According to a talk Kellee Santiago from That Game Company gave at the GDC, flOw was almost a Wii title. This sent waves through the gaming community, and everyone sounded off on the loss that Nintendo suffereed.

"That was the hardest decision we ever had to make, choosing between Sony and Nintendo," admitted Santiago. Speaking during the Q & A, Santiago clarified that "they weren't right for us at the time.



Sony kind of came to us with the process of incubation... They helped us get our studio started." Nintendo did not approach them; the team actually cornered them about Cloud at a prior Game Developers Conference. FlOw creator Jenova Chen chimed in, saying "in the end, we are game makers and not console makers," expressing his satisfaction working with Nintendo on other projects. That Game Company did not rule out working on the Wii in the future.

Everyone seems to be upset that Nintendo didn't pick up the game, and while I agree that the game would have been a good fit for the Wii, overall the game benefits from its place on Sony's system. The Sixaxis was able to handle the motion controls well and the creatures in the game handle fluidly. That's not to say that the controls are better than what we might have gotten on the Wii, but they certainly aren't bad either. It takes a little getting used to, sure, but the Sixaxis rises to the challenge. The game didn't lose anything in the control department.

What the game did gain by going to the PS3 was high resolution. Now, I know some people are going to jump on me for this because game play should always trump graphics—this is the common stance—but if the game play is going to be the same on both systems, I'd much rather the game to go to the system where it will look better. flOw came from an online flash game that you can still play, but the PS3 version features such a stunning face lift in terms of graphics and sound that it really does elevate the entire experience. flOw played on a large, high-definition television is a great experience, in no small part because the graphics are so crisp and clear. Would it have looked good on the Wii? Sure. Does it look better on the PS3 than what the Wii is capable of right now? Yes.

I think the game fits better on the PS3, and artistically, Sony's console was able to offer flOw what it needed to really shine. I'm happy with the decision and feel that flOw might have been compromised somewhat on a less powerful system. In this case the technology really did help the art.

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