to reveal environmental clues and hidden passages. Joystiq's Richard Mitchell awarded The Unfinished Swan four stars in his review, recommending it for players who are looking for "a little less logic and a little more fascination" in their puzzlers. Neither publisher Sony nor developer Giant Sparrow has issued a statement regarding new ports for The Unfinished Swan. [Image: Giant Sparrow]
Nate Wells departs Naughty Dog, joins The Unfinished Swan dev
Art director Nate Wells switched animalian employers by leaving Naughty Dog this month for independent studio Giant Sparrow. 2012 saw Giant Sparrow come to the fore with PS3 game The Unfnished Swan, and the Californian dev is working on an unannounced project. Formerly at Irrational Games for 13 years, Wells joined Naughty Dog as Lead Artist back in August 2012. After nearly two years, including ten months of work on The Last of Us, Wells revealed he left the Sony-owned studio to join Giant Sparrow on April 3, where he'll likely work on the developer's next project. Giant Sparrow announced that game last year as Edith Finch, only to quickly retract the news and roll its title back to the much catchier "Unfinished Giant Sparrow Project." The studio promises that whatever that next game may be, "it's not a sequel to The Unfinished Swan but it's not a million miles away either." Wells' departure from Naughty Dog follows those of game director Justin Richmond, now at League of Legends studio Riot Games, and Uncharted writer Amy Hennig, who joined EA to work on Visceral Games' Star Wars project. The circumstances that surrounded Hennig's departure remain unclear, and the studio has vehemently denied a report that The Last of Us directors Bruce Stanley and Neil Druckman were "involved in what transpired." [Image: Sony Computer Entertainment]
Journey and The Unfinished Swan bundle up on PSN for $15
Journey and The Unfinished Swan are available in one beautiful bundle, wandering onto PS3 for $15 via the PlayStation Store. They're siblings in the gaming realm, both offering individualized, introspective gameplay, though brought about by disparate worlds and mechanics. "We're incredibly happy to have The Unfinished Swan bundled with Journey because our game owes such a big debt to Journey and all the other games from thatgamecompany," says Giant Sparrow president Ian Dallas, creator of The Unfinished Swan. "It's not too much of a stretch to say that our game wouldn't exist without them. I think it was the warm reception for Flow and Flower that gave Sony the courage to fund our game, made by another team of inexperienced folks with unusual and impractical ideas." Journey was our No. 1 game of the year for 2012, for offering a "joyous illustration of how games can effectively stir and converse with players." The Unfinished Swan, we found, is a whimsical, fantastical journey through the nostalgia of childhood amazement. Joy, whimsy and fantasy – sounds like a good bundle to us.
Unfinished Swan's scrapped ideas and the future of Giant Sparrow
The Unfinished Swan originally had a river-painting mechanic and a playable library full of unfinished books, but Ian Dallas and the team at Giant Sparrow couldn't figure out a way to make these aspects fun, he told Joystiq at GDC. The river-painting tool allowed players to throw paint and create puddles 10 feet deep, and "it seemed cool. We had a whole playable prototype, it worked, it was there," but it wasn't fun, so Dallas removed it.The library of unfinished books would have been a space with "a million letters everywhere, running around," with tomes that contained the first chapter of brilliant novels, wonderful opening sentences or vague ideas only, nothing complete. While this would have been pretty, Dallas said, it didn't have a place in the game.The blueprint mechanic almost didn't make it into the final build of Unfinished Swan, but it made the cut, so, "Yay!" Dallas exclaimed.Giant Sparrow isn't in charge of the Unfinished Swan brand anymore, so if there's a Vita port on the way Dallas isn't aware. Sony isn't obligated to tell him if there's anything in progress, but it's generally up-front about these things; Dallas knew about the Unfinished Swan DLC for PlayStation All-Stars nine months ahead of time."I would be ecstatic if there were ports," he said. "If someone wanted to make a port of the game, it's awesome that we don't have to do that. I don't know if there are ports or what the plans are, but that's one of the nice things about having a publisher."As for that leak about "Edith Finch," Giant Sparrow's purported next game, Dallas can't say much. "We may have contracts, there may be a publisher involved, they may have people with feelings that may get hurt from time to time," Dallas said. "We can safely announce that we have an unannounced game that we're working on. I'm very excited about it."The publisher that Giant Sparrow "may" have might be Sony. Dallas said other publishers – Nintendo and Microsoft, specifically – are generally open to publish indie games but not fund them, while Sony goes all-in. "We've been so happy with Sony," he said. "It's amazing that Sony can do that and really put faith in these things. God bless Shuhei and Scott Rody and all these people ... They just really want to make interesting games."
Unfinished Swan developer announces, unannounces 'Edith Finch'
Giant Sparrow, developer of the PS3's surreal first-person game The Unfinished Swan, is almost ready to reveal its next game. Originally announced under the name "Edith Finch," the developer has since rolled the announcement back to "Unfinished Giant Sparrow Project," because clearly, "Edith Finch" would have given everything about the game away."When you make games about evoking a sense of discovery and wonder the publicity part of it is a little tricky," the dev noted on its blog. "If we don't say anything then no one knows the game exists, but if we talk about it too much then no one is going to be surprised when they actually play it."And so, it will begin with "broad strokes," like the above concept art.
The Unfinished Swan is totally done, here's a launch trailer to prove it
This launch trailer for The Unfinished Swan guides you through some of the intriguing scenery in the serene game. The Giant Sparrow-developed game is out now on PSN, and our review indicates that it's not one to be missed.
The Unfinished Swan review: Palette cleanser
Video games are good at a lot of things. Typically, they appeal to our baser instincts – usually the desire for power, in whatever form that may take, be it blasting aliens, slaying dragons or scoring touchdowns. What they do particularly well that isn't explored often enough, is rekindle our childhood capacity for amazement.I think this is something that most invested players realize, whether they've ever articulated it or not. More than books or movies, games engage us, and the good ones pull us in. They can remind us what it was like to lift a rock in a garden, discovering the creatures that live underneath, or how it felt to dribble paint on a sheet of paper, fold it in half and reveal a butterfly.The Unfinished Swan is the story of a child, Monroe. Its ability to plant players firmly in his shoes, to help us see the world as he does, is what makes it special.%Gallery-168082%
This Unfinished Swan story trailer is delightful
This trailer for The Unfinished Swan from PAX 2012 delves into the Sony-published, Giant Sparrow-developed game's mysterious plot. While no specific release date has been revealed for this PSN-exclusive game, the game's official site indicates it will launch some time in 2012.
The Unfinished Swan is 'Whitespace' with more color, swans and wonder
Like thatgamecompany before it, The Unfinished Swan dev team is being pseudo internalized by Sony in order to complete a PSN game exclusively. In so many words, the folks at Giant Sparrow got set up with "office space, equipment, and advice," in exchange for creating a PS3-exclusive title – the title in question being The Unfinished Swan.But wait, haven't we seen a first-person painting game before? Why yes, yes we have ... way back in 2008 when it was still named "Whitespace." Holy moly! Giant Sparrow apparently signed a deal with Sony some time in the past few years and have been plugging away on The Unfinished Swan ever since. The team's first goal: establishing a story for their neat tech demo."The idea of painting a white world is pretty abstract. You could make all kinds of different games about that," creative director Ian Dallas admits on the PlayStation blog. What his team found most interesting, however, was crafting a tale around the "sense of wonder" the world gave them. "After splatting stuff for a few months we realized what we liked most about it was the sense of wonder it created. We liked not knowing what was out there." As such, The Unfinished Swan now follows the tale of "a boy named Monroe who's chasing after a swan ... the swan stepped out of a painting and has wandered off into a surreal, unfinished world."Beyond the basic story trappings and painting mechanic, Dallas promises, "the painting a white world stuff is actually just the first 15 minutes." But then what? "After that, things get really weird." Well, OK then!The Unfinished Swan has no release window just yet, but will eventually launch exclusively on the PlayStation 3's digital network.
