'Flower' blossoms on Sony's PlayStation 3

— -- With the game Flower, Jenova Chen and the developers at thatgamecompany wanted to create a dreamland that players could escape to.

"I wanted to create a space that is an extension of the living room," he says. "I was thinking, why don't we make it possible so the PlayStation 3 leads you to a very warm and welcoming space, almost like you have a backyard or balcony."

The result is a colorful, efflorescent downloadable game for Sony's PlayStation 3 that plants players in the role of the wind, transforming bleak landscapes into verdant ones. The game is available today for $9.99 via the PlayStation Network. "A breath of fresh air" is how VentureBeat.com's Dean Takahashi describes it.

Flower runs counter to many modern video games that focus on adventure and gritty, futuristic combat. Inspired by the lush grass fields seen driving between San Francisco and Los Angeles, Chen wanted the game to simulate "experiencing nature and being surrounded by it. It's basically a little bit of heaven."

The game starts in a rundown urban apartment building with a single flower pot on the windowsill. That flower serves as a gateway to the natural world, which upon your arrival appears to be in need of a green thumb. With a single button push — you can tap any button — you gain a petal that dances on the wind based on your movements with the wireless controller.

As you move through the landscape — as many as 200,000 blades of grass are rendered onscreen at times — your chain of petals grows and helps cultivate flowers and other growth, transforming the countryside often in a regenerating explosion of color. " We want to put people in the role of the healer," Chen says, "to bring this change to the world."

Each level begins with a return to the city apartment and eventually urban aspects appear in the landscapes. "The game is about a journey toward harmony. Through the journey of the game, in the end the urban and nature reach a harmony. They become one," says Chen, 27, who co-founded thatgamecompany with fellow USC Interactive Media masters graduate Kellee Santiago in 2006. At last year's Game Developers Conference, their game Flow, released in 2007, won the award for best downloadable game of the year.