What the heck is Night Journey?

by Nick Doerr { Aug 29th 2007 at 2:15PM }

Some PS3 exclusive game, it seems. If you've ever wanted to take a serene journey into the depths of your soul and swim along the enchanted nile towards pure enlightenment, you might get a kick out of Night Journey, a new title by the renowned video artist Bill Viola. The main idea behind the game, as the title implies, is the journey and not the destination. This gives us the idea that the game experience will be completely unique every time you play, but it's probably too early to say for certain. Check out the lengthy video, regardless!

Tags: billviola, nightjourney

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Enon777 @ Aug 29th 2007 2:44PM

Absolutely, 100% dumb as hell!!!

Shaun @ Aug 29th 2007 3:00PM

wow. I can't believe I watched almost all of that. Let's see, do I have room in my game library for something that I could pick up in a lifetime and then MAYBE understand, plays slower than real life and lacks any detail, and is all in black and white...

This is a joke right.. explore the soul on PS3? I sure hope my soul journey is not that boring...

Oh, I get it - that's what your spiritual journey would look like if you were one of those WoW type 24/7 computer/games guys... I get it.. funny.

BlackBeltJones @ Aug 29th 2007 3:01PM

The first 8 minutes of that game look like they could be made for the sega cd, I might as well play Night Trap.
I think that game should be scrapped and the entire team sent over to work on Uncharted so it comes out sooner.

Metoo @ Aug 29th 2007 3:10PM

Wow, a really long screensaver. Should be a free download on the PS Store.

Andy @ Aug 29th 2007 3:06PM

Thanks for using that video player...the slider actually works so I just fast forwarded through most of the video.

That game reminds me of flow, too bad this one will cost $60!

money_mike_preme @ Aug 29th 2007 3:07PM

wow...if the final version of the game plays like that for the first 10 min...then count me out. Sounds like a great concept if they can pull it off but looks like they still got a long way to go

Spazgadget @ Aug 29th 2007 3:18PM

Bill Viola is a pretty cool video artist, but I'm not sure how well his art will translate to a "video game". Still, and intriguing development. I'll be keeping an eye on it at least.

DubbedinEnglish @ Aug 29th 2007 3:18PM

I really don't think that is a game at all. Look at the credits, its from the University of Souther California....My guest its an artistic work representing the effect that video games have "sanitizing" what we would normally do and see/feel/smell.

Broken Haiku @ Aug 29th 2007 3:24PM

If this is fun or not, costly or not remains to be seen. No matter, I applaud the effort to strive away from the instant gratification genre. We don't all have ADHD.

mamardilla69 @ Aug 29th 2007 3:26PM

if this is a survival horror IM THE HELL IN

Neptune @ Aug 29th 2007 3:29PM

That.. That looks like a video a cult would use to mindscrew people.

Popfrogs @ Aug 29th 2007 3:36PM

It's a nice little art project. http://thenightjourney.com/statement.htm has a little bit of info on it. I seriously doubt this will ever be for sale.

OrganicShadow @ Aug 29th 2007 4:17PM

For all we know it's just a prototype of what they are aiming to create and it's nowhere near close to what it will be like to play the final product.

As #12 said too, how do we even know this will ever be a product? Could always be some kind of art project of some sort.

Radical @ Aug 29th 2007 5:16PM

I am amazed by how narrow minded people in this website can be. I mean i watched that and my breath was taken away I mean for once I can play a game journey around look at things that dont make sense at all yet somehow they still make sense.

apease @ Aug 29th 2007 5:05PM

reminds me of those strange flash games like Veridian Room (http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/viridian) where you're dumped in a room without any memory and you have to solve a mystery in order to get out.

Or at least it would be nice if that's what Night Journey is trying to do... at this point, it looks more like a synthetic drug trip. I guess if flOw was too fast paced for you, this might be a good game to pick up.

AlanS17 @ Aug 29th 2007 5:17PM

I think it's much more palatable if it's viewed as interactive art rather than as a game. Games have goals and objectives. This "whatever-it-is" doesn't seem to have any of that. The only thing making it a game would be that it's presented on gaming hardware.

Tonbo @ Aug 29th 2007 5:25PM

This reminds me of all those video art installations that make me want to poke my eyes out with the nearest post modern statuary.

Either that, or some freaky dead Japanese girl is about to step out of my monitor... oh sh*t OH SH*T. I better spam this link on Veoh.

John @ Aug 29th 2007 9:36PM

Great idea, I was totally stoked until I saw the implementation. If slow-blur black and white without all the subtleties of b/w (granted it may be the mpeg) is someone's idea of impressing us, they better go back.

The best shots were the last, but I assume they were not in-game. The part with the guy's shadow, the shaky-cam, and the building, these would be more what I would expect in the game-- only they weren't, they appeared to be 'shot' footage.

I don't expect much from this, in fact I'm worried it could destroy for a while any hope we might have of some interesting psychedelic/alternative game.

I agree with Radical re: the idea-- I would love a game where I can just walk around and discover stuff and see pretty graphics and hear cool music. This video didn't really deliver on that, but the idea's time has def. come.